Product Code Database
Assetto Corsa (Italian language for "Race Setup") is a simulation racing video game developed by the Italy video game developer, Kunos Simulazioni. It is designed with an emphasis on a realistic racing experience with support for extensive customization and moddability. The game was first released via the Steam Early Access program in November 8th, 2013, and officially left Early Access as final release version on December 19th, 2014.
On 3 June 2015, publisher 505 Games in partnership with Kunos Simulazioni announced that they would bring the game to Xbox One and PlayStation 4 in 2016 and on 20 January 2016 revealed a release date of 22 April 2016. On 24 February 2016, it was announced that the console release was delayed to 3 June 2016. 505 Games and Kunos Simulazioni announced another delay and a new release date for the console versions on 6 May 2016. The game was released on consoles on 26 and 30 August 2016 in Europe and North America respectively. A second game, Assetto Corsa Competizione, was released in May 2019, while the third installment Assetto Corsa EVO launched into early access in January 2025.
The game allows to adjust realism settings fitting the experience of the player, ranging from artificial to "factory" or entirely disabled assists. A variety of session modes and session settings are available for offline and online play. Offline campaign, special events, custom championships, hotlap, quick race, drift, drag and race weekend sessions can be played alone or against AI. A server manager tool allows to create servers for online sessions, LAN sessions are also supported.
When joining an offline/online session, players can adjust their car through a setup interface. Depending on the car this includes gear ratios, tyre compounds, tyre pressures, fuel, suspension settings like anti-roll bars, wheel rates, ride height, packer rates, travel range, damper settings like bump stops and rebounds, heave dampers, alignment setting, drivetrain settings for differential lock and pre-load, hybrid settings, adjustments to the wings, brake bias, brake power, engine limiter, etc. Assists like traction control and ABS, turbo boost, KERS, ERS and engine brake settings and brake bias can be adjusted on the fly through hot-keys.
The in-game HUD consists of multiple "virtual desktops" that allow to manually place a wide variety of "apps" anywhere on screen, and the selection can be expanded through custom apps written in the Python language. The API allows access to the session and simulation data through external LCDs or phone apps and the simulation exports telemetry data in a compatible format for professional data analysis software.
! Track ! Country ! # of layouts ! Layouts | |||
| Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps | 1 | ||
| Nürburgring | 4 | GP, GP (GT), Sprint, Sprint (GT) | |
| Nürburgring Nordschleife * | 4 | Normal, Endurance, Endurance Cup, Touristenfahrten | |
| Mugello Circuit | 1 | ||
| Autodromo dell'Umbria (Magione) | 1 | ||
| Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari (Imola) | 1 | ||
| Monza Circuit | 4 | GP, 1966 Full Course, 1966 Junior Course, 1966 Road Course | |
| Autodromo Piero Taruffi (Vallelunga) | 3 | Normal, Classic, Club | |
| Trento-Bondone Hill Climb | 1 | ||
| Drag Strip (fictional) | 5 | 200 m, 400 m, 500 m, 1000 m, 2000 m | |
| Drift (fictional) | 1 | ||
| Circuit Park Zandvoort | 1 | ||
| Red Bull Ring * | 2 | GP, Short | |
| Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya * | 2 | GP, Moto | |
| Brands Hatch * | 2 | GP, Indy | |
| Silverstone Circuit | 4 | GP, International, National, 1967 | |
| Black Cat County (fictional) | 3 | Normal, Long, Short | |
| Highlands (fictional) | 4 | Normal, Drift, Long, Short | |
| Laguna Seca Raceway | 1 |
Assetto Corsa started development in 2010 with a driving school project for Automobile Club d'Italia. In 2011, Kunos moved to developing the game in Unity engine, however, due to constraints of external integrability i.e. not being modding friendly, and due to long loading times, they decided to leave it be and at the end of 2011 built a new engine completely in-house from the ground up instead.
The game is coded in multiple programming languages. C++ is used for the simulation part and Go for the multiplayer server. The user interface and launcher core is coded in C#, but the interface frontend in HTML to allow users to create interface modifications. Python can be used for developing plugins for retrieving simulation data in real time. APIs used are DirectX 11 for graphics, FMOD for sound and ODE for collision detection and physics engine.
On February 14, 2018, a new release called Ultimate Edition, containing all previously available DLCs, was announced for consoles. This edition was then released on April 20, 2018.
