With Assetto Corsa due to launch this month, the official Assetto Corsa Youtube channel has uploaded the above video to highlight what those on controller can expect against those with a dedicated steering wheel in terms of car control. Due to the PC-centric development approach that many sims have these days, the handling on controller has become an important metric when players factor in if they should purchase a game.
At GTPlanet, we praised DiRT Rally for being very good on controller. Project CARS didn’t fare so well, with player complaints about how difficult the default controller settings were to deal with when the game launched last year. Assetto Corsa looks to mimic DiRT’s success with a smooth driving experience out of the box as shown in the video above.
The video shows off Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in the striking Lamborghini Huracan GT3 running on the PS4 version of the game. Immediately obvious, the controller video does seem more twitchy but not to a degree which raises concern, the level of control achievable on wheel will probably never be 100% replicated on analogue sticks. In general, it looks like those playing on controller will not suffer from the game feeling unplayable in such an in-depth simulation — it doesn’t even seem like there’s a huge disadvantage to playing on controller. It should be noted that the description of the video doesn’t note which driving aids (if any) have been activated for either the wheel or controller, so it’s worth factoring this in.
Kunos Simulazioni’s Assetto Corsa arrives on PS4 and Xbox One 26th August 2016.
See more articles on Assetto Corsa, PS4, and Xbox One.
It looks so twitchy. It can’t be that bad. It looks like he used the D-pad to steer. When I play with a controller it looks as smooth as driving with a wheel (GT-wise anyway). Crossing my fingers it won’t be as bad as pCars.
I play Pcars with a controller & all I have on is ABS. After getting used to it…it’s no sweat.
Guess AC will be a breeze w/a controller.
Good controller support is one of the many reasons I enjoy playing Assetto Corsa, particularly with the XB1 controller. And even though it can’t provide as an authentic feel to AC as a steering wheel does, you still get a sense of variety in feel of how each of the cars drive.
@Legacy Haha pcars default controller settings. Terrible is a mild understatement truth be told. :D
Promising, gonna wait for comments from the community here if no demo is here.
Kunos is a small team. They’re having their hands full just getting this out on consoles. I’ll say its guaranteed there won’t be a demo.
It lacks many things other games have but they’ve got the main thing spot on. The sim and FFB. With wheel set up properly, which I have, the driving experience is magic. It lacks 24 hour time cycle or dynamic weather even many race features that are in other games like PCars, rFactor2 or Dirt Rall. But as a driving experience, I don’t even look at those things anymore. I didn’t even care if a race with AI on a certain track didn’t go well. I just drove alone but that is so enjoyable, I’d say the game could almost do without AI opponents.
That said, the AI improved a lot with the last update and tyre model 10 is amazing and so is the new driving view that gives even better immersion. The lead programmer said in a live stream he’ll be working on race features next. So some of them are bound to show up on console and when that happens we’ll also get them on PC.
Generally speaking, many of us don’t appreciate what goes on into making these things. In a live stream I noticed one of the files being edited had 9000+ lines of code. Just saying.
Does PS4 have a money back feature like steam now has?
Terrible line taken on the steering wheel and terrible tap steering with the analog. How is this in any way a decent comparison?
As someone who uses a controller, I have to say this is a plus for me. I wasn’t aware of the PCars problem and now I know that may not be the best investment for me. As for the rest of Assetto Corsa, I’m definitely leaning towards getting it once I get my PS4.
pCARS, isn’t unplayable with a controller, it’s just a steep learning curve.
It definitely wasn’t good with a controller .
It doesn’t have a steep learning curve with a controller, it has a steep curve with trying to actually find a decent setting for the controller. When the game first came out it was ridiculous, but now theres so many set-ups flowing around that it’s probably not as much a problem anymore.
Racing games must be played with steering wheel, you can use the comptroller but the difference is like moon and earth. If somebody is not agree means that never used a steering wheel, do it and you will see the difference.
If I wanted to race with a wheel, I’d race in real life. Since you could go racing for less than the cost of a decent wheel setup.
Oh yeah, I race all the time for $200 over 5 years in real life.
Totally agree. I dont understand how anyone prays for a real driving simulator and play it with controler. I spend my money in a G29 and its the best thing I ever done.
Yeah well not everyone can afford a wheel set up ya know. And others don’t have places to put one. So for us we have to use what we got. :/
@Boodyboyblue, Yea how about no.
@WingZeroCustom, The point is that the controller shouldnt be close to competitive as a steering wheel, ever.
Its pointless to want to play high end sims with controller. I still play Forza or Horizon or dare I mention NFS here, with controller but anyone not willing to get a wheel, to them I’d say – Just Forget that sims exist. Its pointless.
One of my biggest annoyances is watching someone play a racing game and using the tap steer method. Its so incredibly annoying to me, there couldnt be a more dumb way of playing a racing game. You have a joystick, LEARN TO USE IT.
The problem is whomever was using the gamepad was using the ‘tap steer’ method, which is common of unskilled controller users. Essentially, tapping the analogue stick repeatedly to egg the car through corners. Too many people don’t understand the concept of smooth and linear inputs. Used properly, a gamepad can put down compatible times to a wheel.
not only that but the wheel comparison wasnt any better, i mean im not the very best on either but wen i put down enough effort on both ill put down some true times that jus rivals everyone else’s, lke my time trial time of lke low-low mid 1:50s i pulled on bathurst in the rwd lmp1 on pCars on controller on a stock setup mind you
Totally agree. I see too many people using the analogue sticks as if they were digital, jabbing the stick to the stops. Smooth progessive movements work best. I spent a lot of my youth flying radio controlled gliders which gave me a good feel for this sort of thing. Still, I have a wheel now but still play on sticks occasionally.
I would think that the fact that he is able to get around the track so efficiently with a less accurate input method would bode well for those who are more skilled with the controller.
@johnnypenso. It’s all about setting the steering speed sensitivity right. I.e the faster you go the less lock you get. Hopefully the default settings will be fine for most players. The default pad settings for PCars where terrible.
Yeah, good point JP, it is obviously a weird way to do it, but if it works that way, it’s super promising for pad users who do it ‘right’.
PCars was gross for pad, and even though I now have a wheel, it’s crazily important for console users to be able to use a pad if they need to (and most do).
This video is basically a bit of a dig at SMS…
Kunos posted a dig of their own game on their own website? What?
Always rewarding chatting with you JP, with your superb reading comprehension skillz.
SMS is Slightly Mad Studios – they make a game called Project Cars, you may have heard of it.
This article is about a game called ‘Assetto Corsa’ – apparently it’s quite good, you should try it out sometime!
Misread that…sorry.