Official Review PlayStation 5 Updated

Assetto Corsa Competizione (PlayStation 5)
Official GBAtemp Review

Name: Assetto Corsa Competizione
Item: Assetto Corsa Competizione
Rating: 8
Author: KiiWii

Product Information:

Release Date (EU): February 22, 2022
Publisher: 505 Games
Genres: Racing
Also For: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S

Game Features:

Single player

Local Multiplayer

Online Multiplayer

Co-operative

Simulations are getting upgraded thanks to the power of "next-gen" consoles, let's take this one for a spin!

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2013 was the year that the original Assetto Corsa graced the world with a promising entry from KUNOS that set out to woo hardcore simulation fans and wow the rest with its unanimously well-reviewed gameplay. They followed that up with the Ultimate edition in 2018 with a massively bolstered lineup of tracks and cars for up to 16 players to enjoy together. However, Back in 2020 Assetto Corsa Competizione caused somewhat of a kerfuffle when it came to racing fans. Not only was it laden with bugs, but it could barely hit 30FPS at the best of times, which didn't go down well at all with anyone wanting to extend their love for simulations, or make them want to check out the follow-up entry.

With next-gen, or rather, current-gen now over a year into its lifespan, we are beginning to see patched up and remastered titles that reap the benefits of NVMe loading times, 4K visuals, ray tracing with real-time processing effects thanks to incredibly updated architectures of the modern console powerhouses. Thankfully, Assetto Corsa's developers KUNOS-Simulazioni saw fit to grab hold of the reins and polish up what was once a more questionable sequel into a far more rugged outing for the more capable gaming systems. With Gran Turismo 7 around the corner, will this be enough to satiate fans and keep a stronghold on that precious genre's market share?

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Firing up Assetto Corsa Competizione on my PS5 I immediately regretted not having a steering wheel for maximum effect. Knowing the levels of slider-twiddling, tuning and tweaking available to fully customize your experience I really regretted not having a wheel at hand that would plant me firmly in the driver's seat. At the same time, I wanted to understand exactly how haptic feedback and the DualSense triggers would feel and react, given this was my only option to play without shelling out upwards of £180 on a decent steering wheel peripheral. Also for those really wondering: no you cannot use motion controls on the DualSense to steer either.

Building on the 2020 release for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, the next-gen update offers 2021 liveries, a solid 60FPS throughout and up to 30-player online with free private lobbies, making this one heck of a free upgrade for those who retained their trusty PS4 copies.

The current version 1.007.008 or, 1.7.7.5 as it states on the loading screens, takes up just 13.42GB of space of internal storage, which is relatively small given that some other titles on the console take up huge fractions of that space, and loading times are virtually non-existent getting your to the start of the race in around four Mississippis.

With Championship, Career, Special timed events, single-player, and multiplayer offerings on the main title screen you have a wide selection of modes to take part in and really test your mettle in skimming off those valuable fractions of a second per lap to perfect your fastest racing times. Not only this but with driver and car tuning options through the roof, you can fine-tune each aspect of your setup to your exacting requirements, from the glossiness of your helmet, suit and gloves, down to your opponent's level of aggression and how quickly you take damage, and even tyre and fuel consumption rates.

Even selecting your cars from the showroom gives you fully modelled cars with the entirety, even the interior, available for you to drool over thanks to a simple option to open or shut each door individually for your perusal pleasure whilst you pan and zoom around the bodywork. The sense of immersion once you finally get in-game, past the plethora of menu options, is breathtakingly realistic, and the sheer vision-enveloping level of detail is quite something to behold. Rain spatters across your windscreen, beads of water stream across your driver-side window, and that dazzle of your opponent's lighting really capture your focus and puts you behind the eyes of the drivers. Keeping in mind things such as your tyre pressure, fuel and damage levels means you also have to know when to pit yourself and get some fresh tread and petroleum to carry on your progression.

Races range from single 10-minute sessions to arduous 2 hour-long stints you have a massive amount of flexibility on how long you wish to practise or race for and along with 2018/2019/2020 series options. You also have Intercontinental, European and British racing contests you can partake in to really change it up and unlock more of the tracks and cars. From the beginning, just 11 of those tracks are available which is a good variety to start out with, and getting those other tracks really adds longevity to the lasting appeal of the game. There are also 41 trophies to pop along the way!

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There are some 35+ cars ranging from GT3 and GT4 and 2015-2021 editions and liveries, with manufacturers such as Bently, Lamborghini and Porsche adding their IP's to the roster. There are 19 tracks for you to navigate, including fan favourites such as Nhurenburg and Silverstone, with several time-of-day options and 6 different weather conditions to choose from, with the added option to fully customize the weather and even make it fully variable throughout the race with tweaks to cloud cover and precipitation percentage sliders.

While the cars look great, it is within these weather effects that my main bone of contention arises, and perhaps I am being a little harsh, but I really thought that the rain effect itself looks lazy. It's pretty much just white lines almost uniformly falling through the terrain in slightly offset parallel "randomness", the windscreen spatter didn't flow up my windscreen aerodynamically as the animation does on the side windows, and the ray-traced water reflections on the road were jagged and heinously ghosting the shape of my vehicle throughout. The rain also doesn't stop underneath bridges which again broke the immersion, and in general, from a distance, superficially, the effects look great, but deep down they're subpar to my expectations.

