Assetto Corsa EVO New Car Configurator In The Pipeline

HYPE !!

blueferrari said:

I think too much time, money and effort is spent on bling that you don't even see when driving. Is this going to be another Forza or Grid? It sounds like it's heading that way. I'd like to see them focus just on physics/FFB, cars and tracks, in that order. Not cosmetic parts.

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Yes, there is an attempt to replace the essence with signs. It is simpler and cheaper, but shines brighter.

I have no idea why people get so worked up about this or label it as a feature of non-simulator games or just eye candy. rF1 and rF2 have exactly the same feature, where you can swap upgrades and tune your car, but nobody acknowledges it or everyone has forgotten about it. At the end it's just not called car configurator but showroom. Not sure if I would label features that were standard features in racing sims allmost 20 years ago a "massive step forward". And it shows to some extend how little some people in this community look beyond their bubble. I allready suggested this before but maybe it would also be nice to show some of the non AC mods as it was the case in the past at various websites. ChieffWiggum has shown in a very creative way what's possible with such features. So I would way, keep them coming.

And for people expecting anything different, it was very clear from the beginning that ACE would be a car culture game. Features like a proper showroom are an integral part of this.

M D Gourley said:

A great video with personal thoughts from 'Scaff's Sim Racing' showing some of the the 'Car Configurator'...you either like this type of bling or not....personally, I like it as it's something different, new and possibly exciting.

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A great video, except that the suggestion that this is a unique feature that has not been in a racing title before, is not true. It is already in the original rFactor. And also as announced for AC EVO, not only optical changes but also the corresponding adjustments in the driving characteristics of the car.
It is presented here as if this is something spectacularly new, but it is not, it has been done before. And in the end only the original rFactor fiction cars used it and there were very few mods that also used it. It died a quiet death, so to speak.
I wonder if it will be popular this time in AC EVO.

If the end result allows me to get a car in ACE, presumably a car I am interested in, equip it, as I would IRL, then take it either to a real road or a race track to drive in game experiencing (what I am expecting to be) good physic and great graphics in VR, then I like the idea.
From what I have seen so far, ACE will be many thing to many people, with the opportunity to do what ever we, individually, prefer to do in a SIM/Racing/Driving game and also exploring new or forgotten car aficionados related activities.
All good in my book.

aphidgod said:

We were already much more on this level 5 years ago than AC1 was. We've been hacking and pushing this stuff for a long time. Probably no accident that a bunch of modders got jobs at KS and this has resulted.

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You are in the top 1%. The modding scene in general is not there. By far. Out of 10 cars I install for AC today, 9.5 end up not staying. Even high quality models from GT7 often end up looking worse than AC early access content in the hands of the "average" AC modder. If the "base" content in ACE is going to be even higher quality, the general modding scene will need a lot to catch up. Not to mention for those like you and the people you work/ed with, making scratch made high quality content, the time needed to make a mod will be even higher if you want to implement different specs of the same car at the new quality baseline. There are really not too many truly high quality scratch made free car mods for AC, I bet there's going to be even less for ACE.

stenovitz said:

Before I entered vivid VR activity 2½ years ago, I would probably have responded "I don't care/boooh it's an arcardish thing".

But just reflecting on my sim take in VR since then, especially in classic car mods and taking my time to look around the cockpit and also exterior details on more and more occasions, I like this idea!

However, I also see an element of danger in this level of detail.

It will be a requirement for many new cars with a possible high DLC price tag.

And furthermore, and much, much worse, it might be a showstopper for new, skilled modders-in-the-making on the scene, to be on-par with Kunos here....and if Kunos sets this as one of the "quality criterias" for modding, the healthy and vast modding society probably will look in other directions.

Or maybe it's just my ghost voice in my head disturbing me here...hopefully...

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My take is that the mods are gonna be paid mods. Kunos are gonna gatekeep them anyway and they aint gonna do that for free! At least, that is my prediction. And personally, I don't mind paying a decent price for a high quality mod. I already do that with RSS and VRC. At least you know you're getting good content.

