Assetto Corsa | News and General Discussion

[Samus]

What is their release plan? Just downloads or boxed copies as well?

 

[CodeRedR51]

So we're not getting a beta version, they're just going to release it?

From the article:

"However, we hope to get the ‘tech demo’ out sooner, hopefully this year."

 

[Jav]

Just finished that article. Lots of good info in there about the tire model, physics, etc. 👍

Great article! Can't wait for the final product!!

@Crhmatic, they are still pushing for the Tech Demo but other than that it's just the full release of the game.

 

[chromatic9]

Thanks guys.

Yeah, I just remember a twitter post many months ago about a beta. Hoped to get a sample but if its that close to release then.

 

[three60]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=BWHKV2sfCNA

 

[Jav]

Wish I could understand Italian better...

 

[Phoenix]

Wish I could understand Italian better...

I wish I could understand Italian at all.

 

[CodeRedR51]

I wish I could understand Italian at all.

👍

 

[Saidur_Ali]

I wish I could understand Italian at all.

One advantage of not understanding Italian is you can watch with translated subtitles which is much more funnier .

 

[TomBrady]

And it never will be. Limitations of hardware and pressure from Sony to make it a game for "the masses" would be the prime factors.

Hardware is not a reason. Case and point, GPL, Richard Burns Rally, or actually any modern sim. My PC can run all of the modern sims besides pCars and it's unbelievably less powerful than my PS3 by a long ways.

Second reason is correct and the fact that it has to work with controllers. Still, it feels great considering all that but just doesn't stack up to netkar, or iRacing

 

[Jav]

Copied from the iRacing forums wich was copied from the SMS Forums, *NOT MY TRANSLATION*:

Wow, there's a significant amount of content over at the pCARS forum, I don't usually browse there. Delpinsky kindly gives us this translation:

Special report preview n°4 by DrivingItalia.NET - www.drivingitalia.net
Interview at Kunos Simulazioni: Aris Vasilakos, Stefano Casillo e Marco Massarutto

Translation into english for non italian speakers made by me:

3 old friends, I underline old...

Let's talk about Assetto Corsa!

First question: why the name Assetto Corsa?

- laughs - Nice start...

Because it's cool!
We noticed some foreign products with italian names (Nd. Grand Turismo, Forza Motorsport), so why to copy them with a foreign name since we are italian?

Marco, what can you tell us about this new Kunos product?
It's new for you, not for us, since we've been working on it for 3 years - smiling - we are sick of it!
We are very happy of what we've done so far. What helped us to improve the approach in the way we work, are not only the past experiences but also the chance to have our headquarters here in a track (Nd. Vallelunga), being in touch daily with the world of motorsport.

Assetto Corsa is a bigger and different thing compared to netKar Pro and the opportunity to have more people working with us, gave us the possibility to focus ourselves individually on much more aspects, compared to the past, where it was basically a one-man-band, where everything rotated around Stefano (Nd. Casillo).
We have people like Aris (Ed. Vasilakos) - unfortunately! - who gives us the possibility to be more specialized in every area of the development, from graphics to physics, passing through licensing department.

It's our most ambitious project and what will determine the future of our company.

Another question: how much of netKar Pro can you find in Assetto Corsa? ..if there's any.

- People! People who worked on it, plus other new entries.

From the source code point of view, there's nothing in common, but the know-how we developed in all these years.
Assetto Corsa is not an evolution of things already done before. It's a project created from the scratch as netKar Pro was an experimental project, born with other objectives in mind. Stefano turned his experimental ambitions into something bigger and now Assetto Corsa concept answers to all the new demands we received in all these years, such as professional, training-platform, modding and so on.

The first thing you notice when AC starts is the menu.
It's a very stylish menu, complete, and aesthetically functional. It seems to be a game though.
Does it means Kunos open to Arcade and people who are not addicted to simulations?

- Assetto Corsa is an Arcade! - laughin -

- (Nd. Aris) There's no reason why a user experience shouldn't be fun. Our primary goal with AC was to give the user the chance to play, to drive, which is the essence for a racing enthusiast. So everything must be easy and graphically clean when you want to select a car, a circuit.

So now, to set up the input devices you don't need a degree in engineering.
- No, it's enough a Master...

Stefano, what can you tell us about Assetto Corsa?

- I'm very tired!
- We are in the final timeline about implementations. From that moment on we're going to start the hardest part of bug fixing. It's really hard for us to talk about AC because we have it before our eyes every single day.
Compared to nK Pro I have a vision more related to software, because since AC is developead by a team, now I find myself to play just like a simple user... for example every time I try a new version I find something new to me, like a completely new menu, new cars and so on, and everything happens without my primary intervention, as it's now all made in synergy among the crew. So now the hope is to have now a more solid product as we can split the work among the team members.

Talking about physics, dynamic model and driving feel, things that really impressed me.. Aris, you told me before that the approach on physics and driving model was completely different.

