Assetto Corsa EVO First Impressions: Very Promising Core Surrounded By Early Access Issues

What an exciting afternoon it was on January 16 – a date that I had long circled red in my calendar as arguably the most anticipated sim racing title of the year got on the grid. Assetto Corsa EVO was going into Early Access on Steam, and after a very brief, limited session at SimRacing Expo 2024, I was excited to try the new sim in a bit more depth. So was pretty much all of sim racing, for that matter.

The plan was simple: Start a live stream over on our Twitch channel half an hour after the game unlocks to give it enough time to install, then dive into a proper first look with our community. However, 15:00 UTC came – and went, with the Steam page countdown simply switching to ‘Coming Soon’. Alright then. Let’s see what ‘soon’ really means in this case.

It turned out to be an hour, and after that, I was finally able to hop in, start the stream and explore the first Early Access release with you. That’s what I would have loved to write here, but just like many other sim racers, I faced a relatively grave issue with AC EVO – it would not launch. At all. Sigh.

Of course, it being an Early Access release, it had to be expected that not everything works as intended immediately. Over an hour of on-stream troubleshooting attempts in the company of @Christopher E led to nothing, so I called it eventually. It was only the next morning that I finally found the root of my troubles – a Microsoft C++ Redistributable Package reinstallation solved things. Finally, time to hit the track!

Assetto Corsa EVO Graphics & Performance​

Let’s start this first impressions article with the things you first see: the graphics. The main menu features a 3D space with a render of the last car you chose, or the Abarth 695 Biposto on default. Looks pretty nice, I must say! Of course, I had heard of the performance issues others have had, but I wanted to see for myself where I would be at. For reference, you can find my PC’s specs below.

• Intel Core i7 13700K
• MSI GeForce RTX 4080 16GB
• ASUS Prime Z790-P
• RAM: 64GB Corsair Vengeance DDR-5 5200
• Seasonic FOCUS GX-1000
• Dell S3422DWG 34″ 144 Hz Curved Ultrawide Monitor

Normally, this setup can push games to the max quite comfortably, so I tried just that in AC EVO as well. Except for motion blur, that is. Not a fan of that. And the rear-view mirror resolution was fine on ‘low’ to start with. The rest I cranked as high as I could, and it worked pretty well, I must say. Even without DLSS, I managed to get to the 90 FPS target I had set comfortably in most cases, even with full AI grids at dusk or dawn. FPS did fluctuate here and there, but were usually between 75 and 90.

Visually, AC EVO is in a good spot already. I know this is very subjective and a matter of taste, but for my liking, Kunos has managed to capture the great depth-of-field effect found in ACC already especially, which adds a lot to the still very rudimentary replays. The lighting from floodlights, trackside flag LEDs or similar sources, particularly as day turns to night, is very impressive. Once a proper photo mode is on board, I can imagine that screenshots will turn out beautifully.

Image: Kunos Simulazioni

Sounds​

The audio was also one of the standout qualities of ACC – I remember going to my first GT3 event at Oschersleben in 2022 for ADAC GT Masters and thinking “wow, this sounds exactly like in ACC!” – so for three of the four race cars in the first AC EVO Early Access release, there really was no need to change anything. As a result, they will sound familiar, but in a good way.

To get an idea how nicely the reverb implementation works in AC EVO, I recommend picking the open-top Honda S2000, as you will hear things more clearly, and paying attention to the sound as you exit the pits at Imola. Once you leave pit lane, you will notice that the engine note is not bouncing off of the walls to the left and right of you, but travel the now wider space around you.

In general, the audio in EVO is very nice and detailed, as you hear gravel hit the underside of your car, the floor scraping over kerbs, your drivetrain straining to push your car along – so far, I very much like the audio design.

Assetto Corsa EVO Driving Physics​

Now, on to any driving sim’s (or game’s) bread and butter: the driving physics. Some in the sim racing community feared that AC EVO would be simplified in this regard – more in line with more casual titles that also feature a lot of road cars, such as the Forza Horizon or Gran Turismo franchises. This is not the case, however.

Road Cars​

In fact, the physics in Assetto Corsa EVO feel believable – to me, anyway – when you are trying to push a road car on a racing track that it normally has no business being on. Sure, it might be easy and relatively forgiving for the most part, as per design of the car itself, but trying to extract the best lap possible out of one of these road-going daily drivers (well, one can dream, right?) shows that this is far from arcadey.

Cars will start to slide, and you can catch them up to a certain degree if you are quick. What I personally liked is that even if you have to go full opposite lock to catch a slide, you can actually do so, unlike in ACC or even AC sometimes, where even as you think you are slowing down enough while countersteering, the rear of the car will still overtake you. This does not always work, mind you, and I am far from a great drifter, but it was still good to feel this.

Race Cars​

The four race cars – the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (992), the Mercedes-AMG GT2, the Ferrari 488 Challenge EVO, and the Mazda MX5 Cup, feel more planted thanks to their slick tires and (save for the Mazda) increased downforce, so they will feel familiar to a degree. They are made for racing on circuits, and you can feel it.