But yeah, lets hope this not deter the amount of mods too much..

stenovitz said:

Before I entered vivid VR activity 2½ years ago, I would probably have responded "I don't care/boooh it's an arcardish thing".

But just reflecting on my sim take in VR since then, especially in classic car mods and taking my time to look around the cockpit and also exterior details on more and more occasions, I like this idea!

However, I also see an element of danger in this level of detail.

It will be a requirement for many new cars with a possible high DLC price tag.

And furthermore, and much, much worse, it might be a showstopper for new, skilled modders-in-the-making on the scene, to be on-par with Kunos here....and if Kunos sets this as one of the "quality criterias" for modding, the healthy and vast modding society probably will look in other directions.

Or maybe it's just my ghost voice in my head disturbing me here...hopefully...

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I think there's a balance to be struck. The modding community most certainly needs thinning out. The amount of low effort, copy-paste, low fidelity and frankly unrealistic modded cars and tracks in AC is overwhelming. There's always the certified outfits like RSS, VRC, etc. to turn to for known quality, but trying to find the same in the wild west of the independent modders is a tough task. Download counts and ratings rarely tell the full story. It's a mess out there and if setting a bar for quality and effort is what's required to keep a relatively "clean" modding scene, I'm more than willing to watch it play out.

The scene will most certainly be vastly different from what we have with AC. Licensing, per Kunos, will be a serious consideration. Whether or not that means folks can continue to make replicas under a different name (Darche, Ferrenzo, etc.) I guess we'll all find out. Very interested in seeing what Kunos is envisioning when it comes to helping to create an avenue for modders and car manufacturers/track owners to work together directly. Best case I can imagine is IP owners strike a deal along the lines of "if you meet (x) bar for quality, we'll allow you to use the brand for (x)% of your mod sales revenue." If it's as simple as an introduction and manufacturers saying "$(xxx,xxx) to use our brand for your mod" then I imagine it will be dead in the water before it even begins.

Interesting times ahead.

SharkVA said:

Whether or not that means folks can continue to make replicas under a different name (Darche, Ferrenzo, etc.) I guess we'll all find out.

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I highly doubt that. I remember a story from SCS Software (Euro Truck Simulator 2), where at the beginning most (all?) of their trucks were real life ones, but under a different (similar) names. They had little (no?) licenses. And they told, that when they decided to start to acquire those license the issue appeared. The talks were more difficult due to that.

- So, are our trucks in your game already or not?
- Ekhm, It's complicated...

OK the modding part is a touchy subject, as always, but seems to have become hypersensitive, so badly it soon needs some allergy meds

I don't quite get the grumpy take on non-perfect mods, like staring blindly at the holes in the soup and on top of that being pissed off by it. What's the cause?
Online people annoyed by sharing unbaked dough?
Car manufacturers who feel their products are forged?

Yes, AC has an ocean of mods of various quality, I myself have been a vacuum cleaner of mods in all corners of the web and have also come across something unstimulating over time.
But then I just steered free and further ahead for more good to come.

On several posts in various threads recently especially related to AC and upcoming AC EVO, it sounds like only a small percentage of mods are satisfactory and that you can't race AC without complaining about all the mods you don't race.

And also, it's been a long time since I've come across bad mods.
I don't know if the users here primarily use this site's download section and search for user ratings and get the ratings turned upside down.

But in my world, the good takes up more space than the less good and far more than the downright horrible.

In addition, I consider a version 0.41 to be just that. And if it's a car mod and it's about core sim, then per autoreflex, I'll see if the car setup can do anything better (I automatically change the suspension anyway after a short driveout on even official content).
So an ongoing process. If you stare angrily at a 0.xx version instead of seeing it as an ongoing process and are impatient and criticize an early version for not being a finished version, then you have misunderstood something.

