Assetto Corsa Competizione v1.8 adds improved physics, 2021 BoP and new BMW

Kunos Simulazioni, the developer behind GT World Challenge simulator Assetto Corsa Competizione (ACC), has announced an exhaustive list of new improvements to the popular title in their v1.8 Keynote on YouTube today.

We revealed earlier this week that the BMW M4 GT3 was coming to the game as free DLC, as well as a few graphical and physics adjustments – including DLSS and FSR implementation.

However, with v1.8 now available to download, we now know there have been significant improvements across the board, including the addition of the 2021 GTWC Sprint and Endurance championships in-game, with those combined giving us the full GT World Challenge series – with a bespoke 2021 Balance of Performance to keep the cars on a level playing field (the patch notes suggest 2021 liveries have been added, but this was done in a previous update).

There are more options in terms of creating a custom championship offline too – perfect for players not interested in the online racing scene.

Most ACC fans will be looking forward to the refined physics, which now run at a 400Hz refresh rate as opposed to 300Hz, allowing more physics calculations to be carried out by the game; the knock-on effect being a hopeful improvement in handling feedback to the player.

When players hit the track they’ll also notice off-line and on-line grip has been adjusted too, with a little more margin for error implemented if you stray ‘out the groove’.

Those using ACC in esports competitions will be interested to hear the game defaults to the 2021 BoP for multiplayer sessions, so sim racers will be eager to see if their favourite car has taken a performance hit or not.

It’s heartening to know that Kunos are continuing to update ACC with a sequel to Assetto Corsa apparently on the way in 2024, but it’s especially pleasing they are committed to fixing long-standing bugs to the game. Have you ever wondered why your best lap at Silverstone GP was 1min 24s? Well, worry no longer!

“Stats: fixed an issue that had a tendency to generate unrealistic personal best lap times.”

Track limits in wet conditions have also been an issue for a long time in ACC – in that it was nearly impossible to receive a track cut warning if the weather turned rainy during a race – so this has been adjusted by Kunos and should maintain realistic driving standards in esports competitions.

And as a special bonus, it looks like the flawed but photo mode – or CinemaHUD as it’s called in-game – has been given a few quality-of-life improvements, featuring fewer but more effective options – so pretty depth of field effects can be achieved much easier.

This means we may need to revisit our ACC screenshot guide…

The full changelog can be found below:

GENERAL:

• Updated project to Unreal Engine version 4.26.2.
• Added Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe 2021 season as bonus content with all entries and drivers and championship season.
• NOTE: certain entries are subject to DLC ownership.
• Added all-new BMW M4 GT3 as bonus content as part of the 2021 season.
• NOTE: as with any major update, game menu settings (stored in menuSettings.json) will likely reset on first initialization, reloading of Video presets will be necessary.

GRAPHICS:

• Added Nvidia Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) 2.0 support for compatible GPUs (RTX 20XX series or newer).
• Please check manufacturer GPU driver requirements.
• Added AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) support for all GPUs.
• Please check manufacturer GPU driver requirements.
• NOTE: both DLSS and FSR are selectable and functional in Triple Screen and VR rendering modes.
• NOTE: DLSS is a temporal sampling method with a proprietary antialiasing solution, while FSR is a spatial upscaling method that can be used in combination with other Temporal AA solutions.
• NOTE: please read the ingame help texts in the Video Options to learn more about the functionality of each method’s respective sampling, antialiasing and sharpening solutions.
• NOTE: DLSS implementation includes a custom DLSS dll version by Nvidia, manually updating to generic version releases might result in regression of image quality.
• Added Temporal Antialising Gen5 option support.
• Offers improved aliasing and clarity at a moderate performance cost. Optional over the existing TAAgen4 and KTAA implementations.
• NOTE: only functional with Temporal anti-aliasing mode selected.
• NOTE: FSR is incompatible with the Projection Correction view setting feature.
• NOTE: it is STRONGLY suggested to remove other open-source or third-party implementations of any of the features above (such as via OpenVR etc.)!
• NOTE: due to the large number of changes in rendering, it is STRONGLY suggested that custom engine.ini or third-party shader modifications be removed for this update!
• Added the new rendering mode settings to save with Video Settings presets.
• Fixed a limitation with Triple Screen rendering that did not allow Temporal Upsampling to be used in combination with it.
• Updated global lighting and exposure on all tracks to follow Unreal Engine version changes.
• Updated visual tonemapper presets to follow Unreal Engine version changes.
• NOTE: the updated tonemapper settings might produce slightly more saturation and contrast than in earlier versions, adjust per taste.
• Revision of various track-related shaders to follow Unreal Engine version rendering changes.
• Revision of various car-related shaders to follow Unreal Engine version rendering changes.
• Skybox revision to suit Unreal Engine version rendering changes.
• Optimized light emitters at Nurburgring for improved performance.
• Reduced bezel gap artefacting appearing along the bezel lines in Triple Screen rendering mode.
• Reduced SSAO and SSR artefacting around the bezel line in Triple Screen rendering mode.
• Updated TV, cinematic and free cameras to use the new Unreal Engine cameras with improved DOF effects.
• NOTE: this is a global change, old cameras are deprecated.
• Updated CinemaHUD to use the new and improved DOF effects.
• Improved blurred wheel rim shader.
• Improved car spray effect, especially in light/medium wetness situations.
• Improved raindrop effect rendering logic to follow the updated spray effect.
• Improved rainfall shader appearance in external cameras.
• Car headlight shadow bias tweaks to prevent lights penetrating walls on close distance.
• Updated track HLODs.
• Added rotary switch animations, available with select cars.

