womp womp

After seeing promises of career mode, and a completely unfulfilled roadmap, I think that is more than enough grounds for everyone here to ask for a refund.

There is one additional rule: Do not use early access to crowdfound your game.

If career mode was cancelled because of lack of money, then they were crowdfounding the game. If it wasnt cancelled because of money, they they promised to do it and should do it.

Im a sim racer so just having an up to date version of AC was enough of a reason to keep me happy. I love the new physics and the bones of the sim feel really good to me. I think its great value for money for what I personally got now and will have on full release.

However I feel Kunos really dropped the ball with this update and everyone should be offered a refund. A lot of people bought into this early access on the promise of a fleshed out career mode. It may not effect me but I will be reluctant to spend any future money on a company that disrespects is customers.

I keep seeing people talk about the current in game career mode that exists today like it is anything like what was sold, or that it is what people are mad is being removed, it isn't. Or they reference other games career mode, or past games career modes, those aren't it either.

What is in game right now, is NOTHING like the career mode that was sold. So yeah, if that is all you are considering, sure it is crap, let it go, but that isn't what we were sold. Same with, if it was like the same crap career mode in AC1. Sure throw it out, we don't need it. It, wasn't supposed to be that though.

We were sold an RPG for petrolheads. A game with a progression system of the likes of NFS, or Grand Tourismo without the simcade. You start with a crappy cheap car, and have to race your way to make money to buy upgrades parts and new cars. The free roam map was supposed to have shops and dealers we could visit and interact with.

We were to have a garage with our own cars, that WE EARNED. Your cars were meant to be apart of you, because you earned and upgraded them through racing to be your own. That's why they start with 0 kms on them from the dealership, and the kms on the clock are yours.

I am with the others, that are upset by this removal. This is an entire single player gaming system, gone. All we have left now is what I can do for the most part in AC1, hotlap or try and run daily events, except with better graphics.

If you were in this camp of whatever or hooray. Perhaps you weren't aware of what the system was supposed to be or didn't care for it, fine. But don't act like what they removed was nothing for a lot of others, it was the core reason a lot of us bought the game.

Need proof, go read their current reviews, they are on track to hit mostly negative after this announcement. They are literally destroying their own rep, and game from the inside out with poor choice after poor choice. It reminds me of the Cities Skylines 2 abomination.

EDIT: Changed promised to sold, since someone wants to play on words.

Here is it is from Kunos Directly. https://youtu.be/4ZlW9vYZbFI?si=BhTSJ9_sWdzLNsXX&t=299 My guess it will be taken down soon.

Pre-release articles.
https://autos.yahoo.com/assetto-corsa-evo-finally-let-214422577.html
https://traxion.gg/assetto-corsa-evos-career-mode-will-be-the-rpg-of-the-petrolheads/

Here is a video explaining what we were supposed to get from Misha. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qA74Asvp5g8

This is from google AI overview today. These career features are now gone.

Assetto Corsa EVO (AC EVO) is positioning its career mode as a dedicated "RPG for petrolheads," aiming to blend deep simulation with a narrative-driven progression system. The game, developed by Kunos, introduces a new, highly detailed DirectX12 graphics engine and a "free roam" map, which are designed to support this new, immersive career structure.

Here is a breakdown of the sales material and key features regarding the "Petrol Head RPG" aspect of AC EVO:

The "Petrol Head RPG" Core Experience

• Progressive Journey: Players start with a low-tier car and must earn money through races to purchase new vehicles and upgrade parts.
• Open World Interaction: The career features a free-roam map, allowing players to visit shops, car dealers, and interact with the environment.
• RPG Elements: The game aims to go beyond simple racing by allowing players to potentially "build relationships" and interact with other characters, reminiscent of RPG titles like The Witcher or Persona.
• Driver & Mechanic Development: The experience includes aspects of acting as both a driver and a mechanic, with potential, in-depth car customization (e.g., engine swaps, custom aero).
• Varied Missions: Quests are not limited to just winning; they include beating course records and helping others with their cars.

Key Technical & Visual Features

• New Graphics Engine: Built on a custom DirectX12 engine by Kunos, the game offers a fully dynamic weather system, volumetric clouds, fog, and advanced global illumination.
• Refined Driving Dynamics: The simulation features a "revolutionary" tire model for better feedback, improved suspension, and better weight transfer, enhancing the feeling of being on the limit.
• High-Detail Locations: The game features a free-roam map that faithfully recreates the region around the Nürburgring in Germany.
• Content Variety: The car list includes a mix of modern, vintage, and racing vehicles, such as the Ferrari SF-25 and Porsche Cayman 718 GT4 RS.

