Assetto Corsa Technology Preview Released

[Damien Wintz]

The long awaited moment is here. Kunos Simulazioni released the Technology Preview of Assetto Corsa for current owners of netKar Pro. Grab your paycode, read the instructions below and go nuts!

What is the AC Technology Preview?
It is a playable, no-time limited benchmark that allow gamers to get their first taste of Assetto Corsa engine. This version includes one car, one track, different difficulty levels and two play modes: free practice and time attack. Playing this version and reporting back feedback, benchmarks and bugs, players allow the development team to fix issues and improve the final version of Assetto Corsa, before its release.

Who can access this AC Technology Preview?
Who has purchased a copy of netKar PRO since 2006 can use his netKar Pro activation code to activate the AC Tech Preview.
All gamers who will purchase a copy of netKar PRO until March 1 will receive the link to download the AC Tech Preview for free: until March, 1, they will be able to buy a copy of netKar PRO for just 4,99 Eur, saving 70% of the full price.

Game features
This software allow gamers to drive the Lotus Elise SC on the italian track of Magione, reproduced using the advanced Laserscan Technology. This version is compatible with keyboard, Xpad 360, joysticks, steering wheels and any kind of customizable game devices.

Minimum PC requirements
Windows Vista / 7 / 8 Operative System
CPU: Intel Celeron
RAM: 2 Gigabytes
DirectX 11 graphics card (ex: Nvidia GTS 450 / AMD Radeon HD5770) NOTE: AC graphics engine supports also DirectX 10.1 compatible graphic cards (ATI 4800 HD / Nvidia 8600 GT)
Click here to download the AC Tech Preview (mirror 2, mirror 3, mirror 4)
Click here to visit the Assetto Corsa forums for any feedback, support and other questions you might have.
Enjoy!

Please put your feedback in the comments below

 

[Matej Lakota]

Yep, I agree. Everything is just perfect except that not - connected - with - the - road - feeling on the steering wheel (G27).

 

[Michael Hornbuckle]

I guess it's all subjective because with my cheap little DFGT I've never felt more connected to the road ever...I already own rfactor2 so its not going anywhere and I stopped giving iracing steady money a while back. It's a great time to be a simracer with all these choices though.

 

[Hampus Andersson]

Now with better FFB settings for me AC is unmatched in simracing.
the physics is on another planet.

If we compare oversteering to iRacing it´s completely backwards in iRacing.

In iRacing when the rear steps out, if you touch the throttle you will spin out.
In AC if you don´t touch the throttle you will spin out.

Car dynamics just feels like it´s on another level.

 

[Matej Lakota]

Of course it is completely subjective opinion . For my "taste", rF 1/2, GTR2, GTL and GSC give me just perfect feeling on the wheel, even better than nkP. But again, that is just my subjective opinion and I agree with all counterclaims .

 

[Adam Mocarski]

During Gamescom, riding BMW, when I braking and gear change down I had to use the gas half to keep the car stable, in tech. prev. is the same - sweet.

I can not wait to ride Ferrari.

 

[Xosé Estrada]

Of course it is completely subjective opinion . For my "taste", rF 1/2, GTR2, GTL and GSC give me just perfect feeling on the wheel, even better than nkP. But again, that is just my subjective opinion and I agree with all counterclaims .

That depends a lot on your hardware.

But the main difference here is low speed grip and slip angle, in that sense iRacing, rFactor 2, etc. are a previous generation, they still suffer from the same issues Sims from ten years ago did, AC does not, and its unique in that.

 

[Hampus Andersson]

Info on input lag by Kunos:

"guys is very very very simple... the lower your FPS the bigger is the input lag. Think about it:

- Sim "reads" the wheel
- Physics goes doing its stuff on another thread
- Main thread renders the entire scene
- Sim sends the image to the videcard
- The card will buffer from 1 to 3 images before rendering, depending on the driver
- The image goes to the monitor and there god help us because there is usually another huge lag
- The wheel position read at the beginning is finally visible

If you get 30fps, the above process will take 33ms to complete... in your best scenario your driver won't buffer and it goes straight to the monitor.. if you are lucky u'll get 33ms VISUAL LAG
In a more realistic scenario, your driver will buffer 3 frames and your monitor will take up to 100ms to show the image.. so you are looking at a lag of 33*3 + 100 = almost 200ms VISUAL LAG

The only part of the system you can control is the software side.. so hitting 100fps, you'll get down to 10ms per frame, at that point, all you pay for is your monitor update speed."

 

[Justin Lines]

So far, if AC lives up to its modding capabilities and open platform, then ISI should be concerned. This graphically is fantastic and is not near finished now doubt. Performance wise with all fruit turned up in game, in CC its at Application Settings only, I average 38fps and thats everything maxed, and super smooth play, not glitches. I am running a 1920 x 1080 42inch Q6600 bog standard, no OC, a HD 6970 2gb and only 4gb RAM, very old system bar a decent graphic card.

