September’s Assetto Corsa Console Patch Has Been Detailed

Assetto Corsa_alfa
CLowndes888 takes a touring icon for a drive.

Earlier this month we reported that Kunos Simulazioni would be releasing a new patch on the console versions of the Assetto Corsa. However, aside from some vague comments about what the aim of the patch was, we didn’t have a full list of what to expect. That information has now been shared by the team and it looks like there has been some welcome improvements on both a technical and playability level:

Confirmed Assetto Corsa Console Patch Improvements:

  • Framerate will be smoother.
  • Screen tearing issues have been resolved.
  • Players will be able to select their starting position in the race options screen.
  • On launching Assetto Corsa, the game will recognise the device you are using, when selecting the ‘X’ (PlayStation 4) or ‘A’ (Xbox One) button in the start screen.
  • Thrustmaster T80, T100 and TH8 shifter functionality has been improved.
  • A new option which allows the player to set the visual steering lock to any degree is coming.
  • 2 additional difficulty levels – ‘Very Easy’, ‘Very Hard’.
  • AI strengths have been re-balanced in response to community feedback.

Frame-rate and screen tearing were two areas of concern in Assetto’s launch-state so it’s good to see it being addressed so soon. Changes to the AI were confirmed in Kunos’ initial reveal of the update but here we can see that it isn’t just two new settings players can race with but also a bit more balancing of the existing difficulties.

Ford GT40 - Monza 66 3nato
Retro is definitely the highlight in Nato_777′s Ford shot.

As someone who has tried countless times to beat a Novice series event in which you drive a BMW E30 against modern-day ‘Beemers’, this is very welcome. It just isn’t fun and takes away from the game’s racing element. Device recognition is a big plus too, having to manually point out you were using a wheel seemed arbitrary and backwards, so although not a big issue this is certainly a welcome change.

Given the condition of AC on it’s console launch, one would assume this will be the first patch of many tackling problems the community have identified. It’s become apparent that the console version is not in the same overall state as the PC game at present, with an example being time trials on console not have any indicators for check-points.

The full list of changes have yet to be detailed so personally we hope more small tweaks like the above are included. GTPlanet reviewed the game earlier this week and was moderately impressed, read the full review here.

Comments (35)

  1. Schmiggz

    It would be so cool modernize the GT3 fleet. Get rid of those outdated 12C, Z4, R8 and SLS and bring on the new R8, M6 and the new Renault RS01 GT3.

    1. ALB123

      The new R8 is supposed to be coming, so I’ve heard. We will probably be getting a Porsche GT3 homologated race car. With the new Maserati license, maybe we’ll even see the GranTurismo MC GT3. I haven’t heard anything about the M6, but you’re right…that would be da bomb, yo! :-P

  2. wigs2009

    The patch will be a sye of relief especially with the Ai being so difficult, I am also struggling with the hotlap times… I think an option for degree’s of rotation would really help me out but I don’t see that mentioned in the patch ?

    1. research

      You can’t do that in ‘quick race’ or similar? (I’m on PC and you can do this easily in the Race / Race Weekend menu. It’s so necessary, I can’t believe they’d exclude choosing opponents for console versions)

  3. Lain

    Y’know, for a sec… I thought the title said the patch has been “delayed”.

    Careful with those D-ed words, nobody likes the D.

  4. 2clickswest

    I hope they fix the smoothness of a turning steering wheel. It moves like crazy.
    And also POV adjustment would be good, I can’t feel the speed at all.

  5. GrumpyGrumps

    It doesn’t look like the ability to customize button mapping is going to be available this time around, but I do hope they include it at some point. It will become a mute point if I ever purchase a wheel, but for now it’s what I’m looking forward to.

  6. Blood*Specter

    Hopefully Kunos has a game plan to apply their in a logical order so that errors are easy for their engineers to spot, and fix. Just dumping a bunch of changes does not always fix the issues. In fact it can make things worse in a big hurry.

    I am not expecting a massive patch to fix everything. But to fix key issues and keep patches coming at a steady rate (IE monthly) until the game is up to snuff would make things better on Kunos and the end users.

    I do expect them to fix the on-line lobby problem and allow creation of rooms both public and private. I also hope they allow tuning, and car selection while on-line.

    Finally, I feel Kunos owes it’s customers some of the car DLC that are missing. I paid for PS+
    And with that I was also expecting car packs. Still, I don’t have a beef with Kunos.
    I think they are doing a fine job. And they act like they are willing and able to fix problems.

  7. Johnnypenso

    All due respect to Kunos but making the claim that tearing has been resolved is pretty risky. You know someone is probably going to find some tearing somewhere and then the “Kunos are liars” trolling will begin…lol.

    Still, very good to see them attacking some of the most pressing issues first with more to come in the following weeks and months.

    1. KingK76

      With all due respect to you I will say this… Screen tearing is a direct result of the frames being fed to the display not being synced to the displays refresh. Simply turning on vsync fixes this issue. I would imagine that Kunos were using a “variable” vsync where if the frame rate drops below 60 then vsync is disabled (causing “tearing”). Simply turning vsync to “always on” completely eliminates tearing. The only drawback is the added latency when the frame rate drops below 60fps. You may well know all of this (which is why I started with “all do respect…) but I thought I would mention it anyway. I have always prefered vsync “always on” to the “variable” option because in my opinion the SLIGHT addition of extra latency is nothing compared to the distraction of torn frames.

    2. Johnnypenso

      The impression I get from the pc gaming world is that input lag or latency is the devil’s work and no true pc purist would be caught dead using v-sync. OK I exaggerate a little, but for the most part, any sort of lag is frowned upon and v-sync is only a last, desperate option. I don’t know how they do it on console I just assumed that the tearing was there because they couldn’t get up to 60 fps consistently.

  8. tonyyeb

    For a game that was delayed twice it has launched with quite a few glaring issues and omissions. Very little wheel configuration, AI too tough, no private online lobbies, framerate and tearing issues… I really hope the Devs keep at this. As said in the VVV podcast, this could end up like DriveClub, awful on launch, awesome months later…. Here is hoping!

  9. IngRobNy

    This is what i’m looking forward to the most:

    2 additional difficulty levels – ‘Very Easy’, ‘Very Hard’.
    AI strengths have been re-balanced in response to community feedback.

    I hope the re-balance is enough, so i can use easy and it will be somewhat hard to win gold, but doable :).

    1. Blood*Specter

      Yes, tough but fair. Right now is like trying to beat a computerized Michael Schumacher.
      Imagine that. Then imagine he’s driving a faster car than what you have.
      That is Assetto Corsa AI on PS4. Not very much fun to compete.

    2. Szuper

      We need more races, i mean career, maybe real career, like project cars. This “win and go next level” is very oldschool mode and it not fun for long time… So, why we need better AI?

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