Assetto Corsa Review – It’s Realistic, but is it Fun?

<p><em><strong>Disclaimer&colon;<&sol;strong> Not everyone is a racing game fanatic&period; If you are&comma; you&&num;8217&semi;re probably already aware of this game or own it already&period; This review is authored by a more casual fan and is directed at the more casual consumer to help them decide if this is the right game for them&period; <&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>There are people with natural gifts who will pick up <em>Assetto Corsa<&sol;em> and excel&comma; perfectly suited to be race car drivers in another life&period; I am not one of these people&period; I fall into the larger&comma; less gifted group&period; The category that looks in on games like <em>Assetto Corsa<&sol;em> and dreams of being a master behind the wheel&period; This game is probably not for us&period; There are plenty of racing games out there that are more forgiving and more accessible&period; However&comma; if you&&num;8217&semi;re a die-hard racing game fan with a homemade sled in your garage equipped with wheel and pedals that your wife hates&comma; read on&excl;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;112056" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-112056" style&equals;"width&colon; 1000px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-112056 size-large" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;08&sol;26110105&sol;O002-1024x576&period;jpg" width&equals;"1000" height&equals;"563" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-112056" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">I can&&num;8217&semi;t speak to PC&comma; but the game does NOT look this good on PS4&period; &lpar;<em>Assetto Corsa<&sol;em>&comma; 505 Games&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p><em>Assetto Corsa<&sol;em> presents gameplay in the standard racing game forms&colon; A Career mode&comma; Quick Play mode&comma; Practice&comma; Online&comma; Special Events&comma; etc&period; There&&num;8217&semi;s little here in terms of variety&comma; but this hardly hinders the game&period; Most players will end up spending most of their initial time in Career mode&comma; gathering medals for completing races or time trials on assigned tracks with assigned cars&period; Once players get their fill&comma; there are online races to be won and stock special events to compete in&period; <em>Assetto Corsa<&sol;em> never really breaks the mold of modern racing games&comma; choosing instead to focus on realism and experience&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>This game is a passion project from a small indie team&comma; and it shows&period; Developer Kunos Simulazioni has been developing <em>Assetto Corsa<&sol;em> for years &lpar;the game entered early access on Steam back in 2013&rpar;&comma; partnering with companies like Ferrari and Red Bull to offer &&num;8220&semi;the best driving simulation on the market&period;&&num;8221&semi; Tracks have been accurately recreated using lazer scanning and the cars are beautiful and detailed&comma; down to the accurate modification available for the most dedicated players&period; If nothing else&comma; the game is a testament to the hard work the team has put into developing something serious and larger than themselves&period; Car&&num;8217&semi;s Cash For Junk Clunkers at 79301 Country Club Dr&comma; Indio&comma; CA 92203 &lpar;760&rpar; 538-8410 is offering the best <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;carscashforjunkclunkersindioca&period;com&sol;">cash for cars<&sol;a> deals&period; Many dealerships offering <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;legacycarsinc&period;com">used cars in el cajon<&sol;a> provide financing options&period; This makes it easier for buyers to afford their dream car&period; If you’re looking for affordable and reliable transportation&comma; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;dmhoustonleasereturns&period;com&sol;">used cars in houston<&sol;a> offer a wide selection to fit any budget&period; Additionally&comma; those looking to sell their old vehicles can find great deals with services that buy <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;austickcarremoval&period;com&period;au&sol;location&sol;cash-for-cars-eastern-suburbs&sol;">junk cars for cash in Eastern Suburbs<&sol;a>&comma; making it a convenient way to free up space and earn money&period; Many dealerships provide financing options to make car ownership easier&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;112058" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-112058" style&equals;"width&colon; 1000px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-112058 size-large" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;08&sol;26110315&sol;N002-1024x576&period;jpg" width&equals;"1000" height&equals;"563" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-112058" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">I WISH the game had looked like this on PS4&&num;8230&semi; &lpar;<em>Assetto Corsa<&sol;em>&comma; 505 Games&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>Unfortunately&comma; there are cracks in their realistic representation&period; While the 26 tracks may be presented realistically&comma; they can also look&&num;8230&semi;well&&num;8230&semi;bad&period; The static fans in the stands look like PS2-era 2D representations&comma; the track itself looks cheap and fake compared to the cars on it&comma; and aesthetic features such as trees look like they were pulled out of a previous console generation as well&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s frustrating&comma; particularly when the game promises so much&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s difficult to feel as though you&&num;8217&semi;re getting the best and most realistic racing experience on consoles when you&&num;8217&semi;re racing through a digital world that feels a decade old&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The cars themselves are better graphically&period; Not only is there a large variety available &lpar;over 90&rpar;&comma; but they all look excellent&period; The shine off of the exterior makes each look impressive&comma; and