![]() Where Forza and GT want to teach you to get better, Assetto Corsa just wants you to be skilled from the off. For me, the glacial pace of progress, repeated use of the same cars and tracks, and the constant banging of head against brick wall was enough to spoil my interest. It’s hard to get ahead, harder still to stay ahead, and it only takes one mistake to keep you out of the all-important medals you need to progress. The AI, while not brilliant, is fast, precise and a little too unflappable, rarely making any errors and occasionally barrelling into you to knock you off course. This in itself isn’t much of a disaster, but KUNOS doesn’t seem to be interested in niceties like a gentle learning curve or variety, with some of the time trials easily completed and the races a nightmare to get through. It’s another series of tiered collections of events, taking you through from a novice racer to a master, with many of the collections focusing on a small number of cars and tracks. The career mode, meanwhile, is almost as uninspired as it is unrewarding. And while it runs at a mostly smooth 1080p/60fps on PS4, stutters and judders can break out when taking some corners or when there are a lot of cars visible on the track – particularly in the chase-cam view. ![]() The basics are all in place, but KUNOS doesn’t have the manpower for all those little details that bring the background scenery to life. It has good tracks, a modern lighting engine and some beautifully modelled cars – clearly the focal point – but if you’re looking for something to rival Forza 6 for beauty, then you won’t find it here. Visually, it’s a solid-looking game without ever being remarkable. There are almost too many options and settings, and too few of these are explained. Victories aren’t celebrated any more than a defeat is marked successful and unsuccessful events are registered with barely a shrug. Forget luxuries like voiceovers, intros and linking cinematics – a bunch of rather spartan, slightly ugly menus are as good as it’s going to get. Unlike GT, Forza or Slightly Mad’s Project Cars, Assetto Corsa feels like it was built to a budget. Let’s start with what isn’t quite so brilliant. If authenticity and convincing handling are what matter most to you, Assetto Corsa still might be the console driving sim you’ve been waiting for. In translation to Xbox One and PS4, KUNOS hasn’t compromised on its feel, handling or heart and soul. What’s more, Assetto Corsa fumbles its single-player career mode, making it less than a joy to play.Īnd yet I think it’s going to be a huge hit with a certain kind of driving game fan. This is still unquestionably the work of a small team working on a small budget, without the polish, cars, tracks, weather effects and sheer attention to detail that goes into the console racing kings. Now it’s arrived, is there a chance Assetto Corsa can tackle the likes of Forza Motorsport and Gran Turismo on their home turf? Six months later, a console version is announced. It’s soon regarded as one of the best racing games on PC – if not the best. Between its initial early-access launch in November 2013 and its full release just over one year later, Assetto Corsa becomes something of a word-of-mouth hit, impressing the sim fraternity with the depth of its physics simulation and the authenticity of its handling. First a small Italian developer, KUNOS Simulazioni, creates a sim-style driving game for the PC. The one caveat to all of this is that time will need to be spent to understand the vehicles and the wonderful assortment of amazing tracks that are included in order to feel completely comfortable behind the wheel.It’s almost a fairytale underdog story. ![]() When you take into consideration the amount of content and options, and then include the visuals and racing authenticity, ACC is a complete package. Bottom Lineįor the most part, what Kunos and 505 have delivered to the community in the form of Assetto Corsa Competizione is nothing short of brilliant. Perhaps this generally has to do with car licensing deals, but our experiences with these games suffer due to that. While I’m sure developers mostly grasp that a solid damage model can deliver a high level of immersion and authenticity to a game, it’s extremely common to see metal twisting, car-destroying accidents leave just minor scratches in many racing titles. Even with car damage set at 100 percent, I sometimes witnessed crashes that would be considered absolute spectacles resulting in very little damage - if any at all. On top of the rare(ish) glitches that I experienced, I must bring up the damage model, or lack thereof.
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