Will Assetto Corsa EVO Have Free Roaming?

Danny Michael · Thursday at 06:11

Durge Driven said:
Yeah but he ain't making it personal

What ever sim turns you on, whatever your dreams and aspirations for it may be....

Maybe I'm just sick of his BS and your BS, and let's throw Teddy the Troll in there, too. All 3 of you spend your time here trashing any sim that isn't your "baby". You in particular live and breathe rF2, but for whatever reason we find you in every comment section preaching your tired, old BS daily. It's sad to watch day after day. Your lives must be so shallow. I'd feel sorry for you if I didn't dislike the 3 of you so much.

M D Gourley · Thursday at 06:28

I would like to think ACEvo would have 'Free Roam' capabilities and I suppose it will depend upon if it is a 'pick a car / pick a map' game play.

Imagine having a variety of large maps or even just one expansive map with the potential for additional DLCs, all featuring Free Roam capabilities. You could create a realistic road track, such as the Nordschleife or any other real-life track, and include all the surrounding roads and highways whether fictional or real life. This would allow for free-roam driving that connects to the track or multiple tracks, providing endless entertainment possibilities.

Having a Nordschleife and LeMans type track on one large Map with Free Roaming between these tracks through Cities, mountainous and hilly areas.

Free Roam = Yes

Just thinking out loud...either way I'll have to wait and see what ACEvo will give us.

flykas · Thursday at 07:48

If it had improved physics and open world with maybe even realistic cops I would gladly pay for early access with few cars and then would pay for DLC to get lot more content. Don't mind buying additional content if the base sandbox is that good.

Wreckoning · Thursday at 08:57

Even if Kunos had the budget of Star Citizen they wouldn't please everyone.

I just want a Circuit racer, with a wide range of cars and circuits running on a engine that supports all the modern shiny stuff and is well optimised for VR. It's great if it supports mods but I'd like Kunos to exercise a bit of quality control and in that context have an easy way for players to give back to the modders. More important to me is plenty of official DLC. I'd like Championships and Race Weekends but I don't care about a "career mode" being wrapped around it.

Anything else to me is a waste of development time

. Surely if I pay my £50 or whatever I should get exactly the game that "I" want with endless long-term support until I get bored and want something else

The success of AC and its modding community has made Kunos' life quite difficult I imagine. What do they focus on without each aspect of it becoming a bit half done. How many circuits, free roam maps, road cars, race cars is enough at launch?

It's going to be interesting to see what they come up with especially in early access and what the dev plan is post that launch.

tr1v1um · Thursday at 11:52

Nitro McClean said:
I am a modder. I build tracks which you can download here on Overtake. So no need to boot AC without mods. If I would do that I would go 10 years back in time and miss all the bells and whistles which Content Manager, CSP and Sol / Pure has to offer.

I am not only using Assetto Corsa but also rF2. And I don't like the steamworkshop for rF2 at all. There are a lot of bad mods which have a lot of problems. And with the steamworkshop there is not much you can do about it when there is a problem with a mod. In the old rFactor and in AC I can do whatever I like to fix any problem. AC has much more users than rF2 and there are much more mods available for AC than for rF2. There are different reasons for this, but I certainly think the way the workshop for rF2 is now has something to do with this.

The thing with Content Manager, CSP and Sol/Pure is however, as a mod creater, you don't know what a user has installed and how it is setup. So a track can look very different on different systems. So if Kunos can integrate all the nice Content Manager / CSP / Sol / Pure stuff into AC EVO, that would make us a lot happier.

But please Konus, don't go the steamworkshop route, that would be a disaster.

See, this is the point where people don't have the knowledge about how something works and see the way they have done it for the last couple of years as the only golden option just to be stuck in 2005. I still get the good old content mismatches in AC league races with snow in my race while the other guys are driving in sunny conditions if I am even able to join a race - we are in 2024 now. We are talking about the same problems.

