Assetto Corsa Competizione Review

Racing games are always pushing the limits of physics, realism, and skill with each passing year. Many titles from Forza to grand Turismo the real factor has become ever more popular and aim to push the boundaries. How will Assetto Corsa Competizione live up? Let’s find out, here is our review.

What is Assetto Corsa Competizione? Is a sports car racing simulator developed by Italian video game developer Kunos Simulazioni? The game is an officially licensed simulation of the 2018 and 2019 Blancpain GT Series season Sprint and Endurance Cups and the Total 24 Hours of Spa and is set to serve as a platform for esports. Assetto Corsa Competizione changed development from an in-house engine used previously by Assetto Corsa to now using Unreal Engine 4.

Let’s talk about simulation, Assetto Corsa Competizione had done exactly as I hoped, they have pushed the limits on how realistic a racing sim can be. Right from the get-go it tests your abilities and adjusts the amount of help and driving style needed to play. I quickly found that my old need for speed skills are pretty much worthless. I decided it was time to dust of my driving gloves, well metaphorically speaking. Quickly the game became less about winning and more about improving my skills. This was done of course by treating the game exactly what it was a simulation, not just a racing game. My new goals where great lines, breaking when I should and not just mashing the throttle and hoping for the best.

The experience was unreal, everything from tire grip to the aerodynamics plays a part. Much of your experience can be adjusted using different setups and adjusting your cars ratios to match your driving style and handling. Another beautiful and painful achievement is damage. The cars drivability is affected very much by the way you drive including the damage the car takes.

Graphics and Visual Effects are of course one of the main driving forces behind why we purchase and plays these games. Assetto Corsa Competizione delivers just that, utilizing the Unreal Engine 4 with photorealistic rendering, weather and the vehicles themselves are brilliant. There is nothing better than driving an ultra-realistic Lamborghini without the giant price tag. But there is way more than just the designs of the cars that receive attention. The weather exhibits environmental changes that really draw the player into the realism. Let’s change perspectives for a moment, I mean it lets a change to the first-person mode and observe. The way the rain rolls off the glass, misty roads, differences in lighting all come together to give an experience unlock no other.

Assetto Corsa Competizione offers many playing modes from a traditional career, Championship and of course free play modes. So, if you are waiting to compete in your career and dominate or just play a few laps to test out a new car or try to hone your skills the options are plentiful. You are able to pick from different tracks, weather types, day or night and I found it a great tool to improve my driving by selecting hard tracks and combining that with different environmental conditions to really push myself to get better. Another thing to keep in mind is with all good racing games, each car is different. Now back in the day, there was little difference in the car you picked other then looks were due to the lower capabilities of the engine and coding. Now there is so much advancement that the car you pick will change how you drive. I recently found though I love the GTR I drove better in the Acura NSX. Who would have thought!

Controls are another big thing when it comes to simulators. I broke out my trust Xbox 360 wired controller. Enabled the controller in steams big picture mode and off to the races I was. I did find the default layout of the controller left a bit to be desired but this is easily changed. I did attempt to use my switch pro controller but for some reason, it would not pick up the correct layout configuration and basically left me with only one option, that was, of course, the select menu. Progress was quick with a small learning curve when it came to the sensitivity of the thumbsticks. Overall I would give the controls a 7 out of 10. Please note that at the time of review I did not have a wheel or pedals, with that being said I would image the controls would work better and have more gradual control over steering and throttle response.

Summary
I can go on and on about the advancements and improvements that continuously grow in simulations games but let’s face it, it’s not going to be the last time you will hear me say that. What I can say though is the driver experience in Assetto Corsa Competizione was unique. The world textures are believable, the weather system generates a true environmental feel. The cars look great.
Good
  • Easy Controls
  • Aggressive AI
  • Beautiful Tracks
  • Highly Detailed Cars
Bad
  • Need VR Headset to really experience First Person View
  • Need Racing wheel for more realistic controls
7
Good
Written by
Long time tech, gadget and all around geek. I love cars, computers and movies and most importantly my family.

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