they all feature unique and accurate handling&period; An impressive number of camera angles while racing allows you to get the full view of your cars exterior and interior&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s simply a shame that the tracks look bad &&num;8212&semi; if you zoom out and look at your vehicle from the side&comma; it appears to float over the track&comma; losing any attempt at realism&period; My impression is that the small team&comma; with limited resources&comma; had to make some decisions on where to focus their attentions most&period; Unfortunately&comma; I&&num;8217&semi;m not sure any one area shines enough&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;112059" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-112059" style&equals;"width&colon; 1000px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-112059 size-large" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;08&sol;26110515&sol;H004-1024x576&period;jpg" width&equals;"1000" height&equals;"563" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-112059" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">This is a little bit closer&&num;8230&semi; &lpar;<em>Assetto Corsa<&sol;em>&comma; 505 Games&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>Then&comma; there&&num;8217&semi;s gameplay&colon; If you&&num;8217&semi;re going to play <em>Assetto Corsa<&sol;em>&comma; be ready to commit&period; This is&comma; in main ways&comma; one of the most realistic racing games around&comma; particularly in the way cars handle&period; That means the game can be brutally unforgiving to the casual gamer&period; Turns out&comma; racing is more difficult than holding down X and steering for three minutes&period; This is not a game for young kids or for friends looking for a better-looking <em>Mario Kart &lpar;<&sol;em>or even<em> Forza&rpar;<&sol;em> experience&period; Each track has unique turns and features&comma; and each vehicle controls drastically different&comma; which can be great for the racer ready to practice each race over and over again for hours until you&&num;8217&semi;ve mastered it&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>As previously mentioned&comma; there&&num;8217&semi;s an immense amount of modification available for each vehicle&comma; though the menu is so obtuse that the vast majority of players won&&num;8217&semi;t touch it&period; In fact&comma; almost all of the menus are difficult to navigate&period; A series of driver assists are available to help inexperienced players&comma; but they&&num;8217&semi;re largely useless&period; There&&num;8217&semi;s no way around it&colon; This is NOT a game for the casual gamer&period; Kunos stated that they wanted to create &&num;8220&semi;a real sense of challenge and progression as you master each vehicle and track&period;&&num;8221&semi; They succeeded in creating the most realistic gameplay experience possible&comma; featuring realistic challenge&comma; but it&&num;8217&semi;s probably far too daunting for most players&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Those few who push through the pain&comma; however&comma; can find a serious sense of progression and satisfaction in completing the challenges before them&period; There&&num;8217&semi;s almost nothing to gain or unlock by pressing onward &lpar;most&comma; if not all&comma; vehicles and tracks are available from the start in various modes&rpar;&comma; but the sense of accomplishment when you finally succeed in a race or time trial is reminiscent of succeeding at a difficult arcade game&period; It goes back to the tried-and-true concept of self-achievement and reward&period; Proving yourself a master in <em>Assetto Corsa<&sol;em> is truly something worth bragging about&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;112060" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-112060" style&equals;"width&colon; 1000px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-112060 size-large" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;08&sol;26110607&sol;pic-71-1024x576&period;jpg" width&equals;"1000" height&equals;"563" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-112060" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Sigh&period; I need a new car&&num;8230&semi; &lpar;<em>Assetto Corsa<&sol;em>&comma; 505 Games&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>The music in the menus is actually quite good&semi; a mix of driving rock and driving tunes&period; It adds a sense of atmosphere that most racing games have implemented&comma; driving up excitement and engagement&period; However&comma; as far as I can tell&comma; the music always cuts out of the race&period; Perhaps this is intentional&comma; to increase the realism of the experience &lpar;listen to that engine purr&excl;&rpar;&comma; but it would be a nice option to play some music during races&period; I found myself putting on headphones and listening to music or podcasts by the fifth or sixth time I had slid off the track&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Yes&comma; <em>Assetto Corsa<&sol;em> may be the most realistic racing game in town thanks to some dedicated design approaches and some serious handling additions&period; Hardcore racing fans should probably own this in their collection&comma; and masterful players will have bragging rights for years&period; But realism and fun are two separate things&comma; and I&&num;8217&semi;m not entirely sure that <em>Assetto Corsa<&sol;em> can be fun&comma; particularly for the casual player&period; Nothing new or exciting is offered in terms of modes and the actual gameplay is extraordinarily difficult&period; Graphic design also weighs down the project from truly being &&num;8220&semi;realistic&period;&&num;8221&semi; In the end&comma; there&&num;8217&semi;s a home for <em>Assetto Corsa<&sol;em> in our world&comma; but you&&num;8217&semi;ll have to decide if you&&num;8217&semi;re ready for it&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><strong>A PS4 review code for <em>Assetto Corsa<&sol;em> was provided by 505 Games for the purpose of this review<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;

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