Sim Racing Discussion With Kunos Simulazioni, SRO, Chris Haye And RD

Paul Jeffrey · Jun 25, 2020

We recently sat down with Marco Massarutto of Kunos Simulazioni, Anthony Comas of SRO, YouTube star Chris Haye and RaceDepartment Editor-in-Chief Paul Jeffrey to discuss the world of sim racing...

... aired during our SRO E-Sport GT Series AM Championship final round build-up, the very first RaceDepartment Sim Racing Panel proved to be a rather entertaining experience for all concerned. Throwing a mix of community questions to our guest panel, we managed to tackle many diverse topics from the future licencing arrangements within ACC, to the ever increasing effect of electrification of motorsports in the sim racing space.

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In case you missed the panel show during our sizeable final round broadcast build up, we have put the video on YouTube for your viewing pleasure.. enjoy!

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maranello78 · Jun 25, 2020

Hi, is Anthony Comas, son of F1 driver Eric Comas?

Paul Jeffrey · Jun 25, 2020

maranello78 said:
Hi, is Anthony Comas, son of F1 driver Eric Comas?

He is indeed

JJx · Jun 25, 2020

Given the success of an open sim platform, I wonder if Kunos has considered adding AC v2 to their road map? (wishfully thinking here)

dussard · Jun 25, 2020

Good evening
I have a very weak command of Shakespeare's language
who can make a summary of important points of conservation then google translator
Thank you

Isaac Chavira · Jun 25, 2020

It's like watching an old Kung-fu movie where everyone's lips are out of sink.

Bonehead · Jun 25, 2020

Isaac Chavira said:
It's like watching an old Kung-fu movie where everyone's lips are out of sink.

It was synced here in the USA.

maranello78 · Jun 25, 2020

Any chance to release in a next future a dlc with cars like Ferrari 430, Aston Martin Dbrs9, Mercedes Sls, etc?

Eric Rowland · Jun 25, 2020

maranello78 said:
Hi, is Anthony Comas, son of F1 driver Eric Comas?

maranello78 · Jun 25, 2020

One of the most greatest drivers of F1, in and out of the track, as you can see on that video, sometimes i think about if Senna will survive from Imola, how many duels with Schumi or Alonso we would enjoy, a part of F1 dies with Senna that day, and for fans like me too

Alexandre · Jun 25, 2020

I would like to believe that they care at least a little about single-player modes and AI improvements, but my feelings about Marco's answer were: they don't really care. Unfortunately, it's gonna be left in the dust.

Isaac Chavira · Jun 26, 2020

Bonehead said:
It was synced here in the USA.

Not in WA state.

Bonehead · Jun 26, 2020

Isaac Chavira said:
Not in WA state.

Sebring, Florida here.

Turk · Jun 26, 2020

JJx said:
Given the success of an open sim platform, I wonder if Kunos has considered adding AC v2 to their road map? (wishfully thinking here)

It's kind of hard to know where they go from here. ACC was a different animal to AC. Both have good points, I like ACCs race focus. If they did go back to a game like AC with lots of road cars I'd almost prefer them to ignore race cars and race tracks, and keep the two genres separate.

However specialisation seems risky. They may be better off doing it all in one package, it looks better on paper at least.

MetalMania · Jun 27, 2020

Alexandre said:
I would like to believe that they care at least a little about single-player modes and AI improvements, but my feelings about Marco's answer were: they don't really care. Unfortunately, it's gonna be left in the dust.

Well, he did come around to saying there's still a place for it and room to improve, but it's certainly secondary now to multiplayer. I'm entirely offline/single player. I understand e-sports and MP is the big thing now, and that's fine, I just hope single player doesn't get abandoned.

Turk said:
It's kind of hard to know where they go from here. ACC was a different animal to AC. Both have good points, I like ACCs race focus. If they did go back to a game like AC with lots of road cars I'd almost prefer them to ignore race cars and race tracks, and keep the two genres separate.

However specialisation seems risky. They may be better off doing it all in one package, it looks better on paper at least.

In terms of sales, I don't know how well ACC has sold but I'm sure it's nowhere close to the original AC. In that regard a "sandbox" sim would probably always be more commercially successful, but I grew up on sims that focused on one series / championship and I still really like that idea. It has the opportunity for more cohesion and a sense of purpose, if that makes sense.

I think my "dream sim" might be something like the original AC that comes stock with a mix of road and race cars and tracks, but with a framework to add complete licensed championships as DLC. Cars, tracks, teams, drivers, rules, point structures, etc. all in one package that plugs into the main sim. Sounds cool to me, but maybe too ambitious to actually work?

Turk · Jun 27, 2020

MetalMania said:
In terms of sales, I don't know how well ACC has sold but I'm sure it's nowhere close to the original AC. In that regard a "sandbox" sim would probably always be more commercially successful, but I grew up on sims that focused on one series / championship and I still really like that idea. It has the opportunity for more cohesion and a sense of purpose, if that makes sense.

Yes, makes perfect sense.

I suppose part of the problem for Kunos comes from the size of the company and how many work hours they have available. A sandbox style game is the ultimate version of driving sims, but it also means a lot of work. A focused sim offers a great experience but doesn't look as good on paper (for new customers).

That's kind of why I'd like to see the two titles separated (although I admit that's even more work). Keep the focused ACC title going doing hard core racing, and keep AC going doing road cars. I can see problems with that, in that AC wouldn't have the circuit racing side of things which the meat and potatoes of a driving game.

Kunos is really good at circuit racing and can probably make bigger inroads into the enthusiast market than trying to try to fight against the big boys like GT/forza, that market just isn't as obsessed with physics. I'd imagine they've already have plans for the next title and what it will be, they've tried two different ways of doing things now, as long as they maintain their physics advantage it should be good.