Marco Massarutto on AC Console Update

[Paul Jeffrey]

Assetto Corsa players have experienced considerable difficulties following the bold move to console back in August. With many complaints about issues and bugs within the game, Kunos Simulazioni have been hard at work on the sim, looking to address some of the more serious issues reported by users.

With development already well underway, Stefano Casillo of Kunos took to Twitter to confirm the fixes are progressing nicely. Tweeting via his @KunosStefano account, the Assetto Corsa developer noted: "Good progress on the tearning/performance on both consoles, good stuff and now off to Italy for 4 days holiday. ciao"

Adding further details a couple of days later, Marco Massarutto posted the following on Facebook about the work being undertaken at the studio:

"A short preview on [some of] the things you will find in next update for Assetto Corsa on PS4 and XB1. Tearing issues have been solved, and the graphics is much more smooth in any situation. The smoothness also gives a better perception of visuals, and allows to feel a better car handling. Definetely a great step ahead, that will allow you to enjoy AC much more. The new build will feature 2 additional difficult levels, very easy and alien, and btw, all the AI levels have been balanced, that means that also the existing AI levels have been improved.

Controllers: the issues with Thrustmaster T80, T100 and TH shifters have been fixed; gamepad speed sensitivity and steering gamma now work much better (we can't wait to receive your feedback), and a "reset to default" command has been added (where default means recommended). When you launch the game, now it recognizes and consider as default the device you use when you press X/A to start it (as it was designed, and it didn't work due to a bug of the very last minute..). This is the JUST the FIRST pass of improvements for the controller section, but not the LAST. We are already working to include new configurations and options for all the controllers and, BTW, thank you for your kind suggestions. Visual steering wheel rotation: as you might know, Assetto Corsa performs a full rotation of the steering wheel, depending by the car you choose, that actually helps to understand if you are steering too much, since the visual rotation matches the physical one. Said that, we recognize that gamepad users are not used to this kind of approach, and actually it can be weird by an aesthetical point of view. We added the option to lock the visual steering wheel, that will be setted by default at 360 degrees, and it works from 240 to 1080 degrees, so it can please any kind of user. Most important, we allow you to make your favorite choice.

As said before, this is just a quick update of SOME OF the things you will find in the next build. As you might know (but much probably not), the workflow needed to update a game on console is hugely different than on Steam with the PC version: is much more complex, slow and less dynamic. Also, it's something that - as developers - we are experimenting on console for the first time, since Assetto Corsa is our first porting, and believe me, Assetto Corsa is a very complex software. This is not meant to be a justification, but just a simple fact. Therefore I thank you in advance for your patience and passion, but you can be sure that Assetto Corsa 1.0 on PS4/XB1 is just the start. And, btw, the Japanese Pack DLC, the Black Cat County and Maserati Levante will be available very soon! Hopefully the new build will be available during this month: fingers crossed!

Thank you very much for the awesome way you are supporting us."
​

It will no doubt come as very positive news to console fans that a substantial update is in the works, hopefully solving many of the more glaring, and game breaking, issues fans are experiencing. Massarutto has also confirmed the update will include a new Easy and Alien AI mode, sitting alongside further balancing of the in game AI... another issue many players have been rather vocal about since the Assetto Corsa console launch.

Its is indeed encouraging to see Kunos reacting to community reaction of the console release of Assetto Corsa, and one hopes the development team can help bring a more satisfactory gaming experience to Xbox One and PS4 players in the very near future.

​

The RaceDepartment Assetto Corsa sub forum is the place to go for news, discussions and mods in Assetto Corsa. With PC and console release already behind the studio, head on over to discuss the game and join in the fun with our superb Assetto Corsa Racing Club events and Leagues.

Do you own AC on console? How are you finding the experience? Looking forward to the update? Do you think AC can eventually become more popular than the current console racing giants? Let us know in the comments section below!

Photo Credit: daveds3

 

[Terra21]

All well and good ,But...personally i would rather have more being done for the pc version. Rather than these bloody inferior consoles KS

 

[Blimey]

Why act like their software is complex...every game has a complex software, way more complex even.