GAMEPLAY:

• Added Open season, merging all game content into a “sandbox” season featuring grid customization.
• NOTE: individual official seasons remain playable with no change to their earlier functionalities.
• Added opponent grid mixing option to Custom Race Weekend and Quick Race game modes in the Open season.
• Use the grid mixing sliders to set car group prevalence in the grid.
• GT3 car group has an additional setting for preferred generation of opponent cars (all, pre-2019 or new-gen).
• Added Open series championship mode with grid (car groups) and track lineup customization.
• Fixed multiclass championships not splitting points per car groups.
• Automatically generated custom cars are now grouped into teams both in single-make custom mode and Open series championship.
• Reworked driver assignment system to support custom-generated grids and various driver count requirements.
• Standardized entry and team ID system across the whole game content in support of the Open series grid generation and championship.
• NOTE: it is recommended to restart ongoing championships, continuing pre-1.8 saves might not bring full functionality.
• Removed entry duplication between the 2019 GTWCH and IGT seasons.
• Fixed potential rule inconsistencies between official sprint and endurance game modes when played via Single Player and Championship.
• This also fixes inconsistent auto-selection behaviour of the MFD in these sessions depending on game mode.
• Tweaked AI logic for strategic decisions reacting to weather changes.
• Fixed a potential issue with AI pitstop status when loading a saved game, causing cars to DNF.
• Improved AI genome at Bathurst, Barcelona, Laguna Seca and Kyalami to reduce the chance of unforced driving errors.
• Improved weather model: variability (=randomness in MP) now affects the variation and frequency of weather cycles:
• Higher variability will now produce larger variation and less predictability in the length of individual weather cycles (time between peaks).
• High variability might produce both fast changes or prolonged weather spells (or both combined) within the same weekend simulation.
• Low variability will produce more even weather cycles, akin to the pre-update model.
• Revised skewed track limit definitions for Oulton Park that prevented correct gain calculation.
• Revised pit speeding thresholds that were often too permissive, both on pit entry and pit exit.
• Fixed invalid lap being eligible for personal and session fastest (purple) lap in race sessions (also in Multiplayer results).
• Overhaul of track limit warnings on wet track with its own dynamic, gain-based reference system.
• Added measures against irregular driving before the green light in Hotlap and Hotstint game modes.
• Fixed an issue with the Ferrari 488 GT3 (both versions) that resulted in an inconsistency in pitstop position versus other cars.
• Replay: revised replay tyre rotation matrix calculation to avoid misalignment between tyres and rim (and reduce disk space).
• The improvement is backwards-compatible, while newly saved replays should occupy less disk space than before.

UI:

• Revised season selector header in Single Player menu.
• Added GTWCHEU 2021 season selection in Single Player.
• Added Open series selection in Single Player.
• Revised car selection page, added filtering per series lists.
• Applies to both Open series and Multiplayer car selection page.
• Revised CinemaHUD interface and integration with DOF controls.
• NOTE: DOF mode defaults to disabled when Free (F7) camera is toggled.
• CinemaHUD now toggles off when switching to non-free/F7 camera.
• CinemaHUD now hides automatically when entering garage page or exiting replay.
• Added coloured session labels in Replay menu.
• Added option to constrain the aspect ratio of TV cameras in wide or triple screen rendering modes to 16:9 (the centre of the screen) – find in General Options.
• Added session fastest (purple) lap holder indicator in standings, leaderboard and timer widgets.
• Updated MFD pit strategy (auto)selection logic:
• Instead of automatic strategy increment after each stop, the strategy selection now does not change automatically but rather autoselects the next clean tyre set on the last active strategy.
• When all tyre sets are used, the selection goes to the least used set. Manual selection override is still possible via the MFD. With this there is no longer need to preselect pitstop tyresets on the setup strategy page.
• Added pitstop indicator and session fastest lap on the leaderboard HUD overlay.
• Finer step increments for certain Video settings (exposure gain, image contrast, saturation).
• Showroom: ESC/back restores UI opacity when UI hidden by middle click instead of directly exiting.
• Showroom: added stance/camber to showroom cars and potential fix to precision error leading to inconsistent wheelbase when losing/regaining application focus.
• Statistics page: added option to clear personal best laptimes for a given car/track combination.
• WARNING: this operation is permanent and cannot be undone.

