– BMW M4 trouncing the ‘Ring. November 18th, 2015, courtesy of taz.
When we first learned that developer Kunos Simulazioni would be bringing the highly-praised PC simulator Assetto Corsa to consoles in 2016 the very first question many expressed was “Are the physics going to be affected?”. That question was soon answered by Marco Massarutto, Licensing Project Manager at Kunos Simulazioni, exclaiming that the games physics would be given first priority and that the game had the same feelings, dynamism and force feedback of the PC version.
With the year coming to a close and Assetto Corsa’s console release drawing near, Marco Massarutto was recently interviewed by Red Bull Games, and in that interview he shared some new details regarding the partnership with 505 Games, and once again re-asserted the fact that the simulation physics aren’t going to be lessened when the game releases to the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One:
“We have decided to join in a partnership with 505 Games because they understand our vision of Assetto Corsa, and don’t just want to do a lazy console port. They believe – as we do – that on console, there is room for a racing product that aims to bring the same depth of a PC simulation, and this is what we are doing. 505 Games is also investing in the production – in terms of strategies, content and features – as well as on the communication, because they want to present Assetto Corsa on console as what it is: a racing simulation.”
Massarutto notes that the partnership with 505 Games arose partly due to the fact that Kunos lacks the manpower to self-publish console ports, or at the very least the overall process itself would have taken much more time being that this is their first time porting one of their games to a platform outside of the PC space.
He once again insisted that Kunos isn’t going to dumb down the game for the console audience:
“The improvements we have obtained on the PC version in terms of car handling, thanks to the new physics and tyre model, allowed us to improve the ‘natural’ behaviour of our cars even more, and this can also help rookies to find a good balance and improve their driving skill progressively. (…) We are doing a crazy job to guarantee that all versions of Assetto Corsa will feature the same content, features and physics. The only thing different is the user interface – that on console has been totally redefined.”
While the overall complexity of the game will remain untouched there will naturally be compromises made when it comes to visuals, and Massarutto admits that the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One cannot compete with the performance of a PC. In order to keep the game at a constant measure of performance the rendering engine had to be reworked.
– Lamborghini Countach. November 25th, 2015, courtesy of TiZzla.
Assetto Corsa has been billed as Italy’s answer to Gran Turismo, however, with the likes of Forza Motorsport as well as Project CARS also being top contenders in the console racing niche, Kunos certainly has their work cut out for them when contesting the tracks with these games that are rightfully considered behemoths.
Rather than being intimidated by what challenges await them, Massarutto feels Assetto Corsa is up to the challenge, all the while being delighted that Assetto Corsa is mentioned alongside these titles.
“The fact itself that our game will face off against these big titles suggests to me that we have done a good job; on the other side, we understand that while gamers can and do appreciate the fact that a team of our size has been able to create a title like Assetto Corsa, in the end they are more interested in how enjoyable it is to play rather than how it has been done.
The only way for us to compete with such big titles is making it different in terms of driving experience, and in the way how every single car guarantees a different feel, with ‘personal’ handling and behaviour for each motor, and creating a perfect match with the real tracks, massively reproduced using laserscan technology, the likes of which has never been seen before in any console game.”
Not content to deal with anything lying down, Kunos has confirmed that pit stop strategies and procedures will be coming to the game in the 1.5 update that is planned to be available before the console release. New content and features are also on the 2016 roadmap assuring that work will continue to make the game better across all platforms.
Assetto Corsa’s future is dependent on the feedback and support of the community which has already proven to be great, and the developer is hopeful that Assetto Corsa 2 will be in the cards at some point. There was plenty more discussed in the Red Bull Games interview and it can be read in full here.
As always, stay tuned to GTPlanet for more on Assetto Corsa when it becomes available, remember to stop by our Assetto Corsa sub-forum for more discussion and in-depth analysis.
See more articles on Assetto Corsa.
Sligthy Mad said this too. So they changed the physics of the PC version and brought us an simcade game on PC and consoles.
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They’re saying all the right things, & I’d be interested in trying it out again on PS4 with my own set up. If it works with my CSR wheel, then it will have one over on DriveClub & all other 1st party games that don’t support Fanatec.
looking forward to this, glad it aint watered down. hope they get the ffb on the wheels just right. as in you can feel the grip load up and then go light with understeer oversteer. something pcars just misses that trick. anybody know how many tracks will be coming with this out the box ?