And then a completely different aspect.
In my world - and now I allow myself as a private non-car manufacturer to have an opinion - there must be room for development projects of mods.
AND more importantly: there must be room for beginners with the courage to pursue big ambitions. If you just want the status quo with RSS, HSS, VRC, etc., then you take the initiative from the modders who might start small.

I agree so far that "stealing" mods from other sims with bad conversions, without giving credit to the original modders, that kind of thing needs to be addressed. Not to mention the cases that are worse - directly stealing from modders who do it for free as a hobby, after which you take money yourself for something you didn't even have your hands on.

This kind of behavior must of course be cleaned up completely.

I see this from the healthy modding community we have.
And I'm pretty amazed at this barking about bad mods. As if they filled 90% of the landscape. Again, I don't understand the furor over that at all. It is quite optional for each individual Sim if you want to test them, and if it is a 'nay' you have the option to uninstall again.

Nota Bene:
Among today's quality AC modders, where RSS, HSS, VRC and URD are mentioned, modders such as Sergio Loro, ItaloTracks, Abulzz, Lilski, Rainmaker, Pessio Garage, Uncle M, Mac Ten, Casual Sim Studios, Fat Alfie, Jandrovi, DoubleZero, JohnR777, Legion plus a few more in same league should also be mentioned. Just speaking pure car-/track content. Then ofc. x4fab, Peter Boese,

In addition, there are modders that have stalled in e.g. a 0.5 and have found other things in life. It's quite unfair to shoot down their mods and go all berry-serk in the cage because you see something that wasn't finished.
Calm down, please.

When the NoGripRacing forum was running (primarily GTR2 dedicated mods), the users were open minded, supportive, supportive and guiding new modders and each other. But the forums there were also mostly mod forums, for modders and users of mods with constructive inputs.

For the great great healthy part of the mod world, I just want to keep the positive and constructive angle.

And regarding paid mods?
I already practice that activity. So if it's OK with the modders to pay through Kunos, then fine with me, I'm happy to pay for quality mods like DLCs with credit to the modders. My wallet doesn't care if it's via Patreon, mod site payment or via Steam. Only the reward reaches those who have deserved it to that extent.

But in addition, I am also strongly in favor of the healthy, open modding community continuing, with skilled hobby modders who put their guts out just to get feedback for improvements and further development, without money being involved.

After all, it's a big part of the healthy modding community.

Peter Kerényi said:

You are in the top 1%. The modding scene in general is not there. By far. Out of 10 cars I install for AC today, 9.5 end up not staying. Even high quality models from GT7 often end up looking worse than AC early access content in the hands of the "average" AC modder. If the "base" content in ACE is going to be even higher quality, the general modding scene will need a lot to catch up. Not to mention for those like you and the people you work/ed with, making scratch made high quality content, the time needed to make a mod will be even higher if you want to implement different specs of the same car at the new quality baseline. There are really not too many truly high quality scratch made free car mods for AC, I bet there's going to be even less for ACE.

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Yeah, I suspect you're right about that. I'm not hopeful that modding will be a thing for anyone but groups like RSS. We'll see.

And I'm not even talking about my mods, BTW. There were other modders using the aero system to hack in optional cosmetic parts and such. I ended up doing it on a couple cars (WRX, T70) but I very much took the idea from elsewhere.

People complaining that this bling will be a waste are missing the point. Some people REALLY do want the bling, i know i do. If this is how 3rd party car customization will be in the game im all in.

Dr. Death said:

People complaining that this bling will be a waste are missing the point. Some people REALLY do want the bling, i know i do. If this is how 3rd party car customization will be in the game im all in.

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Yep.

In all honesty road cars don't interest me much, and swapping out the engine or adding a body kit in game even less so.

But I can see that this would appeal to a large chunk of people, and even if we wanted to take the deluded/anal/elitist viewpoint of looking down at aspects that would appeal to so called casuals, This would actually increase the simulation aspect as its a real world process, as anyone who has bought new would be well aware of.

Dr. Death said:

People complaining that this bling will be a waste are missing the point. Some people REALLY do want the bling, i know i do. If this is how 3rd party car customization will be in the game im all in.

