Aris of Kunos Simulazioni Releases "Go Faster" Driving Tips Video

[Paul Jeffrey]

Kunos Simulazioni's Aristotelis Vasilakos has released a nice video tutorial aimed at giving driving tips to players of Assetto Corsa.

Vasilakos is one of the key physics engineers at Kunos and as such has a deep and involved understand of how the Italian development team realise car physics generation in Assetto Corsa. As well as proving himself to be a remarkably talented physics creator, Aris is also a dab hand behind the wheel of both his virtual creations and those of the real world, regularly posting videos and telemetry from his various on track escapades at a number of local real world racetracks.

Making the most of his considerable experience, Aris has produced a very handy 40 minute video using Assetto Corsa that aims to help impart some of his knowledge to the sim racing faithful, with the hope that some of the tips shared in this tutorial will help develop the skills of sim race drivers and make it just that little bit easier to find those missing tenths of a second when out on track. You can watch the video from Aris in full below:

Using the stock content BMW M235i Racing edition around the British Silverstone International layout, Aris takes players through a number of key driving tips and techniques that should form part of every real and virtual sim drivers skill set. From finding your reference points around a circuit to ensuring you know and adhere to the racing line, the video covers of some key basic tips that often get overlooked by new and experienced drivers alike. Although Aris doesn't go into the more advanced techniques some of the more experienced players may make use of during a racing situation, it is nevertheless extremely valuable to reaffirm some of the things Aris discusses in this video, as everything he covers during the 40 odd minute presentation are details that every sim racer, either new or old, should be following to help ensure you are driving to your fastest possible speed.

The video is well presented, interesting and informative and Vasilakos does a very good job maintaining an entertaining show whilst imparting some valuable information. Well worth a watch for any experience level...


Assetto Corsa is a racing simulation designed by Kunos Simulazioni and is available for Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC.

Check out the Assetto Corsa sub forum here at RaceDepartment. We have a great collection of mods to download, a thriving Racing Club and Leagues forum where events are regularly filled to capacity, a dedicated area where modders can discuss their creations a busy forum where you can join in the discussion with your fellow Assetto Corsa sim racing fans and a special area of the internet where you can share and download setups with other users of the simulation.

Did you enjoy the video from Aris? Did you learn anything useful? Have any driving techniques you wish to share yourself? Let us know in the comments section below!

 

[Green-Promise]

I believe that was meant to say official content.

English is not my native language so its possible that i missunderstood it.

 

[Nick Hill]

Um, please do more of these! This is awesome; not sure why more developers aren't engaging with the user base in this way.

Yes, Niels does the excellent "talk and drives" for AMS, but those are not instructional in nature.

Speaking as someone who currently plays Assetto Corsa as a "secondary" sim (i.e. I really like the sim and drive it a fair bit, but it's not currently my "primary" sim), I can tell you watching this video makes me much more likely to invest time into the sim...if nothing else, because it reminds me how ****ing awesome the M235i is in AC!

In short, keep them coming, Kunos!

 

[Wedge]

LOL, I watched the video yesterday after seeing Stefano's tweet. Didn't know it was from Aris. Had no idea. Awesome! Awesome vid! Hope to see more from him! Ty @Aristotelis !

 

[PietervE8]

Thans Aris, keep them coming.
Great work and most informative.
Thanks Racedepartment !

 

[m_mirk]

Thank you Aris. Nice tutorial!

I love to see us racing this nice car in the Rookie Races

 

[dzk76]

Lets be brutally honest here, how many of these sims we all play can we say their Physics Engineer has actually driven the cars that are in the sim title they produce for. Assetto Corsa and iracing are the only two I can think of

Automobilista?

 

[RaceNut]

I find the information and feedback Aris provides far more useful than that of some Pro Race-driver that considers Simulations to be lame.

Is a Pro Race-driver that has no Sim experience any more or less qualified to judge Sims than a Sim-racer that has no real-life driving experience?

My point is this; if one is to have an audience regarding his/her opinion of "Simulation Value", they should have their feet firmly planted in in both worlds - not just one. Most of us travel the road that bridges the gap.

 

[melanieuk]

Automobilista?

Sure, if their physics engineer has driven all those "Brazilian" cars in real life, that are in AMS, if not, what guru, what expert.

 

[AndrewBo]

Sure, if their physics engineer has driven all those "Brazilian" cars in real life, that are in AMS, if not, what guru, what expert.

Every good mathematician can calculate how to go to Mars. They realy don't need to fly in a spaceship on there own.......

 

[Keith_G]

@Aristotelis , thank you for taking your time to do this! Very nice use of the replay and a good reminder to make sure you use the entire track. Excellent information on the tire pressure and use of the tire app which must be sort of new because it seems much better than what use to be in the game. Thanks again and looking forward to more advanced technique and setup information.

 

[melanieuk]

Every good mathematician can calculate how to go to Mars. They realy don't need to fly in a spaceship on there own.......

Sure, because E=mc2, doesn't matter how much you want to add your witty reply to it, I would rather listen to someone that has actually driven the real life counterpart that is also in the product they produce physics for.

 

[David Dominguez]

I can imagine Mercedes F1 Simulation Engineer Job applications saying: if you haven't driven a F1 car please don't even try.

