Nascent sim racing title Rennsport is now in free-to-play Early Access

We’ve been to the launch events, tested the closed beta, the open beta and the Steam playtest – but now, at last, the road to a full launch is a bit closer for Rennsport as it hits Early Access.

Joining the likes of Le Mans Ultimate and (in January) Assetto Corsa EVO, the Competition Company’s work-in-progress racing simulator is now a free-to-play title.

While much development work is still expected, the shift in release categorisation denotes some notable platform changes too.

Perhaps at the top of that list is an all-new user interface, first previewed last month. It focuses on bigger, clearer, blocks for simpler access to the most popular game modes.

On circuit, the way GT3 cars perform specifically is said to have been reworked.

Then there’s a new car. Following the Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo in October, comes the BMW M2 CS Racing, which is free for all players who join Rennsport during the Early Access Period.

We are specifically noting that this car is free, as henceforth, any car not in your digital garage (from the prior betas) must now be purchased using an in-game currency, that in turn is purchased with your local real-world currency. Think RaceRoom’s VRP.

Full pricing was not available at the time of publication, although it seems like the following is true:

• 500 – €4.99
• 1,000 – €9.99
• 2,000 – €19.99
• 3,500 – €34.99
• 6,000 – €49.99
• 10,000 – €99.99

There is an entry-level set of currency, although Traxion was not able to verify this before the Early Access went live – we’ll update this list when possible.

Example car costs we were privy to include:

• Audi RS 3 LMS TCR – 1,050
• Audi R8 GT4 – 1,060
• Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo – 1,350
• Audi R8 LMS GT3 evo II – 1,350
• BMW M4 GT3 – 1,350

All tracks, but one, are free to play. That’s everything, including the likes of Spa-Francorchamps, Hockenheim and the recently added Crest da Cauras.

The Nürburgring Nordschleife is the exception, which is exclusive to the optional Founder’s Pack DLC.

We’ll be digging into Rennsport more in the coming weeks and months, as we track its progress towards an expected full 2025 release.

Rennsport 1.12.0 Early Access patch notes

New content

• Added BMW M2 CS Racing
• Implemented new UI menu system for the whole game
• Added new 3D scene for garage and made it visible across all main menu screens
• Added content for Pre-Season Battle Pass
• Replaced BMW M Hybrid V8 LMDh’s steering wheel with the version currently used in real-world racing in this car

New features

• Implemented stickers system with images applied on top of car’s livery and on car dashboards
• Implemented battle pass system
• Implemented rewards claiming system
• Implemented driver titles system
• Implemented player profile background images system
• Implemented In-game Store 1.0 with more content to buy on both Steam and Epic Games Launcher
• Implemented rotating car roster system
• Added pit crew animations when performing pit stops
• Added pit stop radar to in-game HUD
• Implemented feature for compiling all shaders inside the game in main menu to avoid hiccups during their first loads in gameplay maps
• Added system for displaying currently active yellow flag zones on in-game minimap
• Implemented logic for distinguishing between minor and major false starts
• Added sector comparison feature for time trials
• Added possibility to automatically advance to next time trial opponent after beating currently selected one

Gameplay

• Changed how collision cooldowns are handled to a severity-shared timer with some additional caching
• Reworked minimap system for better accuracy of player icons

Physics

All GT3 cars

• Implemented new tire model
• Adjusted tire grip behaviour
• Adjusted tire heat retention behaviour
• Adjusted tire cooling behaviour
• Adjusted tire lifespan
• Adjusted tire sizes and spring rates for each car
• Reworked base setups
• Adjusted engine braking
• Adjusted brake distribution
• Adjusted braking power
• Adjusted ABS behaviour
• Adjusted Fuel Consumption

Praga R1

• Implemented new tire model
• Further adjustment will be required for grip/heat/cooling/lifespan behaviours

Performance

• Further improvements in reducing CPU frame time to improve experience with multiple cars on a track (especially on older CPUs)
• Reworked assets loading logic to improve loading times and occasional hiccups when interacting the game
• Removed DirectX 11 support due to its incompatibility with some of the new game features

Audio

• Adjusted opponent sound per-distance volume to improve audio quality and performance
• Fixed some problems with missing tire sounds and added more detail to the sound itself
• Equalized volume levels in BMW M4 GT4

Bugfixes

• Fixed some problems with loading screen scaling
• Fixed issue with corner cuts not being registered correctly when hitting limit-detection cones on lap 1
• Fixed some cases where yellow flag zones were sometimes not replicated correctly between players in multiplayer scenarios
• Changed yellow flag zone updating logic so players moving out of track bounds can’t extend it infinitely while driving outside of track bounds
• Fixed issue with tire temperatures not being affected by unit selected in interface settings
• Reduced loading time of car meshes to fix some problems with hiccups when players join servers
• Fixed issues with corner cuts not being cleared correctly when resetting time trial attempts
• Fixed issues with penalties being given to players when resetting time trial attempts
• Fixed issue with game not applying correct MGU-K deployment modes when starting time trial attempts
• Fixed some issues with engine starter sounds sometimes not being triggered properly when starting from garage
• Added stage names to stage start events in event table of the replay UI
• Improved driver’s hand positioning on Hyundai Elantra N steering wheel
• Fixed some issues with in-game leaderboards table flickering when the game is paused
• Extended the time trials leaderboard page size to cover the lists length