Assetto Corsa PS4 Hands-on Impressions

By Corey Vixie, Guest Writer

Simulator games aren’t for everyone. The ultimate appeal of any game with “real-world” roots is often in how it captures and gamifies the essence of its subject matter. A Guitar Hero or a Rock Band wins the hearts of its fans because it delivers the flavor of rock-stardom with a tiny, plastic guitar. If that experience resonates with you, you’re going to have a good time.

But what if you’re a serious guitarist, and the notion of a tiny, plastic guitar offends? You might gravitate more towards a game like Rocksmith, which is more representative of your real-world skills, and perhaps even because it’s a bridge too far for adherents of Guitar Hero’s simple playstyle.

So it is with Assetto Corsa. It makes no bones about being a hardcore simulator, and it is ruthless.

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Now, I spend a lot of time driving. I autocross a C4 Corvette and a Datsun Roadster. I’ve been driving up and down mountain roads since before I had a license. When I sat down to try the PS4 version of Assetto Corsa, I strapped myself in, adjusted the wheel and pedals, and plowed my virtual Ferrari FXX-K straight into the wall of Barcelona’s turn 1. Woah.

Through painful trial and error, I discovered that Initial D and Burnout had been the tiny, plastic guitar to Assetto Corsa’s Stratocaster. This game demands a lot more respect and attention than even a closer equivalent like Forza. By the time I finally completed a lap of Barcelona without crashing the Ferrari, I was sweaty, tired, and beaming.

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Here’s what I learned:

First of all, Assetto Corsa demands quality gear. I was lucky enough to try it with an off-the-shelf racing bucket and ThrustMaster’s T300RS wheel with the T3PA pedal set. The game communicates viscerally and effectively through the wheel – the Ferrari’s nose became light and the steering wandered at triple digit speeds, and the time spent on suspension simulation and laser-scanning the tracks has clearly paid off: I’ve never experienced a closer digital analog to real-world racing.

However, I was only given the opportunity to try hotlaps on one track, in the one car. I therefore can’t comment on how the game performs with multiple AI components and the added rendering complexity of other cars. What I can say from what I saw: there’s no visual degredation compared to the PC version, and the PS4 happily churns out a mostly-solid 60fps.

As for the Ferrari FXX-K, it’s ‘exclusive’ representation in the console version is nothing significant. True, it’s a monster, and it’s a handful to drive fast – especially with the assists turned off – but it’s not worth picking up this version of game just to try it out. More likely than not, it’ll appear as DLC later down the line.

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This is the kind of game where you want to cozy up to the coffee table in your living room with a great wheel, and experience some relatable cars at high speed. In other words, you won’t feel like a rock god, but you’ll get your friends to yell “Freebird.”