Assetto Corsa EVO is set to release into Steam’s Early Access program on January 16th. Sim racing developer Kunos Simulazioni therefore finally publishes parts of the follow up to critically acclaimed Assetto Corsa, published in 2013. In the meantime, Assetto Corsa Competizione, which can be described as a spinoff simulating parts of SRO championships helped grow sim racing esports. Here is what you can expect from ACEVO on Early Access launch day.
What’s been Confirmed
On their social media pages, Kunos Simulazioni released the scope of EVOs first Early Access.
So let’s dive into these announcements.
The 5 Circuits
5 classic circuits make their way to Assetto Corsa EVO on launch.
- Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari – Imola Circuit
- Mount Panorama Circuit – Bathurst
- Brands Hatch Circuit
- WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca
- Suzuka International Racing Course
The 20 Cars
The launch day cars have been confirmed in batches of 4 on Kunos’ social media accounts.
The first post included
- Toyota GR86
- Ferrari 296 GTB
- BMW M2 CS Racing
- Abarth 695 Biposto
Next up were
- Volkswagen Golf 8 GTI Clubsport
- Alfa Romeo Giulia GTAm
- Mazda MX5 ND Cup
- Ford Escort RS Cosworth
On the third day, they announced
- Hyundai I30 N Hatchback
- Ferrari 488 Challenge EVO
- BMW M4 CSL
- Alpine A110 S
The penultimate post included:
- Mercedes-Benz AMG GT2
- Lotus Emira
- Honda S-2000
- Alfa Romeo Junior Elettrica Veloce
Finally confirmed were:
- Porsche 992 GT3 Cup
- Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
- Audi RS 3 Sportback
- Alpine A290B Concept
Statistics, What Everyone Here Wants
So let’s get into the gritty stuff. Statistics.
20 different cars.
16 different manufacturers.
2 different drivetrain types.
7 different manufacturer nationalities.
7 different car body types.
15 road cars. 4 race cars. 1 prototype.
What I find interesting is how AC EVO decided to make up the bulk of these cars.
15 road cars are present in this simulator. By all accounts, this is expected to be a racing sim connected by an open world. However, let’s compare that to base game Assetto Corsa, which EVO is supposed to emulate.
Comparing base Assetto Corsa with Assetto Corsa EVO Early Access the two are pretty similar. The percentages for EVO Early Access are 75% road cars, 20% race cars and 5% concept cars. So Kunos seem to go down a very similar route in terms of cars they offer to back in 2013.
A major difference is that a couple of car classes are still completely missing. Open wheel or “Formula”-style cars seem to be completely absent from the Early Access launch. Additionally, no prototypes, drift or non-GT cup cars for now.
Given that large contingents of concurrent Assetto Corsa players enjoy the drifting/touge scene, the lack of drifting seems off. However, since this Early Access release does not yet feature the open-world map, there is still time for focussed drift cars to make it.
Open wheelers, though, seem like a confusing miss from the first publicly playable release.
The Technical Confirmations
VR Support, which is a rather common occurance amongst sim racers, is confirmed to be coming with Early Access release already. So if you are used to racing with your VR goggles or headset on, you don’t need to acclimate to the more static alternative. However, if you don’t use VR ….
… triple screen has already been confirmed as well. This is one of those special setups most common in sim racing. So it’s nice to see that people with that setup don’t need to switch at all which acclimating to Assetto Corsa EVO.
These confirmations, however, come on top of more conventional display methods. Normal screens, in different aspect ratios and resolutions, will be supported as well.
The Features
From the start, drivers will be able to use two different singleplayer modes. Solo practice and racing against AI are both available already. And as seen in our YouTube video showcasing AC EVO at Sim Racing EXPO, the AI is already amazing to race against.
Showroom customisation and car customisation will also already be available from the start.
Unfortunately, the big open-world that was hugely anticipated, especially in regards to its size, will not features immediately. It was announced to become available later on in the simulator’s lifespan, with Summer 2025 being stated as release for a part of the map.
What is featured from the start, however, is the in-game economy. To be precise, the first step will be available. This includes
- Renting Cars
- Purchasing Cars
- Experience Points (XP)
- Rank
- Rewards
- Driver Profile
- Driving Licenses
- Driving Academy
A big part of this first release seems to be to get people set up in the world of Assetto Corsa EVO. In other gaming terms, this might be the “tutorial” for the over-time expanding offering.
It will be interesting to find out just how much drivers will be able to do when looking at licenses and the academy. As stated earlier, a few different key racing car classes are still missing. Formula cars, rally cars, drift cars, all of which my not be possible to acquire licenses for, yet. That is assuming that licenses work on a per-class basis.
Let’s see what happends. It’ll be just a few more days until the release. You can wishlist Assetto Corsa EVO now via its Steam page.
Assetto Corsa EVO will feature support for wheel manufacturers such a Fanatec and Moza. If you need some last minute hardware, be sure to check out Fanatec’s e-shop or Moza’s online store (both are affiliate links which help support us and cover our costs).