 

[melanieuk]

I can imagine Mercedes F1 Simulation Engineer Job applications saying: if you haven't driven a F1 car please don't even try.

They are not given the false label of physics "Guru" or physics "Expert", so they don't count.
Have a good evening and don't tax your brain over my opinion, after all it is just that, my opinion.

 

[Paul Jeffrey]

I can imagine Mercedes F1 Simulation Engineer Job applications saying: if you haven't driven a F1 car please don't even try.

Exactly this!

Ok driving a real car could well provide useful references when making physics, but it is by no means essential. By some of the logic spoken here in the comments you only respect someone who has driven each and every car they have created yes? So unless I'm mistake Aris hasn't driven all the real world versions of cars that appear in AC, so he must be useless?

Niels of AMS that doesn't as far as I know race or do real life time trials himself, yet is widely regarded as one of the better physics creators, alongside Renato, are now not worth listening to? Hmmm, I find this opinion rather strange.

The logic applied is flawed here, plain and simple. Physics are physics, numbers are numbers. If the game engine is good enough you plug in the numbers from real life, you verify and tweak to attain the best experience possible and that is physics. That is why other sims like AMS or rF2, iRacing, R3E or whatever get good feedback from industry insiders, community and real world racing drivers themselves. I'm pretty sure I remember a former DTM champion praising the physics of the 2016 DTM cars in RaceRoom, and so far as I know no one at Sector3 has raced a DTM car before.

Just bizzare

 

[Majuh]

Lets be brutally honest here, how many of these sims we all play can we say their Physics Engineer has actually driven the real life cars that are in the sim title they produce for.

Well, this is certainly easier when the sim you produce is full of road cars. It's not like they have driven the high end racing machines available in their games in real life.

 

[Nick Hill]

Every good mathematician can calculate how to go to Mars. They realy don't need to fly in a spaceship on there own.......

I truly do appreciate where you are coming from with your analogy and agree with you on a certain level, but I don't think it quite fits.

Here is my rationale: as sim racers, we think of ourselves as demanding objective representations of reality from sim developers. But here is the brutal truth: while there are a lot of smart people out there that can get the hard numbers dead on correct, ultimately these have to be transmitted to the driver via a limited set of sensory tools (specifically, working around the lack of "seat of the pants" sensation). Whether we like it or not, there is a great deal of subjectivity that comes into play in such an undertaking - it's art more than science (though maybe it's "art backed by science")

I'm saying it's entirely possible for a smart person to model a given cars physics down to the most fine detail within a sim, but that is no guarantee whatsoever that any given person will find the driving experience to match reality.

 

[Tripokaridos]

amazing post from an amazing Greek programmer and driver ... Thanks alot Aris...

 

[Radu Oros]

I'm saying it's entirely possible for a smart person to model a given cars physics down to the most fine detail within a sim, but that is no guarantee whatsoever that any given person will find the driving experience to match reality.

Of course, because car simulation is creating formulas and calculations for behaviors. So in a way is making real life through other ways real life is actually made.

I can imagine Mercedes F1 Simulation Engineer Job applications saying: if you haven't driven a F1 car please don't even try.

Hamilton doesn't like the F1 simulated cars. For him there's no replacement of the real car. It could be down to the car or the track, graphics, or the forces in the motion rig.

The logic applied is flawed here, plain and simple. Physics are physics, numbers are numbers. If the game engine is good enough you plug in the numbers from real life, you verify and tweak to attain the best experience possible and that is physics. That is why other sims like AMS or rF2, iRacing, R3E or whatever get good feedback from industry insiders, community and real world racing drivers themselves. I'm pretty sure I remember a former DTM champion praising the physics of the 2016 DTM cars in RaceRoom, and so far as I know no one at Sector3 has raced a DTM car before.

For me when a professional racing driver gives the feedback in private to the devs is better than when they talk publicly.
But is also important for as much people as possible with real life driving experience to test and say their opinion about the cars behavior. One day a majority consensus is reached about how everyone perceives the real life and simulated car to drive.
So that's why is also important for simulation developers to test the cars in real life to see if they have contrary opinion to people/players opinion. The hard task is to interpret well the formulas and data that go into calculating the possibilities of the multiple behaviors the car can have.

 

[rallysmo]

hope they do a series of these videos

 

[Alex72]

Sure, because E=mc2, doesn't matter how much you want to add your witty reply to it, I would rather listen to someone that has actually driven the real life counterpart that is also in the product they produce physics for.

Its all mathematics. Maybe it is cause your a girl (im joking! Cheap shot and im sorry. ). but everything in physics is about math. How much play and force the suspension have/can take, tire compound, engine power, top speed, brake distance, weight etc etc. All those things have numbers. Im sure it gives you a bit of an edge when you have driven the real thing and can say "yep this is damn close to the real deal", but when you have the numbers you can do that without testing it. I have to agree it always feels good when you know the devs are testing the real cars. It gives you a sort of stamp of approval. But again, if a sim isnt simulating everything it doesnt really matter if they tested it, as it wont make it more real. For example, if someone made the physics and had tested the real car but didnt simulate some basic things in his/her sim, and another dev did physics in a sim that simulated most things (that are doable today) and didnt test the car in real life - then the latter would be better as long as they got the real data (numbers and math again).