Patch 1.2 on 31 July 2015 saw the introduction of Circuit Park Zandvoort, and added the Alfa Romeo MiTo QV, Audi Sport Quattro, Lamborghini Miura P400 SV, Nissan R35 GT-R NISMO and Toyota GT86 to the game.
With patch 1.5 on 31 March 2016 a major free update was released for the game, bringing a new fictional USA-themed location named Black Cat County, available in 3 layouts, two additional Nürburgring layouts, an additional Nürburgring Nordschleife endurance layout, the Vallelunga classic layout, new drag strip distances, a graphical rework of most existing circuits in the game, as well as the introduction of the Abarth 595 SS (including variants), Chevrolet Corvette C7 Stingray and the 2015 Ford Mustang.
The Red Pack DLC was released on 14 July 2016, introducing the Maserati brand and the laserscanned Red Bull Ring in GP and National layouts to the game, containing seven cars like the Ferrari 488 GT3, Ferrari F138, Ferrari SF15-T, Lamborghini LP 750-4 Aventador SV, the classic GP six-/twelve-cylinder Maserati 250F and 250F T2 monoposto and the Maserati GranTurismo MC GT4. The introduction of modern Formula 1 extends the simulated Hybrid Engine in the game with the complex Energy Recovery Systems (ERS) utilised in modern Formula One.
On 25 October 2016, and 30 January 2017 Kunos released the Porsche Pack Volume 1 2 and 3 DLCs. It introduces the Porsche brand to the game together with new cars: the , the 1974 911 Carrera RSR 3.0, the 2015 911 Carrera S, 917/30 Spyder, 918 Spyder Weissach, 935/78 "Moby Dick", Cayman GT4 Clubsport, 911 GT3 RS, 718 Spyder RS, Porsche Cayman, 718 Boxster S Manual Transmisson, 718 Boxster S PDK, 2013 919 Hybrid, 911 G1, 962c Short Tail, 962c Long Tail, 2016 919 Hybrid, 2016 GT3 R, 2017 RSR, 2017 GT3 Cup, 908 LH, 917 K, 911 R, and 911 Turbo S.
The Ferrari 70th Anniversary Celebration Pack DLC, released on 19 September 2017, added seven new Ferrari cars: the 250 GTO, 288 GTO, 312/67, 330 P4, 812 Superfast and the F2004, as well as a community-voted seventh car from Ferrari's history. After receiving over 30000 votes in total the result of the poll to be included in the DLC is the 2017 Ferrari SF70H with 15.39% of the votes.
The Prestige Pack DLC was announced in 6 October 2016 for the Xbox One and later on the next day on the PlayStation 4 (PS4). The product features eight additional vehicles, including The Ferrari 458 Italia, Audi R8 V10 Plus, Chevrolet Corvette C7 Stingray, Ford Mustang, Lamborghini Gallardo SuperLeggera, Nissan GT-R, Toyota GT-86, Audi A1 S1, and BMW M4 Coupe.
In 11 July 2016, The Japanese Pack was launched to available devices, directly from the Japanese Domestic Market (JDM). The DLC features seven new cars of twelve versions; like the 2015 Mazda MX-5, MX-5 Cup, Mazda RX-7 Spirit R, Toyota Supra, Toyota AE86 Trueno, Nissan 370Z Nismo, and Nissan Skyline GT-R R34 V-Spec.
The Tripl3 Pack was introduced in 27 August 2016 to celebrate the launch of Assetto Corsa on console. The DLC only includes three cars; The Ferrari FXX-K, Ferrari 488 GTB, and The Praga R1.
The Ready To Race Pack DLC was announced on 2 June 2017 and features various automobiles; such as the 2016 Audi R8 LMS, Audi R18 E-Tron Quattro, Audi TT, Audi TT, Lotus 3-Eleven, Maserati MC12 GT1, McLaren 570S McLaren P1 GTR, Toyota Celica, and The Toyota TS040 Hybrid.
Work on Oculus support ceased after support for Development Kit 2, with Kunos Simulazioni citing increased difficulty in keeping the latest Oculus SDK's supported while production priorities are focused on updates for the PC version and preparation for the console release, promising "to support VR—and not necessarily only the Oculus Rift—when we will be able to take the time and resources required." In an official community poll on the official support forums, open from 2 to 9 April 2016, "VR support" reached first place with 25% of a total of 4801 votes.
