‘Assetto Corsa Competizione’ Launches in Early Access September 12th, VR Support in October

26

Initially revealed back in February, Assetto Corsa Competizione, the next chapter of acclaimed sim racer Assetto Corsa, now has an official Early Access release date of September 12th. The game has been confirmed to include VR support, following after its predecessor, though initial support won’t come until an update in October.

Update (July 30th, 2018): Assetto Corsa Competizione developer Kunos Simulazioni has confirmed the game’s Early Access release date for September 12th, and also detailed a roadmap of subsequent monthly updates, as spotted by Redditor ‘wasyl00’. The second update, Build 2, is slated to bring VR support to the title on October 10th.

We haven’t seen any details yet regarding which headsets or platforms the game will support, though as with Assetto Corsa before it, we expect the game to play nice with the Vive and Rift via SteamVR, while official support for Windows VR headsets is still an unknown. As before, we don’t expect the game to find its way to the Oculus storefront.


Update (February 23rd, 2018): A statement regarding VR support (quoted later in this article) was removed from the game’s Steam page. Kunos Simulazioni Brand and Product Manager Marco Massarutto has confirmed directly with Road to VR that the title will indeed feature VR support.

Original Article (February 22nd, 2018): While Assetto Corsa Competizone’s development focus appears to be on bringing the FIA GT3 homologated championship to life, the title clearly represents a new chapter in Kunos’ simulation technology as a whole. Perhaps they took a leaf from the Polyphony Digital playbook in avoiding a numbered sequel, instead selecting a name that acknowledges a stronger leaning towards eSports.

Assetto Corsa continues to be one of the most popular racing sims on the PC, but it is reaching the end of its life cycle, and the team has been looking to move the technology forward. The time is right for a graphics engine upgrade, and the teaser trailer above highlights the benefits of moving to Unreal Engine 4, enabling rain and night scenes for the first time. The new systems will allow full 24-hour lighting transitions and dynamic weather.

Further improvements over Assetto Corsa include driver swap support, motion captured pit animations, and a “well-structured ranking system” for multiplayer. This follows a recent trend towards higher quality online racing competition, with GT Sport (2017) and Project CARS 2 (2017) taking inspiration from iRacing’s (2008) class-leading matchmaking technology.

Image courtesy Kunos Simulazioni

In the description on the game’s Steam page, VR support is also confirmed. “Designed to innovate, Assetto Corsa Competizione will be VR Ready and set to promote eSports, bringing players at the heart of the Blancpain GT Series and putting them behind the wheel of Ferraris, Lamborghinis, McLarens and many other prestigious GT racing cars, all reproduced with outstanding level of detail.”

Assetto Corsa‘s existing VR mode on PC is solid, but also limited by the current engine, with no full VR menu system and compromised rear view mirrors. Unreal Engine’s comprehensive VR support could benefit the new sim in these areas. Assetto Corsa supports Oculus Rift and HTC Vive.

SEE ALSO
The 5 Best VR Racing Sims for Oculus Rift and HTC Vive

Kunos aren’t explicitly calling Assetto Corsa Competizione a direct sequel to Assetto Corsa, but it seems that it could become exactly that, depending on the terms of the licensing agreement. “This announcement represents a dream come true for us,” says co-founder Marco Massarutto. “The Blancpain GT Series license is just the tip of the iceberg. By combining the potential of Unreal Engine 4 and the feedback received from our community, we are producing a completely new simulation aimed to redefine the racing game genre, improving the features that made Assetto Corsa so popular, and introducing those demanded by players for a high-level racing simulation game – with no compromise, and remaining loyal to our philosophy.”

This article may contain affiliate links. If you click an affiliate link and buy a product we may receive a small commission which helps support the publication. See here for more information.


The trial version of Microsoft’s Monster Truck Madness probably had something to do with it. And certainly the original Super Mario Kart and Gran Turismo. A car nut from an early age, Dominic was always drawn to racing games above all other genres. Now a seasoned driving simulation enthusiast, and former editor of Sim Racer magazine, Dominic has followed virtual reality developments with keen interest, as cockpit-based simulation is a perfect match for the technology. Conditions could hardly be more ideal, a scientist once said. Writing about simulators lead him to Road to VR, whose broad coverage of the industry revealed the bigger picture and limitless potential of the medium. Passionate about technology and a lifelong PC gamer, Dominic suffers from the ‘tweak for days’ PC gaming condition, where he plays the same section over and over at every possible combination of visual settings to find the right balance between fidelity and performance. Based within The Fens of Lincolnshire (it’s very flat), Dominic can sometimes be found marvelling at the real world’s ‘draw distance’, wishing virtual technologies would catch up.
  • Jean-Sebastien Perron

    With so many amzing VR racing sim : PC2, Raceroom, rFactor2, AC, iRacing, Drive club, Dirt… It is difficult to understand why some backward stubborn lazy studios still don t want to give us VR. Everyone in simracing is preaching VR as the only way. F1, Ride and Isle of man TT should be VR to be taken seriously.

