First Assetto Corsa EVO Trailer Confirms Early Access Release Date

F40 Competizione AC EVO.jpg
Image: Kunos Simulazioni
Today is the day: the reveal of Assetto Corsa EVO gameplay on the official AC YouTube channel, and with it, the early access release date.

Kunos Simulazioni has given a first glimpse of official gameplay for Assetto Corsa EVO, the upcoming follow-up to 2014's Assetto Corsa. From January 16 2025, Assetto Corsa EVO will be available in early access on Steam.

While only brief, the video released on the official Assetto Corsa YouTube channel provides us with plenty of new info regarding cars and other elements to expect. Here are the major takeaways.


New Cars & Additional Features​

There were plenty of vehicles we already knew from official confirmation, but several new cars are featured in the trailer. The first new car shown is the BMW M4 CSL (G82), shortly followed by the interior of a Mercedes, although not the previously-confirmed 190E Evo II. Instead, it is the AMG GT2, which appears later in the trailer.

An old Mini is seen being thrown around a track, as is a Morgan Super-3, which will appeal to the lower power and weight car enthusiasts, along with both the original and current versions of the Volkswagen Golf GTI. Other new cars shown include the Lotus Emira, McLaren 765 LT and Ferrari 296 GTB, along with the Ferrari Daytona SP3, which will make its first official appearance in a racing title outside of the mobile market.

Despite not appearing in the trailer, the Ferrari F40 Competizione will also be in the game, as shown in an official screenshot.

AC EVO night racing.jpg

It will be possible in the AC EVO base game to do full 24 hour cycle racing, so you can drive at night! Image: Kunos Simulazioni

That is it for cars, but it does not end there. The original Assetto Corsa did not have nighttime or rain driving outside third-party mods, but both featured in the GT-focused sister title Assetto Corsa Competizione. In AC EVO, dynamic time and weather will feature in the game from launch. This will include a full 24 hour cycle like in ACC and seemingly more advanced rain, judging by the standing water in some of the shots.

Plus for the points in the video featuring the Emira and Alpine A110, the reflection work on the window is very detailed. Clearly the graphics team have worked their magic. As for tracks, Brands Hatch, Imola and the Nürburgring Nordschleife were showcased in the trailer, but these were already confirmed. But there appears to be some frames showcasing the likes of Suzuka and Fuji, but we cannot be sure.

However, a few shots in the trailer showed cars driving on a public road. A couple of people on our team who live close to Nordschleife were able to identify it as being near there.

AC EVO traffic.jpg

Those living close to the Nordschleife may recognise this strip of road. Plus, could this be confirmation of traffic? Image: Kunos Simulazioni

Open road tracks are nothing new to Assetto Corsa, with the original having the Trento-Bondone Hill Climb, the Highlands and Black Cat County. But with the road being so close to the Nordschleife, is this an indication that we can leave the confines of the track and go onto public roads?

Not only that, but the shot in the trailer featuring the Morgan on that road has the M4 travelling in the other direction. Might AC EVO feature proper road traffic implementation that we have become used to in major open world racing games like Forza Horizon, Test Drive, The Crew etc.?

If you want to check out our deep dive stream we did, it is on our YouTube channel to replay.

AC Evo Google Maps screenshot.jpg

Here is the road that may have been identified as being in the AC EVO trailer, close to the Nürburgring. Image: Google Maps

Assetto Corsa EVO Early Access Release Date​

Assetto Corsa EVO launches on January 16, 2025, in early access on Steam. It is not clear how many tracks or cars will feature in the initial early access release, but we should find out more in the run-up to release. Initially, Assetto Corsa EVO will be PC-only, with a console version planned later on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S.


Is there anything we may have missed in the Assetto Corsa EVO gameplay reveal announcement trailer? Let us know in the comments below or join the discussion in our forum!
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Luca [OT]
Biggest sim racing esports fan in the world.

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I'm not arguing over it. But the console version runs poorly compared to the pc version. Visually it suffers the usual Unreal Engine bugs when it comes to console. Especially Xbox Series S. In general too 90% of people that buy it on console will have played with a gamepad which it isn't good with especially when it comes to the cars electronics that you might want to play with over the course of a race. It's just clunky. Has frame rate issues on console too even with the graphics settings being visibly lower than most PCs could run it.

All I was saying was if it sold that well then it wouldn't have been in the sales so much pretty much once every couple of months in the past 2 years it's been in an Xbox sale whether it be the main game or dlc.
Give it a whirl on PS5 mate. I'm super hard to please and love a good moan - I really don't have any of those issues on playstation.
 
Trailer seems same-ish quality as AC was. Meaning, the game looked way better on the screen when installed - compared to what the video showed. No comparison. Post processing on some elements is off, as there wasn't tire smoke etc etc. Not bothered about visual tire-flex, as it doesn't mean it's not modelled. I'm sure people would rather have a smooth lag-free driving. Handling looks believable from the snippets. Sure GT7 looks better than PC sims, but it's not all about visuals. How some peeps feel about the trailer seems to fly against what Aris told us. He was clear on what to expect.

