Yesterday, we reported on Kunos Simulazione’s Assetto Corsa Compeitizione v1.8 Keynote, in which they talked us through several changes and improvements headed to their GT3 simulation, as well as the addition of the 2022 BMW M4 GT3. However, at the end of the video, eagle-eyed viewers may have spotted some interesting teasers as to what’s possibly coming to the sim next year. More specifically, three new cars: the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup 992 (992), the Ferrari 488 Challenge and the BMW M2 CS Racing Cup car.
Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (992)
This is Porsche’s next-generation GT3 Cup car, taking over from the 991 campaigned for many years in Supercup and national Carrera Cup championships across the globe (and in Assetto Corsa Competizione, of course). The car has already found its way into other sims like iRacing, so makes complete sense to see it come to Assetto Corsa Competizione (ACC) next year – just in time for Porsche Carrera Cup Great Britain’s switch to the 992.
The Porsche 911 GT3 Cup is driven by a mixture of professional and amateur drivers, so needs to cater to a wide gamut of driver skill, with the F1-supporting Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup widely seen as the pinnacle of single-make sportscar racing worldwide.
Ferrari 488 Challenge
As opposed to the Porsche Cup car above, the Ferrari 488 Challenge hasn’t appeared in Assetto Corsa Competizione as of yet, so this is potentially an all-new class of car for the game.
Much like the Porsche however, the Ferrari 488 Challenge is designed for professional and amateur drivers to go racing in the Ferrari Challenge Europe, North America, UK and Asia-Pacific series. The car screenshotted from the v1.8 Keynote video looks like the 488 Challenge – first used in 2017 – so one can even speculate that the newer 488 Challenge Evo will emerge at a later date, and will perhaps mean the end of official Ferrari esports competitions using the venerable Assetto Corsa platform.
BMW M2 CS Racing
Another single-make class of car, the BMW M2 CS Racing Cup is provisionally set to feature in a few real-life championships next year, including the BMW M2 CS Racing Cup Benelux and BMW M2 CS Racing Cup Italy. However, as the new entry point to BMW’s M Customer Racing range, it’ll also feature as a class for the Nürburgring Endurance Series (NLS) on the infamous Nordschleife, with an entry-level ‘Permit B’ car having 365 bhp, and a ‘Permit A’ car jumping to 450bhp.
Essentially, the more powerful car is designed as a stepping stone to the monstrous M4 GT3 and the numerous series it’s eligible for. We’d also expect to see the M2 CS Racing feature in competitions such as the SRO-run TC America championship, as BMW is already represented there with its M2 CS, M235iR and M240iR Cup cars.
Perhaps most excitingly, the M2 CS Racing continues with its position on the DTM support bill in the form of the M2 Cup. Does this hint towards ACC receiving some DTM or Nordschleife content in future?
No.
Plus, Circuit of the Americas
As a final blurry teaser from Kunos, the last frames of the video show the Circuit of the Americas, so we can at least put a name to the unconfirmed US track now.
With a new Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo EVO2 already seen in-game, it looks like we’ll be treated to at least four new cars and one new track for ACC next year, and one wonders what else the developers have in store for us in the next twelve months.
Well, Marco Massarutto, Executive Manager at developer Kunos Simulazioni, recently hinted that six or seven new cars will be coming to ACC next year, and we only count four so far. Could it be cars from the GT2 European Series? We can only speculate at this stage.
However, as with previous updates, we’d expect the PC version of the game to receive new content first, with PlayStation and Xbox coming later. When we receive more information we’ll be sure to keep you updated!
Are you looking forward to trying out the new cars? What else do you think is coming to ACC? Let us know in the comments below.
