It’s been a long wait, but we’re not far off from the early access release of Assetto Corsa Evo, the third installment of Kunos Simulazioni’s sim racing franchise and the first since 2018’s Assetto Corsa Competizione. However, while Competizione was chasing a more professional, competitive audience, given its focus on GT3-class machines, Evo looks to return to the series’ roots as an authentic driving sim for all kinds of vehicles. We now have a release date—January 16—as well as a first trailer, which you can watch below.
Evo’s unveiling is a big deal, because as any sim racer will tell you, the original Assetto Corsa has enjoyed considerable staying power dating way back to its launch in 2014. That title’s extensive mod support, and of course the community around it, enabled a veritable library of unofficial content and experiences, from one mod replicating Tokyo’s Shuto Expressway to—and this is a personal favorite—the addition of legendary fictional video game cars, like Ridge Racer Type 4’s Assoluto Bisonte. We’re surely getting off topic now, but all this is to say that Assetto Corsa holds a ton of influence in the PC sim racing space, particularly to anyone who can’t afford iRacing’s annual subscription fee and a-la-carte economy.
That brings us to the content of this first trailer, which shows plenty of footage marked “in-game.” From the classic European club-racing scene of an original Mini Cooper and Alfa Giulia Sprint GTA duking it out; to a Porsche 911 GT3 Cup race at Brands Hatch; to modern sports cars, like the Lotus Emira and Alpine A110, sparring at Imola; to a Ferrari Daytona SP3 basking in the glow of a courtyard at night, Assetto Corsa Evo is clearly designed to cater to a range of racing disciplines and automotive interests. I’m very excited to see that Daytona in the game, too—it’s only been licensed for mobile titles to date, according to the Internet Game Car Database.
We’re also treated to footage of the game’s dynamic time and weather system in this trailer, which looks pretty immersive. I particularly like the appearance of water washing across the asphalt in one shot—that’s a detail you don’t see in many games. At other moments, we can observe a Morgan Three-Wheeler driving on a public road as a BMW passes it in opposing traffic, which should excite all the free-roam fans and photographers in the audience.
Assetto Corsa Evo will employ Kunos’ own game engine, unlike the Unreal Engine 4-based Competizione. Visually, the title doesn’t look like a significant step up from the status quo (I can’t even make out any raytraced self-reflections in these clips), but the in-house tech will hopefully make Evo lighter to run on PC hardware, without any of the pitfalls that often impact UE releases, like EA Sports WRC’s incessant stuttering upon its debut. Kunos is also mindful of continuing mod support, though, as Redditors have pointed out, there are still a lot of unanswered questions regarding how community-created content will or won’t manifest in Evo on day one.
Assetto Corsa Evo will emerge first on PC in an early-access capacity on January 16, 2025. After that, the game will likely eventually come to consoles, like the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S—though at this stage, it’s unclear how long that may take. You can wishlist it on Steam now.
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