First of all, that you can't fix mods because they are distributed with the Steam Workshop is a complete myth. It stores rcfmp files that you can open and repack as any other mod pack that you dowload from somewhere else and you can do whatever you like with them. I would like to see the number of people who download a zip from here and keep it stored just to find out that those mods have issues aswell. It has nothing to do with the platform or usernumbers, nor has the file structure of rF2 anything to do with it - this was setup long before rF2 moved to Steam. They could use zip files or what ever - that's up to Kunos. ArmA III had atleast twice as many players as AC and utilized the system very successfully with an open file structure because you had a centralized mod hub with a search function, ratings, tags (does this ring a bell?) and you were allways up-to-date as a user - with this forum you aren't. People can report mods through it aswell. You can even see with Steam Workshop what people have installed for the most part to get an idea of what could cause issues - again something that works within rF2 as it shows dependencies and file mismatches with mod IDs.

I know, moderators won't like to read this but OTGG has zero advantages as a mod hub and a file size limitation added on top of it. That you don't know what people have installed is a problem you will never gonna solve and actually nothing you are accountable for. It's part of the game. And as much as people allways complain about the packing system, rcfmp files and the removal of these stupid HDR filters solved your current issues in AC for rF2 long time ago. rF2 get's alot of fire for right reasons in some areas, but none of this has anything to do with Steam Workshop. And this is something that people need to understand before they rule it out because for the few shortcommings that it has in rF2 it also offers a ton of advantages. Kunos would just need to take it a step further with the Workshop in mind right from the beginning and it would be a huge help for modders and consumers alike.

Michael Krone · Thursday at 13:09

Rene / GRunner said:
Yes I did, which is why I try to stay away from our articles etc.
The only thing I did on OT about AC Evo was the stream with analyzing the trailer, because I am obviously also hyped for a new sim.

But more importantly: What I tried was an early build, it is not like I saw all the features, all the cars, tracks or whatever. I had a minor glimpse into the game and thats it. So I am 100% sure that there are way more things still to uncover.

I get it. Just more of a tongue in cheek kinda comment while still something to consider.

Cote Dazur · Thursday at 13:45

tr1v1um said:
for the few shortcomings that it has in rF2 it also offers a ton of advantages

Thank you for this explanatory post, with detailed information and reasons you believe using workshop is an advantage.
We need more of those cordial and informative post.
If I understand it, the main advantage is that as long as you limit your self to mod available in the workshop, download all that is in the workshop, you end up with a game version identical to anyone else doing the same thing which for someone playing in a league is a great advantage.
This would not work for me for many reason.

like the vast majority I do not take part in a league
Even for RF2, the workshop only contains some of the mod content available for us to install and enjoy in RF2. so my RF2 is always going to be different
I have no interest in a lot of what the workshop as to offer.

I manage mods in AC with CM.
I have, as of this morning, 3915 cars and 925 tracks installed in the game, more in memory storage. Even for that many, I have no issue keeping my game up to date to a level that works for me, so for me, the workshop only brings limitations. I would much prefer to have the kind of management power a tool like CM brings me in RF2 than having to use the steam workshop.

mantasisg · Thursday at 14:26

@Cote Dazur I want to put in my three cents in workshop sub-discussion. The only advantage about is that it allows automatic updating. Fractional updating is also nice, where you don't need to send whole package when updating just few files.

The disadvantages IMO are pretty bad. In rF2 at least.
1. Increased usage of disk space, as all downloaded packages are kept in somewhere in folders.
2. The way content is updated is easy to miss, you don't notice stuff. Updates becomes a background stuff, something that means barely anything, and people might not know at all that there could have been significant change. And there is no joy of "wrapping archives and putting in the files", basically no unboxing joy.
3. Steam workshop just makes no sense the way they display stuff and sort it, this site is a lot better at that.
4. There is a possibility of lots of confusion when updating something what is in workshop separately from workshop for some non-public purpose, annoying to unsubscribe then subscribe again... it is not smooth.
5. RD, currently OT has always simply superior at providing display of mods and connection with community (as much as there is left of it).. IDK about CM that is also clever stuff. Also workshops are full of ripped really bad quality stuff that is more difficult to sort out, here admins are more interested to remove such stuff. Even though people simply crave to have as many rips possible with physics and modeling that were mildly taken care of.

