The name Assetto Corsa has grown to become synonymous with ‘quality in-depth racing simulator’ over the past six years, and now GT fans can experience Assetto Corsa Competizione – a refined product from developers Kunos Simulazioni. The original sim didn’t hold up well on console at launch, though that didn’t stop Kunos from providing updates to make it far better than what we experienced at launch. While Competizione technically soft-launched on PC through early access back in September 2018, a full PC release didn’t occur until May 2019. Since then, we’ve seen major updates fix many of the problems fans experienced at launch meaning console gamers get the best of both worlds with the ability to jump into an already polished racing sim at title update 1.3.7.

The first thing we noticed jumping straight into the game is that Assetto Corsa Competizione is not a game designed to be played with a controller, nor is it suited to use the third-person camera mode. Straight out of the box, this racing sim feels clunky and unfriendly on Xbox One, but it’s not. It’s a sophisticated racing simulator that demands the use of a wheel and doesn’t want you focusing on how pretty your car is when your eyes should be on the road. After a couple of races with the Xbox One controller, we quickly hooked up our Thrustmaster TX wheel and began configuring the various settings.

Strangely, the default settings are completely useless. We had a 40 degree lock on the steering, and other settings like linearity and brake gamma were also nowhere near where we needed them. It’s a good idea in racing sims like Assetto Corsa Competizione to spend a decent amount of time in practice mode fiddling with the settings to get your vehicle to handle comfortably. Though each vehicle in Assetto Corsa Competizione handles differently, having that baseline control with your own wheel is imperative to being able to navigate the easiest of tracks.

From the main menu, players can participate in a championship, career mode, single player or multiplayer. There’s also an option for special events which will feature particular condition races set up by Kunos but these were not available yet at launch. Players can also check their driver statistics, photos saved in the gallery, and fiddle with the many options which as mentioned play a large part in making the game perform how you want it to. While you can slide the difficulty down low for AI competition, racing games are increasingly about online play and leaderboards these days, and there’s no glory in lapping a bunch of generic AI cars in a racing sim.

Assetto Corsa Competizione is unforgiving. You won’t find any rewind features or lifelines to bring you back in the race. Competition is fierce, hence why it’s in the title of the game. While this racing sim is stripped down to only include two Blancpain GT seasons, the Unreal Engine 4 allows players to enjoy an accurate and refined experience. Better yet, as the game launched on PC in 2019, the game is already at patch 1.3.7 meaning a lot of the launch bugs and glitches have been tidied up. PC fans might recall that the game was a bit of a mess until patch 1.1, so console players will definitely appreciate the work that has gone in to fixing this game before it has even launched on the Xbox One and PlayStation 4.

Races are done a little differently in the world of Blancpain GT. Instead of completing a certain number of laps, races have a time limit and the winner is judged by how many laps they have completed. This of course still means that the fastest car wins, but does play into the dynamics of a race, such as when to pit. Your racing is constantly being judged by a consistency and competence rating which is then reflected in your driver profile and used for comparing your stats to other racers worldwide.

As mentioned, Assetto Corsa Competizione is a refined racing sim, and this means the amount of vehicles and circuits in the game are quite limited, squeezed down to fit the Blancpain GT requirements. There are just thirteen modern GT cars to choose from, though to be fair that is more than any other current racing game offers. Eleven signature circuits make up the base game while another four are included in the Intercontinental GT pack such as Laguna Seca, Suzuka, and the infamous Mount Panorama. Kunos has re-created each world-renowned circuit with precision, which we enjoyed racing under many different conditions. A cool feature of Assetto Corsa Competizione is you can set the time to progress at up to 48x speed, meaning you can get full day/night cycles in a short race, testing your skills with a fully dynamic weather system to boot.

The Unreal Engine 4 really shines in this respect, with different weather settings creating different racing environments for the player to work through. While it only runs at 30fps, the attention to detail Kunos has made such as the windscreen wiper rumbling on the windshield is impeccable, and don’t forget it’s all in glorious 4K on the Xbox One X, whereas it’s only been upscaled to 1800p on the PS4 Pro. While there’s no word yet on whether this game will launch on the next generation of consoles, we’re willing to bet they could handle 60fps at 1080p if not full 4K. Expect an announcement closer to November, perhaps including the future DLC in a complete bundle.

Online, fans can enjoy local public servers. There will be the option to have private servers after launch, but expect all ranked and competition races to take place on public ones. The online ranking system is supposed to evaluate your driving skills to match you with players of similar experience, though expect it to be a little unbalanced throughout the launch window as players find their niches. 2020 is certainly the year for esports due to the pandemic, so we look forward to seeing a competitive console community build over the coming months.

At $69.95RRP, Kunus is admitting this is not a full retail game. A stand-alone expansion of the very popular base game, Assetto Corsa Competizione offers GT fans and racers an experience like no other. While Kunos had over a year to refine everything since the game’s full launch on PC, there’s still plenty to come in the way of a GT4 DLC and a British GT DLC. Our biggest complaint was the limited number of vehicles and the fact the Intercontinental GT DLC is a pre-order bonus as opposed to just being included in the base console game. That said, by the end of 2020 Assetto Corsa Competizione with all its DLC will be a near-perfect GT racing simulator.

Rocket Chainsaw reviewed Assetto Corsa Competizione on an Xbox One X console in 4K with a Thrustmaster TX Ferrari 458 Italia Racing Wheel. For more info on the game, head to the official website.