People are entitled to guess, take themselves into we're doomed mode, and read things that haven't been seen/told. A mid-month release, a cool bonus. The game will be very successful regardless of mods. There's no way manufacturers/Kunos will be happy to see cars based on real cars supported in the title. Those who think different are dreaming. It's a miracle some modding teams haven't seen law action against them. iRacing doesn't even allow the skinning of the Merc F1 cars, you can bet that's by order of Mercedes. The quality of many mods are poop, so I expect it to be heavily policed if it appears.

So, people can still stick to their AC install with mods and be happy. Modder's can always look to tinker with it when it goes end of life, if they can't be arsed. It's a modern evolved AC, with much left to reveal. I disabled post-processing in AC, I preferred the stock look. One thing AC was decent for, was performance. I don't think A.C.E will be any different. For us DAY-1 peeps, we can await the next lot of details shared by Marco and the team.
 
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My big question will be "Why?". Why am I coming to this game, and driving an Austin Mini, or Golf GTI or Alfa Romeo Guilia?

With Gran Turismo, there's the collecting aspect and upgrading, and progressing through the campaign (tedious though it may seem at times).

Why am I doing anything in AC? Another half-baked career mode? Do I want to be in an online series for Morgan 3-wheelers or Porsche Macan street versions? Just give me something original.
Because some people want some real sim experience not some simcade.

Also GT is far from open and vast as assetto is, if we talk about the AC and not ACC of course, the one that most people still like, specially if EVO allows for modding.
 
Just a first trailer, nothing noteworthy. Hopefully the teasers that come after this will show some substance.
Exactly, great graphics are a given now days, don’t care about cars and tracks yet. Will they put some effort into the usually neglected sounds? The only thing I saw exciting in it was the rivers of water running across the track.
 
My big question will be "Why?". Why am I coming to this game, and driving an Austin Mini, or Golf GTI or Alfa Romeo Guilia?

With Gran Turismo, there's the collecting aspect and upgrading, and progressing through the campaign (tedious though it may seem at times).

Why am I doing anything in AC? Another half-baked career mode? Do I want to be in an online series for Morgan 3-wheelers or Porsche Macan street versions? Just give me something original.
I do. For me those are the most important cars on the list. And there might be interesting missions, you never know. It is too early to ask why
 
Finally there will be more than just track cars, which are in absolutely every sim. Well, and its own engine - a big step forward after UE. I would like to see gameplay.
 
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My big question will be "Why?". Why am I coming to this game, and driving an Austin Mini, or Golf GTI or Alfa Romeo Guilia?

With Gran Turismo, there's the collecting aspect and upgrading, and progressing through the campaign (tedious though it may seem at times).

Why am I doing anything in AC? Another half-baked career mode? Do I want to be in an online series for Morgan 3-wheelers or Porsche Macan street versions? Just give me something original.
Why? Because not everyone enjoys games with mario kart physics like gran turismo. We want something more realistic.
 
Why? Because not everyone enjoys games with mario kart physics like gran turismo. We want something more realistic.
Gotta love all the elitists coming out of the woodwork.

I bet if i ask exactly WHY is GT so "unrealistic", nobody will be able to say anything meaningfull, and just give me platitudes about "feel", and "drifting"...

I will go out on a limb and say that the very car featured in this article, the F40, is much better in gran turismo than it is in AC1.
 
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Looks like it uses the same engine as the first AC, plus additional shaders improvements, that's why the visuals aren't that impressive compared to AC1 + CSP.

On the positive side, you will get a decent looking sim with plenty of features that could run on modest setups especially compared to ACC's Unreal engine mess, so I would dare say that anyone who can run CSP will eventually be able to play ACE comfortably.

Now the question is : why would anyone buy this sim when there is AC1+CSP ?, maybe the most obvious answer would be the better overall package when it comes to quality and integration, but will that be enough ?

that's why I hope if they try to take advantage of the lightweight graphics engine to step up the physics of the game, and more importantly the SOLO content of the game, these two things would convince many people to switch to the update platform.

As for modding, I would take a guess it will be supported offcially but with strict guidlines concerning brands usage, could be something like you could mod any vehicle but with fictional name and some other modifications.
 
I've got to admit I'm not sold on the graphics here. To shiny shiny for my tastes, which makes everything look rather artificial and plastic. It's a bit like "hey, we've got a new graphics engine, lets push everything to eleven"

I'm weird though, I actually like the original AC vanilla graphics, mainly because for me the muted colour grading actually looks more realistic in many ways. I also think that of iRacing and R3E.

I'm semi watching an LMU stream at the moment in wet weather, and honestly it looks pretty bang on - nothing is really over emphasised which gives it an appearance that could almost fool you into thinking it's real on board footage.

With graphics we've reached the stage where less really is more in many ways.
Very true point of view. Graphics don't look alive at all. But maybe these are just preliminary tests, let's wait and see. I also prefer AC vanilla graphics with small graphic corrections than CSP+PURE+BDSM+PTSD and other crap with thousands of settings, most of which remain unknown even to the creators themselves.
 

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