In 2020 the team at Kunos Simulazioni released Assetto Corsa Competizione for consoles after a successful role out of the title on PC. Based on the GT World Challenge, the game was released to initial excitement from console users who were looking for a dedicated sim racer that didn’t compromise for mass appeal. Unfortunately the result wasn’t what was expected, the game released to a multitude of bugs as well as poor frame rates. The game was locked to 30fps even on the Playstation PS4 Pro and XBOX One X, yet they for some reason struggled to reach the number.
Kunos have now though released the next-gen upgrade for the PS5 and Series X. Now full disclosure, the game has been reviewed using the PS5 version as well as with a controller. Unfortunately I don’t own a wheel for the Playstation, but I do own the game fully on PC with a Wheel so won’t be going in blind.
So I will get the negatives out the way first. There are some bugs that come with new game releases in this day and age. There are currently issues with save transfers, force feedback strength and sometimes there are system crashes. Kunos have responded that they are looking at these problems so they should be fixed in the future.
Credit: Kunos Simulazioni
On to the positives. The game retains its brilliant physics, you can really feel what the car is doing and with the haptic feedback implementation on the PS5 controller, feeling a loss of traction or brakes locking, makes the game so much more immersive. The original Assetto Corsa was not fun to drive when using a controller, it was very much a ‘wheel input’ game, but now they have made this game a lot more accessible for those that want to experience the majesty of the Spa 24 Hours but may not have £300 to spend.
Visuals have also been vastly improved. The game now boasts 4K and 60FPS and it makes a massive difference. The 60FPS, in particular, is so important for racing sims on console and it is actually very smooth. I don’t have an fps counter but I haven’t seen a frame-rate dip in my playtime, this is including at night and in the rain. The 4K visuals also make surging around tracks like Misano at night a spectacular thing to behold as well as a sunny day around Silverstone.
Credit: Kunos Simulazioni
The game offers free private lobbies that can house up to 30 cars on track depending on the circuit. This is an important addition as this gives the potential for leagues to run a lot easier than before. The game isn’t quite on the same parity as the PC version due to the 1.8 update not being available on consoles but Kunos as said in their FAQ that it is coming. This is the same for pedal dead zone sliders, they currently aren’t a feature but should be in a future patch.
Previously if someone had asked me whether I would recommend ACC on console I would have said no. With this update however, I now feel that this game should be an essential title in the library of every racing enthusiast on console. The racing is as brilliant as ever, DLCs really pad out the game with new tracks and GT4 cars, and although the career is still the same basic one it has been, the championship, challenge and online modes make up for this. If you have the next-gen systems, now is the time to tackle the GT World Challenge on console.
Assetto Corsa Competizione is available now on PC, Playstation and Xbox consoles.