- We start from a base, which is Stefano programming his physics engine; and it's really amazing to say "I need a value or a feature" and the day after being able to have it, working, and bug-free, and verified working as it should in reality.

When you got such an advanced model, you feel yourself compelled to do a step forward and not starting to create each car, one by one, with its own behavior and then trying to fix this to catch its right behavior and then again starting with another car to do a completely new thing to find its normal behavior.

We aim to link all the things together to have all the cars working in a proportional way and bound one another; and I think what we managed to do with AC is, often when you drive, you don't try to undestand what the simulator does and then you adapt yourself to it, but you simply try to understand the specs, the characteristics of each car and exploit them to drive faster or have more fun when you drive that car.

Will this be a great advantage for Modders as well?

- Yes, we hope so, also because everytime Stefano adds something on the physics engine and even graphics engine, one of my first thoughts is: "how can we make this thing easier to use by me and so by Modders (..later on)?"

Marco, let's talk about liceses and what we can expect from Assetto Corsa in regards of tracks and cars.

- Vallelunga has not been officially announced yet, but you can bet it will be in the final version.
Clearly we have our officies here at the track, so...

Monza, Silverstone, Imola and Magione have been already announced.

As Bonus Track: TRENTO - BONDONE hillclimb!

It will be revisited a little in function of the new graphics engine which is different from the old one. (Nd. GREAT NEWS!)
So this track will require a bit of extra work.

Two new circuits are on the way, but we can't talk about them as the license agreements are close to finalization.
Let's see if we can make a surprise to all racing enthusiats... we try to!

About Lotus cars, we have a multi-years license, covering also the next two years of production.
A base of 5/6 cars but no Classic Team Lotus brand, which is another thing.

Then we will add other cars as DLCs in the following months after the official 1.0 release.

Classic Team Lotus: 6 cars, 2 maybe 3 in the 1.0 version.
Three more cars added later on, considering the F1 from '60 on.

BMW: 9 models, street and race cars.
KTM with X-BOW.
FIAT 500 Abarth SS
Ferrari P4/5 Competizione

But in this area the work is not completed because we are finalizing other licenses to have more cars in the 1.0 version.

Another question: how many bugs do you count on adding into Assetto Corsa?
Just joking! Eheh

WHEN ASSETTO CORSA WILL BE RELEASED???

- When it's ready...
The idea was to release it within the fall of 2012, but some things happened, positive things, we hope positive not only for us but also for the final users, so we are thinking a date around the 1st quarter of 2013.

We aim to release a Tech-preview within the fall of 2012, so we can start with it a bug-fixing phase.
In this tech-demo it's likely we add a FIAT 500 Abarth and Magione, and our main goal is to test the graphics engine, a DX11 engine, in as more PC configurations as possible, to verify bugs, performances, interface working and all other feaures which are going to be added in the final version.

Will the Modding be easy to manage and open to every kind of possibilities, such as cars and tracks?

- The software is extremely open, in regards of cars and tracks customization and features such as output data, telemetries, overlay graphics; everything's planned to be extremely user-friendly. Clearly skilled modders will have no problems, whilst newbies can't expect to created state of the art work if they don't understand the values to add to create something.

WITH OUR PRODUCTS, IF YOU CAN OBTAIN REAL-LIFE DATA, IT'S ENOUGH TO ADD THOSE VALUES AND THE SOFTWARE DOES THE JOB.

 

[gogatrs]

Very interesting regarding the physics engine... So limited input needs to be done by the modder to get the physics right. I like it. 👍

 

[Wardez]

Thanks for posting Jav.

And true that, I thought that was the best way to be able to get a lot of fun cars into a sim more quickly. It seems like most sims have to do a backwards approach to getting certain cars to work correctly in their software, but here all they have to do is tell AC what the car's made of, its geometry, set up, tires, and blamo.

Really love Kunos, no one's ever taken a more K.I.S.S approach to siming than them and I think releasing their philosphy on a much bigger scale will get them, and us as sim racers, far.

 

[Jav]

It is indeed a great feature, but makes me wonder what can really be done with it and how deep can it go regarding a particular car's Specs?
For a road going car it shouldn't be too complex but for a car like an Audi R-18 or a GT3 car for that matter it would be very very difficult for an independent team to get it right. Most of the details about thise cars are kept from the public and even the sanctioning body in some cases.

 

[HKS racer]

It is indeed a great feature, but makes me wonder what can really be done with it and how deep can it go regarding a particular car's Specs?
For a road going car it shouldn't be too complex but for a car like an Audi R-18 or a GT3 car for that matter it would be very very difficult for an independent team to get it right. Most of the details about thise cars are kept from the public and even the sanctioning body in some cases.

Usually a GT3 car produce 450 / 500hp engine (because of intake restriction) and wight around 1150 / 1200 kg, 6 gears, slick tyres, rear traction. Modders can always use the BMW Z4 GT3 made by Kunos as a good starting point for another GT3 car.