    • bliglum .

      Absolutely agreed. I’ve been sim racing for years, and ever since I first tried VR, I have not looked back, so to speak. It’s just so much better than a flat screen. And not just the Gee whiz feeling of being IN the car, but the legit depth perception, and ability to look around genuinely bring more to the table….. Sim racing for me is VR’s killer app.

    • gothicvillas

      F1 in VR? Where?
      Edit: sorry! Should be VR :) I am not buying F1 titles for the past 3 years only due to lack of VR support. Once you try racing in VR there is NO way to play on flat screen ever again.

    • Raphael

      Codemasters is a predictable letdown. One hit VR wonder. No real surprise.

  • ara

    yes fuck codemasters

    • Raphael

      A bunch of corporate muppets.

      • Alexisms

        Yes how dare they not do exactly what you demand. How DARE they!
        Sheesh.

        • Raphael

          Ummm, I think it’s reasonable for people to be very disappointed by a developer who brings VR to their racing sim then drops it without a word. There is no dialogue with that company. Nice to see you defending their silent decision to abandon vr though. Did you defend CCP as well?

          • ummm…

            somebody say my name?

  • twattermaster

    Hey RoadToVR, has this sentence been changed?

    “Assetto Corsa Competizione will be VR Ready and set to promote eSports”

    It doesn’t say VR ready on Steam page ?!?

    • Ernie

      ACC was revealed on february 21th and it stated “VR ready” on their homepage and on Steam. But the developer had removed this sentence a few days later. The reason was, that they weren’t able to ensure, that VR support will be part of ACC on release.
      But looking at the roadmap, it seems they managed to get VR into the game, which is absolutely fantastic. Can’t wait.

  • bud

    Do we know if the new version will support importation of current mods or if modding will be supported?

    Assetto Corsa has a huge modding community.

    • gothicvillas

      this title will be like iRacing as far as I know. Official races etc. No messing around with mods etc.

  • Skyfire

    Are there any statistics available on how the ratio for VR use is in Assetto Corsa or PC2/iRacing?

    • Tumm555

      I only have read about numbers in iRacing: over 50% use VR! :)

      • PL

        Where did you get that figure from?

      • ummm…

        really? i dont believe.

    • ummm…

      ive done some cursory studies of my own play and i found 100% of my sim racing is done using VR.

  • bliglum .

    Love Assetto Corsa, but I’m a little concerned about it being a “Blancpain GT Series game”. Will this licensing deal (and move to the new engine) be a limiting factor? With only cars and tracks from that specific race series?…. I was kind of hoping for a full sequel, where they build on the first AC’s great cars, tracks, and phenomenal physics. Of course with the snazzy new graphics, weather,TOD, multiplayer improvements etc… Hoping it’s the latter

    • Skyfire

      I guess they use this series to fund some of their development for a new AC version. I suspect that Assetto Corsa Competizion will be the intermediate product on which they will base some AC 2.

  • HybridEnergy

    I love Assetto Corsa and the Project Cars series on PCVR , after getting a G920 wheel there is nothing like that experience. However, this just seems like more Assetto Corsa. After all the community mods of regular street cars and imaginative non-race circuit tracks one would think they would get the hint that people don’t just want to drive Le-mans looking plastic cars around the same circle tracks. I don’t see what this new Chamiponazone or whatever adds to the table over the regular Assetto Corsa, if anything I’ve been craving something stupid arcade like Need for Speed for my VR and wheel to be honest.

    • ummm…

      im sorry. you need to throw out your PC and AC and go for PC2, RF2, RRE. ;)

      • HybridEnergy

        Will do, the 1080 ti is in the recycle bin as per your instructions as I type this already.

        • ummm…

          oh dear. seems to have been a miscommunication. keep the 1080ti, i did. i just threw out my copy of Project Cars and Assetto Corsa.

  • ummm…

    no VR at launch?!!? shut em down.

  • Thank you, it was a great read.
    I would recommend your readers also to read about How to Build Apps for Foldable Devices