Assetto Corsa Competizione, Kunos Simulazioni's follow-up to its sublime driving simulator, has been dated for its Early Access release, with the Blancpain-licensed racer coming on September 12th.

It will, however, be a very limited offering at first, with just the Lamborghini Huracan GT3 and the N rburgring Grand Prix circuit available at first, with updates then coming on a monthly basis through to at least February. The multiplayer will be policed by a Rating System that builds upon that which players of iRacing and Gran Turismo Sport will be familiar with.

The announcement came at the weekend's Spa 24 Hours - the centrepiece in the Blancpain GT series' calendar which was won by Walkenhorst's BMW M6 - an event that Assetto Corsa Competizione will look to simulate with its day/night transitions and full weather system. The full and final game is due in Q1 next year.

Read more…

In an instant, it became my most anticipated game of 2018. Kunos Simulazioni, developers of the brilliant Assetto Corsa, had bagged the rights to the Blancpain GT series - perhaps motorsport's healthiest championship, and certainly one that boasts the most diverse manufacturer participation with Ferrari, Porsche, Lamborghini, Aston Martin, BMW, Mercedes, Bentley, Audi and McLaren all taking part. Not a bad list, really, and the racing's more than half decent too.

What is it that makes the prospect of Assetto Corsa Competizione, as the officially licensed game is to be called when it hits Early Access this summer, so exciting? It's a long overdue appearance of a game that represents real motorsport outside beyond the world of F1, and one that promises the kind of authenticity you just can't find anywhere else. I don't need detailed career modes, loot boxes full of car mods or pages of fictional emails to scroll through; just give me a season of real races against real teams and drivers run to real rules, governed by a simple points table, and you've got everything I need.

And in Assetto Corsa Competizione it looks like we're finally getting the successor to GTR 2 that I've pined for for years. Indeed, you've got to feel a little sorry for Simbin's UK studio that's quietly working on GTR 3 - a large part of the appeal of GTR 2 was how it co-opted the FIA GT Championship, starring the Spa 24 Hours as its centrepiece, and now Assetto Corsa Competizione is taking on that series' spiritual successor and getting Belgium's endurance classic to boot. The licence is a large part of the appeal, so there must have been some competition over it.

Read more…

A new Assetto Corsa is hitting early access this summer - and it's set to be the official game of the Blancpain GT series.

Assetto Corsa Competizione, as it's known, will be utilising Unreal Engine 4, allowing the introduction of variable weather and day/night cycles into Kunos' game. All of which will make simulation of the Blancpain series - which boasts the Spa 24 Hours as its blue riband event - that much easier.

What's the Blancpain series, you might ask? Put simply it's the premier GT racing category, boasting healthy fields of prime GT3 machinery and the participation of big-name manufacturers such as Ferrari, Lamborghini and McLaren.

Read more…