Noting that the original AC’s gameplay was very simple — “the formula of choose a car, choose a track, hot lap, race, setup, is absolutely great and good for a lot of people but possibly in 2024-25 will [not] be enough any more” — Massarutto explained that one of the goals for ACE was to make an engaging career mode for car lovers:
“We want to create not just a career but something that actually is the RPG of the petrolheads. All of us we are car enthusiasts: we love cars, we love driving, some of them like to collect diecast models or real cars, they want to drive on track, on road, they want to tune and customize their car.”
Brivio explained a little more on how this career will work, although precise details are of course a long way off. “You enter the game, you start from some point, you develop with total freedom but gaining momentum inside the game”, he comments.
“So what we think to lay down is a game economy system that will be as simple as we can, but will help players to enter the game with a budget, choose the first car, then with total freedom they can play, accumulate experience, and virtual currency … and buy the cars you want.”
The game can still be played as a sandbox like AC, but there you’ll only be able to “rent” cars and not be able to apply any customization.
Of course gaming being the way it is right now, the words “virtual currency” may cause some concern. Brivio has good news though: the currency is earned solely in-game and there will be no microtransactions.
This is from Oct 2024.
Kunos Simulazioni has taken part in a keynote presentation at the 2024 ADAC Sim Racing Expo in Dortmund, revealing more about the upcoming early access launch of Assetto Corsa Evo.
Marco Massarutto, co-founder and executive manager at Kunos, and game director Davide Brivio formed part of a small panel in which they explained more about the ethos behind ACE, the development process, and what players can expect from the title when it becomes available through the early access program in January.
Their development plans already had hiccups. Feature delays, slow communication and changed roadmaps. Progression, however, wasn't just "hiccups". This was essentially pulling the rug from many paying customers. IT was one of the first big features announced alongside the open world. Imagine if the open world got scrapped instead of progression. We'd not be seeing this much defense for Kunos. This is the kind of stuff Ian Bell gets ragged on for.
The console launch is going to be way after AC Evo's full launch on PC. Considering the timeline, I'd be surprised if it launches for the current gen consoles.
Coming to the mods, there are two aspects, the legal side and the potential money involved. In AC1, car manufacturers might have been unhappy to see mods of their cars (without paying them a single penny), while the community loved this fact.
This time around, it will be on a Kunos certified Mod shop, where Kunos will consult manufacterers on these mods, severly limiting the variety and number of mods. Yes, there will be less trash. But we will lose a lot of actual potential mods. Gone is any chance of seeing tracks from other games (RIP Trial Mountain, Fujimi Kaido etc.) and gone is any chance of most real cars. Why in their right mind would any manufacturer willingly let some modder (and Kunos) make money from their cars without paying them a single dime?
You will see at most a tenth of the mods you see on AC, and most of them will be your bog standard GT3/GT4/GTE cars, because they are the ones that sell. You will not see random kei cars ported nor will you see rarer racecars (Can AM, GT1, JGTC, GT500, Nascar, or any one offs). The whole point of mods (cars and tracks) is to experience something that isn't in the base game and is unlikely to be added.
You will also end up in situations where Kunos might just pull a mod from the market, when the car/track is officially added to the game via DLC, in order to sell more DLC.
I am so glad KUNOS cares soo much about poor car manufacturers over their greedy players who made AC1 such a staple for sim racing.
