Assetto Corsa Competizione Hits New PC Player Peak Following Nordschleife DLC

Assetto Corsa Competizione Hits New PC Player Peak Following Nordschleife DLC.jpg
Following the decision to move Assetto Corsa Evo (AC2) back to make space for Assetto Corsa Competizione's Nordschleife DLC, we suspect the next Digital Bros financial report is set to be really rather healthy...

Images: 505 Games/Steam Charts

Assetto Corsa Competizione’s 24H Nürburgring Pack was released on PC yesterday, 1st April, and while exact sales performance must wait until the parent company’s Digital Bros next financial report, early indicators are positive.

Following the release of the latest DLC for Kunos Simulazioni’s official GT World Challenge simulation, which adds the Nürburgring Nordschleife (24Hr) for the first time, it hit a new peak player count.

Thanks to Steam Charts, a third-party service that provides PC player number estimates, Competizione hit a new all-time record – there have never been more people playing the platform at the same time before.

Assetto Corsa Competizione Steam Charts All-Time Peak, April 2024.jpg


Granted, it first hit the scene (initially in early access) way back in 2018 and has often been heavily discounted over the intervening years.

Yet, a peak on the day of a €12.99/$12.99/£9.99 add-on launching is impressive, if somewhat expected considering legions of ACC fans requesting the venue on numerous occasions and it being a public holiday for many nations.

The new all-time (and 24-hour) peak of 12,290 players hit yesterday afternoon, and we’ll be monitoring its progress over the coming month.

Digital Bros – Risk vs Reward​


The first Assetto Corsa, no doubt buoyed by mod support, peaked at 19,228 as recently as December 2023. Competizione’s previous record was in April 2023 around the time of the 2023 GT World Challenge Pack release, with 9,083.

The complete Assetto Corsa franchise generated nearly half of its parent company’s revenue for the six months between July and December 2023. Digital Bros reported total revenues of €35.9 million, with Assetto Corsa contributing €12.2 million, labelled an “outstanding performance” by the Italian conglomerate.

Assetto Corsa Competizione GT2s Nurburgring.jpg


It announced in November 2023 that it would push back the launch of ‘the second Assetto Corsa’ - now titled Assetto Corsa Evo – to accommodate the creation of the Green Hell for Competizione. It would appear, in terms of ACC DLC sales at least, that this appears to have paid off.

To reiterate, looking at Steam Charts does not provide accurate sales data, but a rough idea, and in that light, yesterday was a boon for Kunos and publisher 505 Games.

It’s also worth bearing in mind the 24H Nürburgring Pack is yet to hit consoles; a release date is yet to be announced, when a second influx of purchases is expected to hit.


Did you purchase the 24H Nürburgring Pack to drive the Nordschleife in Assetto Corsa Competizione yesterday? Let us know in the comments below your impressions so far, or on X: @OverTake_gg.
About author
Thomas Harrison-Lord
A freelance sim racing, motorsport and automotive journalist. Credits include Autosport Magazine, Motorsport.com, RaceDepartment, OverTake, Traxion and TheSixthAxis.

Comments

That super-peak seemed to last only half a day, as in everybody downloaded the track, did some laps...
Than went back to their normal behaviors.
A day later the amount of players is the same as before, as if the "Nords" was never released.
But still a great last masterpiece of content for this sim.
 
Given the small sample sizes involved with other polls I'll definitely take steam player charts far more seriously going forwards... We don't really get any other useful data on who plays what and why...

I'm still yet to add to the bulge of Nords racing as has the many league events that are lining up to use the DLC...

The possibility of 110 cars on track at the same time... Other devs need to get theirs to work on that level...
 
Yes, bought the DLC yesterday, I was checking the time of the release, which is something I rarely do. To me Kunos content, while far from perfect, is something I particularly appreciate. The Nordschleife is not even something I particularly like, until yesterday.
On my setup, DD, VR and tactile, this new Nords version is remarquebly immersive. It gives me a feeling of completeness. As many time before, like the red bull ring not long ago, something familiar became new again and, to me, making other version offering less appealing.
Yes, ACC content offering is not extensive, but the quality of everything offered resonate with me, making me play this title much more than it should.
It is comforting that Kunos passion and craftsmanship seems to be appreciated by so many, it bolds well for the future. Looking forward to more content DLC for ACC and the launch of AC Evo.
 
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Premium
Yes, bought the DLC yesterday, I was checking the time of the release, which is something I rarely do. To me Kunos content, while far from perfect, is something I particularly appreciate. The Nordschleife is not even something I particularly like, until yesterday.
On my setup, DD, VR and tactile, this new Nords version is remarquedly immersive. It gives me a feeling of completeness. As many time before, like the red bull ring not long ago, something familiar became new again and, to me, making other version offering less appealing.
Yes, ACC content offering is not extensive, but the quality of everything offered resonate with me, making me play this title much more than it should.
It is comforting that Kunos passion and craftsmen ship seems to be appreciated by so many, it bolds well for the future. Looking forward to more content DLC for ACC and the launch of AC Evo.


