Will Assetto Corsa EVO Have Free Roaming?

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Will Assetto Corsa EVO have free roam.jpg
Image: Kunos Simulazioni / 505 Games
Speculation is rife that Assetto Corsa EVO will feature free roaming after a road outside the Nürburgring was seemingly spotted in the trailer.

It’s been a few days since Kunos Simulazioni provided a first glimpse of Assetto Corsa EVO before its early access release in January 2025. The announcement trailer showcased several new cars, weather effects, and other hidden details. But one particular shot has sparked speculation that Assetto Corsa EVO may feature free-roaming elements. This would be a surprising direction for the series, which primarily focuses on circuit racing.

Towards the end of the trailer, a Morgan Super-3 is shown cruising down a country road as a BMW M4 CSL drives past it on the opposite side. This has caused fans to speculate if this means Assetto Corsa EVO will have explorable environments with traffic cars cruising the streets.

Assetto Corsa EVO free roam Porsche.jpg

Image: Kunos Simulazioni / 505 Games

Open-world environments with traffic are popular in the Assetto Corsa modding scene, but this would be unprecedented in the standard version of Assetto Corsa EVO. If free roaming is in Assetto Corsa EVO, Kunos has seemingly been inspired by Assetto Corsa’s active modding community.


Visiting The Real Location​

Specifically, the stretch of road in the trailer appears to be a hairpin corner on the L92, a public road near the Nürburgring leading to the town of Adenau in Germany. Our own Michel Wolk visited the location to compare it with the Assetto Corsa EVO trailer, and the similarities are striking. Everything from the cobblestones, angled guardrail, roadside posts, and trees closely match the real location.

L92 road Nurburgring Michel Wolk.jpg

Image: Michel Wolk

With its hairpin turns, elevation changes, and fast-flowing layout, the L92 is like a rally course. It is a heavenly driving road and would be a fun addition to Assetto Corsa EVO outside of circuit racing.

Furthermore, an eagle-eyed fan on Reddit spotted a house appearing in the Morgan's wing mirror. This was then matched with a house in Hauptstraße outside the Nürburgring, further implying that players can visit the circuit's surrounding roads in Assetto Corsa EVO.

Assetto Corsa EVO free roam Morgan house mirror.jpg

Image: Kunos Simulazioni / 505 Games

Of course, this is not confirmation that Assetto Corsa EVO will have free roam. The shot could have been created specifically for the trailer, or it could simply be a Gran Turismo-style cinematic in the game showcasing the roads outside the Nürburgring. Considering it is an M4 CSL, the car driving on the opposite could also be returning from the Nürburgring rather than a traffic car.

However, this would be an exciting new direction for the series. Games like Forza Horizon 5, The Crew Motorfest, and Test Drive Unlimited let you enjoy the freedom of the open road in exotic cars, but these titles tend to be simcade or pure arcade games. With Assetto Corsa’s class-leading physics, EVO would provide the most realistic open-world driving experience yet.


Alas, we will have to wait and see if Assetto Corsa EVO has free roaming when Kunos shares more details. But having the freedom to explore the surrounding roads before hitting the track and doing some hot laps is a tantalising prospect. Free roaming would add a new dimension to Assetto Corsa EVO and potentially broaden the appeal of sim racing.

Are you hoping to see free roaming and explore an open world in Assetto Corsa EVO? Let us know in the comments below or join the discussion on our forum.
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About author
Martin Bigg
Martin Bigg
Arcade racing addict. Can usually be found causing carnage in Wreckfest and still craving a new Driver and Burnout game. Car movie nerd.

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Comments

digitalvei
Krawumel said:
I think the modding restrictions come down to what Ilja did with CSP. He broke the EULA and got rich.
I don`t think Kunos will allow that again.
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I don't even mad, he did what Kunos didn't and he fully deserves it.
 
D
Everyone has different moral values. How many mods are in AC that one modder stole work from another and made a few changes and called it their own? Thieves stealing from thieves and on and on it goes. IMHO, no way will that be allowed in AC Evo. To each their own, not judging anyone, just an observation of the state of things in AC.
 
DEATHLESS
Krawumel said:
I think the modding restrictions come down to what Ilja did with CSP. He broke the EULA and got rich.
I don`t think Kunos will allow that again.
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He deserves it tho.
He literally carried the whole game during the last years.
Without Ilja, this game would be dead long time ago. Not only he brought all those cool features but also extended the modding support for people like me with tons of custom inputs, support for lua scripts etc.
 
Michael Krone
Premium
DEATHLESS said:
He deserves it tho.
He literally carried the whole game during the last years.
Without Ilja, this game would be dead long time ago. Not only he brought all those cool features but also extended the modding support for people like me with tons of custom inputs, support for lua scripts etc.
Click to expand...
Thats certainly one way to look at it. -But thats very much a consumer minded way to see it. The business side sees it very differently. I guarantee there are some behind the scenes dealings happening with EVO that allowed him to continue with CSP without interjection.