PHYSICS:

• Physics engine optimizations: variable component tick frequency, optimized multithreading.
• It results in smoother single player performance with high number of AI and fewer spikes due to overloading single cores on heavy calculations (such as simultaneous collisions).
• Might not result in outright maximum fps gain, but a signfificantly lower single-thread occupancy and late steps can be expected, particularly with larger grids.
• 400hz physics refresh rate.
• Improved FFB.
• Improved tyre flex.
• Improved camber simulation, especially on high positive camber values.
• Improved Outside, Mid, Inside tyre heating relative to camber.
• Improved Outside, Mid, Inside tyre wear relative to camber.
• Improved camber gain simulation, properly affecting slip angles and forces. Evident with high camber values over kerbs and longitudinal bumps.
• Improved surface flash temperature tyre simulation. Wider range of heat generation.
• Improved heat generation in extreme conditions (burnouts, donuts).
• Improved heat generation relative to tyre pressure.
• Improved core temperature retaining. Tyres dissipate heat significantly slower now, no need to wait right until the last moment to go to grid.
• Completely rewritten and improved combined grip simulation.
• Completely rewritten and improved tyre vibrations at high speed and high slip angles.
• Improved slip angle/ratio simulation relative to cold and overheating tyres.
• New viscoelastic rubber friction model.
• Improved dynamic tyre characteristics in various temperature conditions.
• New rubber bumpstops damping simulation.
• Bumpstops damping values for all cars.
• Improved engine throttle simulation.
• Improved launch control.
• Improved rev limiter behaviour (soft limiters on some cars).
• Improved traction control simulation.
• Improved brake ducts heating influence simulation.
• Improved rain tyres behaviour (not necessarily easier)
• Improved the simulation of brake efficiency and power.
• Improved track grip simulation on and off the racing line.
• Improved ambient vs. track temperature delta.
• Added a condition that simulates mist during the night in certain temperatures.
• Fixed Lamborghini Huracan GT3 and Huracan GT3 Evo front steer rod geometry.
• Fixed excessive rear bump steer on the Nissan GT-R GT3.
• Fixed excessive rear bump steer on the Lexus RC F GT3.
• Fixed an issue with setup boundaries.
• Added dedicated 2021 GTWCHEU season BOP.
• Added Open series BOP (currently matching the 2021 season BOP), functioning as a moving BOP with the latest seasons. Most importantly it also serves as the basis of Multiplayer BOP.
• Added 2021 British GT season BOP using the latest DHE tyres when a British GT-exclusive track is played through the 2021 season or the Open series (or Multiplayer).
• Updated IGTC BOP to use the latest DHE tyres when IGTC-exclusive tracks are played through the 2021 season or the Open series (and Multiplayer).
• Updated Mount Panorama to the latest available BOP when played through the 2021 season or the Open series (and Multiplayer).
• NOTE: the original IGTC and British GT seasons in Single Player continue to use the original 2019 BOP with corresponding tyres that the original DLC packs recreated!

CONTROLS:

• Updated wheel manufacturers’ SDKs.
• Added Thrustmaster SF1000 display support.
• Added Damper option under FFB settings – controls how much damping is allowed through the wheel driver’s DI Damping setting.
• Increased FFB frequency steps to correspond with the global physics frequency update.
• MULTIPLAYER:
• Revised car groups, merging the CUP and ST groups into a single GTC group for matchmaking and server filtering.
• Note that CUP and ST remain represented as separate subgroups on the track map, leaderboards and results.
• Stats: revised and merged grouping of statistics per race track.
• Note that tracks are only separated per season where an older season might produce faster laptimes due to higher track grip (such as the fresh asphalt on Silverstone 2018).
• Stats: fixed an issue that had a tendency to generate unrealistic personal best laptimes.
• Note that pre-1.8 incorrect PB laps can be cleared manually on the Statistics track breakdown page.
• WARNING: this operation is permanent and cannot be undone.
• Multiplayer track seasons are now deprecated and all track configurations point to the Open series (currently matching the latest, 2021 season, see Physics notes).
• Note for admins: the old season suffixes in the server configuaration will remain there for legacy functionality, but they will no longer create a difference in track/BOP version!
• Server track configuration (event.json) should use the non-suffix version in continuation, e.g. “misano” instead of “misano_20XX”.
• Note for users: no matter the server config, Multiplayer will always use the latest Open series configuration from Single Player.
• Further revised final corner penalty thresholds with the widget formation type when the back of the field is likely to receive the green light inside or coming out of the final turn.
• Ratings: fixed an issue that could erroneously produce 100 (or 00) CC rating at Spa.

Have you tried out the new BMW M4 GT3 with all these lovely new updates? Let us know how you got on in the comments below.