New Assetto Corsa Scottish Track Preview

[Paul Jeffrey]

Kunos Simulazioni promised a mystery Scottish based fantasy track as a free gift for their Assetto Corsa simulation, and true to that promise Licencing Manager Marco Massarutto has sneaked out some interesting looking preview images of the new work in progress location.

The three preview screens shared by Massarutto show a typical looking Scottish scene wrapped around what looks to be a mixed bag of open road and tight country lanes road course. According to the end of year blog by Kunos, the new Scottish circuit will come in four different configurations, able to easily host a wide variety of classes from low powered tin tops to high downforce endurance vehicles.

It hasn't been revealed when exactly this track will be released, however the screens produced by Massarutto do show the track looking pretty much complete. It wouldn't be a big stretch of the imagination to expect this little Scottish gem to be included in the next core game update due probably sometime in Q1 2017.

Kunos Simulazioni have released Assetto Corsa for Windows PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4. The game features a number of road and race vehicles with many laserscanned circuits. Additional track and car content can be purchased by way of downloadable content.

One of the best ways to experience Assetto Corsa is to race against your fellow players online. You can do that here at RaceDepartment in our League and Club Racing section of the Assetto Corsa sub forum. We hold professionally run club events that cater for all different skills and experiences, as well as host regular high quality league racing events. Alongside our commitment to bring you quality racing we also host a large number of mods for the game. Jump over to our modding archive to have a browse at what is on offer, or even share details of your WIP project in our Modding Discussion forum.

 

[Blimey]

Well the bar is just set higher and people's opinion change over time by something even better, laser scanned tracks has that authenticity in your mind like what 24k gold would give in a sense, or maybe as a certificate of high standards and precision. It's like putting on a real pair of Ray Bans, hope this gives an insight into what impression laser scanned gives to people's minds and the satisfaction they get...

I guess he likes to downgrade from a McLaren 675LT to a mp4-12c.

 

[F_B]

Well the bar is just set higher and people's opinion change over time by something even better, laser scanned tracks has that authenticity in your mind like what 24k gold would give in a sense, or maybe as a certificate of high standards and precision. It's like putting on a real pair of Ray Bans, hope this gives an insight into what impression laser scanned gives to people's minds and the satisfaction they get...

Exactly.

I do like laserscanned tracks, I also am a quite frequent Iracing user and there they have only laserscanned tracks. However, I also like the tracks available in Rfactor 2 (I love Mills and Toban for example) , Raceroom, Automobilista. For me it is all about a believable replica. Is the road feel believable? Does the track sourrounding not look fake or false? Is the track flow accurate?That’s what counts for me. All the screaming and whining about Zandvoort for Assetto Corsa not being laserscanned is a shame. I bet 99% of the guys who do so couldn’t tell a difference between laserscanned and not if they didn’t know. But today laserscanned is a buzzword in the sim-racing-community and all that counts. Not laserscanned? Not true, not the real deal.

Just look at Virginia International Raceway, Bridgehampton or Riverside (and many more). They’re f***ing awesome. I don’t think one second about them not being laserscanned while driving – because they’re just fine and bring the immersion.

 

[Juliusz Baczynski]

Exactly.

I do like laserscanned tracks, I also am a quite frequent Iracing user and there they have only laserscanned tracks. However, I also like the tracks available in Rfactor 2 (I love Mills and Toban for example) , Raceroom, Automobilista. For me it is all about a believable replica. Is the road feel believable? Does the track sourrounding not look fake or false? Is the track flow accurate?That’s what counts for me. All the screaming and whining about Zandvoort for Assetto Corsa not being laserscanned is a shame. I bet 99% of the guys who do so couldn’t tell a difference between laserscanned and not if they didn’t know. But today laserscanned is a buzzword in the sim-racing-community and all that counts. Not laserscanned? Not true, not the real deal.