Can’t wait to see what the developers of “My Ballet Studio”, “Learning to Spell”, & “My First Dollhouse” can do for a racing title.
505games only will do the distribution of the game just like what Bandai did for Project C.A.R.S
I went and tried Pcars and like I said before, shift2 with better graphics. They call it’ a simulator, what a joke. The feed back I see from AC seems like physics are more on par with GT or better. I’m exited about this coming to console.
If I could rate your “feed back” on a scale of 1 to 10, your “feed back” (please don’t feed backs) would be -2,495.
That’s negative two thousand, four hundred ninety five.
GT6 is also a simcade with broken physics …No mechanical and visual damage ,bad tires physics …Yup,AC is a pure simulator and the physics from AC are a world better .
Even Pcars has better physics than GT..but the game is made basically for use it with wheels (logical in a racing game) give it a try again,do adjustments in the options from FBB and with time and you will see that Pcars is very different from shift 2.
Pcars is more realistic too …If you run out of gas the car stops ..In GT you run out of gas and you can still drive at 80kmh ….better working aerodinamics in Pcars that don’t allow you to get insane topspeeds like 500-700kmh on sport cars.
GT has a lot of homework to equal Pcars.. And to get on the level of a game like AC much more.
Happy to see finally a pure simulator coming to console!
Like i said before, i was a fan of the GT saga, but the last games aren’t very good in anything, not even for call it “the real driving simulator”.
You guys gotta be out of your minds comparing pcars to gt6! There’s no comparison! Pcars, despite some programming issues, is an awesome, realistic and truthful racing simulator on any platform. GT6 is 100% old school arcade driving video game with laughable physics (spinning out because you touched 1 grass needle is a good example), terrible engine and tire sounds and far behind graphics realism specially with the rain. Come on guys… let’s be serious here.
Asseto corsa’s physics are more on par with gran turismo?!! Seriously, and i am going to type this not abbreviate- laugh out loud. Sorry my friend but that is quite dellusional. You are living in a fantasy world. PCars is way more realistic than gt too. You can dislike Pcars but dont speak nonsense please.
Considering getting this on PS4 in the future, will likely have to wait for the price to drop after release. Not gonna spend any more than what it costs on Steam, prices on PSN and ridiculous!
“because they want to present Assetto Corsa on console as what it is: a racing simulation.”
Yet the article has 2 road cars pics :)
Mhmm.
Shocking I know. Who would have thought you could race both street and race cars in a video game? Probably the first game to do that, have to see how that turns out.
Ahahah Johnny.
2016 ain’t looking too bad for us racing sim fans, honestly. Can’t wait for AC and DiRT Rally to join pCARS on my PS4. And possibly GT Sport if it’s any good.
GT is always gonna be the real MVP in my opinion. I hope this game isn’t as hard as PC with a DS4. One thing I can’t stand about DS4 is that most bottoms aren’t pressure sensitive. I don’t want a wheel as I have played GT1-GT6 with a Dualshock controller. But AC looks awesome from what I’ve seen.
Damn. You don’t use the L2/R2 for brake/gas? My brother’s like that, but that was with older systems. Why don’t you make the change now that the face buttons aren’t pressure sensitive?
Just throw RS tires and ABS on any car and you don’t need pressure sensitive buttons. Explains why the vast marjority of open lobbies in GT have both RS tires and ABS allowed.
For the record, if Kunos stays true to the game as it is now, you will only have real world, era specific tire options for all cars. Some cars only come with a single tire option and all tire options are era specific.
I’ve been using R2 / L2 for gas / brake and R3 / L3 to shift since they’re still pressure sensitive. I guess it’s worth getting used to for GT Sport / GT7. No thanks on the racing tires! I’m more into comfort or sport tires, but I do use ABS. I never join / create rooms using racing tires, it’s so annoying.
This is really good to hear. As others have mentioned, AC is “a bit unfinished” compared to the big-guns like GT and PCars; but what it does have are blisteringly fantastic physics and FFB engines. It’s rendering of the handling and feedback of the Yellowbird are absolute perfection for example (the only real-world comparison I can really make since I drive cars of similar chassis & suspension in amateur motorsports). It’s uncannily real. Warning however. Once you drive AC, you will likely tire of PCars and GT due to the reduced FFB and “simcade” physics. If you dislike GT5 and GT6, and long for the FFB of GT4, and if you want your physics as close to reality as possible while still being fun, then you’ll love AC. If you are happier collecting cars and don’t really care about the physics as much, then you’re probably better off with the GT series or Pcars. What we really need is a game which wraps the AC physics and FFB up in a truly world-class game. I mean, look at those glorious weather effects in PCars. That’s brilliant! But then you drive it and *meh*. Something like GT6 or PCars in terms of game-completion and quality, wrapped around AC’s physics and FFB? That would probably go down as the best racing SIM in history.