In short. Workshops is like driving a car with automatic transmission. You might be getting more comfort. But at serious expense of more weight and more potential of experiencing troubles. Also taking away joy of managing things yourself, which also takes away plenty of connection with mods and understanding them.

I know ACE might use some approach to gatekeep modding from crap and stuff that is offensive to original creators in all meaning of that. And that is very good. But I hope they will do that without putting modding in some dark cold shadows.

tr1v1um · Thursday at 15:37

Cote Dazur said:
Thank you for this explanatory post, with detailed information and reasons you believe using workshop is an advantage.
We need more of those cordial and informative post.
If I understand it, the main advantage is that as long as you limit your self to mod available in the workshop, download all that is in the workshop, you end up with a game version identical to anyone else doing the same thing which for someone playing in a league is a great advantage.
This would not work for me for many reason.

like the vast majority I do not take part in a league

Even for RF2, the workshop only contains some of the mod content available for us to install and enjoy in RF2. so my RF2 is always going to be different

I have no interest in a lot of what the workshop as to offer.

I manage mods in AC with CM.
I have, as of this morning, 3915 cars and 925 tracks installed in the game, more in memory storage. Even for that many, I have no issue keeping my game up to date to a level that works for me, so for me, the workshop only brings limitations. I would much prefer to have the kind of management power a tool like CM brings me in RF2 than having to use the steam workshop.

Your're welcome and I am glad that people take these information into consideration. I will try to answer your concerns.

My example about league racing is just an example. I am also not racing in a league right now but I see online racing as an important part to interact. Recently I tried to race online with a few mates in AC having those old issues to join because everyone had a different version of their Frankenstein mod installed while we wanted to race the same stuff. In rF2 you don't face these issue as every modpackage has a unique ID. The problem here is that packaging the rcfmp files requires a bit of knowledge as the MAS tool is from the stone age and as you need all the content in the mod package to race on the same server - both things can be done right by the developer. If the packaging is streamlined and explained well there is no issue with stuff like that. Simply check wich car or track file is used, compare it with the server and race. Also stuff like skins or talent files need to be handled seperately in theory. That's something that ISI f*cked up right from the start. I raced community events in the past and all people had was a link to the workshop items that you clicked and subscribed to. Everything else is automated and you are ready to go.
The reason why the workshop for rF2 isn't as popular as it should be is pretty simple: using the workshop was only an afterthought because rF2 wasn't intended to end up on Steam and it shows in how a few of the systems are managed (or not) - like the mod manager in the game right now. With ArmA III for example the Workshop is the way to go because it was integrated into the game right from the beginning and it shows compared to rF2. Support for the tags came far too late. I am not saying that the workshop works perfectly for rF2 but it's ten times better than lurking through a forum. And if Kunos does it right there is no reason to repeat the same errors as with rF2. If my friend tells me that I need item x or y in the workshop to join his server it's just about perfect and I can even control that from my phone while I am not at home. Or even easier: each server in the browser gives a direct link to the workshop item that is used and people can agree or not to subscribe. Checking the favorite items of your friends is possible aswell. There are tons of possibilities to use this system.
What we have interest in or not is completely irrelevant at the point of planning the integration of such a mod distribution system. Right now you don't know what will end up as 3rd party content. The question is what kind of features, advantages and disadvantages each platform offers and not the quality of the offered 3rd party content. And in that regard Steam Workshop far outweighs any other Mod HUB that is out there. And something that you kind of answered with your post, CM only works well for you in your specific case - Steam Workshop works as a central HUB for any kind of user in MP and SP - in ArmA III even that is controlled by the tags. I know myself that there is alot of low quality content but it's actually very easy to filter the good stuff. Same goes for the download sections on any other forum.

And maybe to sum up and take the fear a bit more: it's not just rF2 or ArmA III that use the workshop. There are tons of strategy, role playing games, FPS games and what not that use this system. It doesn't matter if you are an online player or if you want to race the stuff in SP. It simply works.

Cote Dazur · Thursday at 15:49

tr1v1um said:
Your're welcome and I am glad that people take these information into consideration. I will try to answer your concerns.