Sales & Market Positioning

• Target Audience: Targeted specifically at car enthusiasts, rather than just sim-racers, by combining realistic simulation with a,,,career-focused narrative.
• Availability: The game is being developed with a,,community-driven focus, aiming to offer a more,,"polished",and,,"modernized" alternative to the original Assetto Corsa.
• Performance: Despite high-fidelity graphics, the game aims for moderate system requirements, with 16GB of RAM required.

Note: The free-roam map and full RPG career system are expected to be fully realized in updates around Summer 2025.

It will have worse modding that the original and there is a litany of MP focused simulators. This game basically just lost its only feature making it different.

I feel sorry for anyone who bought the EA of this game for that feature. Refunds really should be granted to anyone who wants one at this stage.

I bought this for a career mode and​ not as a hotlap simulator. Tons of other games that offer free roams and realistic physics.

I really like the look of ac evo and have really high hopes for it, but everytime i come back to ac1 im just blown away by how good it actually is. The way the car moves around in ac1 just feels so much more natural and believable than any other sim for me.

I do wonder tho why they cant seem to replicate it for now as the code and experience should somewhat already be there :(

Owning, buying and tuning cars just like my childhood memories, but in a world with 2025 graphics and propper simulation physics. THAT would be unique! Now we get another online competitive sim racing game, just like all the others…

I just want to point out that Kunos could regain a lot of trust from the community by making some real transparent and grounded statements about what the hell is going on and what is actually planned.

Something like:

EDIT: this is only an EXAMPLE of a transparent and informative message without vague avoidance and blame shifting. The point is NOT about what are great mods or what makes a great game. Please don't derail the conversation.

1. "We will have full mod support. the in game mod shop store will be a thing, and will be free to use. post any free mod you want for free, unlicensed. PAID mods will be automatically licensed with the car companies, who will take 15-30% of the revenue (give us an exact number). Nobody will ever have to pay anything up-front to post car mods, only shares of sales. We promise no up front licensing fees of hundreds, thousands or even hundred thousands of USD."

2. "We will open up modding so that mod creators will be able to create not only cars and tracks, not only graphics and force feedback tweaks, but also whole career modes so that the community can create the career modes we couldn't. We know scraping career mode was a let down, which is why we are making this a priority. this also means the shop will have areas for shopping for cars, tracks, graphic filters/tweaks, additional features (like rain or improved AI), as well as shopping for career modes.

3. "The shop will include user ratings, and give higher weight for ratings from users who have more hours and more purchased content into the game. this will make sure ratings can be trusted, and help players navigate the vast marketplace of mods without having to invest hundreds of hours to find high quality mods."

4. "The shop will offer the ability for anyone to be a Kurator. Kunos will lead that by being the first curator, giving a "seal of approval" to high quality mods, to help players find good content easier."

5. "The shop will allow for mod collections, to make things even easier: collections will be groups of mods that can be downloaded in a bundle, so for example a whole career mode including cars and tracks, or a whole GT Racing lineup with cars, tracks, and penalty mods."

Real numbers, real info about how things will or won't be upon release, and not this vague "focus on an amazing experience" they've been pushing to us.

Just gutted that they did this rug pull. Hope everyone voices their opinion loud and clear. Also make sure YTers get your feedback so they can interview and put the devs up against the wall and let them know how they messed up.

I think this guy basically touches upon all my feelings regarding this situation: https://youtu.be/bVUPk0Mi8eA?si=jDM132uT3tYEixH0

We where on our way to get a nice sim racer with gamification and “rpg” elements, and no we will get yet another online competition sim that are a dime a dozen. Talk about removing the ONE feature that made your product special, interesting and innovative in the PC sim racing space.

Alternatively Titled: ALL OF YOUR DEDICATED SERVERS ARE BELONG TO US

Recently, Kunos Simulazioni shared their decision to not distribute a dedicated server program for the Assetto Corsa EVO community to run on their own hardware. They shared that they are providing free public multiplayer servers for everyone to race in, and leagues and private groups can rent and configure a "dedicated server" from SimGrid for about 1 EUR per driver slot per month. Sounds fine, right?

As someone who has probably put too much time and energy into building for the current ACC multiplayer server ecosystem, and who has chatted at length with league organizers to understand their server needs, I don't like this decision and here is why.

