It’s reassuring to hear the first few words from Kunos Simulazioni co-founder and Executive Manager Marco Massarutto are “We got it wrong.”
The new video showcase for Assetto Corsa Evo, the sim racing game currently in Early Access, shows the team are listening by reiterating the issues fans and players of the game faced at launch: in particular the woes of having an always-online game.
The good news is, Kunos is putting proper effort in ensuring that the sim racer has proper offline mode support, and it comes in two forms.
First is the new Open Mode. This is a fully offline mode which is essentially a custom race mode where players can setup and specify their single-player race, including the entire grid of cars you compete against.
The second effort is making the existing modes that required an online internet connection check to be available offline. These three particular features will be available offline in AC Evo soon:
- Game progression in Career Mode
- in-game economy
- Driving Academy
That said, Special Events will still require an internet connection, similar to the previous title Assetto Corsa Competizione has set up, though that’s more understandable as these are essentially limited-time events and as such, requires an online connection to check, verify and update the available races here.
Kunos insisted they didn’t intend on making AC Evo an online-only game, (“It’s not like that,” Massarutto said in the video showcase) but acknowledged the server issues on the Early Access launch, marred with the lack of disclosure of any online elements required to play the game had painted that picture in the minds of the community. Racing games have been plagued with always-online connectivity, after all.
Kudos to Kunos for taking fan feedback seriously. While this does mean the previously revealed roadmap has been revised and the second content update will arrive a bit later, it’s good to know that the developers didn’t just put a stop-gap fix to the always-online issue and decided to put in the effort in making these features available offline, and then some. The Open Mode is a really generous offering.
Besides the efforts in making AC Evo perfectly playable offline, the following features are teased and currently in the works:
- Improved AI: AI drivers will be more competent at higher difficulty levels
- New UI to select AI opponent grids and Custom Race Weekend feature for single-player custom races
- New redesigned netcode for multiplayer, currently being tested internally and should be ready in summer (June-August) but not in next content update
- Modding tools arriving ahead of schedule, before 1.0 release (previously expected to be available post-launch)
- Kunos Simulazioni co-founder Stefano Casillo returns, acts as Chief Technology Officer. Casillo left the company previously to work on Hydrofoil Generation
- New cars arriving ahead of scheduled including the tease of the Ferrari F2004 F1 car and the record-breaking McMurtry Spielberg EV
- Improvements toward graphics performance, triple screen support and VR support continues
Assetto Corsa Evo launched in Early Access early this January with mixed reception. But there’s definitely a chance of seeing that reception turning positive from what’s being shown here.
Check out our impressions of the Early Access release of Assetto Corsa Evo here. The game is out now in Early Access on PC (Steam).