My example about league racing is just an example. I am also not racing in a league right now but I see online racing as an important part to interact. Recently I tried to race online with a few mates in AC having those old issues to join because everyone had a different version of their Frankenstein mod installed while we wanted to race the same stuff. In rF2 you don't face these issue as every modpackage has a unique ID. The problem here is that packaging the rcfmp files requires a bit of knowledge as the MAS tool is from the stone age and as you need all the content in the mod package to race on the same server - both things can be done right by the developer. If the packaging is streamlined and explained well there is no issue with stuff like that. Simply check wich car or track file is used, compare it with the server and race. Also stuff like skins or talent files need to be handled seperately in theory. That's something that ISI f*cked up right from the start. I raced community events in the past and all people had was a link to the workshop items that you clicked and subscribed to. Everything else is automated and you are ready to go.

The reason why the workshop for rF2 isn't as popular as it should be is pretty simple: using the workshop was only an afterthought because rF2 wasn't intended to end up on Steam and it shows in how a few of the systems are managed (or not) - like the mod manager in the game right now. With ArmA III for example the Workshop is the way to go because it was integrated into the game right from the beginning and it shows compared to rF2. Support for the tags came far too late. I am not saying that the workshop works perfectly for rF2 but it's ten times better than lurking through a forum. And if Kunos does it right there is no reason to repeat the same errors as with rF2. If my friend tells me that I need item x or y in the workshop to join his server it's just about perfect and I can even control that from my phone while I am not at home. Or even easier: each server in the browser gives a direct link to the workshop item that is used and people can agree or not to subscribe. Checking the favorite items of your friends is possible aswell. There are tons of possibilities to use this system.

What we have interest in or not is completely irrelevant at the point of planning the integration of such a mod distribution system. Right now you don't know what will end up as 3rd party content. The question is what kind of features, advantages and disadvantages each platform offers and not the quality of the offered 3rd party content. And in that regard Steam Workshop far outweighs any other Mod HUB that is out there. And something that you kind of answered with your post, CM only works well for you in your specific case - Steam Workshop works as a central HUB for any kind of user in MP and SP - in ArmA III even that is controlled by the tags. I know myself that there is alot of low quality content but it's actually very easy to filter the good stuff. Same goes for the download sections on any other forum.

And maybe to sum up and take the fear a bit more: it's not just rF2 or ArmA III that use the workshop. There are tons of strategy, role playing games, FPS games and what not that use this system. It doesn't matter if you are an online player or if you want to race the stuff in SP. It simply works.

Thank you for the clarifications, I still do not see the workshop as something I would prefer to what I am using, but appreciate the explanation.

tr1v1um · Thursday at 16:01

mantasisg said:
@Cote Dazur I want to put in my three cents in workshop sub-discussion. The only advantage about is that it allows automatic updating. Fractional updating is also nice, where you don't need to send whole package when updating just few files.

The disadvantages IMO are pretty bad. In rF2 at least.
1. Increased usage of disk space, as all downloaded packages are kept in somewhere in folders.
2. The way content is updated is easy to miss, you don't notice stuff. Updates becomes a background stuff, something that means barely anything, and people might not know at all that there could have been significant change. And there is no joy of "wrapping archives and putting in the files", basically no unboxing joy.
3. Steam workshop just makes no sense the way they display stuff and sort it, this site is a lot better at that.
4. There is a possibility of lots of confusion when updating something what is in workshop separately from workshop for some non-public purpose, annoying to unsubscribe then subscribe again... it is not smooth.
5. RD, currently OT has always simply superior at providing display of mods and connection with community (as much as there is left of it).. IDK about CM that is also clever stuff. Also workshops are full of ripped really bad quality stuff that is more difficult to sort out, here admins are more interested to remove such stuff. Even though people simply crave to have as many rips possible with physics and modeling that were mildly taken care of.

In short. Workshops is like driving a car with automatic transmission. You might be getting more comfort. But at serious expense of more weight and more potential of experiencing troubles. Also taking away joy of managing things yourself, which also takes away plenty of connection with mods and understanding them.

I know ACE might use some approach to gatekeep modding from crap and stuff that is offensive to original creators in all meaning of that. And that is very good. But I hope they will do that without putting modding in some dark cold shadows.

