With the release of Assetto Corsa EVO and its Early Access phase well underway, it is only natural that the third entry in Kunos’ sim racing franchise gets compared to its GT-focused brother. Even if EVO isn’t built to be an Assetto Corsa Competizione replacement it’s more likely to be a replacement for the original Assetto Corsa, the question that many in the sim racing space have is simple: which is better?
Graphics
Let’s start off with the looks, where there’s a key difference between the two titles under the hood.
ACC uses Unreal Engine 4. With all the bells and whistles on top, including ray tracing and ultra-high-end VR support, it’s a title that will let you get the very most out of your system regardless of the specifications you have on-board. But using UE isn’t a guarantee of hyper-realistic, hyper-efficient gaming. The much-maligned NASCAR 21 Ignition uses the same UE4 as ACC, and AC EVO’s free-to-play rival in Rennsport uses UE5.
That’s why, for AC EVO, Kunos decided to move back in-house with their graphics engine. It’s not the first time that they’ve done this either, having done so with the original AC title that fans still love to this day. And they’ve made the most of this, using lessons learnt over the past decade to recognise what their original engine did so well and what could be integrated from other engines to make theirs perform even better with one sole objective: to make the best-looking racing sim on the market.
Compatibility
When it comes to compatibility, there are several ways to measure it. From availability on different platforms to the peripherals that can be used on said platforms, accessibility and compatibility can be a big deciding factor in which sim to race on.
Right now, ACC is more compatible purely because it’s not in Early Access. It has stable console releases and can run on most machines with no issue. AC EVO is still in its early phases, meaning glitches and crashes are unfortunately going to be part of the development cycle. But with a Discord run by Kunos for the community, and regular updates and patches, those issues won’t be there for long!
Elsewhere, in terms of compatibility, there is little to separate the two. AC EVO is more demanding than ACC in some areas of performance, however most of that can be chalked up to it being a newer title and the Early Access phase meaning that it is not fully optimised to all devices on the market.
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Handling & Physics
Out-of-the-box, both titles tend to handle quite similarly. This probably isn’t too surprising though, after all it is still the same studio that worked on both titles
The effect of weather
The original Assetto Corsa didn’t come with inclement weather, that was only added after relentless work by the fantastic modding community. Both ACC and AC EVO come with wet weather as standard but, given the differences between the two so far, it’s hardly surprising that the weather mechanics are different between the two titles here.
Both titles make the most of laser-scanned tracks and understanding of the geographies of the circuits to make the tracks feel more real. That means that puddles will form in particular places, and that drier lines will emerge closer to the racing line. This is something that their rivals have been well-known for, with rFactor 2 and Le Mans Ultimate having this almost from the start with their RealRoad feature and iRacing adding it in recent years with their Tempest system.
In this case, AC EVO takes what ACC has and turns it up a notch. Whilst ACC has great wet-weather handling and unique lines for each track, it is also limited by the game engine to an extent. For instance, track state evolves across the whole track equally in ACC.
This means that it will rain to the same degree at every part of the track, and when the track is wet it will be as wet at La Source as it is at Bruxelles. It is expected that, once all is said and done with AC EVO, track conditions will vary from lap to lap and from corner to corner. As of present, there are several weather presets available which means that transitions are not available at present.
Force Feedback (FFB)
Here at Coach Dave Academy, we’re something of experts when it comes to talking about FFB. In fact, we’ve written lengthy guides for both ACC and AC EVO.
ACC built on the foundations from the original Assetto Corsa and tuned it further with GT racing in mind. The original Assetto Corsa had a variety of cars in the game, from the humble FIAT 500 to the Ferrari SF70H Formula One car.
That meant modelling road car suspension and springs all the way up to complex turbo hybrids that are powered by both kinetic and thermal energy stores. On top of that, the Direct Drive wheels that we’ve come to know and love as sim racers throughout the 2020s were barely heard of outside of professional simulators when the original Assetto Corsa launched.
This meant that ACC had to contend with newer technologies as well as the specific quirks and features of the Traction Control and Anti-lock Braking Systems that were on the cars in the sim. Each of these had a direct impact on FFB: what you would feel when you’re driving the car, as well as what you would not feel when driving.
