Assetto Corsa EVO's 0.7 update is shaping up to be one of the simulator's most underwhelming releases yet, despite introducing the first official modding tools, four new cars and an online safety rating system that aims to reward racers for doing something increasingly rare online: actually racing each other.
The headline addition is the launch of the Assetto Corsa EVO SDK app, marking the first official step towards community-created content in Kunos Simulazioni's budding racing title.
Assetto Corsa EVO Opens The Door To Modding
Modding has always been a major part of Assetto Corsa's success story, helping the original title remain relevant more than a decade after release with the likes of Content Manager and, in part, the huge volumes of mods we have here on OverTake. With the introduction of the SDK app, Kunos is finally laying the foundations for a similar ecosystem in EVO.
At launch, the toolset focuses exclusively on vehicle creation, allowing technically minded users to build and import custom cars into the simulator for use in single-player modes. The development pipeline reportedly mirrors many of the same technologies and workflows used internally by Kunos themselves.
While multiplayer support for custom vehicles is planned for a future update, the first SDK release is very much a starting point. Track modding and custom liveries are also on the roadmap, with Kunos describing the SDK as the beginning of a long-term vision for a more open and expandable platform.
For a community that has spent years creating everything from historic Formula cars to entirely fictional racing series, this will likely be the most exciting part of the update for many OG Assetto Corsa fans.
Four New Cars Join The Roster
The 0.7 update also expands Assetto Corsa EVO's vehicle lineup with four notable additions, all of which have been previously announced here on OverTake.
Leading the charge is the Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II, the final evolution of Audi's hugely successful customer racing platform and one of the most recognisable GT3 cars on modern grids.
The new Porsche 911 GT2 RS Clubsport Evo Kit in Assetto Corsa Evo
Joining it are two variants of the classic Datsun 240Z and two track-oriented Porsche weapons: the legendary Porsche 935 and the Porsche 911 GT2 RS Clubsport Evo Kit, ensuring there will be no shortage of turbocharged excitement for drivers who enjoy wrestling with powerful rear-engined machinery.
A Safety Rating That Rewards Racing
Kunos has also introduced EVO SR, a new Safety Rating system for the Daily Racing Portal that takes a slightly different approach to online etiquette than its major competitors.
Unlike many existing systems that primarily reward drivers for simply avoiding incidents, the newly named EVO SR is designed to encourage close, clean racing. Drivers earn rating points by running in close proximity to competitors without making contact, but just surviving at the back of the pack will gain you little to no SR.
The system uses in-game impact data to determine responsibility for contact, with penalties scaling according to the severity of an incident. Time will tell if this is any better than other sims, but the technology used is awfully similar.
Minor door-to-door brushes are to be treated differently from race-ending slams, while harmless slipstream bumps and solo wall contacts fall below the penalty threshold. In theory, this should discourage players from treating online races as solitary hotlap sessions and instead reward those willing to race wheel-to-wheel without turning every corner into a demolition derby.
Smoke, Dust, and More Visual Drama
The update also introduces a new particle effects system that aims to significantly enhance the visual side of the sim. Tyre smoke now reacts more naturally to wheelspin, while gravel, grass and dirt surfaces kick up debris when drivers venture beyond track limits. Wet-weather racing receives improved spray effects, and collisions are accompanied by dedicated impact particles that add greater visual weight to accidents.
Combined with Assetto Corsa EVO's existing physics model, the new system aims to make racing feel more physical and immersive, whether you're clipping apexes, drifting through corners or discovering exactly how deep a gravel trap really is.
With official modding tools finally arriving, a growing car roster and new systems designed to improve online racing, Assetto Corsa EVO's 0.7 update could prove to be one of the simulator's most important milestones since entering early access.
Patch Notes:
CONTENT
- added Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II
- added Datsun 240Z (S30) - 2 variants
- added Porsche 935 (2019)
- added Porsche 911 GT2 RS Clubsport Evo (991II)
GENERAL
- fixed replay movable object interpolation
- fix for possible crash when quitting session while car is still loading
- fix for a crash when restarting a session with the Huracan ST Evo2
- fix for crash in Thrustmaster code
GAMEPLAY
- fixed automatic wipers not scaling according to rain intensity
- gameplay logic and architectural code revision
- updated delta time logic when game is paused
MULTIPLAYER
- tuning filtering
- added mechanical variant and PI to results dump
- restart session command in MP now repairs all cars
- added admin command ban (server life span)
PHYSICS/HANDLING
- fixed caster adjustment not working with certain new suspension configurations
- engine inertia tweaks on the BMW M3 E46
- Toyota GR86 tweaks to default setup
- balancing for the BMW M3 E30 and Mercedes-Benz 190E
- adjusted power figures and/or torque delivery for a number of cars
RENDERER
- brand new particle system with smoke, dirt and spray and impact effects
there's a fallback video setting to disable the more expensive effects
- renderer update that improves indirect specular contribution when the car is in shadows: effectively it reduces the glow we have had while the car was going from a sunlit condition into a shadowed one, plus in overcast conditions in general
this is enabled both on car and environment materials, so shaded conditions should blend better now across the board
- fixed subsurface scattering contribution when glominess dominates the scene
- fix dark halo caused by "negative" MIE scattering on cloudy scenes
- adjusted vfog ambient scattering term
- fixed glowing blurred rims (especially when metallic) in shadow context
- fix for inconsistent cloud shadows
- updated fog formulation (cubemap and mirrors) to use a phase function that more closely matches the volumetric one
this helps align the contribution between indirect render passes and the main pass
in practice this results in a truer reflection capture on cars, which now also includes volumetrics instead of just the clouds
- changed entirely the texture streamer logic to use GPU feedback. streaming should now behave correctly, especially on larger maps
- added texture quality option in video settings to control texture pool drops and GPU bandwidth usage
- fixed VR volumetric contribution per eye
- fixed and enable FSR path in VR/triple screen
- switched to d3d12ma, using separate mesh pools
- fix for free camera view becoming stuck on a black screen after reaching certain area of the skybox
GRAPHICS
- fixed inverted mirror in Caterham 485 CSR aeroscreen part
- fixed setup-bound stepped car animations
AUDIO
- updated FMOD project version
- Lotus Exige V6 brand new interior sounds
- Toyota Supra RZ (stock) brand new sounds - interior, exterior, custom turbo, custom backfires
- Toyota Supra drift variant full engine rework using the new approach - adjusted turbo volumes, adjusted rev limiter rumble volumes
adjusted drivetrain wobbling params avoiding instability, adjusted max boost pressure to 1.8 bar, improved part throttle modulation, adjusted idle to 1200 RPM
- horn sound updates
UI/CONTROLS
- added backend-fed notifications in the UI
- driver registration now has year of birth instead of age
- UI binding added to disable H-shifter inputs on the fly and use sequential instead
- car specs sheet added on mechanical variant selection
- resized no-scroll list to fix missing material edit box with expansive parts lists
- localization updates
- free camera widget with FOV, DOF and a number of post processing settings exposed
- customization menu categories, these have been added to remove the clutter with cars that have a lot of customization items
- fixed numberplate displaying 1 when the user sets 0
- paintshop colour picker now shows RGB readout and has copy paste function (copy includes material properties too)
- added "exit to desktop" button
What do you think about Assetto Corsa Evo v0.7? Does it meet your expectations? Let us know in the comments down below!