-And just so were clear, I fully agree with your point. He deserves every bit of what hes made.
 
Richard Wilks
DEATHLESS said:
He deserves it tho.
He literally carried the whole game during the last years.
Without Ilja, this game would be dead long time ago. Not only he brought all those cool features but also extended the modding support for people like me with tons of custom inputs, support for lua scripts etc.
Click to expand...
He deserves it, but the people who created the game in the first place are not entitled to any bit of it? If it wasn't for the game Kunos created, he probably would be going around trying to hack something else, for sure in a much less lucrative way.

Who at Kunos cares if that "carried the game"? Yes, there might be some residual extra hype for ACE due to that, but on the other hand, there are no shortage of people saying that they will stick with AC1 due to all those new "features", so yes, this was all very good for his pocket,and for the users who have been bankrolling him, but these are the same users that scream IRENTING, and complain about DLCs in early access, and whatnot in other threads, so go figure.

Maybe thats what kunos will do, they will release a very closed game, create a fake persona of a russian hacker, then milk new features into ACE, while getting bankrolled by costumers who rather give money to shadowy figures online than to the devs themselves....
 
Peter Conway
Premium
guidofoc said:
...
  • In the real world, you want to enjoy driving your car fast only on a track. I am not sure Kunos wants to promote the idea that you can use a piece of road as your track (especially with traffic) in real life, that's dangerous.
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Just because it's in a game or sim doesn't mean that the dev's or the studio condones it in real life.
for example,
: There are no roll cages in Gran Turismo road cars.
: There are often identical cars in races in Gran Turismo none of which have a Number on them.
: The GTA games are full of instances where the player runs down pedestrians and drives wrong way at illegal speeds.
What of FPS games... are we to consider that the studio are promoting unaccountable violence?

No, these are Games, entertainmant, and we should never get real life mixed up with our on-screen make believe worlds, and we don't need to be reminded about responsibility.
 
Peter Conway
Premium
Michael Krone said:
Thats certainly one way to look at it. -But thats very much a consumer minded way to see it. The business side sees it very differently. I guarantee there are some behind the scenes dealings happening with EVO that allowed him to continue with CSP without interjection.

-And just so were clear, I fully agree with your point. He deserves every bit of what hes made.
Click to expand...
Perhaps it acted as a reminder that the job the studio did was... wanting, and the job he did should drive them to not make the same mistakes again.
The value in modding is that it can bring home the facts that perhaps the devs didn't come up with the best solution.
Look at mods and listen to suggestions, I'm not talking about the constant mantra of we need fixes for XXXXXX, I'm talking about suggestions like* "could we have oil spills and quickdry, (with dust) Safety car leading" even perhaps "shortened races because of an accident"

* these are not requests, simply an example of suggestions devs might pay attention to.
 
DEATHLESS
Richard Wilks said:
He deserves it, but the people who created the game in the first place are not entitled to any bit of it? If it wasn't for the game Kunos created, he probably would be going around trying to hack something else, for sure in a much less lucrative way.
Click to expand...
I mean I get your point but how many people just bought the game because of mods?
So imo its kinda wrong to say, Kunos didn't profit from it.

Also the game gained so much attention and again mostly cause of the crazy mods/features Ilja , but also Peter Boese (SOL) brought to the game.
Just look at Youtube and see yourself how many people asked for the mod support in ACE cause they know, the game will never be as good as ac without the mod support. Its one of the main topics when it comes to ACE.
Also it seems like Kunos took lot of ideas from Ilja, so they kinda profit from it twice (free roam, rain etc.)

Btw. no one is forced to pay for Iljas Patreon page/csp, whatever.
You cannot compare it with dlcs, lol.
Maybe they should just hire Ilja and Peter Boese for ACE.
 
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Sebastian Skinnari
StefanoCasillo said:
lol

I've cheked the emails. The recap of the answer you got was "good idea, now go find several millions, setup a studio and we'll discuss the options to let you license the AC engine for it".
When I was in Kunos I got some of these pretty much every month.. one guy even managed to call the office to submit his "revolutionary idea" of "laser scan the entire city of Rome".. :roflmao:

There's a very common saying in game dev that "ideas are worth nothing". Pretty much every single person in Kunos comes up with something like your "idea" about every time we get a shower (admittedly for some of us that could be not very often :p).. the problem is not the idea, it is the ability to make it happen.. at that time, it was simply impossible.. if Kunos Simulazioni was able to make it happen now it's because of the work they've put into it and the ability to fund the research & development to go from idea to fact and solve the huge amount of challenges that a tech like that requires.