Just out of interest, how many games do you play or do you have in your Steam library that use the Steam workshop? And I don't mean like rF2 where the workshop was an afterthought but products that really use it to it's full potential. I also hope that you know that you can control the downloads in Steam. It will tell you that an rf2 WorkShop item was updated. Click on there and you know what was updated and when, with a changelog. Then you can start the download or not, that's up to you

As allread pointed out, I am sure most people here keep a version of their AC mods somewhere stored aswell, so I don't buy the storage problem anymore. And what's the fun in "unboxing" a zipfile and copy pasting folders like in the 90s? Do we have nothing better to do? Something that you still can do that in rF2 aswell.

mantasisg · Thursday at 19:46

tr1v1um said:
Just out of interest, how many games do you play or do you have in your Steam library that use the Steam workshop? And I don't mean like rF2 where the workshop was an afterthought but products that really use it to it's full potential. I also hope that you know that you can control the downloads in Steam. It will tell you that an rf2 WorkShop item was updated. Click on there and you know what was updated and when, with a changelog. Then you can start the download or not, that's up to you

As allread pointed out, I am sure most people here keep a version of their AC mods somewhere stored aswell, so I don't buy the storage problem anymore. And what's the fun in "unboxing" a zipfile and copy pasting folders like in the 90s? Do we have nothing better to do? Something that you still can do that in rF2 aswell.

Your points are valid. Maybe I don't know ways how to take full control of it all, but is it my fault or is UI not properly designed to present me options decently ?

I don't play many games at all. Besides only DayZ used workshop mods out of few games I have. And it was utter mess too in my opinion and to my liking. Actually way worse than rF2 stuff, rF2 stuff ain't even too bad.

You don't need to keep AC mods packages, like you need to with workshop subscribed mods. I like to manually deal with my mods installation like in 90s because it makes me connected, and I am not a mods w***e , where people download hundred mods and then use five of them for three minutes each. I like the connection, same as manual transmission which is a thing of what ? 50s ?

Yes we can still deal with mods in rF2 manually, and I prefer that. Maybe steam workshops could be superior for sure, if they tried to become. Besides auto updating, I feel like there is just simply more hassle with that.

Phoenix77 · Thursday at 20:04

Free roaming, in a racing simulator? That will never catch on!

NOBEVKEV · Thursday at 20:45

Awesome to see how promising the game seems to be and happy they aren't moving to the UE5 instead using their own in-house engine. All I want is confirmation for mods on the game itself. I don't think I can justify buying this game outright on day 1 or even within the same year. Too many racing sims as of the past two years have had very rough launches without any clear communication to consumers and fans. Seems worth it to wait a year and a half in order to extract the best out of the game solely based on vanilla content and DLC w/ future updates with content or possibly modders adding mods that will breathe new life into a game that is heavily anticipated. Doesn't seem worth it to have high or low expectations anymore. This not a criticism to Kunos themselves and the incredible work they've done with the original AC, it's merely me being overly cautious about a new product that so many of us have high hopes for and would rather give them room to breathe and not lose my mind on a game that of course can have bugs or issues within the first year. If anything once the game seems fairly stable I will gladly hand them my money for the base game and all DLCs/season passes.

Rodger Davies · 2024-10-04T02:28:03+0100

This would be an exciting new direction for the series.

Hard disagree. Personally.

Wreckoning said:
Even if Kunos had the budget of Star Citizen they wouldn't please everyone.

I just want a Circuit racer, with a wide range of cars and circuits running on a engine that supports all the modern shiny stuff and is well optimised for VR. It's great if it supports mods but I'd like Kunos to exercise a bit of quality control and in that context have an easy way for players to give back to the modders. More important to me is plenty of official DLC. I'd like Championships and Race Weekends but I don't care about a "career mode" being wrapped around it.

Anything else to me is a waste of development time . Surely if I pay my £50 or whatever I should get exactly the game that "I" want with endless long-term support until I get bored and want something else

The success of AC and its modding community has made Kunos' life quite difficult I imagine. What do they focus on without each aspect of it becoming a bit half done. How many circuits, free roam maps, road cars, race cars is enough at launch?

It's going to be interesting to see what they come up with especially in early access and what the dev plan is post that launch.

