The Early Access launch of Assetto Corsa EVO had the sim racing community buzzing with excitement. However, it was not perfect, as had to be expected - here are known issues and what the Early Access experience is like.
When the clock hit 15:00 UTC on January 16, the sim racing community finally seemed united - or most of it, anyway. Seemingly everyone who loves racing games and sims was waiting for Assetto Corsa EVO to unlock for its first Early Access release - which it did about an hour later than planned.
Plenty of sim racers were happy to jump in right away - in fact, the concurrent player peak on Steam happened just an hour after the game unlocked and clocked 25,752 players - and enjoyed what they were offered, but many others also reported various issues.
Two of the five tracks, namely Brands Hatch and Suzuka, come with multiple layouts. The well-known Indy layout joins Brands Hatch GP, and Suzuka GP is complemented by the Suzuka East and West layouts, upping the number of available layouts to eight.
The first parts of the Driving Academy and car customization are not available yet as of January 17, 11:45 UTC due to the game's servers not being online, see below in the Known Issues section. That leaves a practice and single race mode, the latter allowing players to compete against the AI. The eagerly-awaited Assetto Corsa EVO open world will not be part of the game until Summer.
Meanwhile in the garage, the cars that are available come in different versions, meaning you will find different representations of the same model. For instance, the Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 can be driven in its stock form, but is also present with a carbon hood or the ZL1E Extreme Track Performance Package - so there is some variation to be had.
On track, the driving physics are the core of the game, of course, and for those who have spent considerable time with it, it is the subject of praise in most cases. In my short time behind the wheel in AC EVO, I found the driving to be very engaging, dynamic and detailed - there will be a more in-depth first impressions article on our website soon, so keep an eye on this space!
There seem to be multiple possible reasons for this: Some players reported that allowing Assetto Corsa EVO to access their 'Documents' folder fixed the issue, others mentioned that simply switching off their Windows Defender firewall for the time being (don't forget to re-enable it after playing!) got their game running.
For a third group including myself, the devil lay in the detail of the Microsoft C++ Redistributable package. Uninstalling and reinstalling the latest version eventually saw me in the game as well - make sure to install the right version for your system, however, as installing the 32-bit variant (x86) will not fix the issue on 64-bit processor, and vice versa.
There does not seem to be a universal solution to this, as it looks like the issue is very dependent on the individual PC setup a user is running. The rear-view mirror resolution is reportedly a good option to turn down for an FPS gain, also using DLSS in Performance Mode can result in a smoother experience.
Most likely, this is a result of the in-game economy being tied to an online service. Remember, AC EVO will require certain licenses to allow players to drive certain cars, and the in-game currency for customizations is likely also part of the online equation. As a result, neither car customization nor the Driving Academy worked out of the box, and they still do not at the time of writing this article.
The community was not too happy to find out that even when they are looking to dive into purely singleplayer modes, it seems like AC EVO will require an online connection.
Additionally, the axis for all pedals is seemingly inverted by default, so make sure to click 'invert' for all three pedals and your handbrake, should you use one.
Source: Assetto Corsa Discord
Of course, with Assetto Corsa EVO not being a full release yet, issues have to be expected in Early Access. The fact that Kunos released a patch to make all cars available offline within just a few hours of the initial launch is encouraging, so the continuous work the studio puts into its new title should hopefully iron out many of these initial issues quite quickly.
Think back to just about a year ago when Motorsport Games also chose th Early Access route for Le Mans Ultimate. The official WEC game also launched with a number of issues, but a very promising core, which seems to be the case for AC EVO as well. MSG and Studio 397 were quick to deploy a number of patches and hotfixes very soon after the initial launch. Early Access means getting access to a title that is being actively developed, after all.
What is your initial reaction to Assetto Corsa EVO? Let us know in the comments below and join the discussion in our AC EVO forum!
When the clock hit 15:00 UTC on January 16, the sim racing community finally seemed united - or most of it, anyway. Seemingly everyone who loves racing games and sims was waiting for Assetto Corsa EVO to unlock for its first Early Access release - which it did about an hour later than planned.
Plenty of sim racers were happy to jump in right away - in fact, the concurrent player peak on Steam happened just an hour after the game unlocked and clocked 25,752 players - and enjoyed what they were offered, but many others also reported various issues.
What is the Assetto Corsa EVO Early Acces like?
As announced, the first Early Access release of Assetto Corsa EVO is relatively limited when it comes to content and game modes, although compared to Kunos Simulazioni's previous EA efforts for both AC and ACC which both came with one track and one car only initially, 20 cars and five tracks are plenty.Two of the five tracks, namely Brands Hatch and Suzuka, come with multiple layouts. The well-known Indy layout joins Brands Hatch GP, and Suzuka GP is complemented by the Suzuka East and West layouts, upping the number of available layouts to eight.
The first parts of the Driving Academy and car customization are not available yet as of January 17, 11:45 UTC due to the game's servers not being online, see below in the Known Issues section. That leaves a practice and single race mode, the latter allowing players to compete against the AI. The eagerly-awaited Assetto Corsa EVO open world will not be part of the game until Summer.
