Kunos Simulazioni took part in most important presentation on the ADAC Sim Racing Expo 2024 in Dortmund, where more information was revealed in regards to the upcoming early access release Assetto Corsa Evo.
Marco Massarutto, co-founder and executive manager at Kunos, and game director Davide Brivio participated in a small panel where they explained more in regards to the ethos behind ACE, the event process, and what players can expect from the title when it becomes available in January as a part of the early access program.
Assetto Corsa Evo: latest game engine
Original AC it was, after all, based on the unique engine developed by Kunos, but then it was a spin-off ACC the title ran on a ready-made engine: Unreal Engine 4. We already knew that AS would revert to a Kunos-developed engine built specifically for the title, and Massarutto explained a bit more in regards to the reasoning behind this.
“We created a completely new engine because we want to cope with the technology that is behind us Assetto Corsa“, said Massarutto. “We want to put the best, maximum attention on VR, triple screen and all these technologies that are specifically dedicated to racing simulators.”
VR particularly isn’t Unreal's traditional forte, even in the present UE5, as other developers have also noted. Since that is something of accelerating importance to probably the most dedicated sim racing fans, this looks like a sensible selection – although we're unsure how it might translate to consoles and devices like PSVR2.
“That's why we created a completely new KS engine that was specifically designed for racing applications, and which also allows us to add a lot of new things,” he continued.
Assetto Corsa Evo: dynamic weather, dynamic track
New features include dynamic weather and dynamic track conditions that weren’t a part of the primary title.
Massarutto didn't detail these features within the presentation, but we already saw the primary one in a trailer released last month. However, he also sat in front of a giant screen that had bullet points containing several additional features.
We are intrigued by “gravity-based dynamic track technology” that appears to manage how and where surface water flows, collects and persists. This may have an interesting effect, especially on the drying track.
Other points included dynamic global illumination, physical sky, volumetric fog and dynamic particle effects. We may have to attend some time for more information and examples.
Assetto Corsa Evo: Free play mode and procedural terrain
One of the most important pieces of confirmed news was something lots of us suspected after seeing the September trailer: free exploration.
Massarutto had little time, but he managed to smuggle out the note AS will feature a free roaming mode that may allow players to drive the sport's cars on the road. This can be a brand new feature of the brand new KS engine, with Massarutto adding that it’s “based on new off-road technology that allows us to manage a very large map and hundreds of kilometers of roads.”
As above, the big screen behind him added more information, with a bullet point stating “procedural technology for free movement maps.” This may mean that the roads you drive on are generated on the fly, although we suspect some players can even want more everlasting road locations.
We'll should wait and see, but Massarutto commented that “a lot of people like it AC with mods created on roads like the Los Angeles Canyon and the Tokyo Freeway,” noting that KS will recreate this with its own content “generated and created in KS, based on real data about real-world locations that we believe will be very connected to the life of a gashead “.
Assetto Corsa Evo: profession and game economy
Noting that the unique gameplay in AC was quite simple – “the formula of select automotive, track, hot lap, race, setup is completely great and good for a number of people, but probably in 2024-2025 it can be [not] enough is enough,” Massarutto explained as one among the goals AS was to create an interesting profession mode for automotive enthusiasts:
“We need to create not only a profession, but something that may actually be an RPG game for petrolheads. We are all automotive enthusiasts: we love cars, we love driving, a few of them like collecting diecast models or real cars, they need to drive on the track, on the road, they need to tune and customize their automotive.
Brivio explained a bit more about what this profession will appear like, although the precise details are after all still a good distance off. “You enter the game, you start from a certain point, you develop with complete freedom, but in the game you gain momentum,” he comments.
“So we are thinking about creating a game economic system that will be as simple as possible, but will help players enter the game on a limited budget, choose their first car, and then with complete freedom play, accumulate experience, and virtual currency… and buy cars whatever you want.”
The game can still be played in sandbox mode ACbut there you’ll only have the option to “rent” cars and you may not have the option to make any changes.
Of course, given the present state of gaming, the term “virtual currency” may raise some concerns. However, Brivio has some excellent news: the currency is earned only in-game and there can be no microtransactions.
Assetto Corsa Evo: Car physics
Noting that AC is and has at all times been designed with simulation in mind, Massarutto clearly states that “if we start doing something else, we will kill Assetto Corsaso in order to reach a wider audience, we won't facilitate simulations, “simcade” or anything like that.
The team could have done a number of work on physics — to enhance what was good in Assetto Corsa franchise and dealing on those features that might perhaps be considered weak” – and Massarutto highlights one aspect that has modified because the original title.
“What is also changing a lot is the relationship with car manufacturers, which also thanks Competition– he commented. “Car service[…]is of course based on the car data we receive from manufacturers, but we also have the opportunity to drive multiple cars – real cars – on track and road, which will be included in Evawhich helps us even better match the real-world counterpart to the virtual one.”
Assetto Corsa Evo: future support
It looks like Kunos Simulazioni has big plans to support AS still some time – in spite of everything, it's been ten years because the original game!
“We did the right design Eva four years ago when we started,” says Massarutto, “and we said OK, what we wish to see Eva: this, this and this and that. We adjusted the goals a bit during development because some things are doable, some are great but could also be doable in the long term.
“Assetto Corsa Evo has been designed from the bottom up with a distinct structure that may allow us to support the sport for a lot of, a few years – that's why we wish to develop the sport, perhaps ceaselessly – and the way in which we work reflects what we wish to realize.
There was a number of detail on this short presentation, which you’ll be able to watch within the video at the highest of the page, but the most important takeaway from it was, Massarutto says, that Kunos wants players to have a good time AS in any way they need.