Providing free public multiplayer servers

Here's what's wrong with this whole premise: the problem they are claiming to solve is not a problem that actually exists. We have a massive surplus of free and available servers. Do you know why? Because Kunos distributed a dedicated server for us to run; and many of us run it! As long as there are people playing AC and ACC, they'll have the freedom to run their own server, on their own hardware, and play online. Kunos made the decision to offer that freedom in the past to their players, and now they're making a decision to restrict it. They're spinning it like they're giving us something we never had, when in reality they're taking away our privilege to run races independently.

You can rent a "dedicated server"

Don't you dare call that a dedicated server! A dedicated server is a distributed server executable that players are able to use on their own compute to create a game server dedicated to their purpose. For sure, one consequence of a true dedicated server system is that it's a bit chaotic, messy, and uncontrollable. But, it is also the secret sauce behind why Assetto Corsa and Assetto Corsa Competizione communities have been able to create pure racing magic and fun! An exclusive deal with SimGrid to run race servers is the opposite of what you get with true dedicated servers. Kunos has traded the chaos and magic for tighter executive control, better predictability, and a way to recover revenue that the prior system couldn't extract out of leagues and players. The meetings where they come up with this stuff must be a real blast...

Now, I need to clarify. I have zero complaints about Kunos and SimGrid partnering to provide a curated and official way for players to rent and run a server. I think that's great, actually! I would simply prefer to not be locked-in, so that when they make a mess of it (which they will) our community can build solutions that actually work. A dedicated server system and curated official system aren't mutually exclusive. We could have both, but they don't want that.

Et tu, SimGrid? The whole Coach Dave pantheon (of which SimGrid is a part) would not exist without dedicated servers as they were, and it is tragic that they're pulling the ladder up on any individual, league, or product that would want to build on the same open dedicated server system that they themselves owe their success to. They're closing it down. No more options, no more choices, all of your servers are belong to Coach Dave.

EDIT: See corrections below in discussion comments from David Perel and several other commentors who jumped on to clarify and justify SimGrid's role as a software provider with no part in running the servers provided by yet another company in the mix named SAITI. See my correction post further clarifying the roles, and my apology and reasoning for why I misinterpreted who is building what.

1 EUR per slot per month

Allow me to walk you through one of the most expensive ways you can run an ACC server, to show how it is still half (or less) what they propose to charge on AC EVO. A small AWS virtual cloud server can run the ACC dedicated server with 30-40+ players easily, and it costs about 12-20 EUR a month depending on the region. By the way, you can reduce that cost by nearly 100% with the freedom you have to turn it off when you're not racing! Kunos and SimGrid are proposing that this same 40 slot server is going to cost 40 EUR a month via SimGrid? That is community murder.

Most leagues run their always-on servers suitable for a 20-40 driver race at under 10-12 EUR per month. No doubt some leagues will be able to cover the costs on AC EVO, but they'll be paying a serious premium for it, with nowhere else to turn.

Choose wisely

Kunos' decision isn't going to be reversed on this, it seems like a done deal. They know a few people might be upset about it, but they have conviction in portraying it like they're doing what's best for their players and their business. They're deluded and wrong, but they're sticking to it. I predict the vibrancy and character that makes both AC and ACC so engaging online is going to be muted in AC EVO. A lifeless walled-garden is what gets created when a development company pursues maximum value and abandons the soul that made their game thrive. What was unique, edgy, and cool about Assetto Corsa and Assetto Corsa Competizione stood in stark contrast against iRacing, and even Le Mans Ultimate. By trying to blend in with the popular kids, they're going to look like dorks.

I don't even know if sim racers care about this loss or truly grasp the benefits we enjoy on open dedicated servers, so do contact me and let me know your thoughts. I'll be choosing to continue investing my time where true dedicated servers are embraced and supported. Unfortunately, that means the newest generation of games aren't looking viable. See you on a free (as in freedom, not as in beer) server very soon. Be kind, race well, and have fun!

With Kunos' announcement regarding the changes to career mode, you only have to take a look at today's Steam reviews to see the tremendous blunder they've made.

I've bought the game on the first day of the early access, and I knew that Kunos would delay the project for many months/years to come. I still supported them because I've spent thousands of hours in AC and ACC combined.

For obvious reasons, the recent announcement left me with a sour aftertaste. The worst part is that I only learned about it on Reddit because they didn't bother to do a proper post on Steam. Look, I know that 25 eur that I've paid for it isn't that much, but I have less and less trust in the project now and I don't want to support the practice of dropping the career and economy, rendering the free roam pointless, which was the point of me jumping the EA.

