Charoudin Visit Reignites ACC Nordschleife Rumors

ACC Nordschleife Rumors.jpg
“Nordschleife when?” has evolved into a meme in the Assetto Corsa Competizione community. With the addition of the Nürburgring 24 Hours to the IGTC calendar, serious speculation started. Now, a Ring specialist’s visit to Kunos Simulazioni reignited the ACC Nordschleife rumors.

Image credit: Kunos Simulazioni

Licensing was in the way of the Nordschleife being added to ACC for the longest time. When the Intercontinental GT Challenge announced the addition of the Nürburgring 24 Hours to its calendar starting in 2024, it became clear that this would no longer be an issue. However, with Assetto Corsa 2 being in development, not too much focus might lay on ACC.

ACC Nordschleife Rumors: No License Issue Anymore​

The popular GT3 simulator already features the Grand Prix circuit of the Nürburgring. Additional tracks are subject to the SRO license, though. This means that they are limited to where SRO-sanctioned series race – hence the omission of the Nordschleife thus far.

Since the July announcement, speculation has died down. That is until this week, when Misha Charoudin visited developer Kunos Simulazioni and posted about it on Instagram. The Russian-born racing driver is a noted Nordschleife specialist, competing in the NLS in a BMW 330i alongside sim racers Jimmy Broadbent and "SuperGT" Steve Alvarez Brown.

A photo Charoudin shared shows him in a simulator, with emojis covering up the monitors – or most of them. A fraction is visible, and the community immediately noticed a HUD element from ACC. Charoudin’s caption also added oil to the speculation fire. the Was this a cheeky Nordschleife teaser? Not necessarily.

ACC Nordschleife Rumors Charoudin.png

Misha Charoudin reignited the Nordschleife to ACC discussions with this Instagram post. Image credit: mgcharoudin on Instagram

ACC Nordschleife Rumors: Other Explanations​

Of course, the photo and caption could have been a sneaky way to confirm something without actually confirming it. There are other explanations for it, however.

Assetto Corsa 2 Preview​

Likely launching in Q2 of 2024, Kunos is currently working on Assetto Corsa 2. The successor to the immensely popular original is sure to feature the Nürburgring in all its glory, just like the first AC. Although not confirmed, it is safe to assume that the track will reappear for AC2. Meanwhile, it would not be unusual for a test version of a game to use HUD elements from an older title.

It would make sense for Charoudin to check out the current build of the track during his visit, then. The driver lives close to the Ring and has plenty of laps under his belt. His opinion and suggestions can help Kunos to create a more authentic version of the green hell. After all, the original AC‘s Nordschleife is over eight years old at the time of writing this article, so plenty of things have changed around the circuit.

GT2 Cars​

Assetto Corsa Competizione is due one last, officially announced DLC. First talked about at the 2022 24 Hours of Spa, the GT2 class is set to make its debut in the sim. It is also possible that Charoudin got to test the new class of cars ahead of its release – which does not have a date yet.

ACC GT2 DLC.png

The upcoming GT2 DLC pack lineup for ACC. Image credit: Kunos Simulazioni

Seven vehicles have been confirmed for the GT2 DLC. The pack will bring six cars of manufacturers that are already in the game to the table, but also newly introduces Brabham to ACC. The iconic make founded by F1 legend Jack Brabham has a rather exciting machine with the name BT63 GT2 on offer.

Of course, the speculation may well turn out to be true as well. ACC is nearing the end of its lifespan, but if there could ever be a proper send-off, the Nordschleife would be just that. It is the single most-requested content piece by the community ever since the title launched in 2018.


There is no doubt that most of the active ACC playerbase would need little convincing to grab this last hurrah of a DLC as a result. If Kunos can find a way to implement it without diverging too many resources from the development of AC2, it would certainly be worth their time.

On the other hand, the behemoth of a track would be a mammoth project to recreate in sufficient detail. Never mind performance issues with the resource-hungry Unreal Engine 4 ACC uses. Time will tell – and sim racers will wait anxiously for an official statement.

What do you think about the reignited Nordschleife speculations? Would you give the track a go in ACC? Let us know on Twitter @OverTake_gg or in the comments below!
About author
Yannik Haustein
Lifelong motorsport enthusiast and sim racing aficionado, walking racing history encyclopedia.

Sim racing editor, streamer and one half of the SimRacing Buddies podcast (warning, German!).

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Comments

It may or may not be ACC. I mean: when they first tried other graphics engines to study what graphics engine to use in ACC, they reused a lot of the original AC content, code and physics.

We are at least one year before the release of AC2's early access. Very well it could be an internal build of the game that still uses parts of the user interface of ACC. Misha is mainly a gt and road car driver, not an GT2 or GT3 competition driver. I can imagine him trying AC2's road cars at nordschleiffe and giving his input.

It can also be ACC's swansong in the form of norschleiffe, but we should lower our expectations or we could potentially feel betrayed and frustrated. If it comes to happen it is going to be a very fine end for that sim.
 
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I think it's very unlikely we'll see it in ACC but it would be a glorious swansong for ACC with the addition of the GT2 class.

Hoping for the best.
 
Premium
I don't know if Sebring and Le Mans are part of it but those 2 I've always wanted more than Nordschleife. Still want the Nordschleife though. Just because. But I'd certainly take Sebring or Le Mans first.
 
On the other hand, the behemoth of a track would be a mammoth project to recreate in sufficient detail. Never mind performance issues with the resource-hungry Unreal Engine 4 ACC uses. Time will tell – and sim racers will wait anxiously for an official statement.
A bit of an inaccurate statement... Nordschleife pretty much runs through a forest, not a city environment....
 
Premium
I don't know if Sebring and Le Mans are part of it but those 2 I've always wanted more than Nordschleife. Still want the Nordschleife though. Just because. But I'd certainly take Sebring or Le Mans first.
Le Mans is off the table for the same reason that the Nordschleife was never possibly coming to ACC for so many years, licencing. SRO do not have any of their championships racing there.

Sebring on the other hand was a realistic candidate for ACC. Since GT World Challenge America raced there. Unfortunately, the American tracks we got were Laguna, COTA, Watkins and Indy. I'm sure the majority of people here would have happily done without COTA for the sake of having Sebring.
 
The parent company that owns Kunos has twice stated in financial statements that AC2 is due to release in spring 2024.
Yes, but that doesn't necessarily mean that the user interface of AC2 is already completed, they may have the menus, content and game core features almost finished but the game builds they use internally to test still being using ACC's HUD as a placeholder until they complete the real AC2 HUD.

I'm not saying that what Misha tried can't be the track for ACC. I just said that there is also a chance that it may end up not being it and getting hyped about it can be a mistake.
 
What’s stopping them from using the same asset for both games? Developed for AC2 and brought to ACC as a thank you to the fans. I’m sure the graphical fidelity is comparable.
 
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Premium
Le Mans is off the table for the same reason that the Nordschleife was never possibly coming to ACC for so many years, licencing. SRO do not have any of their championships racing there.

Sebring on the other hand was a realistic candidate for ACC. Since GT World Challenge America raced there. Unfortunately, the American tracks we got were Laguna, COTA, Watkins and Indy. I'm sure the majority of people here would have happily done without COTA for the sake of having Sebring.

COTA being my favorite track, I'd say replace COTA with Indy and yeah. Thank you for that information. Hopefully Sebring one day.
 
I'd take Sonoma, VIR or Road America instead of Sebring... It only gets attention because its what, way too bumpy? lol
 

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