‘Assetto Corsa EVO’ Debuts on PC VR Headsets in Early Access—Is It Worth the Wait?

Assetto Corsa EVO just hit the Early Access stage on Steam, marking the latest chapter for the racing series. This time, they’ve rolled it out for both traditional screens and PC VR headsets. While the anticipation has been high, the game is getting a mix of reactions, especially from those in the VR community. Many are advising that it might be best to hold off until some much-needed patches arrive to iron out the current performance hiccups.

Developed by KUNOS Simulazioni, the masterminds behind Assetto Corsa (2014) and Assetto Corsa Competizione (2018), this latest release has been long-awaited. The Early Access version initially offers five tracks and 20 vehicles, along with single-player mode, SteamVR headset support, and triple screen compatibility. However, the full content package is yet to come, with promises of 100 cars, 25 tracks, open-world exploration, and both career and multiplayer modes in future updates. Despite these aspirations, VR players are finding themselves less than thrilled with the current state of the game.

With over 2,700 user reviews already submitted, the game currently sits with a ‘Mixed’ rating. While some feedback touches on the absence of promised features, a significant chunk highlights the lack of proper VR optimization, making gameplay in virtual reality nearly impossible.

One Steam user, Poloman, comments, “It’s early access, so I won’t dwell on performance issues, but VR is just unplayable right now. My setup gets 150 fps in 3440×1440 but struggles to hit 30 FPS in VR.” Another user, Mattios, echoes this sentiment, stating, “VR feels unplayable with my RTX 4090 and i9 13900k, even on the lowest settings. The game runs with constant latency spikes in VR, though flatscreen performance is fine and doesn’t fully stress my hardware.”

Similarly, Dan chimes in, “At its current state, I can’t recommend it if you’re after VR play. Even with my Radeon 7600X and 7900 XT, I get merely 50 fps on a Quest 3 using Link and OpenXR, and that’s with just one car in practice at minimum graphics settings. Beyond that, there are visual glitches mostly in the menus, and the default FFB settings aren’t up to Kunos’ usual standard. It’s best to wait for updates before diving in.”

KUNOS Simulazioni’s approach to Early Access isn’t new. Their previous games have followed this same path, so the gradual release of features isn’t unexpected. Although VR was not always available from day one in their games, it has remained a vital aspect of their series. Assetto Corsa was an early advocate for VR, starting with experimental Rift support back in 2013 and later adopting OpenVR to extend support in 2017. Assetto Corsa Competizione rolled out full VR support just a month after its monitor release.

As KUNOS Simulazioni assures a complete version 1.0 release within a year from Early Access inception, many enthusiasts are hopeful the game will see significant VR optimizations, making the $32 investment worthwhile.