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I should also mention that the rearview mirror has an odd quality to it that I can only liken to that of a PlayStation 1 filter to the cars' reflections; they definitely look low poly and oddly stitched together at best which is disappointing for an NVMe powered raytracing-capable title. Again perhaps I'm niggling at very small details here, but they stood out to me, and certainly took away from my personal experience in general.

Using the DualSense to play you can certainly feel the analogue nature of the triggers kicking in to regulate your throttle and how sharply you pump your breaks. The under-trigger feedback does somewhat indicate how the breakpads lock up and it judders and stutters under your finger to indicate aquaplaning and drifting, but I wouldn't go as far as to say these features were game-changers, as opposed to simply just nice to have.

I definitely feel that a player with a high-end racing setup - complete with pedals, shifters, wheel and seat - would get far more out of this than anyone ever could with a DualSense in their hand; and it's a shame motion controls couldn't be used. But then again the inclusion of such a feature in a strict simulator like this could be seen a Wii-style gimmick that no one would want to use anyway.

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Replays also get my back up a little due to a couple of things that made me think less care had been taken in that area. I noticed far more stuttery frame drops in replays than in races, which is probably a good thing, technically, but moreover, it is visually a bad thing. You make some swift moves and get to watch it back with a definite choppiness that wasn't apparent at the time, and you really notice how background detail and shadows pop in and out as LOD changes depending on your distance from geometry and objects.

Changing the camera angle to get any cinematic quality to your efforts means that any background detail really goes to pot. Trees are 2D in places and 3D in others, which is fine for gameplay view, but the 2D trees don't even meet the ground and have a gap between them and their shadows. This makes the whole thing look like they cheaped out on the quality of the replay modes given how the game culls detail from certain angles and how it has to be optimised to run as beautifully as it does from an actual racing perspective. This is definitely not a what should be displayed on a gorgeous wide-angled replay view.

Engine sounds also dip down in pitch until you get to below 0.5x and over 2.0x, where they oddly vanish altogether and there is no music accompaniment which makes it rather dreary. To cap it off, the showroom mode also doesn't work at all; you press the button to start it, you get a split second of sweeping car-body-goodness and it stops.

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As more of an arcade racer myself, I found the learning curve aptly steep, though the use of the colour changing racing line did help me to manage otherwise impossible corners at higher speeds. However, I almost always opted for the Schumacher late-breaking-early-accelerating methods for cornering, which paid off more often than not. I'd say that I am a little too slap-dash with my periphery and so caused, or took, more damage than I optimally ever should have.

The lead result was that I was never first at the end of any race, and I had to settle for average finishes of 4th or 5th at the end of each session. AC: Competizione is truly one of those titles where you must put in the hard yards, learn every nuance of each of the tracks, learn how to outwit the AI and simply push to outdrive them at every juncture; there is absolutely no winging it here at all.

Assetto Corsa Competizione is certainly not for all players, regardless of how incredibly realistic it is, just as Elden Ring is not for causal hack and slash fans, this isn't for people who think Crazy Taxi is a drop-off and delivery simulation. Assetto raises the bar in providing the best driving simulator available today. However, I'm not sure just how long it will hold that top spot given the recent release of the self-proclaimed "The Real Driving Simulator".

Assetto Corsa Competizione PS5 and Xbox Series X/S Launch Trailer

Verdict

What We Liked ...

Incredibly solid performance during races
Masses of online modes and tracks to enjoy

What We Didn't Like ...

Ray tracing ghosting
FMV compression is abundant
Replays are troubled

Gameplay

A tinkerer's delight and a racer's dream; this game is not for the more arcade-focused players, oh no, this is strictly for the simulation tweakers. Whilst racing there is now a solid 60FPS all around, making it run as smooth as butter throughout all conditions.

Presentation

Even with the power of PS5, there are some questionable GFX occurrences but overall the game is intricately laid out and lovingly displayed for your to peel through the multitude of layers and fine-tune to your liking.

Lasting Appeal

If you are a true racing enthusiast then this will never get old, and there are plenty of replayability factors here with the DLC, challenge and online modes to name but a few.

out of 10

Overall

Racers will absolutely love this title, and it finally lives up to its mantle of being a definitive sim-racing title to keep in your repertoire.

Reactions: Mama Looigi, FanNintendo and Prans

Prans
Mar 7, 2022

kinda bummed that they don't include split-screen for couch multiplayer. I'm not into racing games myself but racing for fun against friends was what I enjoyed in PS1-era titles :/

Reactions: TriGuy, Deleted member 388531 and KiiWii

SDA
Mar 7, 2022

What triggers me is that this series always had an Italian name. And because it is my language... well, you know.

Prans said:
kinda bummed that they don't include split-screen for couch multiplayer. I'm not into racing games myself but racing for fun against friends was what I enjoyed in PS1-era titles :/

I'm guessing you wouldn't like it anyway. It's not an easy game to pick up and play. This is aimed towards the simulation crowd, i.e: guys who spend 1k or more on racing wheels/cockpits

Reactions: Prans

SDA said:
What triggers me is that this series always had an Italian name. And because it is my language... well, you know.

Well, there's the name pizza. Some say pee-tza, others pee-zuh.

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