I did the same, I never wait for DLC like I did this one or get excited for things like that. But since the 'wishlist' site had gone up on steam I had it open yesterday and was literally watching the hours drop til i could buy it. I have a triple monitor setup w/ TrackIR and having practiced in iracing for the past week when I opened ACC finally I was blown away. I can't really express the level of detail but I know others know what I am talking about when I say coming from iracing nords to Acc nords was like going from 720 to 1440. I even got a little overwhelmed while driving because I was so into it all. This nords is by far the best I've seen and driven on.
 
That super-peak seemed to last only half a day, as in everybody downloaded the track, did some laps...
Than went back to their normal behaviors.
A day later the amount of players is the same as before, as if the "Nords" was never released.
But still a great last masterpiece of content for this sim.
ACC has a very European centric playerbase. So it will obviously be very low at early morning on a work day.
 
That super-peak seemed to last only half a day, as in everybody downloaded the track, did some laps...
Than went back to their normal behaviors.
A day later the amount of players is the same as before, as if the "Nords" was never released.
But still a great last masterpiece of content for this sim.
Well, if you check here you will see that the player count is increasing again this afternoon (Europe time) following a more normal behavior. I guess we will have to wait a few weeks to see if the Nords brings any permanent increase to the player base. In the recent past new tracks and cars did not bring the player numbers up by a lot (they prevented the numbers from going down though).

My personal opinion: the Nordschleife brings a new challenge to ACC. It is a unique, narrow, twisty, very long old-style track where things get tricky in the blink of an eye, always exciting and dangerous. It takes time and dedication to learn. It is like the university of driving. I will definitely spend more time on it trying to shave seconds here and there while enjoying a good race. Those who just want a quick racing fix will still do Monza/Spa/RBR, but those who love the adrenaline of driving fast will camp at the Nords, as in real life.
 
Well, if you check here you will see that the player count is increasing again this afternoon (Europe time) following a more normal behavior. I guess we will have to wait a few weeks to see if the Nords brings any permanent increase to the player base. In the recent past new tracks and cars did not bring the player numbers up by a lot (they prevented the numbers from going down though).

My personal opinion: the Nordschleife brings a new challenge to ACC. It is a unique, narrow, twisty, very long old-style track where things get tricky in the blink of an eye, always exciting and dangerous. It takes time and dedication to learn. It is like the university of driving. I will definitely spend more time on it trying to shave seconds here and there while enjoying a good race. Those who just want a quick racing fix will still do Monza/Spa/RBR, but those who love the adrenaline of driving fast will camp at the Nords, as in real life.
Thanks for the link.
 
That super-peak seemed to last only half a day, as in everybody downloaded the track, did some laps...
Than went back to their normal behaviors.
A day later the amount of players is the same as before, as if the "Nords" was never released.
Peak today : 11,209 (24-hour peak)
You were saying? :D
Feels more like everybody did some laps, got amazed and are now returning for more, as in: this is too good to let go!
I know I have returned today for more and stopped just because, this experience is brutal, the attention required never stop and I am tired. :roflmao:
Also there is some more for me on the menu for tomorrow. :cool: I have tried the rain today, but have not done any night racing yet.

Edit 1: still peaking over 10K on day 3 and day 4. That ACC Nordschleife track is addictive.
 
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In single player, it's just 50 cars. R3E and rF2 allow way more cars on the Nordschleife there.

Yeah but the AI in ACC aren't great... I'm very picky with AI, outside of the F1 series I haven't had a great time feeling like I'm on the same physics as the other cars in recent years... LMU is the closest I've come to that...

So where there's a lot of content so the devs don't have it properly tuned, or the AI are just bad, I stick to online so I can have a better time...
 
I'm very picky with AI, outside of the F1 series I haven't had a great time feeling like I'm on the same physics as the other cars in recent years...
Yet, LMU/rF2 are the only ones (I think) were it's clearly known that AI are on different physics than the player ;)
 
Yet, LMU/rF2 are the only ones (I think) were it's clearly known that AI are on different physics than the player ;)

It's different tyres, which can then be tuned, it's just easier to tune with less content...

Same goes for anything that says it's got a physical tyre model like AMS2 or Forza Motorsports... Even the high end PCs simply wouldn't be able to handle it if the AI were on physical tyre models as well...

ACC is just bad in other areas with the AI...
 
Premium
I purchased the DLC, and i haven´t been disapointed.
Never been with kunos content.

This version of the nordschleife is by far the most immervise one of all seems.
The trees, the environnent has no equivalent on other titles.
The replay camera are great.

I love other versions on raceroom, rfactor 2, ams2 , assetto corsa.
But this one is a masterpiece.

I never thought i will have something like this when i begun simracing with Grand Prix Legends many many years ago.
 

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