What stood out to me compared ot Assetto Corsa Competizione, however, is the agility of these cars, particularly the “bigger” ones (sorry, MX5). While you can still feel their weight as you rumble over kerbs or try to trailbrake to a corner’s apex, the somewhat “boaty” feel I disliked in ACC is not very present here – it feels like throwing around a proper powerful but relatively heavy race car now, or at least how I would imagine it to feel. The Force Feedback does a good job conveying this, although it could be a bit tighter around the center of the wheel range – might just be a case of fiddling with some more settings, though.

It will be interesting to see how their characteristics change over the course of a stint, as the cars in the Assetto Corsa EVO Early Access do not use up their fuel at the time of writing this article, but I would imagine that it would be a relatively pronounced difference if ACC is any sort of reference in this regard.

Assetto Corsa EVO AI​

Speaking of racing: You can do that in AC EVO, of course, but only against the clock in Practice mode or against AI opponents. Multiplayer will come later, so those two game modes were the only ones available at launch. Technically, the Driving Academy, or at least part of it, should also be on board, but the server issues on Kunos’ side mean that this is still greyed out at the time of writing. A shame, really, but we will make sure to follow up on it once it works!

That aside, many in the sim racing community actually prefer their racing to be done offline, so good AI is crucial to them. Will they find it in AC EVO as of its first Early Access release? The answer is a solid “meh”. For now, anyway.

The Good​

The AI drivers show good and bad traits on track. Let’s start with what they do well: their awareness. Sometimes. Let me explain.

In Assetto Corsa EVO, the non-human opponents do not commit to what essentially every other sim’s out there do, namely slamming the door shut when you are already alongside them. Instead, they will open up the corner to avoid a collision, which is nice.

They also race each other relatively competently in most cases, trying to overtake on the inside, committing to those overtakes early on, and sometimes even trade some paint. Occasionally, they overdo it and punt someone off – something you would see in real racing as well. No problem there. In other parts, however…

Sometimes, the AI is a bit too contact-happy, it would seem. The night lighting comments from the graphics section obviously does not apply here.

The Bad​

As I mentioned, the AI drivers are competent enough to avoid a collision when they are on the receiving end of an overtake. In the reverse situation, they are anything but, however. If they think they spotted a gap, as small as it may be, they will want to go for it, and completely disregard the player car as well. I got punted off the track more times than I could count, and in situations where it was completely avoidable, too.

Also, if you brake a tiny bit earlier than the computer-controlled opposition may deem acceptable, they tend to plow into the back of your car. Keeping an eye on your rear-view mirror is absolutely crucial as a result.

The AI’s behavior is very dependent on the track as well, it seems. A relatively calm Mazda MX5 Cup race at Laguna Seca (save for the occasional punt mentioned above) done and dusted, I decided to try the Ferrari 488 Challenge EVO at Suzka’s GP layout. Boy, was I in for some turn 1 chaos.

Already on the approach to the relatively quick right-hander, three AI cars veered sharply to the right, onto the grass, and proceeded to torpedo the rest of the field. Not that the cars further back kept it any cleaner, so there was an almight pile-up. A similar thing happened when I restarted the race, too. That one, I survived, only to find that the AI cars brake unreasonably early for 130R, so I only just avoided clattering into the back of another Ferrari at a good 280 kph. Certainly keeps you on your toes.

It seems like AI calibration is also still in its infancy, as it could also be observed in the Laguna Seca race. Whenever two MX5s went side by side across the main straight that is actually more of a long left-hander, the car on the inside hit the pit wall every time without fail, slowing itself down considerably and almost causing a multi-car incident that would have been sure to see those recently moved in neighbors that complain about noise levels next to a race track all day anyway file another lawsuit immediately.

In short there seems to be a foundation in the AI that could eventually become great – it is still early days, of course, so we will have to wait and see what Kunos can do with the machine folk behind the virtual wheel.

Image: Kunos Simulazioni

Assetto Corsa EVO Early Access: Excited For Things To Come​

All things considered and the problems an Early Access release usually comes with pushed aside a bit, I think Kunos have laid a very solid foundation to create an extremely fun and exciting final product. The driving feels very natural and detailed to me, so I could see myself spending quite a lot of hours with it moving forward – especially once the open world arrives and we can see the full scope of what AC EVO is setting out to do.

If you have followed OverTake for a while, you will also know that I very much fell in love with VR for sim racing over the last year or so. Don’t worry, there will be a separate article on AC EVO in VR – I reckon some folks have problems that border on it being unplayable, while others are reporting a relatively good time with it already. I am excited to find out myself.

That being said, it cannot be ignored that there is still a lot of work to do. Not that anything else could have been expected with version 1.0 still being a long way away. With Kunos reacting to the online problems with a patch just a few hours after the game unlocked, it feels like the studio is hard at work to iron out the kinks the first release has, which is encouraging. On the other hand, this makes it seem like even the singleplayer portion of the game would always require an internet connection – which would not exactly make many sim racers leap in the air with joy.

Those who are looking for a polished experience that will work 100% as intended should probably wait for a while before they take a closer look. For those who want to follow along development as closely as possible, checking back regularly is likely a good idea – both Assetto Corsa and Assetto Corsa Competizione have come a long way after rough Early Access releases as well, after all.

What direction do you hope Assetto Corsa EVO will head in in the near future? Let us know in the comments below and join the discussion in our AC EVO forum!