 

[MSKbeans]

Xbox...The game feel is really good. But without being able to lock out stupid crash test drivers, I feel it has a short life span. As leagues and friends are the mainstay of racing.

 

[Chris]

All well and good ,But...personally i would rather have more being done for the pc version. Rather than these bloody inferior consoles KS

Consoles: 1
PC: 0

 

[Epistolarius]

Why act like their software is complex...every game has a complex software, way more complex even.

And you believe you are in the position to assess that, hm.

 

[Alistair McKinley]

Why act like their software is complex...every game has a complex software, way more complex even.

Why always join an Assetto Corsa thread to hate on the game?
Or do you join other threads as well and spread your negativity?
If there is nothing good for you, then why read and write here in the first place?

Marco was refering to the console version.
He also admitted that Kunos are unexperienced on that field.
I really like the way Kunos communicate with the community.
I'd like to see such mature and honourable behaviour from companies like EA Sports. (That they face their problems openly/publically.)

 

[Blimey]

Why always join an Assetto Corsa thread to hate on the game?
Or do you join other threads as well and spread your negativity?
If there is nothing good for you, then why read and write here in the first place?

Marco was refering to the console version.
He also admitted that Kunos are unexperienced on that field.
I really like the way Kunos communicate with the community.
I'd like to see such mature and honourable behaviour from companies like EA Sports. (That they face their problems openly/publically.)

Was this thread about me or Kunos?

 

[gamer19]

Why always join an Assetto Corsa thread to hate on the game?
Or do you join other threads as well and spread your negativity?
If there is nothing good for you, then why read and write here in the first place?

As far as I remember, he's always like that.
Guess he has some rl issues and project them on game developers, via RD forum. Sad but hey.. what can we do. Just join the bandwagon and ignore him.
Kunos guys deserve a lot better support. They right there next to Reiza team. And that's really all you need to know.

 

[Nick Gregory]

Consoles: 1
PC: 0
View attachment 151617

Whoever said that is probably from Ubisoft.

 

[Chris]

Whoever said that is probably from Ubisoft.

But Ubisoft are the best developers ever...
/s

 

[egero123]

The truth of the matter is, they messed up their console release. Too many bugs, too many issues. Console players aren't use to paying for what should be a completed game & getting this mess. Kunos made the mistake of thinking console users are as understanding as pc users. Nope, when they pay for a game, they don't want any issues which should have been caught by their testers. I understand their anger/frustrations. & now because of the backlash, they have to re-route workers doing the pc updates to fix an issue which shouldn't be there in the first place.

 

[P*Funk]

Consoles: 1
PC: 0
View attachment 151617

My brain hurts reading stuff like that. Its like saying its too hard to learn how to not compensate for crippling lag and you just don't want to be bothered playing a game that has its net code figured out.

Further proof that most people are basically children in gaming -- they want to feel good and play well and can't be arsed with facing the barest shred of failure. I guess that's why its supposed to be escapism from their lives.

 

[RC45]

Rut Roh....... this "playability fix" sounds like PR speak for dumbing down the console version .... here is hoping this doesn't turn into an "I told you so" for us PC folks.

Perhaps it is time to isolate a copy of the install on the PC just incase they push an update via Steam that "brings all the code to the same level"

 

[Terry Rock]

Come on man!
Stop being unreasonable.
The guys have come out an openly admitted the launch was not as they'd expected.
Consoles are a new platform to them.
They've agreed to fix it as quickly as they can.
Why are some guys here still whining about this?
Some folk never seem to be satisfied.
As to the repair.....
Is Kunos Simulazioni supposed to walk away from their responsibilities because somebody views it as splitting resources ..or.. should they preserve their reputation by throwing every resource possible to remedy the situation ?
I'd suggest the latter...and I don't own a console.

 

[Radu Oros]

Rut Roh....... this "playability fix" sounds like PR speak for dumbing down the console version .... here is hoping this doesn't turn into an "I told you so" for us PC folks.