AC EVO didn’t have to reinvent the wheel, therefore. It simply evolved it further. Changes in how kerbing and off-track surfaces were textured changed, generating bespoke properties meaning that the nuanced differences between the kerbing from track to track means that each track has its own complex limits that you will need to master in order to be the best of the best.
Realism
Much like the previous sections, both titles set about achieving maximum realism in their own ways despite being made by the same team.
In ACC, for example, the emphasis is on the most complete GT racing experience out there. This means that you have mechanics to ensure a fair rolling start for all competitors, and pit stop options that cover everything that you would expect within the rules of the Stéphane Ratel Organisation’s various series. This is where some series may have a minimum pit stop time, or the option to either change all tires or no tires and only two compounds in the slicks and the grooved wets.
AC EVO aims to have the most comprehensive sim racing experience across a variety of cars. That means that GTs will be as important as road cars, or even formula racers and anything else added at a later date. This doesn’t mean that GTs will be disregarded though, as Kunos will instead be building on what ACC already had and fine-tuning it in EVO to ensure the most authentic and realistic experience for sim racers.
Cars
This section is what separates ACC’s GT specialisation from AC EVO’s more general approach to car racing.
Whilst both titles share some cars, namely the Mercedes-AMG GT2 from the SRO GT2 Series and the one-make Porsche 992 GT3 Cup, Ferrari 488 Challenge, and BMW M2 CS Racing cars, ACC’s focus on GT racing means that there is likely to be more depth in that class whilst AC EVO will focus more on breadth of class.
As of February 2025, AC EVO has a couple of dozen cars. Whilst ACC’s car list is double that, it is only spread across a handful of different classes. On the other hand, the features within AC EVO mean that there are competitive classes for every car, even if it is a class of one for some of the single-make series. However, with more cars coming every update, it’s fair to expect that the car list at Version 1.0 of EVO will at least match if not best ACC’s.
Tracks
When it comes to tracks, laser-scanning is par for the course. Hyper-realistic track surfaces built from real-world scanning data, it’s the most accurate way to enjoy your favourite track when sim racing. Whilst some titles such as F1 22 and the original Assetto Corsa mostly feature tracks that have been designed without this data on top of the occasional laser-scanned track, most specialised sim racing games tend to solely have laser-scanned tracks.
Both ACC and AC EVO feature a full roster of laser-scanned tracks. And, in addition to this, AC EVO’s launch tracks were all updates and overhauls of tracks that were already in ACC. The first all-new track for AC EVO is Fuji, which was recently added to the title. AC EVO further builds on ACC by adding multiple layouts for the tracks in the sim, such as Brands Hatch Indy or the Suzuka East and West variants.
However, as of right now, AC EVO’s track list is very limited. There are 25 different circuits in ACC, if you count Nürburgring Grand Prix and Nürburgring Combined as different tracks, but only a handful of different venues in AC EVO at present. This list will continue to grow as AC EVO continues through Early Access, with some tracks being tracks that have previously featured in ACC and others either appearing in the original Assetto Corsa or making their first franchise appearance in EVO.
Pricing
As of right now, AC EVO is available at £32.99. This will allow you access to the current version of the game as well as all content releases up to the Version 1.0 release towards the end of 2025. It might not include any future expansions or DLC, though this will be confirmed with future roadmaps once 1.0 is out.
ACC, on the other hand, starts at £34.99. With all of the DLC, outside of any special offer, it is a whopping £102.45 compared to EVO. However, with the variety of high-quality cars and tracks that are available in this version of the sim, especially when compared to the costs associated with its main rival in iRacing, ACC is one of the more affordable offerings on the market despite the gulf between it and EVO in pricing.
Final Thoughts
It is very difficult to compare the two titles. Both are great at what they do but, even though they are made by the same developers, both are also doing distinctly different things. AC EVO is much more of an “everything” game, a Jack of All Trades that will cover a massive variety of content and scenarios once it is done but doesn’t have a bespoke focus on one particular discipline.
ACC is the Master of One, and that One is GT racing. With so many active communities over on our partner site SimGrid, as well as our active Daily Races, there is so much on offer with such immense detail with the GT racing that you get in ACC.
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