Kunos Simulazioni’s Marco Massarutto has detailed much of what’s on the way in the third major update for the early access version of Assetto Corsa EVO.
Originally earmarked for release in July, the next update has fallen to a delay and Kunos has been teasing what’s to come for several weeks now. The latest keynote on the official Assetto Corsa YouTube Channel has detailed more of what will be included in Update 0.3 once it finally releases.
With the revised roadmap, the third update will add plenty of content for players to sink their time into, some more than others no doubt. As such, there’s plenty to discuss, so let’s get right to it!
At last, players will finally be able to put their skills to the test against real players as the third update will feature the first step in the game’s online offerings. During the initial phase, each server will host up to 16 players as the team’s focus is currently on “session stability, leaderboards, and seamless transitions”.
More slots per race will gradually open following the release of the 0.3 update. Thanks to the partnership with the Swiss Innovative Arts and Technology Institute (SIATI) and SimGrid, public servers will be free to all and available around the clock, featuring different race scenarios, tracks and weather presets.
Furthermore, if players fancy running their own leagues and championships, AC EVO has that covered as well. A few weeks after the release of the update, Kunos will launch the Custom Servers Portal, a service that will allow anyone to rent and configure a dedicated server to fulfill their criteria at about 1€ per slot, per month.
That’s not all, as Massarutto goes on to confirm that the fourth update will introduce the Daily Racing Portal that will be EVO’s “home to regular community-driven online racing” and is built in cooperation with SimGrid.
Update 0.3 will add nine new vehicles to the game, including the V10-powered, championship-winning Ferrari F2004. While the chassis that utterly dominated the 2004 Formula One season isn’t new to Assetto Corsa, having featured in the original game, it marks the first open-wheeler to make its way into AC EVO — the first of many, we hope.
The full list of cars included in the update is as follows:
Also making way in 0.3 are two new track locales in the form of Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps and the Red Bull Ring, both laser-scanned. While neither needs a formal introduction, Spa is one of the most renowned technical circuits in the world and has served as home to the Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix for just shy of a century, among the other racing disciplines the track hosts.
The Red Bull Ring, originally known as the Österreichring and the later A1 Ring, was purchased by Red Bull’s late co-founder Dietrich Mateschitz in 2004. It wouldn’t be until 2011 where the current circuit would host a round of the DTM season, bearing its new name. With both circuits being F1 mainstays, the F2004 will feel right at home as it carves lap after lap around the many familiar twists and turns.
The update will also bear updates to the underlying physics, with suspension damping now sampled at 1,000Hz, improving transitions and control. A new suspension algorithm allows every car in the game to be more responsive, whether it be under braking or barreling through a corner at breakneck speeds.
Finally, the team have further evolved the tire model with more realistic thermal behavior that results in sliding feeling more progressive and a more refined feeling to car control. On the audio side of things, players with a keen ear will notice the engine notes sound meatier and a bit more visceral.
That’s down to the fact that the audio system has undergone a “comprehensive overhaul” to deliver a more immersive experience while on track, and with aspects of the engine sound and physics data refined, things should be that much closer to what one would experience while driving the real cars.
GPU and CPU optimizations are also on the docket for 0.3, in addition to reduced VRAM usage as well as better performance in crowded scenes, such as multiplayer. There will also be improvements to dynamic global illumination and post-processing effects such as motion blur.
The UI will also see improvements in the form of the multi-function display (MFD) showing real-time leaderboards, with players being able to fiddle with input settings and cycling controls for the new widget. Previous generation and low torque steering wheels will seemingly receive a boon in the update as well via force feedback improvements. Thanks to the updated tire model being introduced, FFB will become sharper, clearer and less filtered.
If that weren’t enough, players will be able to fine tune the feel of the steering with another new widget. This will allow real-time adjustments of FFB parameters such as gain, steering lock angle, damper gain, and others, all without switching back and forth between on-track action and the game’s main menu.
While the third release still doesn’t have a release date set, it likely won’t be all that long given the open discussion of its contents. Stay tuned to GTPlanet for all the latest!
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