Things may have gotten a little awkward during the 2022 SRO Motorsports Annual Press Conference in Belgium on Friday afternoon (29th July 2022) as future plans for Assetto Corsa Competizione were announced ahead of schedule.
Earlier in the stream and before the Esports section of the conference, SRO Motorsports Group Founder and CEO Stephane Ratel commented on the advancement of simulation technology, specifically with the Asseetto Corsa Competizione platform, the official partner of many official SRO series.
About halfway into the live stream, Ratel mentioned that he was happy because he heard that the folks at Kunos Simulazioni and Assetto Corsa Competizione were going to be adding the GT2 class of cars, and so he could finally practice those cars on the sim instead of the usual roster of GT3 cars.
About 15 minutes later, Kunos Co-Founder Marco Massarutto stepped up to the platform to speak on the journey that the Assetto Corsa Competizione platform has taken over the last four years. First, it was announced that the platform would be supporting the 2023 season for the SRO Fanatec GT World Challenge with liveries and new cars.
Marco then responded to Stephane’s earlier comment, saying that the decision to include GT2 was just made yesterday, so it was “not a story to be told today”. He then divulged, stating the announcement of the new Maserati MC20 GT2 was part of the decision for the future inclusion in the simulation.
Marco also said that the future GT2 DLC Pack might be the last one “to say goodbye”, as we all know Assetto Corsa 2 will be released the following year in 2024. Stephane then got back on stage and apologized for the early announcement. “Sometimes, passion drives me, sometimes I go quicker than the speed, I’m not good on speed limits,” he joked back.
2023 GT WORLD CHALLENGE GT3 CARS ANNOUNCED
Our own Thomas Harrison-Lord is in Belgium this weekend for the 24 hours of Spa and all of the events taking place in the Fanatec Esports Arena. Tom tracked down Marco Massarutto following the conference and asked about everything that was announced.
“Well, today we unveiled that we will support Assetto Corsa Competizione with the addition of the 2023 (GT World Challenge) season, which will see three new cars, all the liveries and some overall updates for the game,” Massarutto told Traxion.GG.
“This should be in spring, or late spring, in 2023. Just in time for the beginning of the season in Monza, the Ferrari 296, Lamborghini EVO2 and Porsche 992.”
In particular, the Ferrari 296 GT3 was also unveiled earlier today at the same event, and will be included alongside the Porsche 911 992 GT3-spec. Yes, the ‘Cup’ 992 was in the recent Challengers DLC Pack, but this one is the full-fat GT3 R 992. The Lamborghini Huracán Evo2 is the third car and was announced earlier this year.
- Ferrari 296 GT3
- Lamborghini Huracán Evo2
- Porsche 911 GT3 R 992
‘SURPRISE’ GT2 DLC PACK ANNOUNCEMENT
It wasn’t part of the script, but we can now confirm that there will be a GT2 DLC Pack in the future thanks to some quips between Stéphane Ratel and Marco Massarutto during the SRO conference.
“GT2 was a surprise,” Massarutto said to Traxion.GG. “We evaluated this option for months and eventually we agreed to do it. It was due to be announced a bit later this year, but in the end it has been fun.”
“We will have the GT2 pack next year sometime. It will be seven cars plus the Porsche 911 in two versions, including the 935 shape.”
Massarutto later confirmed that all current GT2 cars, plus 2023 additions will make up the seven:
- Audi R8 LMS GT2
- Brabham BT63 GT2
- KTM X-BOW GT2
- Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo EVO GT2
- Maserati MC20 GT2
- Mercedes-AMG GT Track Series
- Porsche 911 GT2 RS Clubsport and 935
The full video is embedded below, but the two important parts of the announcement are at 37:30 when Stéphane accidentally leaks the future GT2 DLC and at 54:40 when Marco confirms the future additions.
