Marco Massarutto Responds to Free Porsche Content Criticism

[Paul Jeffrey]

Marco Massarutto, Kunos Simulazioni Licencing Manager and somewhat outspoken unofficial Kunos spokesperson, has responded via his Facebook account to the rather strong criticism from some members of the community following the free Porsche content announcement several days ago.

With feelings running high amongst the community, and many people voicing negative feelings regarding the inclusion of SUV's from the prominent German manufacturer, Massarutto has taken to his personal Facebook profile to respond directly to those vocal critics. As is the usual Massarutto style, no punches have been pulled in the latest statement!

The full Marco Massarutto Facebook statement can be read below:

"Imagine you get into a mall to buy a pair of Lee jeans, and when you go for the check out, the guy at desk tells you "I'm glad to tell you that, since you have purchased this product, you will get this t-shirt for free, offered by Lee".

What do you will answer? Some options:

- I didn't ask for it, just give me my jeans...
- I don't like this t-shirt, I'm not going to wear it
- What are you trying to do? To fill my closet with useless stuff?!
- I've a t-shirt already, I don't need this so-called gift
- Let's do this: give me the jeans for free and keep the t-shirt for you
- If I was interested to a t-shirt, I would have purchased it
- What a waste of time and money, tell Lee to give me a 100$ jacket for free instead
- I'm here for the jeans and you give me a free t-shirt? Shame on you
- So, now Lee gives stuff for free to let me have a taste of it? Shame on them

Sounds weird? Not to some simracers. Sad, but true.

So, about Porsche: few people complain because Assetto Corsa will release - for free, and even if you just own the game but you don't purchase any Porsche DLC - the new Panamera, Cayenne and Macan. Saying the things you can read above. As part of our agreement with Porsche, the Brand asked us to reproduce, for THEIR simulators, ALSO the models included in their current production. For THEIR purposes. Once we worked for months to reproduce those models with the maximum accuracy for Porsche simulators, we believed it would have been a shame do not allow the AC community to enjoy those cars as well. Without charging them. And that's it. Also because we take in consideration that the AC community is so wide today that different people like different cars, something that some blind gamers still don't understand, or accept. On the other side, this kind of agreement allows us to reproduce and make available for Assetto Corsa cars like the one you see in the picture.

So, today lot of people tell me that they want so badly in Assetto Corsa the Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio Verde . If to get it in the game we would be asked to include also the next Stelvio SUV as free bonus content, would you complain for it? If yes, probably you would need to turn off your PC or console, open the door, leave the house, close your eyes and take a breath; and relax. Because it looks to me that you are not able anymore to enjoy what is supposed to be your passion. BTW, driving the new PanameraTurbo at the Nordschleife in 7'.39" is a blast, and it is not for everyone. Stay tuned. And take it easy, enjoy your life, you live once"​

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What do you think of Massarutto's comments? Let us know below!

 

[Brandon Wright]

Agreed, Ive always maintained car company's should be PAYING for product placement in games/sims not other way around, but thats enougher story.

I'm not bothered either way. If it has wheels and a motor I'll drive it and/or race it, regardless of if it's a free or paid advert.

 

[MikieC]

So i read 1st part of Marco's manipulating response. Typical sales garbage. His analogy with shopping should be: When buying jeans, they offer you a a pair of purple socks that are too small with holes in it. Something you will never use.

Nobody drives a SUV around a track. Maybe if they gave you some new skins for your favorite car, then you can use his "free Tee-shirt" analogy.

Anyway, Im glad I have AC on PC.

 

[Michael Hornbuckle]

Nobody drives a SUV around a track.

And yeah, guess I am a nobody, but this is actually fun:

 

[natedogg1867]

On that point, I seem to recall a car in a different game that people were similarly completely less than enthusiastic about when it was announced. The NSU TTS in RaceRoom.

A car that is slow as time itself. Seemingly takes an hour to do a single lap at Nords, and goes 0-100 kmh in 2 days time. But you know what? The car is immensely fun to actually drive and race with, because there is constant action going on around you. Doing a full lap of Nords going 2 wide is exhilarating. Since they are slow, anyone can drive them since the skill ceiling is much lower than an F1 car. So good battles happen far more often. Throwing it around corners and hitting bumps that put you on 2 wheels is exciting.

I fully expect that the Porsche SUV's will be similar, since the Levante that we already have has many similar traits to the NSU I described above. Slogging that around corners is a blast, oddly enough. It may not look like much, but you can certainly have good races with SUV's just like any other motor vehicle.

And since we already have 1 SUV, it will actually be nice to give it a few competitors instead of just having yet another single car spec series.

I may not drive them a ton when they release as other cars tickle my fancy more, but I fully expect to enjoy them when I do drive them around.

 

[Mapu]

So i read 1st part of Marco's manipulating response. Typical sales garbage. His analogy with shopping should be: When buying jeans, they offer you a a pair of purple socks that are too small with holes in it. Something you will never use.

Nobody drives a SUV around a track. Maybe if they gave you some new skins for your favorite car, then you can use his "free Tee-shirt" analogy.

Anyway, Im glad I have AC on PC.

So in other words you're saying that Kunos is giving us free content that is flawed and broken. hmm... that's a pretty harsh statement. better check your point of view once more.

And how can you conclude from a completely subjective stand point that nobody drives an SUV on a race track?

 

[Riblo]

Nobody drives a SUV around a track.

Yep... Nobody...

