When Kunos Simulazioni launched its newest sim racing title, a particular emphasis was placed on its offline racing feature. With a variety of cars and tracks on offer, you might be wondering how to get out on track as quickly as possible. In this guide, we’ll let you know the key settings to get you up to speed with AC EVO’s race creator as quickly as possible.
Quick Race Options
There are a few different options available to us in the launch version of AC EVO. But even if these settings seem familiar, they do things a little bit differently from other sim racing titles.
Race Type: This one is pretty straightforward, do you wish to have a lap-based race or a time-based race? Time means that the race ends at the end of the lap when the clock hits 0.
Race Duration: How many laps or minutes do you want the race to last?
Race Start Time: What time of day do you want the race to start? Remember that timings can vary from track to track.
Race Time Multiplier: How quickly do you want time to accelerate? For example, if you have a 24-minute race set to 60x on the multiplier, you will see a full 24-hour cycle over the course of the race.
Grid Starting Position: Every race in AC EVO is from a standing start on launch. You can go back and change the position you’re starting from when you decide how many cars you want on the track.
Grid Type: This currently merges all classes on track together on one grid. Custom should be coming soon, but in the meantime watch out if you know there’s a faster car than you on track!
Number of Opponents: This can be limited by the track, so make sure to check it on the track info page to avoid disappointment if you try to set 60 cars around Brands Hatch Indy!
Opponent Skill: This slider adjusts how fast and how aggressive the AI will be in your race. Higher percentages mean that they take more risks, use all of the track and more, and also means that they aren’t afraid to drive through you if you’re in their way!
Single Make: If switched on, it means that every car on the track is the same make, model, and specification as yours. If switched off, it can create a varied grid of cars similar in stature to yours. A non-single make race in the BMW M2 CS Racing will include the Porsche 992 Cup car and the Ferrari 488 Challenge Evo, for example. Or a race with the Honda S2000 might also include a Mazda MX-5.
Track Selection
There are a handful of circuits available to us in AC EVO already, with a good variety in terms of countries, continents, and configurations.
From Europe, we have Brands Hatch and Imola. Whilst the latter only has one layout, that being the Grand Prix version that we all know and love from ACC, Brands Hatch comes with two layouts: the full Grand Prix circuit and the bean-shaped Indy circuit.
From Asia, we have Suzuka. The world’s most popular figure-8 circuit has 3 layouts in the sim: the Grand Prix layout and the West and East circuits. Avid racing fans may remember the East circuit as the place that NASCAR raced in the late nineties, whilst the West circuit uses the smaller support pit lane between Spoon and 130R and only boasts 8 grid slots. Which is possibly for the best if 130R is the first turn on the track.
From North America, we have Laguna Seca. With sand lining the California track the entire way around, from the highs of the Corkscrew to the depths of Andretti there are all kinds of fun to have at this classic track.
However, the elevation is nothing compared to the final circuit in the launch version of the game: Australia’s Mount Panorama circuit, better known as Bathurst. Essentially a street circuit built into the side of a mountain, this legendary course takes you up and over the top of the mountain with fast sweeping turns before a steep and sharp descent through some twistier corners in between some flat-out straights that make up the rest of the lap.
Car Selection
As of launch, AC EVO has a plethora of cars available to users in the Garage section. The Rentals section will come in properly later on in the development stage.
There is a good variety of current cars and modern classics in the sim already, from cutting-edge electric concept cars like the Alpine A290 Beta (which doesn’t have a windscreen wiper!) to collector’s items like the Ford Escort RS Cosworth or the Honda S2000. It also has a blend of born-and-bred circuit racers such as the aforementioned BMW M2 CS Racing or the Porsche 992 Cup car as well as more run-of-the-mill road cars like the Abarth 695 Biposto or the Hyundai i30 N.
Weather Selection
Racers will have a few presets available on launch for the new weather system, with custom forecasts available at a later date. These are already a step up on Assetto Corsa, which relied on modding to be able to have anything other than a bone-dry track available.
Nevertheless, the parameters used to calculate the presets (and eventually your own custom weather) in AC EVO are as follows:
Dynamic or Static Weather: Having this in “Dynamic” will allow the weather to vary over the course of a session, whilst “Static” will mean that the weather at the start of the session will remain the same throughout.
Sky Coverage: This is the percentage of the sky that will be covered by clouds.
Precipitation: Calculated as a percentage, a higher percentage will mean a higher likelihood or density of rain.
Fog Density: This generates a level of surface-level fog that could potentially affect visibility on its own at higher levels.
Wind Direction: Based on compass heading, this determines the direction that the wind is travelling. Be careful of any crosswinds, especially in aerodynamically dependent machines.
Wind Speed: How fast the wind is moving in m/s, which you can multiply by 3.6 to get km/h or 2.237 to get mph.
