With Assetto Corsa EVO now available in early access, we can compare across both EVO and its GT-racing focused predecessor Competizione with the four cars that can be found in both titles.
After a long wait, you can now pick up and install AC EVO, and aside from a few launch issues which should get ironed out in due course, there should be enough to keep you interested for a while. Of course, with it being a true successor to the original Assetto Corsa, the majority of cars are road-going production cars.
For the motorsport-focused of us though - which is a fair chunk - there may not be a whole lot for us, certainly not in the first Early Access release. The previous game in Kunos' line-up, Assetto Corsa Competizione, was more up our street, with it being primarily focused on cars that compete in GT World Challenge and other SRO-sanctioned series. However, there are a few cars that can be seen in both titles.
There is the Mercedes-AMG GT2 which was added to ACC in January 2024 in the GT2 Car Pack. Then there is the Porsche 992 GT3 Cup, BMW M2 CS Racing and Ferrari 488 Challenge EVO, all of which arrived in ACC in March 2022 via the Challengers Pack. All four cars are available in Early Access for AC EVO.
This gives us ample opportunity to test both Competizione and EVO on equal grounds, especially since the five tracks in EVO are also in Competizione: Brands Hatch GP, Suzuka (Grand Prix), Mount Panorama, Imola and Laguna Seca. So we ran some laps to gather how each car felt in comparison to itself on the other platform.
To also make the comparison fair, we ran the stock setup in both games. For the 911 GT3 Cup, the track of choice was Mount Panorama, and there was an immediately noticeable difference. Having played ACC on the PC since early 2023, I had gotten used to the way the rear of the cars seemed to oscillate in corners.
The Porsche Cup is a staple across a vast array of sim racing titles and features in many spec series across the world. Image: Kunos Simulazioni
In stark contrast, driving the car in EVO felt vastly different. Even without TC, the car felt very planted coming out of slow corners, which gave me the confidence to push. Competizione has a nice feel to it but you are constantly aware of the bouncing and cannot lean on the car coming out of corners. With EVO, if the car is about to slide, the feedback through the wheel allows you to instinctively react to it whilst on ACC, you have to compromise your exit in advance since the grip will just disappear seemingly out of nowhere.
My colleague @Angus Martin did some running of the car around Imola, and here is what he had to say about the difference between the two game's take on the car's behaviour over kerbs:
"If you tackled a sausage kerb on ACC, the car would glide over seemingly unaffected as if the suspension would fully compress without resistance. Scrape that same sausage kerb with a bit of underfloor however and the car would get launched due to the incredibly stiff chassis. Thankfully, that is not the case I have found in Assetto Corsa EVO.
Take the Variante Alta at Imola for example and clipping the yellow kerbs satisfyingly lift the inside wheels, helping rotate the car. Upon landing, the car gently bounces a few times before regaining grip and powering out of the turn. In Competizione however, that bouncing would eventually start lifting other corners of the car once again going back to the title’s incredibly stiff chassis."
On EVO, I would also have understeer coming out of Tamburello, but the weight in the wheel made it feel manageable and not like I would be hanging on for dear life. Everything would feel more planted and like the Porsche, I felt like I could really lean on the car in EVO and discover the limits of adhesion.
The Ferrari Challenge series in Europe, North America, UK and Japan sees gentleman amateur racers compete. Image: Kunos Simulazioni
Also present in Competizione is that signature bounce, especially running over exit kerbs it is very pronounced. We have become accustomed to it over the years and have been able to drive around it, but in EVO it is jarring how it just is not present when you fully expect it to be. Jumping into EVO from Competizione, it feels like such a leap that you often forget to drive it like you are not on ACC.
With how powerful and loose it can be in fast corners, the lack of steering going light and vague makes it a hugely more enjoyable experience. There is vastly more feel, and especially for the next car on this list, it is also very noticeable.
How does the car in EVO compare to Competizione? Since the M2 is relatively low-powered, I took it to Laguna Seca which is a compact circuit that requires mid-corner balance and momentum to extract good lap time, making it perfect for the M2.
The M2 is the perfect starting car for all hopeful racing drivers. Image: Kunos Simulazioni
Amongst all the cars in ACC, the M2 is the one that is driven in a way that is unlike all the others available in the game. A common point made with it is that there has to be a lot of trail braking and gradual weight transfer, with many likening it to driving cars on iRacing. As a result, the car would often feel rather nervous at the limit which provided a unique challenge.