A big +1 to this.

I am interested in having a realistic racing game, extra bonus points if it has vintage tracks and cars (I no longer have much interest in vintage cars on modern tracks; AC and AMS2 have spoiled me).

There's a big chance Kunos is using the first trailer to differentiate this game from ACC as much as possible, but that's the copium in me talking - it looks like 'driving culture' and avatar personalisation are going to be big things here going forward - I'm sure that interests many, but I'm not amongst them.

Lupo grigio · 2024-10-04T09:45:35+0100

Latest statements by Marco Massarutto:
the most interesting information provided by Marco are:

the AI of Assetto Corsa EVO has been further improved
the player will progress with experience, rating, ranking, in a sort of career presumably
the new graphics engine (which we remember was created internally by Kunos, like the first Assetto Corsa) will allow modding, but it is not yet clear how and when the modding will be made available
present 24-hour day/night cycle, with complete dynamic weather, completely customizable, that changes in real time without pre-calculated effects
the grip of the track and the rubber will depend not only on the weather conditions, but also on the trajectory of the cars and the number of cars on the track; if it does not rain too much, the part of the track where most of the cars pass will be drier than others; the slope of the track will determine where the water accumulates, so the track will dry faster in some areas than others
the weather, cloud density, color will use procedural meshes calculated in real time that all have an impact on the light and shadows on the ground; the time of day, geographic location and season are also taken into account
there will be specific features for multiplayer and online racing
Assetto Corsa EVO will be absolutely 100% simulation and will be supported and developed for many years to come
even Assetto Corsa Competizione, although it will not enjoy major changes in the future, will continue to be active and supported by Kunos

guidofoc · 2024-10-04T11:04:03+0100

Phoenix77 said:
Free roaming, in a racing simulator? That will never catch on!

Haha! Your LA Canyons changed AC for me. Honestly those Black Cat County and Highlands "road-track" hybrids never did it for me. AC is so full of beautiful road cars and LA Canyons is one of the few places where you can really drive and enjoy those cars to their full.

As Marco said in the latest interview here, certainly they have been looking carefully at the mod scene and learned from it. I hope this means we are going to get real roads and roaming.

My opinion on why we did not see true free roam in AC from Kunos so far:

What Stefano said in the posts above: this thing, if done officially by Kunos, requires money and time. If you're not a big developer you have to make choices. Their choice was to make AC moddable.. which eventually did also bring us real roads and roaming, thanks to crazy (good) people like Phoenix77!
There was a limitation in the code where the track would start "shaking" if it was too long. (Thanks to the modders the issue was later solved for good)
In the real world, you want to enjoy driving your car fast only on a track. I am not sure Kunos wants to promote the idea that you can use a piece of road as your track (especially with traffic) in real life, that's dangerous.

kubaaa · 2024-10-05T17:38:07+0100

I'm really looking forward to the new Assetto. I'm still thinking a bit about modding. To be honest, it's what kept the current Assetto alive and why it's so popular. Tools for weather, better graphics, all those features, physics extensions... they're absolutely amazing, and I understand that only people who live and breathe this stuff, and enjoy it, can create them.

On the other hand, it really annoys me how many car and track mods exist for Assetto. The situation with tracks is still pretty good, but when it comes to cars, we have thousands of them thanks to mods, but only a handful are truly good in both visual and physical aspects... maybe just a few dozen. It might be worth considering allowing only "verified" mods to be released, to avoid the current situation where someone just converts a model, throws in random physics, and we end up with the same car 10 times from different people in varying quality. And I really don't enjoy constantly having to choose whether this version is better than the other one.

Moreover, the ease of creating modded cars completely undermines the work of those who do it properly and understand the physics.

But it's just a small gripe. I'm definitely in favor of modding because it's the only thing that can generate the same hype for AC EVO as for the current AC.

Michael Krone · 2024-10-05T18:31:39+0100

Watch them implement a speed limit anywhere outside of the track.

Krawumel · 2024-10-05T19:51:14+0100

I think the modding restrictions come down to what Ilja did with CSP. He broke the EULA and got rich.
I don`t think Kunos will allow that again.

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