So yeah... I agree with the poster above.. sorry but you did not invent open road driving games, not even close.
Click to expand...

You did not Invent Racing Simulators either.
You dont seems to be Sympathetic person.

Maybe you should "read a book" about it...
 
Richard Wilks
DEATHLESS said:
I mean I get your point but how many people just bought the game because of mods?
So imo its kinda wrong to say, Kunos didn't profit from it.

Also the game gained so much attention and again mostly cause of the crazy mods/features Ilja , but also Peter Boese (SOL) brought to the game.
Just look at Youtube and see yourself how many people asked for the mod support in ACE cause they know, the game will never be as good as ac without the mod support. Its one of the main topics when it comes to ACE.
Also it seems like Kunos took lot of ideas from Ilja, so they kinda profit from it twice (free roam, rain etc.)

Btw. no one is forced to pay for Iljas Patreon page/csp, whatever.
You cannot compare it with dlcs, lol.
Maybe they should just hire Ilja and Peter Boese for ACE.
Click to expand...
I have heard that argument a milion times, and guess what, how many of those pirated the game, and how many of those bought the game costing just peanuts, meaning, profit is marginal compared with how much mony Iljas is actually making? And no, you DO need to pay for it if you want those "improvements" he did, that right there is selling a product on top of a EULA he broke, in mine, and for sure in many lawyers books.

As for the free roam, i am sorry, but that already existed in games of the past, even other sims like rfactor1, it wasnt his idea, nor is anything new.

Why should they hire those guys? Would they give some of the money they made out of AC back to Kunos? So why should kunos not just copy all they did, and then some? Hell, they could straight up copy their code and sell it, it would be as fair as what they did.
 
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Sebastian Skinnari
Richard Wilks said:
I have heard that argument a milion times, and guess what, how many of those pirated the game, and how many of those bought the game costing just peanuts, meaning, profit is marginal compared with how much mony Iljas is actually making? And no, you DO need to pay for it if you want those "improvements" he did, that right there is selling a product on top of a EULA he broke, in mine, and for sure in many lawyers books.

As for the free roam, i am sorry, but that already existed in games of the past, even other sims like rfactor1, it wasnt his idea, nor is anything new.

Why should they hire those guys? Would they give some of the money they made out of AC back to Kunos? So why should kunos not just copy all they did, and then some? Hell, they could straight up copy their code and sell it, it would be as fair as what they did.
Click to expand...
Kunos did not invent racing simulators...
 
Phoenix77
guidofoc said:
Haha! Your LA Canyons changed AC for me. Honestly those Black Cat County and Highlands "road-track" hybrids never did it for me. AC is so full of beautiful road cars and LA Canyons is one of the few places where you can really drive and enjoy those cars to their full.
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Thanks man! The good guys such as yourself made all the hard work worthwhile! Also the cool dudes are the reason why there's a special (invite only) version of LA Canyons on it's way! (there's a secret place somewhere on the LAC track page)... Shhhh! :speechless:
guidofoc said:
What Stefano said in the posts above: this thing, if done officially by Kunos, requires money and time. If you're not a big developer you have to make choices. Their choice was to make AC moddable.. which eventually did also bring us real roads and roaming, thanks to crazy (good) people like Phoenix77!
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Spot on! Freeroam requires thousands of hours of work, a large investment for ANY studio to make. Personally, if I spent the thousands of hours creating LA Canyons & Pacific Coast doing overtime at my day job instead... I could have earnt approximately £100,000 (for LAC alone).

Maybe I should have done what the SRP / Shutoko rippers did, and just help myself to others work and pass it off as my own, no crediting anyone, save a year or so of real work! So yeah maybe I am crazy :D
 
Phoenix77
guidofoc said:
In the real world, you want to enjoy driving your car fast only on a track. I am not sure Kunos wants to promote the idea that you can use a piece of road as your track (especially with traffic) in real life, that's dangerous.
Click to expand...
That's spot on again, Kunos did such a great job with all the road cars, seems a bit silly not to give them some REAL roads to take them out on, some of the best drivers roads on the planet. There was Trento which was fun, but not much else.

Yeah promoting street racing isn't something Kunos would want to be seen doing...
There needs to be some in-game disclaimers / warnings! (Like they have in BCC)

(Relevant as you mentioned dangerous)
This is a very serious point, but peoples lives have sadly already been lost by those not realising life is not a game :(

In real life there is no reset, no re-spawn, no comfy map!

Anyone reading this that does 'no hesi' and is old enough to drive on real roads and can reach the pedals! Leave that :poop: in-game!!! The idiot in the above video thought he had endless talent, right up until the moment he bounced off the central guardrail, and ploughed into a stationary car on the shoulder at 100mph!
 
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