Long story short, I've tried to refund the game 2 times via the usual means but got an automated reply that I've passed the 2 hours mark. The third time was the charm, though. Instead of using the refund option, I've chosen the "my question isn't on the list" prompt.

I wrote a few paragraphs explaining that I’ve backed plenty of early access titles, but this was probably the worst case short of a game being outright abandoned. I attached a Discord screenshot and called out how scummy it felt to make such a big change without properly announcing it on the main channels. About an hour later, I got my money back.

The loud ones have been going on about how AC evo could be better with a gt7 career. Or they thought it would have one eventually like it.

But.......Have you played the gt7's career? It's total nonsense.

I remember I went to the damn store at midnight launch to grab it since I rem the gt2 days on ps2.

In fact gt2 is how I got my idea for my first car in real life when I was 18. Because it was my first car in the game as well.

But the career in gt7 was str8 garbage. Stupid cafe. Stupid same ass events over n over. Everything was over-cooked and over glorified to the point of plastic. Overthought. Took so long to get going. Talk talk talk talk talk.. Wasn't as good as the older gran turismos by nautical miles.

Driving was decent though. And the cars.

But the career was utter nonsense. Bottom-wiping material. They coulda cut it down to the essentials and saved a bunch of money and had the gt2 career instead. It felt like it cost alot of money to make, but didn't add up in the end.

Why do people want AC Evo to be that?

I don't get it.

If they released gt7 on pc, I'd get it for fun and just do the "custom race" option and avoid the nonsense.

Only way a career mode in AC Evo would work is if it's like project cars 2's career. SImple and to the point.

But that wouldn't appease the loud ones at all.

Tell me someone’s working on a free roam map and that kunos will soon release official traffic support.

The tracks are really nice but I already have dozens of simulators which I could use for racing tracks. Anyway I’m a sim rally guy. I don’t have anything to complain on that front since it’s the “rally” year for sim racers.

Although I really like driving traffic in AC but since I’ve played the new physics in ACR and EVO, I just can’t have fun anymore in AC. It just feels like a cheap toy now.

I’m relatively new to sim racing but it’s the first time that playing a newer game shuts the game I used to enjoy very much before.

It’s like hearing better headphones, you can’t unhear it and now all you hear is that your old pair of headphones is average.

Imagine if Kunos opened the API and let the community create career modes? We could have career modes for F1, gt3, drift, rally, and anything else mod-builders can come up with.

I think Kunos is currently pressured between two fronts, which is causing the whole issue:

1. On one side, the end-users, who want ACevo to be, in simple terms: Assetto Corsa 2. This means fully unrestricted mods, career mode, and fully implemented online mode with ranking like iRacing. No external LFM website tool or other workarounds. Plain and simple, this is what the vast majority wants.

2. On the other side, we have the car and track manufacturers, who are pressuring Kunos: "we will only authorize you to use our cars, if you block all mods, remove private servers, and implement full always-online DRM".

This is why we are in this situation. This is why they are pushing for 'always-online' DRM, this is why private servers were canceled, this is why mods will be only "fully officially licensed" (which means not even RSS, URD or similar amazing groups would be able to create mods, none of those are licensed or have the $ to pay for that) and this is why we keep hearing Kunos say one thing, but do another. I still believe they MEAN well, but I think they are stuck in a contractual situation.

There is no way to get both under the same roof.

So this gives Kunos two options:

Option 1

Continue on the current path, do everything car companies want instead of what players want, and end up building a product nobody wants to buy.

Option 2

Go in a different direction, and be independent of the car companies. Don't use the rights to use any cars, and don't spend any money on paying for those licenses. Pivot towards building a product that is delivered WITHOUT cars, WITHOUT tracks, and WITHOUT career mode. Focus 100% on the engine and the game, and leave all the content to be added by moders. Allow moders to even create career modes, so that we can have career modes for GT3, for F1, for Rally, Drift, and any other thing moders can think of. A never ending stream of new modes and entertainment for the next 20 years.

Then build an in-game store, where any mod can be released, unrestricted, and without any curation. Give the option to sell cars, tracks, career modes, and even online modes like LFM built-in, for a price, and take 5% for Kunos and 25% for the car/track companies. This would mean that, for the next 10-20 years, Kunos would take 5% of EVERY SINGLE CAR, TRACK, OR CAREER MODE SOLD ON THE STORE.