As far as physics go, I am no hardcore physics guru, but the game felt awesome to drive. Very planted on the road, good feedback through my G25 on default settings, love the ability to drift it in PRO settings, but I love how if you don't drive it properly, very hard to recover from over drifting. Model is beautiful, track is superb and the replay system I like so far, love how you can slow it right down. AC has hit a new benchmark with this preview. I like the smoke and dust settling, bit cotton ballish to start, but it blends well. I like the spark when you hit a barrier.... lets face it I do that alot these days. I like the body roll and natural stance of the car on track under braking and steering. Next to no lag from this user and G25. Loooove the sun styling and atmospheric condition look. Will be very interesting how the pre-release goes if ever going to be one, will be nice to see what other features are in stall for us.

From a modding perspective, lets pray it is what we are after as groups. Yes I like my eye candy, that's why I like modding, AC has answered our prayers for how the car looks on track, not cartoonish. Well done Kunos

So lets see how the next lot of offerings go...
Damage
Sound
Physics Limits
Modding Capabilities
Tyre & Track Behaviour
Changeable Weather....
Future Models... ( they look horny as is)
Garage Tweeks on track for leagues
Dirt.... yes I said Dirt.... bring it!!! hahaha

 

[Majnu]

I'm going to be honest, it is great but it's not drastically better than rfactor 2 or Ircaing. I think it's got great graphics (like Iracing) and I absolutely love the way you can drag on info e.g. delta times (like fuzzy felt).However, I don't feel the connection with the road that I do in rfactor 2. Its nice and smooth like in Iracing but in Rfactor 2 I feel every bump. I appreciate that this is a TP and not the finished article.THe force feedvack is good for me in all of those games - perhaps AC edges that.

I think Iracing vs rfactor2 vs AC can only be good for us in 2013 and I'm guessing that serious sim racers will buy at least 2 of those. Personally I will be playing AC and RFactor 2 as I don't like the subscription element of Iracing and AC offers a nicer alternative.

Nobody is going to bash you if you have a differing opinion. This isn't a fanboy forum I hope lol

With regards to the lack of "feeling every bump" I didn't have that issue. My bass shakers worked extremely well with this game. I will give it another bash later as I haven't put enough hours in to give proper feedback.

Going over rumble strips didn't drag or rumble my wheel or cause loss of grip like with R3E, which was something I noticed.

 

[GamerMuscle]

RF2 seems to do road texture feel very directly basically you feel the tires and shocks bouncing around very directly which in some ways can make it feel quite real.

But the fundamental issue with RF2 is that the although the FFB is very direct for those bumps the FFB is lacking when it comes to communicating the loading of the car , especially at low speeds and especially on the limit of grip over large bumps/ large shifts in direction. RF2 very much Feels in the FFB like RF1 with real feel on full saturation + higher resolution tracks.

When driving within a specific range and just under the limit Rfactor is very good and also benefits from being a very acuret simulation in terms of how different components respond.

But go over or dance on the limit and the simulation goes out the window this is further demonstrated by how cars handle on bumps , curbs , or tracks with large drops with the physics having massive issues in RF2.

The only exception with Gmoter based simulation is when you get people like Niels or mod teams that spend huge amounts of time on cars or Simbin where they fudge the physics at the expense of accuracy to make the cars behave more as you would expect at the limit.

Its interesting how different RF2 is to AC when both companies are attempting to do the same thing and both using reality as a reference.

It seems to me that all the cars that are generally regarded as the best found in RF1 , RF2, GTRE, GSC seem to behave and act more like the cars in NKP/AC than not.

To me AC allso comes across like a more advanced i-racing. It seems that i racing and kunos are following a similar approach / methadoligy in how they apreach the physics.

 

[Michael Hornbuckle]

Now with better FFB settings for me AC is unmatched in simracing.
the physics is on another planet.

If we compare oversteering to iRacing it´s completely backwards in iRacing.

In iRacing when the rear steps out, if you touch the throttle you will spin out.
In AC if you don´t touch the throttle you will spin out.

Car dynamics just feels like it´s on another level.

I just noticed this actually....earlier when the ass would start to come around i would life about half way and try to catch the car before it spun all the way around...

This last stint whenever it would start to get loose I just stood in the gas and was actually able to steer through the spin (mostly happens to me at turn 7, the second part of the right hander after the back stretch) crazy fun and although I'm staring at a monitor with a toy wheel in my hands it was actually scary!!!!

For a car that understeers it actually gets loose on exit the faster I go; according to the delta time app...I haven't been able to sleep since the release; just have to keep making laps..1:23.xx is so close!!