Perhaps it is time to isolate a copy of the install on the PC just incase they push an update via Steam that "brings all the code to the same level"

So you pulled that enormous circus on Stefano's twitter and then on a thread here in RD because he told you your "doubts" were non sense. Then you tried to play the victim by saying you just asked an innocent question. There's nothing innocent in your constant insinuations because many of your posts were you mistrusting everything about the game and from the devs.
And here one more of your non sense posts about doomsday. Where's the "playability fix" part in Marco's message that can be interpreted as dumbing down the simulation on consoles and pc?

 

[Epistolarius]

Rut Roh....... this "playability fix" sounds like PR speak for dumbing down the console version .... here is hoping this doesn't turn into an "I told you so" for us PC folks.

Perhaps it is time to isolate a copy of the install on the PC just incase they push an update via Steam that "brings all the code to the same level"

I still don't understand how someone can even get to this conclusion, that there's even a remote possibility that they'd "dumb down" the console version and even the PC version too? What do you think why Assetto Corsa has been so successful so far even with some glaring issues? You think they're not aware of that, so just dumb it down and willingly lose their best selling point? Someone like Stefano Casillo would never allow that to happen. Seriously, guys like you need to get some fresh air and do, play something else for a while. Your 'concerns' are ridiculous, suggesting they'd stop and throw everything out of the window for some more sales now is just plain stupid. What Kunos Simulazioni has to do now is fix the console version and bring it in line with the PC version ASAP, then build on that as they've done with the PC version for years now - just as they did with netKar prior to that. And hopefully at least the few sales they got from console allow them to implement stuff now that previously was 'too much work for too little return' or out of reach (like licences like Porsche, etc.). No way they demolish their brand now by dumbing it down.

 

[RC45]

So you pulled that enormous circus on Stefano's twitter and then on a thread here in RD because he told you your "doubts" were non sense. Then you tried to play the victim by saying you just asked an innocent question. There's nothing innocent in your constant insinuations because many of your posts were you mistrusting everything about the game and from the devs.
And here one more of your non sense posts about doomsday. Where's the "playability fix" part in Marco's message that can be interpreted as dumbing down the simulation on consoles and pc?

Common code base.

Eventually the cost of servicing 3 major platforms will come home to roost and maintaining a common code base will be the most cost effective way to manage those costs.

But what would I know, I have no experience in managing the development life cycle of software... or do I?

 

[RC45]

I still don't understand how someone can even get to this conclusion, that there's even a remote possibility that they'd "dumb down" the console version and even the PC version too? What do you think why Assetto Corsa has been so successful so far even with some glaring issues? You think they're not aware of that, so just dumb it down and willingly lose their best selling point? Someone like Stefano Casillo would never allow that to happen. Seriously, guys like you need to get some fresh air and do, play something else for a while. Your 'concerns' are ridiculous, suggesting they'd stop and throw everything out of the window for some more sales now is just plain stupid. What Kunos Simulazioni has to do now is fix the console version and bring it in line with the PC version ASAP, then build on that as they've done with the PC version for years now - just as they did with netKar prior to that. And hopefully at least the few sales they got from console allow them to implement stuff now that previously was 'too much work for too little return' or out of reach (like licences like Porsche, etc.). No way they demolish their brand now by dumbing it down.

You mean like the way they would never just abandon all the goodwill in netKarPro, which has remained available for sale and fully supported... oh wait...

 

[Radu Oros]

Common code base.

Eventually the cost of servicing 3 major platforms will come home to roost and maintaining a common code base will be the most cost effective way to manage those costs.

But what would I know, I have no experience in managing the development life cycle of software... or do I?

Idk what you know about managing the development of a software, but I know that you're not thinking straight about this subject. If they are aiming to bring ps4, xbox one, and pc on the same code, wouldn't it be easier to bring ps4 and xb1 to the same code as the PC instead of dumbing down the game, and then make same code for all three platforms? Please explain yourself better and what you're insinuating will happen.

Didn't you see the last stream from Stefano on youtube? He explained the console software is behind the PC. So they are working to make console as good as is on PC.