Assetto Corsa EVO

I spend a lot of weekends convincing friends to plug in their wheels and give sim racing a proper shot, so I felt every sting of Assetto Corsa EVO's early access journey personally. The core promise here is legitimate: Kunos Simulazioni built a brand-new proprietary engine from scratch, and when you're actually driving, it shows. The physics model is genuinely special. Weight transfer, braking feel, the way a Ferrari 296 GTB explodes out of a corner versus the more considered, analogue rhythm of a classic Honda S2000 - each car has a distinct personality that communicates itself clearly through whatever input device you're using. Crucially for accessibility, the game works surprisingly well on a gamepad with a few assists active, which is not something you could always say about its predecessors. Wheel users get the fuller picture though: the force feedback is responsive and talkative, with upgraded suspension dynamics that let you feel surface changes and the onset of a slide before it becomes a spin. The visuals back up the physics ambition. Laser-scanned tracks like Laguna Seca, Suzuka, and Bathurst look sharp, the dynamic weather system produces genuinely atmospheric rain conditions, and the particle system added in update 0.7 - tyre smoke that reacts to wheelspin, dirt kicking up when you run wide, spray building in wet conditions - finally makes the on-screen picture match the simulation quality underneath. VR and triple-screen setups are treated as first-class features rather than afterthoughts, and if you have the hardware to push it, this is one of the better-looking sims available. Hardware requirements are the catch: mid-range builds struggle, especially in wet races with large grids, and optimization remains a work-in-progress. Here is where the fun-with-friends question gets complicated, and I have to be honest about it. This is a PC-only, online-focused title with no split-screen and no couch co-op. Multiplayer took several updates to stabilize, and the community has been vocal about server quality, AI behavior, and a progression and economy system that has changed shape multiple times during early access - including promised features being cut entirely. Player-hosted servers became a contested point, with Kunos' approach to modding and server control drawing sustained criticism from a community that loved the original Assetto Corsa partly because of its openness. Steam reviews sit at a mixed overall score, reflecting a playerbase that respects the driving model but feels the finished product is still a fair distance away. A Daily Racing Portal with skill-based matchmaking (GridRating) was added in update 0.4 and is a solid structured online option when it works. Update 0.7 also launched the official SDK editor, which is the first real step toward community-created cars and tracks - a huge deal for long-term replay value. The car roster has grown steadily and now includes everything from an Abarth 695 to GT3 machinery and road-legal hypercars, with Porsche content (including a 935-tribute variant) among the recent additions. A promised open-world Eifel Mountains region around the Nurburgring is still on the roadmap but absent. If you are a sim racer who runs a dedicated rig and follows the series closely, there is already enough here to enjoy, particularly if you race online in organised events. If you are looking for a feature-complete package to share on a Saturday night, wait for 1.0.

Riley · Scout Team

Sports & racing

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