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Well it's a different genre than what they are interested in...

That's the car collection and modifying genre... Not sim racing...

It's like being a heavy metal fan and being stuck at a pop concert...


The most positive thing I personally can say about this is... At least Kunos is currently employing 3D modellers to do this...

Well....at the end of the day...if I do not gel with ACEvo, there are plenty of other Sims out there that suit the purpose I am looking for
....to get my 'kicks on Route 66'

If, and that’s a big if, AC EVO ends up limiting the creativity of modders, which would be the polar opposite of what made the original Assetto Corsa so special, I can see many sim racers sticking with the original, no questions asked. Because truth be told: fancy graphics and flashy features are nice, but they’re not the heart and soul of sim racing.

What most of us are hoping for are improvements where it really matters, the actual driving experience. The physics, the feel of the car, and the connection to the track that mirrors real-world dynamics. And let’s not forget, mods go far beyond just cars and tracks. The community has brought so much value to the game with apps that enhance the experience, like advanced tire pressure and temperature displays, race engineer tools, telemetry data, and so much more to help players shave seconds off their lap times. Take away modding, and all those community-driven innovations could disappear, again, that’s a big if.

I’ve shared my thoughts on this in a video, though I’ll admit it comes from the perspective of someone who loves DIY customization and tweaking things to make the game feel even more personal, and expect big things too from EVO without locking down the creativity of modders.

Nigel Mansell said:

Hope we see regular updates every few weeks, from now until EA launch. So much yet to announce and give details on.

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I don't know man, i might be a bit oldschool but i miss the times when games simply came out and you could discover everything while playing or from the reviews that dropped (back then in magazines). Not really a fan of hypetrains and information dripfeeding. Sure i consume it, but i would also not mind if we would not really get anything up until a couple days before release.

I keep waiting for some information to drop that actually interests me for the game; how are they going to make my racing driver dream more immersive (especially for offline racing) but every announcement that comes leaves me feeling "they spent their time doing what?!".

I do realise that not every (or any) title needs to be specifically designed around me, but when the original AC takes 90% of my virtual driving time I had high personal hopes for its sequel.

Games are often criticised for being more 'evolution' than 'revolution'. Ironically (considering the title), in this case, it feels like the inverse to me.

Maybe it's just to distance itself from ACC as much as possible, but there feels like a very distinct lack of 'Corsa' in the next AC.

Rodger Davies said:

I keep waiting for some information to drop that actually interests me for the game; how are they going to make my racing driver dream more immersive (especially for offline racing) but every announcement that comes leaves me feeling "they spent their time doing what?!".

Games are often criticised for being more 'evolution' than 'revolution'. Ironically (considering the title), in this case, it feels like the inverse to me.

Maybe it's just to distance itself from ACC as much as possible, but there feels like a very distinct lack of 'Corsa' in the next AC.

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This is exactly how I've felt... The hype just isn't for me...

The original AC was left in a far different state to what it is now with a lot of sim racing features just not implemented, like having to slow down to enter the pits... It does make me think that Kunos' vision for the original wasn't any further than where they took it to... Thus leading to what ACE is being marketed as to date and seeming like a step backwards compared to where AC is for track racing today...

pz666 said:

Well it's a different genre than what they are interested in...

That's the car collection and modifying genre... Not sim racing...

It's like being a heavy metal fan and being stuck at a pop concert...


The most positive thing I personally can say about this is... At least Kunos is currently employing 3D modellers to do this...

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The fact that you are able to modify cars do not put it into another genre. If the modifications have realistic effects of course.

What AC and most of the other sim racing titles are missing is having some video game injected into them. Because they are, at the end of the day, video games. This is a cool feature from that perspective, being able to customize your car that you will be more connected to because you spent effort customizing to your liking.

Sometimes I get the feeling some people only need that generic box car from rF2 in multiplayer before it loaded the model. As long as it handles as they expect a real car handles of course...