So what of the AC EVO version? Well, it is not a huge departure, as it still retains what makes it challenging, but now it feels a lot more manageable. The car feels a lot more weighted in the steering, meaning you are able to push it a bit more on corner entry without fearing it going wrong.
On the run-up to the Hairpin is that 45-degree right hander which can really ask a lot of the tyres when you immediately have to stamp on the anchors. In a big, cumbersome and powerful car like the Merc, it is a real leap of faith when you have to do that. On ACC, you quite often do run it deep since the brakes just do not seem to want to respond.
The GT2 Mercedes competes in the GT2 European Series as a support series to GT World Challenge Europe. Image: Kunos Simulazioni
In contrast, in AC EVO once again it seems to be a broken record when I say you feel like you can push a lot more. It does not feel like you are hanging on for dear life when you brake, there is a lot more feel to the sensation and subsequently more confidence to really throw the car around. It feels like a real treat in EVO.
The cars all feel like the right combination of light enough to feel nimble, but heavy enough to feel full stop. I am certainly looking forward to the open world map arriving but also more racing cars in the future, because if these four are any benchmark, EVO is going to be something special.
What do you make of the differences in driving between Assetto Corsa Competizione and AC EVO? Let us know in the comments below and join the discussion in our AC EVO forum!
After a long wait, you can now pick up and install AC EVO, and aside from a few launch issues which should get ironed out in due course, there should be enough to keep you interested for a while. Of course, with it being a true successor to the original Assetto Corsa, the majority of cars are road-going production cars.
For the motorsport-focused of us though - which is a fair chunk - there may not be a whole lot for us, certainly not in the first Early Access release. The previous game in Kunos' line-up, Assetto Corsa Competizione, was more up our street, with it being primarily focused on cars that compete in GT World Challenge and other SRO-sanctioned series. However, there are a few cars that can be seen in both titles.
There is the Mercedes-AMG GT2 which was added to ACC in January 2024 in the GT2 Car Pack. Then there is the Porsche 992 GT3 Cup, BMW M2 CS Racing and Ferrari 488 Challenge EVO, all of which arrived in ACC in March 2022 via the Challengers Pack. All four cars are available in Early Access for AC EVO.
This gives us ample opportunity to test both Competizione and EVO on equal grounds, especially since the five tracks in EVO are also in Competizione: Brands Hatch GP, Suzuka (Grand Prix), Mount Panorama, Imola and Laguna Seca. So we ran some laps to gather how each car felt in comparison to itself on the other platform.
Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (992)
The first thing worth noting about the Porsche Cup car is there are two versions of it on AC EVO. In ACC, the car does not have Traction Control, but it does have anti-lock brakes. In EVO, though, there is a version of the car with both TC and ABS, and then another without TC like on ACC. For the purpose of this exercise, we ran the one without Traction Control so it was as close as possible to the version available in ACC.To also make the comparison fair, we ran the stock setup in both games. For the 911 GT3 Cup, the track of choice was Mount Panorama, and there was an immediately noticeable difference. Having played ACC on the PC since early 2023, I had gotten used to the way the rear of the cars seemed to oscillate in corners.
The Porsche Cup is a staple across a vast array of sim racing titles and features in many spec series across the world. Image: Kunos Simulazioni
In stark contrast, driving the car in EVO felt vastly different. Even without TC, the car felt very planted coming out of slow corners, which gave me the confidence to push. Competizione has a nice feel to it but you are constantly aware of the bouncing and cannot lean on the car coming out of corners. With EVO, if the car is about to slide, the feedback through the wheel allows you to instinctively react to it whilst on ACC, you have to compromise your exit in advance since the grip will just disappear seemingly out of nowhere.
My colleague @Angus Martin did some running of the car around Imola, and here is what he had to say about the difference between the two game's take on the car's behaviour over kerbs:
"If you tackled a sausage kerb on ACC, the car would glide over seemingly unaffected as if the suspension would fully compress without resistance. Scrape that same sausage kerb with a bit of underfloor however and the car would get launched due to the incredibly stiff chassis. Thankfully, that is not the case I have found in Assetto Corsa EVO.
Take the Variante Alta at Imola for example and clipping the yellow kerbs satisfyingly lift the inside wheels, helping rotate the car. Upon landing, the car gently bounces a few times before regaining grip and powering out of the turn. In Competizione however, that bouncing would eventually start lifting other corners of the car once again going back to the title’s incredibly stiff chassis."