I’m still in love of gt6 physics, for me, they are still awesome :). And PCars’s physics are just like Shift 2 IMO (don’t ask me about Forza)… I tried AC just one time, and honestly, I will give it a shot when it comes out on Ps4. I have the feelings Kunos will be on pair with PD on their 1st shot
PCars is nothing like Shift2, you have no idea what you are talking about I’m afraid.
I’m glad they won’t water down the experience, but to be honest, Kunos still has a long way to go before calling this game finished. I love the driving experience in AC more than any other game I’ve ever played but as a “game” it’s got a big hill to climb to be attractive enough for console users. I have a feeling they are simply shooting to provide a very niche’ level game experience that generates a very hard core and cult like following, without putting up the big sales numbers of GT or even PCars.
You’re absolutely right. Assetto Corsa is probably the best hot-lapping sim on the market right now. Driving cars – street cars or race cars – is an amazing experience in Assetto Corsa. The physics and force feedback is sublime. The AI racing experience is hit or miss, depending on which cars/track you are using and what difficulty percentage you set the AI to. Still, Kunos has to refine the AI to interpret driving situations that arise in a race – driving away from the preferred driving/racing line, going around stopped/spun cars, etc. Multi-player racing has some flaws too, from what I’ve read. I haven’t even bothered trying to race yet as I’m still learning how to control my vehicles and frankly, I just have so much fun doing track days with a bunch of random AI drivers.
Kunos needs to really start hammering out a lot of the little details that are important if they want to become a major player in the console market. Maybe that isn’t their goal. Maybe console users aren’t as interested in a hardcore sim experience. I have no clue. But, having played AC for almost 2 months, I know that they still have quite a bit to do to even satisfy the more casual players.
This IS good news.
Hmm, this looks like a pretty good move on Kunos’ part. I probably won’t wind up getting it, but still, this is great news for anyone interested.
I played on PC, and I’m hyped for their release on the consoles! I’ve got the money already putted aside for it.
Between AC,Pcars and what i have seen what PD did with GT5 and 6 I’m not even interested in GT Sport and what’s coming next.
Happy to see the first pure simulator coming to console!
But what if GTS turns out to actually be a good game?
^Good question.
Haters gonna hate. GTSport gonna be good for your wheel. Assetto Corsa coming too it’s fun to be a player!
Not everyone has time for, nor interest in playing multiple games. I’m pretty much a single game player myself, as soon as I find something I like I play it almost exclusively. I thought this would be PCars but I’m back with Assetto Corsa for the most part now. I did the same with the GT series but it lost it’s shine recently. Some of us really enjoy getting into the nitty gritty and subtle nuances of a game and for some of us that’s all the free time we have. Switching back and forth between games doesn’t give me the same feeling of immersion I get with knowing a game inside and out. Different strokes and all that, but I don’t believe it’s good practice to throw up comments like, “haters gonna hate”, when it’s just people making their own individual choices.
IMO, GT is still my main game, I will give it a shot to AC, but GT sport and gt7 are still on the top of my bucket list
TeamCZRRacing i was a huge fan of GT, the two best of the saga are still GT3 and GT4 in my opinion, GT5 at the end was a good game… But standard cars are a shame. GT6 still got standard cars..and 800 of the cars are still from GT3 and 4… Broken Physics.. Bad Online, and PD that never cares about the users feedback, also, there are older games than GT5 that you still can play online..
GT Sport will be focused on the FIA Championship, a feature that was teased and promised for GT6..and sure it will come with a pathetic GT Offline mode just like GT6.
I tried other games like Pcars, with a huge Offline mode,simple but more functional online than GT,better IA,Physics, visual damage, mechanical damage and a development team ho listen to the feedback from the users.
Then i tried on PC the assetto Corsa game… And WOW! All tracks laserscaned and really realistic driving physics and the best tire physics i have seen in a game with, blistering, graining, puncture… Very good mechanical damage..
So i really don’t care anymore about PD and his saga. I like more realistic simracing games now.
But i respect the people ho has still faith and hope in that GT will make a good game.