Do you love the roar of the GT’s? The competition of motorsport racing? Ever wanted to drive the infamous Monza Circuit? Well it’s time to put the helmet on and jump into the driver’s seat in Assetto Corsa Competizione! Created by Italian developers KUNOS Simulazioni, Assetto Corsa Competizione is here to give you the rushes and thrills of driving in the Blancpain GT series, so let’s fire up this engine and get right in.

Loading up Assetto Corsa Competizione the cinematic start is any racing fans wet dream. The sounds, the excitement in your ears, it is mesmerizing to say the very least. Following that, we are brought to the super easy to navigate menu. With options for Championship, single player career and multiplayer the choices in game are to your liking. As any of us would do, I dove head first into career mode. Starting your journey as a prospect, prove you’ve got what it takes and become the champion. Heading into your first test race you’re greeted with an iconic GT car and your job is to show what you’ve got.

There are a bevvy of options on how realistic you want it to be or just to be able to have fun (with a little help). With 7 different camera angles it’s hard not to find the perfect fit for you. For the authentic feel I chose to run in drivers eye camera. Depending on the difficulty you’ve chosen will depend on what assistance is available to you. Ranging from beginner to pro, true motorsport fans have every possible option available to them. Speaking of options, just go into the games settings and you’ll see just how much detail and choice KUNOS Simulazioni have given you.

While I don’t have a steering wheel setup myself (and now being top of my new toys to get), on controller the feel is still there. Every bump, every turn feels natural around the track and with the ability to turn on and off racing lines it sure can make for an interesting ride.

Progressing through you’ll find weather conditions have been meticulously used to add another edge to an already superbly crafted game. Nothing feels out of place inside the car or out on the track which gives me the feeling of really what it is to be a GT driver.

Graphically, Assetto Corsa Competizione is extremely crisp with a level of detail not seen often in racing games. With the use of the Unreal 4 engine and Laserscan technology the tracks are so precise to the real world equivalents. The detail in the road, to the scuffing of the curbs, the raking of the sand and of course the grandstands is as spectacular as you’d imagine.

The attention to detail doesn’t stop at the tracks, the cars have also been painstakingly designed to be as close to the real thing as possible. On the exterior the lines of the cars, the colours and the decals are nigh on perfect.

Inside the cars you’ve got everything you’d expect to see. Every gadget, switch and control I can think of has been included inside the cockpit of each of the cars leaving me in awe of just how much work graphically has gone into this. The weather conditons are also done in a way that looks natural even down to the smallest details of it on the windscreen. Now to the sound where nothing has been left out or felt half done.

Each engine has its own mapped sound across the rev range and depending on what camera you’re using the sound also changes which I think is a beautiful little feature. The squeal of the tyres on the road, the pit team chat, the off track pickups from going into the sand and grass, even the rain has an effect on the sound of the car everything has been covered.

As a side note, for anyone that’s a huge fan of racing sims, it might be worth picking up the PC version of the game as it does seem to be locked to 30fps on console and at times does feel it dips below that depending what is going on.

Overall, KUNOS Simulazioni has made Assetto Corsa Competizione a racing masterpiece using every technology on offer to give us one of the best experiences you can have in a racing game. The amount of detail they have put into this is staggering and anyone that enjoys a beautifully crafted racing title, Assetto Corsa Competizione should be your next investment.

Written by: SmuglinRaisins