Ferrari 488 Challenge EVO
The next car on the list is another single-make series car that is quite powerful and not as aerodynamically-advanced as the typical GT3 car, the Ferrari 488 Challenge EVO. I took it for a few laps around Imola quite fittingly, and something I noticed immediately was the Force Feedback. In ACC, the steering would become rather vague after initial turn-in, which when driving the 488 Challenge resulted in a bit of understeer out of medium speed corners.On EVO, I would also have understeer coming out of Tamburello, but the weight in the wheel made it feel manageable and not like I would be hanging on for dear life. Everything would feel more planted and like the Porsche, I felt like I could really lean on the car in EVO and discover the limits of adhesion.
The Ferrari Challenge series in Europe, North America, UK and Japan sees gentleman amateur racers compete. Image: Kunos Simulazioni
Also present in Competizione is that signature bounce, especially running over exit kerbs it is very pronounced. We have become accustomed to it over the years and have been able to drive around it, but in EVO it is jarring how it just is not present when you fully expect it to be. Jumping into EVO from Competizione, it feels like such a leap that you often forget to drive it like you are not on ACC.
With how powerful and loose it can be in fast corners, the lack of steering going light and vague makes it a hugely more enjoyable experience. There is vastly more feel, and especially for the next car on this list, it is also very noticeable.
BMW M2 CS Racing
In the company of all the cars on this list, the M2 has become something of a David among Goliaths in the sim racing scene. After appearing in ACC, the car has become base content in the likes of rFactor 2, iRacing and Rennsport, going down a treat with the community. So therefore, it is no surprise that it appears in the Early Access for AC EVO.How does the car in EVO compare to Competizione? Since the M2 is relatively low-powered, I took it to Laguna Seca which is a compact circuit that requires mid-corner balance and momentum to extract good lap time, making it perfect for the M2.
The M2 is the perfect starting car for all hopeful racing drivers. Image: Kunos Simulazioni
Amongst all the cars in ACC, the M2 is the one that is driven in a way that is unlike all the others available in the game. A common point made with it is that there has to be a lot of trail braking and gradual weight transfer, with many likening it to driving cars on iRacing. As a result, the car would often feel rather nervous at the limit which provided a unique challenge.
So what of the AC EVO version? Well, it is not a huge departure, as it still retains what makes it challenging, but now it feels a lot more manageable. The car feels a lot more weighted in the steering, meaning you are able to push it a bit more on corner entry without fearing it going wrong.
Mercedes-AMG GT2
Now for the beast, the Mercedes-AMG GT2 that has over 700 horsepower and not a lot of downforce, it is the GT2-iest of all the GT2 cars as it is really tricky in ACC, but satisfying knowing you have tamed it. Loading it up at Suzuka on both ACC and AC EVO is quite the task, as there is a lot of moving around it does in the corners, but perhaps the most noticeable difference is the braking.On the run-up to the Hairpin is that 45-degree right hander which can really ask a lot of the tyres when you immediately have to stamp on the anchors. In a big, cumbersome and powerful car like the Merc, it is a real leap of faith when you have to do that. On ACC, you quite often do run it deep since the brakes just do not seem to want to respond.
The GT2 Mercedes competes in the GT2 European Series as a support series to GT World Challenge Europe. Image: Kunos Simulazioni
In contrast, in AC EVO once again it seems to be a broken record when I say you feel like you can push a lot more. It does not feel like you are hanging on for dear life when you brake, there is a lot more feel to the sensation and subsequently more confidence to really throw the car around. It feels like a real treat in EVO.
AC EVO: A Vast Improvement
Assetto Corsa Competizione is by no means bad, but jumping from that to EVO feels like a huge leap. I know this article is talking about the racing cars but I have to mention the 296 GTB road car for a second. I drove a few laps in it and I have to say, I have never enjoyed driving a road car more in any racing game.The cars all feel like the right combination of light enough to feel nimble, but heavy enough to feel full stop. I am certainly looking forward to the open world map arriving but also more racing cars in the future, because if these four are any benchmark, EVO is going to be something special.
What do you make of the differences in driving between Assetto Corsa Competizione and AC EVO? Let us know in the comments below and join the discussion in our AC EVO forum!