Just look at Virginia International Raceway, Bridgehampton or Riverside (and many more). They’re f***ing awesome. I don’t think one second about them not being laserscanned while driving – because they’re just fine and bring the immersion.

as long as the tracks, laser scanned or not, have some uneven roads to feel and biggest criteria is to have smooth elevation, not like these flat surfaces that connects to the next flat surface and so on...

I guess he likes to downgrade from a McLaren 675LT to a mp4-12c.

Not a good comparison haha

 

[Leynad777]

Releasing that content officially would require costly licensing of those tracks regardless, and Kunos got a lot of flak for releasing Zandvoort without laserscan. So no, unlikely to happen.

DLCs are not for free, so what's the problem with licensing? I don't think they have to beg for licensing and could get enough licences for free. And always people moaning about decisions, but Zandvoort is now online more popular than other laserscanned tracks and i think close to 99% of all people don't give a damn if the track is fun to drive.

And i don't say to aboard laserscanning, iconic tracks like Sebring, Bathurst & co. should be laserscanned, but who cares if some less known tracks are not laserscanned, but accurate enough?
And a sim-title with so little track-content not including mods will not hold up attention on consoles. One to two tracks a year is just not enough IMO.

If track-modders could earn some money and get motivated to do more and better, why not? Tracks like Cadwell Park in the AMS-Brit-Pack are more accurate than the so-called laserscanned track in pCars and Imola as well. The track today looks far more like in Automobilista than AC and Kunos have enough laserscanned data to make every tarmac to feel and look laserscanned.

 

[Brandon Wright]

DLCs are not for free, so what's the problem with licensing? I don't think they have to beg for licensing and could get enough licences for free. And always people moaning about decisions, but Zandvoort is now online more popular than other laserscanned tracks and i think close to 99% of all people don't give a damn if the track is fun to drive.

Except Zandvoort was given as free DLC, so they got paid nothing for it.

 

[Epistolarius]

DLCs are not for free

All easier said than done...

First off, last time I looked Assetto Corsa had quite a few free content updates so far and as part of that the non-laserscanned Circuit Zandvoort and partly scanned historic tracks were free updates. You'd assume they'd do that the same with mod tracks. Buying that content you mentioned from the mod creators and licensing the tracks is however still a cost regardless.

And I don't think people would be that happy about selling mods from official side without some major improvements over the free version, so they need to be reworked. So they need to do research, fly down to the tracks and take photos at least. At the end of the day a laserscan is the better solution, more accurate in all regards, less room for mistakes and helpful for quickly building out tracks without starting from scratch.

 

[Leynad777]

Trackside objects is the most work according to iRacing and they often have been made already. Kunos is working with modders and they making cars and likely parts of tracks. When i see how many tracks Reiza can do with very accurate results even when comparing it to laserscanned-tracks and how little content is coming to AC (boring Laguna Secca somewhere in 2017 as the first North-American track at all), it seems that laser-scanning from the scratch and building a track with nothing but many points (90% get deleted, probably many more), just takes ages to get anywhere near the content iRacing had years ago.

And when i see what sloppy physics-bugs can be found in the Porsche-Packs like this one. They are fixing one by one, but they could fix little accuracy-problems in ready-made tracks as well in a much shorter time.

 

[Emery]

Yes cause,laserscan is becoming the ultimate sillyness haters use to flame topics...
We had non laser scanner tracks for decades in Racing games with really good results (non laser scanner tracks of GTR series are amazing) and now they introduced laser scanner ones suddenly is "not laser scanner = crap"...

It's not that we're saying "non laser scanned = crap", it's that Kunos' marketing promised all tracks would be laser scanned. This was one of their marketing points to be held over their competitors. That promise is obviously not holding up in practice. They have released so few tracks overall that any fantasy or non-laser scanned tracks released now represent a significantly growing percentage of the total.

 

[Michael Hornbuckle]

I don't think they have to beg for licensing and could get enough licences for free.

Just because you think that doesn't make it fact.

 

[Epistolarius]

And when i see what sloppy physics-bugs can be found in the Porsche-Packs like this one. They are fixing one by one, but they could fix little accuracy-problems in ready-made tracks as well in a much shorter time.

