Assetto Corsa Early Access 1.0RC Impressions

Assetto Corsa is one of the highly anticipated racing titles of this generation of PC sims, and on October 15th, we got the 1.0 Release Candidate. This new update features a lot of changes to the sim, including a new sound and graphics/post processing engine. Eagerly awaited functions such as damage and a Career mode have also made their arrival to Assetto Corsa. I just wanted to share my thoughts on the new update to the sim, and then go over each of the elements of the update.

Before I go over the update, I wanted to give you guys a brief lesson on Kunos Simulazioni and what they’ve done in the sim racing industry:

Kunos Simulazioni was founded in 2005 by Stefano Casillo, and is responsible for netKar Pro, which was a cult favorite in the sim industry. It featured a tire model that was miles beyond any others, and included elements such as flatspotting, dirt pickup, and visual tire wear. While it was light on content, it was heavy on realism, even including a flight simulator style interface, where you can click on the different switches and buttons in the cars.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvX7coJR4CM[/youtube]

Kunos first teased Assetto Corsa in December of 2011, and one thing was made apparent: they were adopting a totally different strategy than their predecessor. They were looking to make Assetto Corsa open to third party development, which was one thing netKar Pro was lacking. They were also wanted t not only have AI, but also a full-fledged Career mode.

Those goals were accomplished in Assetto Corsa, but the question is: how well? Read on to find out!

 

Career Mode:

The career mode was definitely one of the highly anticipated elements of Assetto Corsa, and it finally hit us in the 1.0 Release Candidate build. I’ve put about 3 hours into it, and to be honest, I’ve come out of it disappointed.

The progression system is very linear, but at the same time it is disjointed. It feels very similar to Gran Turismo 6’s career mode, but you can’t choose the car to drive. In each “championship”, you can pick and choose your races, but from what it looks like, that is not the intention of the developer.

Another aspect is that the races are hit and miss, because you can’t select AI difficulty. Some of the races are just way too easy, but some will provide a legitimate challenge.

It is also worth mentioning that the career is in an unfinished state, and things will change, possibly in a drastic manner. Also, you can find third party career options via the Assetto Corsa forums. However, right now, I feel the Career is one of the weakest aspects of the title.

 

Physics:

The Release Candidate build for Assetto Corsa has implemented improvements to the physics engine, and it has taken a massive leap in terms of realism and immersion.

The car now feels more connected to the road, and makes improvements in the road feel. Another welcome addition to the sim is the advanced tire model. Assetto Corsa’s predecessor, Netkar Pro, featured a dynamic tire model that featured tire flatspotting, and dirt pickup. Assetto Corsa has taken those elements to the next level, with graining and blistering. If you overdrive the car and drive like an idiot, you WILL cause permanent damage to the tires, and it will affect your driving.

The migration to the new tire model also brings fixes to other issues that were in the physics model. Assetto Corsa’s previous tire model has some issues in regard to “rebound”, where if the tires are sliding, the virtual “rubber” will snap back in a violent way, causing issues with losing control or getting the dreaded “Tank Slapper”.

With this new update and improved tire model, the issue has mostly been fixed. Since I’ve had the latest update, I can not recall an instance where I had a tank slapper, and I feel I can maintain slides better. I would definitely say that the physics has been brought up to a level that rivals other sims such as rFactor 2 and iRacing.

 

Force Feedback:

Another area where I could say that Assetto Corsa falls short is the Force Feedback department. While it does a solid job with giving you an idea of the “weight” of the cars, a lot of subtle nuances are sacrificed. There are times when I’m going over curbs in a race car, and there is very little, if any feel is communicated through the wheel (and I’m nowhere near clipping).

 

Graphics:

The Release Candidate of Assetto Corsa also has brought updated graphics and post-processing, via the Yebis 2 engine. We have seen hints of the post processing in some of the early access builds, but it looks like the 1.0RC build features more finalized presets.

I have tested the new post processing on both single and triple screen setups, and my feelings are somewhat mixed. Right now, I’d say that I haven’t found a setting that feels “real” to me, with the settings feeling stylized. Another issue I came across was that with triple screens, some of the presets blacked out the left and right screens, so there can definitely be some tweaking there. The third party community has also given you some more options to use, so you can choose whichever option you see works.

For the graphics engine itself, it is definitely improved over Early Access builds. In the .2_ onwards, I had issues with stuttering, which seem to be mostly fixed now. However, I have this issue come up, where in every race I run, I would have one major hiccup in the race, but everything before and after would be fine.

 

Sounds:

The Release Candidate build for Assetto Corsa has also featured another engine migration, this time in the sound department. The FMOD sound engine has been utilized in improving the sound engine from what it was before.

My feelings on the new FMOD engine are mixed. I first jumped into the BMW Z4 GT3, and at first I was ecstatic, because the car sounded more like a V8, especially in the replay angles. However, as I took a closer listen, the sounds felt like there was too much artificial “reverb”, as if the cars were driving through a tunnel. From what I can glean in the Assetto Corsa forums, there are issues with sound balancing and stereo/surround sounds, but Kunos is working on fixing those issues as they progress further with implementing FMOD.

NOTE: As of right now, all mod sounds are broken because of the migration to FMOD. I believe the SDK for the FMOD engine provided with Assetto Corsa does not yet support exporting sounds to the sim. Modders will have to wait until the SDK supports exporting, which I would assume will come with the official release.

 

Damage:

Damage has finally been introduced to Assetto Corsa in the 1.0RC, and it’s arrived with a resounding thud. The issue with the sim though, is that the damage is horribly inconsistent. You could drive head first into a wall at 100+ miles per hour, and only have slight bumper damage, but you could barely scrape another car and end up with a trashed suspension. The visual damage is also leaves something to be desired, where there is no vertex deformation. The most jarring thing, however, is the windshield. It is just WAY too easy to break. You could have a car barely tap your rear bumper, and the result would be completely spidercracked glass.

 

AI

Another thing is that if you race against the AI, you will get firsthand experience on how the damage engine works. Assetto Corsa’s AI really emphasizes the word “Artificial”. The tough part is that the other drivers have no personality, and act like they’re on rails. Once you pass a car, they will rarely put up any fight for position, and would back off if they get close to you in a corner.

However, they will be overly aggressive while they are in front of you. It will not be uncommon for you trying to pass and they will come down on you, or try to force you off the track if you attempt to pass on the outside.

When you compare the AI to other racing titles like Forza Motorsport 5, Game Stock Car, or even rFactor 2, I would say that Assetto Corsa’s AI falls flat.

 

Multiplayer

I know that a lot of people will purchase Assetto Corsa for just the multiplayer aspect, and not go for the AI. It is worth mentioning that the Multiplayer functionality is still in an Beta state, with more features to be rolled out in the future.

That being said, the multiplayer is being built on a solid foundation, and I can only see it getting better. The latest update brings pit stops to online races, which will result in the ability to run longer races online (I believe the current limit is still at 10 laps).

When multiplayer was initially rolled out to Assetto Corsa, it was somewhat of a mess, with an abundance of stability and netcode issues. Now, it has definitely improved, but there is a little ways to go. There are still the occasional hiccups, depending on server and host. In a dedicated server environment, you can definitely have solid racing, which is key.