Massarutto reflects on some remarks about the Assetto Corsa Console Release

Kunos Simulazioni’s Licensing Project Manager Marco Massarutto reflects on the many assumptions, theories and questions by the community regarding the consequences of the Assetto Corsa console release. 

While most of the Assetto Corsa PC community members are more than positive about the console release of AC, a small minority still believes that the implementation of the console version may have negative effects on the PC version. In various forums and comment sections, we often read some rather negative criticism claiming that Kunos Simulazioni will now turn Assetto Corsa into a simcade title to enhance their sales.

On numerous occasions and on various forums and social media, Marco Massarutto has explained that these assumptions are incorrect and he now officially answers the neverending question.

Needless to say, we at Bsimracing can only applaud team Kunos for attempting to bring a true simulation to the console platforms. In the long run, this can only be of benefit for the simracing community as a whole because we hope it will broaden the numbers of people discovering the Sim Racing hobby.

Interestingly, Marco’s reply also contained a nice preview screenshot that shows us the cockpit model of the 1974 Porsche 911 RSR 3.0 that will be part of the upcoming Assetto Corsa Porsche DLC.

 

 

Marco Massarutto says: Some thoughs and answers to assumptions and theories I read on forums about the launch of Assetto Corsa on console, the future of AC, the neverending question “will Kunos turn it in an simcadish on PS4/X1 to sell more?”, or -even better- “will Kunos turn the PC version in a simcadish to please a wider audience?”

 

Usually I don’t get bored to read hundreds (thousands?) of times the same questions people ask me, since I understand that everyday lot of people hear about Assetto Corsa for the first time. But when the same people ask the same questions or they underline the same points, sometime can be boring. Even because, no one needs to believe us. Just see and evaluate by yourself what there is out there.

 

Assetto Corsa console -> will be a simplified/simcade version of AC?
Since last January, on the internet there are a lot of “hands on” and previews of the console version, always played using a steering wheel. We showed it during the European tour, during the Vallelunga event last May, and the conclusions of the players/journalists have been always “it feels like the pc version”.

 

Another clue: what is the most known and appreciated characteristic of Assetto Corsa? Its car handling, and driving feeling. Which is the best reason why console gamers may decide to play Assetto Corsa, rather than Forza, or Gran Turismo? The number of cars? The graphics? I would say the fidelity of the simulation, the unique handling, the laserscanned tracks, the depth that a PC simulation can perform. If we subtract these factors, Assetto Corsa can’t compete with these titles, because it couldn’t offer nothing more these titles (created by talented people) feature at their best since years.

 

The most annoying question: now that AC console is ready for release, is going Kunos to make the PC version of AC more arcadish?
The console version of Assetto Corsa has been announced in mid 2015, the team started to work on it in late 2014. Since then, the PC version has been constantly improved, updated, expanded, with 7 major builds, several new tyre models (now we are at version 10 – TEN) adding features asked from SIMracers, and now we are going to release the 1.8 version on August 26th. The popularity of AC on PC is at the maximum level, it’s often in the Top chartz on Steam, people love it and enjoy it everyday, and they support us each time we release new features and content. Please give me a logical reason why we should change this, after 18 months of HUGE development brought ahead on PC after the 1.0 release. Simply, there is no reason why we should do this. So, ask yourself: in the last 18 months, on PC, did we converted AC 1.0 in a simcade, or we gave it even more depth?

 

We decided to bring AC on console to give ourselves THE answer to the question: “there is any potential on console market for a simulation like AC?”. As company that runs in this business, we have to know it. And we’ll know it soon. And the only way to answer this question is to bring on console the same experience people appreciate so much on PC, at the best we can. Period.

 

So, keep calm, don’t worry. The only way we can change the soul of our most successful creation is to make it even stronger.

 

Assetto Corsa will be released on August 26th in Europe and August 30th in North America on PlayStation® 4 & Xbox One. For more info and Pre-Order check out console.assettocorsa.net

Official Webpage – www.assettocorsa.net