NEWS Assetto Corsa Press(ing) Day !

[assettocorsamods]

Yesterday (or Sep 29th, depending on your time zone) Kunos organized a press event, to give their "precious" a proper launch. It was organized directly within Autodromo di Vallelunga (where their HQ also is) and since they were at a racetrack.. there had to be cars. And not just "any": almost the entire lineup of cars present in the game was brought at Vallelunga "in flesh". Or so it seems from the pictures that we've been able to spot on the net .

Will leave you with an approximate translation of the coverage provided by gamemag Italia (<= thank you guys).

"We could not miss the launching event of Assetto Corsa, organized by Kunos Simulazioni at the Autodromo di Vallelunga. The Italian team, which has its HQ right inside the circuit, has released new details about the version 1.0 of Assetto Corsa, which will arrive during the month of October and will feature a career mode and the gorgeous LaFerrari. Obviously, we did not miss the opportunity to shoot some of the fantastic cars provided by Kunos to the event and to interview Marco Massarutto, Production Director at Kunos Simulazioni. Video below:

*translation in English, in 2nd post.​

"By simulation we mean a model that by the virtues of vehicle characteristics and the pilot's reactions is faithfully reproducing the behavior of the vehicle," said Mark Massarutto during the press conference. "The line between reality and simulation over time is shortened thanks to titles such as Assetto Corsa".

As we know, Assetto Corsa is one of the most accurate driving simulations through dynamic management of physics and the behavior of each element of the car. As they explain, the Kunos guys used some algorithms coming directly from manufacturers: for example, in the case of Pagani Huayra, Kunos has access to original algorithm, provided by Pagani, which manages the four aerodynamic flaps the cars is equipped with and which move independently from each other. The Kers de LaFerrari also works exactly like the real car, for example, also impacting on the traction control.

Next, Assetto Corsa, can boast a nearly perfect reproduction of routes thanks to LaserScan technology. This uses laser cameras that, after driving on a track, generate a point cloud. From this, we then get the wireframe, which also includes bumping and banking that affect the way the car reacts while driving. You can imagine the LaserScan as if it were carbon paper which is to replicate every single asperity and interference.

In order to understand the level of accuracy of these circuits, Massarutto added that they are now used by Ferrari and Dallara for their internal simulations. "We have a technology millions of dollars in a video game that costs a few tens of Euros," reaffirm the guys from Kunos.

Assetto Corsa is appreciated for its high level of customization available to players (a modding platform), thanks to the internal editor for three-dimensional elements, suspensions, tires and cars. Users can also find ready made assets, from which to start their own creations.

Through a series of Python apps, Assetto Corsa allows you to freely configure the user interface ingame, so that each player can set up the UI he/she find more convenient. In the final version of Assetto Corsa, we will have different game modes: career, special events, race weekend, custom events, drift mode, time attack, drag and multiplayer.

Assetto Corsa is also playable with the new Oculus Rift DevKit 2, which is able to offer an even more immersive virtual reality. The player can turn and look at each corner of the car, as well as being more immersed in the experience of driving in the technical circuits present in Assetto Corsa.

If the team, when work began on Assetto Corsa, was composed of only 6 people, now has more than 13 professionals. The merit of this growth is the success of the Early Access version in addition to the dedication that the guys from Kunos put on this project. And (it seems ?) they are not good only at programming, because they proved to be also "skillful" enough on Autodromo di Vallelunga."​

 

[assettocorsamods]

And thanks to AC member @g4b1bb097 we now have a translation for the first video . Thank you.

"0:46 KUNOS Simulazioni has its headquarters inside the Vallelunga autodrome, what are the advantages of this solution?
Marco: The main advantages are that you can do R&D in a very massive way, relying also on the fact that our presence here lets us to keep in touch not only with the car manifacturers but also with the main characters of the motorsport world, not only the pilots but also race engineers that often are more useful in our job because by cooperating with them we get to know exactly how the cars react on the racetrack, the performance, what kind of setup is being used and these factors allows us to create a better experience also in the physics and technical sector, you know... at high level

1:40 You mentioned some new modes and also career mode, when are they coming?
Marco: Starting from the last question: career mode will come in the 1.0RC of the game, which will come soon. It will let you to participate in a series of event, starting from the slower cars to finally reach the more intresting ones, the championships with the GTs. Speaking about the new modes: we have planned for the next year the relase of more contents, not only DLCs but additional free contents, new special events, a more predetermined career and a bunch of options that will not be in the v1.0 but will come later with free updates like extending the pitstop feature from a MP-only feature to SP too. Speaking of career mode we will have a series of events that will give a "family feeling" like the Gran Turismo series, to reach and make the game more enjoyable for the casual gamers and there will be a lot of special events available for your selection allowing a more customisable career instead of a fully predetermined one where you can take and choose different paths

3:10 What can you say about the future of Assetto Corsa? Will we receive updates of the damage model?
Marco: Speaking of the damage model the version that will come out soon will include full damage simulation both aestetical and mechanical, and damages will be toggleable, there will be different kind of damages: not only to suspension, engine and gearbox relating to the drivestyle or the collisions that may happen but also there will be damages related to what the driver does: this means that there might be punctures if you get too rough on the kerbs, especially with road cars that aren't meant for that.
This will give very realistic experience to the players

4:03 Assetto Corsa is an indie, what are the main challanges of this approach?
Marco: When the publishers started to look at us, we received a lot of proposals and they're still coming.
What we are doing with Assetto, especially with the PC version is continuing on the line that we've set in the beginning. The Early Access program from Steam has gone incredibily well, far exceeding our expectations and this has given us a lot of earnings. So we decided to continue our original path by reinvesting a good amount of our revenues in the acquisition of new licenses, new contents and expanding the team from the inital six to fifteen people, fifteen very good elements and crucial to the development of the game.
Our idea is to continue, maybe even while collaborating with the big companies, to pursue our initial goals by keeping our indipendence especially in the game design and what strategies to apply, by continuosely delivering to our customers, our fans what they expect."​