Opinion: Why I think Kunos could return to Assetto Corsa Competizione

Co-founder of Kunos Simulazioni, Marco Massarutto, spoke to Traxion recently about the prospect of Assetto Corsa Competizione receiving updates in the future, even though the company is very much focused on developing its successor, Assetto Corsa EVO.

“We are discussing how to keep it [ACC] updated, at least until EVO is ready to take the seat,” he stated, very much implying that the official game of the GT World Challenge series could receive new content in future.

But with EVO currently in Early Access (EA) and still the prime focus for the studio, why is Kunos actively discussing the prospect of releasing new updates for ACC? 

I’ve run through a few potential reasons below.

Assetto Corsa EVO reception

First, let’s address the elephant in the room: Assetto Corsa EVO’s EA release has not gone to plan for Kunos.

Thanks to server problems, which revealed a surprising ‘always online’ requirement for the game, EVO’s initial release saw many players locked out of its Driving Academy, Special Events and car customisation modes, with a fix arriving a full three weeks later.

Frequent bugs and performance issues have also blighted EVO, with fans left frustrated by the apparent lack of progress in implementing new features. One of the key features – the game’s much-vaunted open-world map – looks to have been pushed back, and a sense of apathy has spread among the community: concurrent player numbers have dropped from a peak of 25,752 to just 334 at the time of writing (3rd July 2025).

For comparison, ACC still commands over 4,000 daily players, while Assetto Corsa, which released way back in 2014, regularly hits over 14,000. Even for an early access game, where bugs and limited game modes are generally tolerated by players, this is a worrying trend.

However, Kunos is fighting back. The studio’s other co-founder (and former Lead Programmer), Stefano Casillo, has returned after a spell developing sailing sim Hydrofoil Generation.  His new role as Chief Technology Officer indicates where EVO needs his expertise most, perhaps.

Content for EVO has also arrived at a more advanced rate than initially anticipated, too, with modding set to arrive before the game reaches v1.0. This is notable as AC remains massively popular today thanks to its mod-friendly architecture (think of a car, track or open-world location, and it’s likely there’s a community-made AC mod for it). With fans worried about whether mods would even be included in EVO, this was immediately a PR win, especially as ACC was almost entirely mod-free.

However, EVO’s early roadmap was put in the bin, with the game’s v1.0 release date shifting from ‘Fall 2025’ to ‘TBC’.

Despite all this, you wouldn’t bet against Kunos turning the narrative around, especially considering both AC and ACC endured tough periods early on.

Assetto Corsa’s financial importance

Kunos is owned by publisher 505 Games, who in turn is owned by the publicly-listed Digital Bros. Its last set of financial results exemplify how important the franchise is to the group, with the report citing AC’s ‘outstanding performance’, which accounted for 34% of all the company’s ‘premium games’ revenue from July to September 2024.

This follows on from previous reports where AC has consistently appeared as a top earner for Digital Bros. Between 1st July 2024 and 31st March 2025, the franchise made €25.6 million – an increase of 34% on the previous year.

Make no mistake, the Assetto Corsa games are vital to the group’s success and the continuing support of its shareholders.

This sits amid the backdrop of wider financial pressures and job losses in the video game industry, with 505 closing its offices in Germany, Spain and France in 2024. Recent lay-offs at Codemasters and Turn10 Studios underline the need for a steady stream of revenue, with ACC DLC perhaps offering temporary financial respite during EVO’s elongated early acess period.

SRO links

Kunos is intrinsically linked with GTWC’s organising body, SRO Motorsports Group. ACC features cars from several SRO series, including several national and international GT2, GT3 and GT4 championships. 

Touring cars and single-make sports car series have also featured, with ACC also forming the basis of the popular SRO Esports championships. The races are all broadcast live on SRO’s GT World YouTube channel with a professional broadcast and commentary team, providing a shop window for ACC and a lucrative new fanbase for SRO.

SRO Esports has had a fallow year in 2024, but its logo was spotted in EVO’s latest trailer, indicating the Kunos-SRO relationship could continue in some form for the new game.

“Competizione is still appreciated by the community,” stated Massarutto, “but being a title that is strictly connected with a championship (SRO’s GTWC), not updating the seasons or liveries is a bit like playing today an older Formula 1 game like F1 23 or F1 24,” he concluded.

This is the biggest hint yet that ACC will receive up-to-date content, perhaps also nurturing Kunos’ relationship with SRO until EVO is ready for the rigours of online esports.

The spectre of competition

The shift from ACC to EVO has left something of a power vacuum in the GT3 sim racing community. The category retains its popularity with the sim racing community and was buoyed further by the emergence of Le Mans Ultimate’s LMGT3 cars.

These have proved to be a revelation, with LMU’s player numbers surpassing ACC’s in recent weeks. iRacing has also stepped up its GT3 game by introducing a raft of physics and tyre model updates in its Season 3 2025 update, making the cars far more drivable as a result.

Put simply, ACC and Kunos are no longer the leading purveyors of virtual GT3 racing.

Updating ACC makes complete sense from a financial and reputational perspective, then, with new content filling Digital Bros’ coffers while keeping its fans happy. It could also dissuade players from jumping ship to iRacing or LMU while EVO trundles towards v1.0.

Do you think we’ll see new content added to Assetto Corsa Competizione? Let us know in the comments below.