Meanwhile in the garage, the cars that are available come in different versions, meaning you will find different representations of the same model. For instance, the Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 can be driven in its stock form, but is also present with a carbon hood or the ZL1E Extreme Track Performance Package - so there is some variation to be had.
On track, the driving physics are the core of the game, of course, and for those who have spent considerable time with it, it is the subject of praise in most cases. In my short time behind the wheel in AC EVO, I found the driving to be very engaging, dynamic and detailed - there will be a more in-depth first impressions article on our website soon, so keep an eye on this space!
Assetto Corsa EVO Early Access: Known Issues
Game Will Not Launch
Perhaps the most frustrating issue many were getting is the fact that Assetto Corsa EVO simply would not launch after installing. In fact, this happened to me as well - you click 'Play' on Steam, the sim is briefly shown as 'Running', then stops without an error message or any indication of what is wrong.There seem to be multiple possible reasons for this: Some players reported that allowing Assetto Corsa EVO to access their 'Documents' folder fixed the issue, others mentioned that simply switching off their Windows Defender firewall for the time being (don't forget to re-enable it after playing!) got their game running.
For a third group including myself, the devil lay in the detail of the Microsoft C++ Redistributable package. Uninstalling and reinstalling the latest version eventually saw me in the game as well - make sure to install the right version for your system, however, as installing the 32-bit variant (x86) will not fix the issue on 64-bit processor, and vice versa.
Framerate Issues
As AC EVO is still far from finished, it is also not perfectly optimized when it comes to performance. Some users have reported that even in the menus, they experienced extremely low framerates to the point of the menus becoming barely usable. Similarly, their frames per second were really low when out on track.There does not seem to be a universal solution to this, as it looks like the issue is very dependent on the individual PC setup a user is running. The rear-view mirror resolution is reportedly a good option to turn down for an FPS gain, also using DLSS in Performance Mode can result in a smoother experience.
Triple Screen Setup Issues
Many were delighted to hear that both VR and triple screen support would be on board from the start in AC EVO, but triples did not work for everyone inititally. Some users reported facing a black screen when trying to drive in a session, others reported a skewed image on the center screen and none at all on the side screens. For some, a clean reinstall of the GPU drivers fixed this issue.Online Servers Not Running
Multiplayer is not part of the first release of Assetto Corsa EVO, but despite this, the game's online servers not running caused some issues on Early Access launch day. First and foremost, it initially restricted car choice to the base cars in the game, with everything else not being accessible. Mere hours after the game unlocked, a patch was released to fix this issue, making all 20 cars available in offline mode.Most likely, this is a result of the in-game economy being tied to an online service. Remember, AC EVO will require certain licenses to allow players to drive certain cars, and the in-game currency for customizations is likely also part of the online equation. As a result, neither car customization nor the Driving Academy worked out of the box, and they still do not at the time of writing this article.
The community was not too happy to find out that even when they are looking to dive into purely singleplayer modes, it seems like AC EVO will require an online connection.
Random Crashes
A number of players also experienced random crashes - not of their cars, but the game itself. This happened in different intervals: For some, it was three minutes, others had the issue when quitting a session. It seems that for some players, the game is not very stable as of the first Early Access release.Assignments Not Saving
A somewhat annoying issue, some players reported that their button and steering assignments were reset when relaunching the game, meaning they had to re-bind all of them. As a result, checking if they are still there and hitting 'Apply' after assigning buttons for a device and before switching to another is advisable.Additionally, the axis for all pedals is seemingly inverted by default, so make sure to click 'invert' for all three pedals and your handbrake, should you use one.
Suggested Troubleshooting Methods
Game Not Launching
- Close Steam, go to your documents folder and delete the ACE folder, then launch Steam and then launch Assetto Corsa EVO. You may need to disable OneDrive if you have it enabled whilst you carry out the test.
- Repair Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable x64 & x86 versions via the official installer, and then reboot.
- Check that the AssettoCorsaEVO application in the Steam Apps directory is whitelisted on your firewalls and antivirus applications.
- Open Controlled Folder Access through file manager or through a windows search. It should be under the Virus & threat protection section of Windows Defender. Click on the section that says “Allow an app through Controlled Folder Access” you then have to press “Add an allowed app” after pressing this choose the “Recently blocked apps” option and find ACE (Asseto Corsa EVO) it should be under that name or something similar.
VR Performance
Launch the game, change the quality preset to Very Low, hit apply and then close the game, restart the game, then increase the graphics quality again.Source: Assetto Corsa Discord
Of course, with Assetto Corsa EVO not being a full release yet, issues have to be expected in Early Access. The fact that Kunos released a patch to make all cars available offline within just a few hours of the initial launch is encouraging, so the continuous work the studio puts into its new title should hopefully iron out many of these initial issues quite quickly.
Think back to just about a year ago when Motorsport Games also chose th Early Access route for Le Mans Ultimate. The official WEC game also launched with a number of issues, but a very promising core, which seems to be the case for AC EVO as well. MSG and Studio 397 were quick to deploy a number of patches and hotfixes very soon after the initial launch. Early Access means getting access to a title that is being actively developed, after all.
What is your initial reaction to Assetto Corsa EVO? Let us know in the comments below and join the discussion in our AC EVO forum!
