Swiftly after it hit Steam Early Access in November 2013, a strong community began to be forged around an upstart racing sim that focussed on realism. That game was, of course, Assettto Corsa. As of writing, the original AC ranks seventh among the most-played racing games – which also includes GTA V and Crab Game – while its sequel is in 14th on that SteamDB chart.
The dedication to Assetto Corsa has only grown over the years, and in December last year, it hit an all-time high 24-hour player peak at just over 19,200. With 28 million units sold across all platforms and a devout player base, some do wonder if the seemingly revolutionary Assetto Corsa Evo will actually cause a rift in the community.
The Next Evolution of Realistic Racing
With the continued development of Assetto Corsa and through the many updates to Assetto Corsa Competizione, developers Kunos Simulazioni have continued to push up the bar for realism in racing sims. Many see the series as the standard for gameplay and the best form of the genre as a competitive feature in eSports.
According to the early hands-on experience of TopGear in late 2024, Assetto Corsa Evo is both familiar and clearly showing its progress, with the braking cited as a clear area where great players will be able to separate themselves from the good – much like in Competizione. They say it’s already showing the potential to be “a bit special.”
The series has long prided itself on offering realistic driving, tracks, and branding in the more recent release, but now, it looks to grow the experience while its contemporaries are, seemingly, in a bit of a lull. Evo will come with a career mode, a free roam mode, stacks of customization options, and much more to tick just about every box.
A Potential Rift to Emerge
While the realistic gameplay is a big selling point, it’s impossible to understate what mods have achieved in Assetto Corsa. With a new game engine, all of those hit mods that kept AC so popular through the years won’t be transferable. In fact, Kunos will have a new vetting process for any would-be modders of Evo.
This could quickly set the new game behind the pace compared to its progenitor unless popular modders are encouraged to jump into Evo swiftly and before 1.0 launches. Now, there are many ways to go about this. One way could be to offer them perks for getting started.
It’s a common offer deployed in iGaming, where platforms seek to bring in players by staying competitive within the crowded market. It’s even got to the place where the list of 100 dollar free no deposit casino by BonusFinder features many, many options. In all cases, the aim is to offer players a boost for choosing to play with them.
Given how structurally integral modders have been to the success of Assetto Corsa, it would be wise for Kunos to do the same – or, at least, something similar. They can keep their vetting process, but get a jump start on it. Find the right modders based on their AC designs and offer them perks for getting Evo mods in the works.
This way, in theory, there’d be a strong stock of mods that have been tweaked through early access updates to be ready to go for the full launch. Get the community involved as early as possible and empower its creatives to swiftly power up Evo and bring it up to the level of the original.
Once the modders are in and pumping out new creations for Evo, the community that’s still strongly attached to the original will begin to migrate over. Without the modding community, though, Evo faces more of an uphill battle than it needs to when it launches 1.0 to the wider fandom.
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Last time I checked, there were no AC mods for consoles. This lack of mods doesn’t seem to have hurt console sales, and a vetted mod program that made mods available to console players might actually increase the game’s popularity.