About the R18 this may help.
http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/car/4668/Audi-R18-TDI.html

 

[theotherspongey]

So there's only, like, 15 cars?

Um...

 

[Wardez]

It's about driving, not car collecting. iRacing had less than a dozen cars when it first came out and the "DLC" cars cost over $10 each.

This is coming out with a strong collection of cars, the important difference being quality over quantity like iRacing. Each car is worked on for a long time to get it just right, not just being pumped out for the sake of adding another one.

 

[G.T.Ace]

Curious if rFactor mods can be converted easily.

 

[CC570]

So there's only, like, 15 cars?

Um...

The thought is that the community will develop a lot of the content as with rfactor.

 

[gogatrs]

Usually a GT3 car produce 450 / 500hp engine (because of intake restriction) and wight around 1150 / 1200 kg, 6 gears, slick tyres, rear traction. Modders can always use the BMW Z4 GT3 made by Kunos as a good starting point for another GT3 car.

About the R18 this may help.
http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/car/4668/Audi-R18-TDI.html

And what about the cars from 50 years ago for which data is non existent?

 

[Jav]

Usually a GT3 car produce 450 / 500hp engine (because of intake restriction) and wight around 1150 / 1200 kg, 6 gears, slick tyres, rear traction. Modders can always use the BMW Z4 GT3 made by Kunos as a good starting point for another GT3 car.

About the R18 this may help.
http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/car/4668/Audi-R18-TDI.html

Not as easy as that, there's way way more data regarding an LMP car than Power and weight or a modern GT car, like roll centers, chassis compliance, camber/toe curves, caster, damper/bump curves, spring rate curves and all of that nice chassis black magic voodoo! Add to that power delivery, torque delivery, KERS delivery and all of that good stuff and you have enough data to studdy for a year before you can make a true representation of a race car like iRacing does.
Add to that all the aero figures and... Yeah, I think you can see it now!

Curious if rFactor mods can be converted easily.

I know every major modder out there is closely looking at AC, I hope you can let us know when you start playing with AC!

 

[gogatrs]

http://www.racedepartment.com/2012/12/andretti-f1-simulator-equipped-with-assetto-corsa/

 

[CodeRedR51]

Looks like a handful!

 

[TomBrady]

It's about driving, not car collecting. iRacing had less than a dozen cars when it first came out and the "DLC" cars cost over $10 each.

This is coming out with a strong collection of cars, the important difference being quality over quantity like iRacing. Each car is worked on for a long time to get it just right, not just being pumped out for the sake of adding another one.

Also I think most importantly this is a great range of cars. There's road cars (good variety of road cars alone, from teh fiat 500 to the M3 and evora), track day car (Xbow), classic F1 cars of very different nature (Lotus 49 and Lotus 98t), modern "F1" car (lotus exos t125) GT cars (Ferrari P4/5, BMW Z4 GT3), and the pagani zonda R. I think there's almost 20, which is about double of netkar but to me the most important part is the variety in my opinion.

Personally, I loved netkar but the slight lack of variety held it back for me just a bit but that's just how I am. I got into sim racing because of the ultimate car collecting racing game, GT PSP. That game is almost exclusively focused on car collecting, and that's what truly got me into racing games and gaming in general actually. All there is to do is collect in that game so I'm as hard to please as anyone when it comes to car selection, but I think AC has done things right so far, plus we'll probably be getting some nice mods.

Netkar had a nice mod car recently as well. The Gallardo Balboni. It's a rear wheel drive gallardo and the modders did a great job, I can only imagine what they'll do with AC

 

[Jav]

There's also a few cars we haven't seen or heard much of, there's that LMP2 car they announced and they also showed the GT-E M3 being scanned and there's that "big announcement" we are all waiting for Fiat's already onboard, could it be Ferrari??

 

[G.T.Ace]

I know every major modder out there is closely looking at AC, I hope you can let us know when you start playing with AC!

Need a new PC first, mine isn't good enough for AC.
But seriously, if it's possible to convert tracks from rFactor to AC, I'll consider to let someone convert my Petersberg hillclimb (still not finished by the way), even if it's not on par graphics wise (although an update could be possible).

 

[Imari]

So there's only, like, 15 cars?

Um...

If number of cars is an issue, this isn't the game for you.

 

[gogatrs]

If number of cars is an issue, this isn't the game for you.

Actually, it IS the game for you.
By this time next year, there will be HUNDREDS of mods available. Cars and tracks.

 

[Phoenix]

Actually, it IS the game for you.
By this time next year, there will be HUNDREDS of mods available. Cars and tracks.

First things first...

We need a good, no-bug release of the game. 👍

Then the car and track mods can be released.

 

[Samus]

The problem with heavily relying on mods is that the quality of the game can become inconsistent, some will be high quality, some poor. Especially when they're converted from old games.