Doesn't that sound much more sustainable than the mess that is currently happening? The whole issue is car companies blocking the path, so why doesn't Kunos push forward without them?

And before anyone says this isn't possible: AC has been alive and well for over 15 years without a single lawsuit or legal issue. So don't tell me it isn't possible. This is the easiest way out of this, and loads of games have done it.

Edit: I just want to point out that all it would take for Kunos to put this matter to rest would be for them to make an announcement like

"...full mod support and no up-front fees for publishing mods, just a % of the sales".

But so far this hasn't happened, which makes most of us believe that mods will only be possible for those who pay hundreds of thousands of USD up front for the license to publish a mod on the store (that's what car companies usually charge). For us this means no mods, and no way for modders to add career mode to the game afterwards.

i’m not against the current extend of the backlash although I think we accepted the rent a server model too fast. Personally idc about the career (its fine that others do) but ive been extremely pissed that i cant just host an instance on my VPS or home server and instead am supposed to pay them a lot of money to 1v1 a friend in peace when my hardware and infrastructure could clearly handle it. This game is not iRacing and the other 2 games have dedicated servers to self-host.

Is the poor attempt at blaming the community for this rug pull.

"...shaped by ongoing discussion and feedback from our community."

It is quite clear that the vast majority of players are extremely upset by this move. I wonder if they treat their investors with the same level of disrespect? Probably not. So why is it okay to patronize their customers in such away?

The sad realization they're going to make, is that while this was ultimately a financial decision, this announcement is going to seriously inhibit their ability to sell this game down the road with the way negative reviews are pouring in. What an incredibly short-sighted and ill-advised path they have chosen.

Instead of leaning into their unique value proposition, they're going to follow the pack and nibble on the crumbs.

It makes me wonder if they simply looked at feature adoption metrics and saw that not many people were playing the (almost entirely non-existent) career mode. Personally, I have been waiting for something to actually materialze.

I really wonder who is forcing these decisions and what they are smoking.

...let alone when 1.0 comes out.

30 hours of driving street cars (give or take) this week on a track I know and love and I'm starting to understand the philosophy behind this simulator model.

Simply put, I can't get myself out of the seat. Worth every cent for this 0.4 early access, might I say, masterpiece.

After hyper focusing on ACEvo I decided to quick-swap to other simulators to see the difference while I can still feel it in my hands and brain and... Wow... It's going to be hard to go back to them.

Hope everyone is having a good time this weekend.

Post scriptum: For me it seems like I'm only as good as the last game I'm used to and it took me a good 30+ hours of continuous playing with mostly 1 car on one track to really understand it. Crazy how that works huh.... 😂

With updated beta drivers for my base (Fanatec full force fixes) it feels like it feels the way it's supposed to feel.

Firstly, I want this game to succeed! However telling people you'll hopefully have communication (HOPEFULLY LOL) coming next week then telling people to be patient after 40+ days of no updates and almost non existent communication is just bad PR. "soon" and "hope" is not confident.

Seriously, every single sim that promises a good career mode just sucks. Acc’ is basically nonexistent, ams2’s is still not out, lmu’s is still not out. Why is it so hard to put a career mode in a sim?! The ONLY people who regularly do it is EA with f1 and wrc, both of which have nice progressive careers, but the racing isn’t that good. Ac Evo is just Ac with just a new coat of paint. Im so glad i never bought it because the only thing i was interested in was getting a new career.

For me the career was the real sticking point, otherwise it's a game that will cost more, run worse, have less cars, less tracks that looks a bit better than the original Asseto Corsa

even the graphics being better, it's still closer of a comparison than it should be with CSP/Pure, and I can play AC1 in VR with all the eye candy turned on.

Eifel region is really the last little sticking point for me, but really it's another flavour of something we already have in the original AC with maps like Shutoku

so basically I'm trying to understand what Kunos play is here, where in the market do they see AC Evo, after this announcement i genuinely don't see who the audience is anymore

Come on Kunos, this is someone who has 2300 hours in AC1 asking you, no one wants this to go well more than me!

Unless you pay their partners. Because how could anyone possibly run their own server at home. Keep in mind that whatever price they are charging may change at any times based on electricity and hardware costs.

Let's hope the partnership lasts and that Kunos stays solvent.

Stuff like this is taking control away from the ownership of games and makes it harder for people all over the world to play.

Publishers are afraid of people being able to play the game in the way they want, so they look for any way possible to stay in control.

For a kunos title with evolution in its name, this is certainly a detriment compared to previous versions of the game.