With the 1.6 update released on 18 May 2016 the development studio implemented pre-Alpha support for the Oculus Rift SDK 1.3, enabling support for the consumer version of the Oculus VR HMD. Thanks to a workaround using the software ReVive this version of the simulator also works with the HTC Vive—official support for the device was confirmed to release at a later date. On 22 March 2017 patch 1.13 added the beta implementation of Vive support through OpenVR.
Assetto Corsa supports many different VR headsets utilizing Oculus runtime or Open VR. Including but not limited to Oculus Rift, Oculus Quest, Oculus Quest 2, HTC Vive, Valve Index and many more.
Eurogamer, in its January 2015 PC review, writes that "Kunos' solution is simple, elegant and—if there's any common sense knocking around other developers—surely a standard for all driving games that follow in its wake" and concludes that " Assetto Corsa's laser focus on the driving experience works wonders—and when it comes to replicating that simple, brilliant pleasure, there's no other game right now that does it better"; it awarded the game a score of 9/10 and a silver 'Recommended' label. Eurogamer.net's Italian sister-website Eurogamer.it reviewed the game earlier on 16 October 2014 and awarded it the same score of 9/10.
Justin Sutton of American automobile news site Motorsport.com, writes that " Assetto Corsa is a beautiful game, the result of laser-scanning accuracy and precision, with good sound, AI that needs improving, and a multiplayer community that could really benefit from more clean racers. The mods available for the sim, however, take it to the next level", concluding: "If you're looking for a good sim to enter the sim-racing community with, Assetto Corsa is a fantastic choice that will provide an incredible number of cars and tracks for a one-time payment."
On 15 May 2015 Rock, Paper, Shotgun's Tim Stone put Assetto Corsa on place five of its "The 25 Best Simulation Games Ever Made" list. The game has been regularly featured in the website's simulation and wargame-focused The Flare Path section.
In its 2015 review of the PC version, British automobile magazine Evo Magazine highlights Assetto Corsa's physics, writing that "some aspects that other games barely touch on, such as tyre deformation and accurate friction models, are impressively accurate", and concludes: "What Assetto Corsa neatly demonstrates is the variety available in the racing simulation game market, and also developers’ different interpretations of the term ‘simulation’. ... While lacking in vehicle and circuits right now, Assetto Corsa is one of the best simulations we’ve tried". However, in September 2016, The PlayStation Official Magazine said "as an actual racing game, it's rather sedate, feature-light and often unfairly difficult."
Declaring 2015 as "Year of the racing game", British automobile magazine TopGear's Mike Channell writes: "Released at the tail end of 2014, Assetto Corsa is a spectacularly tactile PC sim that offers up a garage full of cars that will tug at your very loins". In a preview of the upcoming console version in January 2016, TopGear writes that " Assetto Corsa might not have the same storied history as Forza or Gran Turismo, but it's established its brilliance on PC already and as with just about everything built by Italians it's forged with all-consuming passion."
Previewing the game for the upcoming console release RedBull.com's, Curtis Moldrich states that "although we didn't get a chance to play the game with a controller, with a steering wheel at least, Assetto Corsa is a revolution. By embracing reality and modelling it perfectly, Assetto Corsa actually makes for a more entertaining game. Throw in super-realistic sound, solid AI and smooth graphics, and Assetto Corsa could well be the benchmark that Gran Turismo Sport, Project CARS 2 and Forza 7 will have to beat." In contrast, GamesMaster said that it is "lacking in most areas compared to its rivals."
As of May 2016 the game is ranked among the most played racing sims on the Steam platform. There are more than 900 active multiplayer servers for Assetto Corsa and the game is used by several leagues around the world. On racedepartment.com, more than 9000 modifications have been published for the title until October 2018.
Kunos Simulazioni has stated since game release that, due to engine limitations and due to the small size of the software developer, the game would not support features such as wet weather conditions, rain, night racing, or multi-class racing compatible AI. According to simulation engineer James Dover, the game does deliver in terms of graphics, but he reckons its physics engine "lacks seriousness". As of May 2016, various updates to the game solved or improve upon many of the listed issues like AI, netcode, physics and single player AI pitstops, and the game continues being updated in all areas with regular cadence.
The game reached number 8 in the UK sales chart. It got to number 3 in Australia and number 5 in New Zealand. The game has sold a total of 1.4 million copies.
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