Hello Mr.Nobody

 

[Majuh]

On that point, I seem to recall a car in a different game that people were similarly completely less than enthusiastic about when it was announced. The NSU TTS in RaceRoom.

A car that is slow as time itself. Seemingly takes an hour to do a single lap at Nords, and goes 0-100 kmh in 2 days time. But you know what? The car is immensely fun to actually drive and race with, because there is constant action going on around you. Doing a full lap of Nords going 2 wide is exhilarating. Since they are slow, anyone can drive them since the skill ceiling is much lower than an F1 car. So good battles happen far more often. Throwing it around corners and hitting bumps that put you on 2 wheels is exciting.

I fully expect that the Porsche SUV's will be similar, since the Levante that we already have has many similar traits to the NSU I described above. Slogging that around corners is a blast, oddly enough. It may not look like much, but you can certainly have good races with SUV's just like any other motor vehicle.

And since we already have 1 SUV, it will actually be nice to give it a few competitors instead of just having yet another single car spec series.

I may not drive them a ton when they release as other cars tickle my fancy more, but I fully expect to enjoy them when I do drive them around.

There's an important difference: The NSU TTS is actually a race car, and it feels like one (although it's obviously pretty slow). I would rather want to see more entry-level race cars instead of road cars. Needless to say, this is certainly more helpful in learning how to race.

 

[Ring Rat]

Also an interesting "point"... All three of those cars/ suvs would absolutely WIPE the floor (or track as it were) with cars like the UR Quattro, Alfa GTA, Possibly many of the Lotuses, the Escort. Those are all "sports cars" or "race cars". Those cars are still interesting and fun to drive, despite being slower that these "terrible" SUVs. What exactly then, makes it so abhorrent to want to try and flog a Cayenne around the track? Or even just to have the option, at no extra charge, to do so? I feel as if anyone still clinging to the anti-Kunos argument is just having a bad case of the "I dont want to back downsies"

 

[PanaRace970]

I'd have even paid for these, especially the Panamera. Great to see them coming. Thanks for providing them for free.

 

[The Stig™]

Nobody drives a SUV around a track.

Just because some people are not capable of driving a heavy car quickly, does not mean that everyone else who can should be denied content. I would gladly drive cars like these if Kunos nailed the physics down:

 

[Deleted member 241736]

Yep... Nobody...

Hello Mr.Nobody

Hello Mr. Riblo, anybody at home??
Your pic/s shows a marketing session for customer. That's like somebody handels a purple airballon as a gift to you. You c the numberplate "BB"? That's Porsche hometown and privat testingfield next to Stuttgart.

 

[Deleted member 241736]

After ~2-3 weeks of teasing road cars after road cars and then " here, have 3 more ", without showing any bad ass Race car inbetween, what was Kunos expecting, even if some of these cars are free? Imo, we got to all this criticism because of Kunos fault, and all this it could have been avoided, if the Marketing / PR guys had done a good job.
The FB post is just more bad PR, fueling all this more...

Alf, thank you !! You hit the point.

 

[F_B]

Nice to see so many advertising and marketing experts in here.
Wait what? That's a racing-sim website...?

 

[aduo]

this is real crazy : you like it you play with , you don't like it you don't play with , easy . "...a caval donato non si guarda in bocca " . KUNOS is right , end of discussion .

 

[Brandon Wright]

Hello Mr. Riblo, anybody at home??
Your pic/s shows a marketing session for customer. That's like somebody handels a purple airballon as a gift to you. You c the numberplate "BB"? That's Porsche hometown and privat testingfield next to Stuttgart.

Try this one then.

And in Japan cargo van racing is totally a thing, and looks fun as hell!

Sure, SUV/Van racing isn't super popular but the claim that nobody would race SUVs is a bit over the top, proven by how popular the Levante turned out to be. I'd totally race the wheels off some SUVs and even cargo vans.

 

[Monstro]

Kunos don't waste your talent and time with these opinions.
Keep your motivation strong and move on.
.

"Kunos don't waste your talent and time with these SUV cause we do not see the point.
Keep your motivation strong and move on"


you see, it works the same way... ,
Free content's doesn't mean it is relevant.

that being said, i have nothing against that, i don't drive these cars , that's all.
but i do understand people who are disappointed .
I honestly prefer buy dlc in $ for race cars than have free content SUV (except Panamera of course...)

excuse my english folks

 

[-Alf-]

Yeah, bring those Lambo tractors to AC as well, Kunos, i'm sure there will be people who would like to play with them, since Community is very wide now, like you say. Doesn't matter if is a tractor, it has 4 wheels so, you can race them.
... and hey, it's a Lambo, so it's awesome!!

 

[Brandon Wright]

Yeah, bring those Lambo tractors to AC as well, Kunos, i'm sure there will be people who would like to play with them, since Community is very wide now, like you say. Doesn't matter if is a tractor, it has 4 wheels so, you can race them.
... and hey, it's a Lambo, so it's awesome!!

Tell me this doesn't look hella fun!!

 

[Radu Oros]

Yeah, bring those Lambo tractors to AC as well, Kunos, i'm sure there will be people who would like to play with them, since Community is very wide now, like you say. Doesn't matter if is a tractor, it has 4 wheels so, you can race them.
... and hey, it's a Lambo, so it's awesome!!

How would a Tractor in the game prevent you from racing with the race cars? How will SUVs in the game prevent you from racing with the race cars?

Although I would rather have racing trucks or formula jedi.

 

[MoerasGrizzly]

You can do wheelies in tractors if you **** up the clutching.
I want that.