The placement of the wing alone in the developer tells you little about if the aero data is accurate or not.

 

[Blimey]

Just because you think that doesn't make it fact.

i'm sure you know that.

 

[TheReaper GT]

So much talk... So little racing...

 

[F_B]

So much talk... So little racing...

Welcome to the sim-racing community in the 21st century.
My sandcastle is nicer than yours. And give me back my shovel!

 

[Lorenzo Bonder]

(boring Laguna Secca somewhere in 2017 as the first North-American track at all)

Burn infidel! Just kidding.

I'm just amazed by the level of politness and clean talking on this conversation. Well while you guys are it, I'm going to get myself a popsicle and soda because this is good to watch.

#notreally

 

[kmanitou81]

waiting for the "Your racing Simulator" to turn into something else soon.

If you could give it away, that would be done in an instant.

 

[Leynad777]

Just did an AI-race on VIR and that's more fun than Laguna already, but not in the game especially for console-users. The lap times i did with about a dozen cars are more or less (<1%) the same than in real life. Got re-paved in 2013 and making no sense for me to scan little crackles likely ironed out at the end for performance-reasons. VIR is a must-have like Bathurst, Sebring, Road America, Watkins Glen, Road Atlanta, Sonoma Raceway, Oulton-, Donington-, Cadwell-Park, Hockenheim Ring, Portamio and so on. I can do the math how long it would talk to get just a few ones with the current pace in development.

 

[guidofoc]

Just did an AI-race on VIR and that's more fun than Laguna already, but not in the game especially for console-users. The lap times i did with about a dozen cars are more or less (<1%) the same than in real life. Got re-paved in 2013 and making no sense for me to scan little crackles likely ironed out at the end for performance-reasons. VIR is a must-have like Bathurst, Sebring, Road America, Watkins Glen, Road Atlanta, Sonoma Raceway, Oulton-, Donington-, Cadwell-Park, Hockenheim Ring, Portamio and so on. I can do the math how long it would talk to get just a few ones with the current pace in development.

I agree that VIR is a very fun track. To me it is the perfect match for Assetto Corsa, because it is very enjoyable both with road cars and race cars, with all those different layouts. I'd love it if it became official. Still, we're lucky to have this great mod.

 

[Leynad777]

Just because you think that doesn't make it fact.

No, but common sense can help a bit. Race-tracks often suffer from financial problems and promotion for free is better than nothing. Kunos has always more options than they have, so why paying money for a win-win-situation? Certainly you don't get Le Mans or Sebring for free, but i don't think Oulton Park or Imola is expensive, when Reiza can get it. And it's not only promotion. It's a nice feature for drivers to learn the track at home before getting real. Formula E / Visa just paid millions to get more attention from sim-racers.

 

[Leynad777]

I agree that VIR is a very fun track. To me it is the perfect match for Assetto Corsa, because it is very enjoyable both with road cars and race cars, with all those different layouts. I'd love it if it became official. Still, we're lucky to have this great mod.

There are even more layouts than you might think. Somewhere beneath a bridge you can drive out on the public roads and even on the kart-track somewhere around And i think it´s one of the toughest tracks like Nordschleife and Bathurst, certainly in North-America. Watched a GT3-race on Youtube and lots of grass-collecting offroad-action

 

[Blimey]

Just did an AI-race on VIR and that's more fun than Laguna already, but not in the game especially for console-users. The lap times i did with about a dozen cars are more or less (<1%) the same than in real life. Got re-paved in 2013 and making no sense for me to scan little crackles likely ironed out at the end for performance-reasons. VIR is a must-have like Bathurst, Sebring, Road America, Watkins Glen, Road Atlanta, Sonoma Raceway, Oulton-, Donington-, Cadwell-Park, Hockenheim Ring, Portamio and so on. I can do the math how long it would talk to get just a few ones with the current pace in development.

most of those tracks are in Project Cars, what are the odds!