 

[Hampus Andersson]

And now my FFB is completely broken again.

Only change was going from 80fps triple screens to 180fps one screen.

It steers by itself and do all kinds of weird stuff. Ridiculous.

re-installed everything, wheel and AC, tried settings i used yesterday that was ok-ish but feels completely different today.

kunos it´s not that expensive, go out and buy one and feel for yourself.

 

[Graham Byford]

Really enjoying the tech preview and flinging the little Elise around, I have only two issues and that is I can't feel the bumps in the track surface throught the wheel very well, this is using a Logitech Driving Force GT wheel. The engine sound in replays is also rather poor.

The physics are fantastic and on the whole so is the FFB, performance is great too on my old system I'm getting 70-80fps even with 4xAA and HDR on.

 

[Michael Hornbuckle]

In this video you can see that his wheel doesn't jump around much at all.....looks really, really close to what my DFGT is doing in the sim.

 

[Miroslav Davidovic]

After a long run I decied to give some honest feedback.

The weight transfer is great! Realy well done. Overal car Physics also very good!
It feels just like just everything what iRacing members are crying for..
Brakes are very well designed for a road car. You can realy smash them and the ABS design is good implemented. You can really feel through the wheel the ABS sensor shake which is quite cool. Low speed physics are superb. Driving in the gravel traps feels just so real!
The track looks obviusly very good and the day time setting is a welcome surprise.
The sound effects are also very nice (tires, dirt, curbs, wind and this stuff)
The GFX are more then enough for me even on low settings with my 6870.
The GUI is well designed and realy easy to handle even for sim noobs I think.
Wheel detection and setting up the sim done in seconds .

There is an odd big deadzone in the center of the wheel. Driving the straights I can't feel any FFB but driving them in snake lines I can fell the bumps on the road.
The steering lag is just to huge, even with average 119 FPS and the most settings turned down it's to huge . Even tho this momentum car is somehow predictable and drivable with the amount of lag but I doubt this would work well with fast responsive open wheelers. You guys need to get rid of it for the final release.
There is almost no FFB when going over the curbs. Would like to see some improvement there also. The car is IMHO a bit to stable under braking and to forgiving on oversteer correction.

I will also report some bugs on the dedicated forums.

Overall the driving is very nice and fun and I can see me driving in a league online with some faster cars but it wont stop me playing other sims like rF2 or iRacing (not so sure about iRacing tho). It's impresive what you guys have made with such a small team and the TD is a very good start in the right direction. Gentlemen, you have my support.

Keep it up!

 

[Pete Bone]

I think you have to check the box for triple screens in the video options, then once in the sim there is a triple screen setup app if you scroll your mouse all the way to the right..hope this helps.

I tried all of that. I should note im not using THTgo, just three separate HDMI cables from my 670. When i use the option while driving it treats my centre monitor as three and adjust that image rather than picking up on my other 2.

 

[Graham Byford]

In this video you can see that his wheel doesn't jump around much at all.....looks really, really close to what my DFGT is doing in the sim.

That's just a video and doesn't tell us anything about what the driver is feeling through the wheel.

 

[Aristotelis]

Regarding of steering feedback on straight. If the suspension geometry of a car is properly designed, it should not have any bump steer while on going straights. Bump steer means that if the suspension goes up and down the wheels should not turn a tiny bit by their own.

Check it with your personal real car. Going over bumps you feel the hit, but you shouldn't feel any actual movement on the steering. This is whats happening in AC too, a proper (actually one of the best) designed front suspension geometry of the lotus elise doesn't make the steering wheel move while traveling on a bumpy track.

Is it perfect? probably not, we will keep pushing to improve, but I just wanted to explain the difference between bump steer induced FF "feel" and proper suspension geometry.

 

[Stefan Mizzi]

And now my FFB is completely broken again.

Only change was going from 80fps triple screens to 180fps one screen.

It steers by itself and do all kinds of weird stuff. Ridiculous.

re-installed everything, wheel and AC, tried settings i used yesterday that was ok-ish but feels completely different today.

kunos it´s not that expensive, go out and buy one and feel for yourself.

Inside Sim Racing use a Thrust Master and they only had good things to say about FFB and how it felt...

 

[Hampus Andersson]

Inside Sim Racing use a Thrust Master and they only had good things to say about FFB and how it felt...

we have concluded it´s FPS related. I´m not alone in having this problem.
There´s information on AC´s forum if you want to know more about it.

80fps simply masks the problem. 170 fps and all hell breaks loose.

it wants to do full lock while going in a straight line, automatic turn-in sometimes, and sometimes very heavy on turn-in.
Forces gets turned on and off on straights it´s all messed up quite bad.