Assetto Corsa EVO, from the same series that began with Assetto Corsa and then Assetto Corsa Competizione, has been in early access since January 16, and is allegedly due for full release late this year, although it's already mid-November now so this should mean it should be here very soon, unless it officially gets pushed back into 2026. I haven't played it in early access, but I have much respect for the first two series entries and highly anticipate full release of EVO.
Continuing with Assetto Corsa, I am also excited for Assetto Corsa Rally, which looks promising from the view snippets I've seen, and again I have much respect for the series in general. Unfortunately, it also is not in full release as of this writing, but has went into early access this very month, on November 13. One thing I'm excited for with ACR is the laser-scanned stages. I've played rally games that recreate some real stages, and I've played some that had nothing but fictional stages, but what I've read of ACR sounds like all the stages are laser-scanned recreations of real stages, so not only to we get authentic rally stages but they're highly accurate rather than just ballpark approximations.
Another title dropped on November 13. This time we're talking Rennsport. I'll keep this one in the back of my mind but I don't see me rushing to it any time soon. Maybe if I get tired of other titles for a while and want something different, and maybe if it's on sale for like an 80% discount, we'll see. The problem for me with Rennsport is that it aimed to be a simulation, not "simcade" or arcade, but feedback I've been hearing suggests that while it tried to be a true simulation it somehow failed at achieving it. As an example, experienced sim racers say the driving just feels "wrong", and/or like "driving on ice".
Something else that really struck me with Rennsport is the gross microtransactions. Yes, it's common to have optional microtransactions in video games, but these seem ridiculous. They lock very basic, very crude liveries behind a pay wall, and deliberately make it so you can't just buy the exact amount of credits needed but rather have to buy the next package up, meaning they force you to buy more than you need for whatever you're trying to get. They had a higher credit amount listed as "popular" but the game wasn't even out yet when people were noticing that, which begs the question "Popular with whom?" Clearly they just made that up, suggesting lots of people buy it when nobody has yet actually bought it. We're not talking about sophisticated liveries, either. If Rennsport had a livery editor similar to something like Forza Motorsport, I could make these in a couple minutes with zero effort. This feels vulgar to me.
If this wasn't enough, we also have Project Motor Racing coming out next week, on November 25. After the death of Forza Motorsport, of which I had been a passionate fan for about two decades, I was sort of hoping PMR might be the well-timed replacement for me. I was kind of hoping it would lean a bit more towards a simulation, maybe like Assetto Corsa or Project CARS, but it's looking to lean a bit more "simcade", which would actually make it more like Forza Motorsport. If that's what they're aiming for, and they actually nail it, I'll probably be satisfied. What doesn't work for me so much is when a game tries to be something but fails at it, like Rennsport sounds to be.
