Assetto Corsa Evo Early Access Review

ign.com:

Assetto Corsa Evo is easily one of the most exciting racing games of 2025. The huge open-world map of German countryside surrounding the famous Nürburgring Nordschleife that developer Kunos Simulazioni is currently crafting for it should make it one of the biggest in the genre. Literally, that is. The map is going to be 1,600 square kilometres in size. That’s about 15 Forza Horizon 5s. However, we’ll need to be patient for that, as the first chunk of it isn’t set to arrive in Evo’s evolving early access version until mid-year, and then grow from there. For now, at least, we get five tracks and 20 cars to noodle around in. The good news is that the driving feel is unsurprisingly fabulous, right out of the gate. At this point, however, that’s… essentially it. It’s hard to argue Evo makes a strong case as an immediately crucial purchase in this early state if you’re not especially keen on taking some warm-up laps before the main event kicks off.

It’d be unfair to haul Assetto Corsa Evo over the coals too severely for its current technical blemishes. Yes, I’ve had it hitch up and drop frames occasionally and, yes, it’s crashed or frozen on me several times following its launch – although I’ve certainly had lengthy stints on-track where it’s been entirely cooperative on my current high-powered PC setup (RTX 4080, Intel Core Ultra 9 185H). Overall, it’s admittedly not running on all cylinders right now, but that’s the nature of ‘Early Access’ as a concept. We obviously need to be prepared for it to be a little more Alpha Romeo than Alfa Romeo at this point.

And while five circuits and 20 available cars is modest, it does make for a decent amount of combinations to experiment with – and that’s without factoring in the adjustable wet weather options that obviously have very real effects on handling. If you think you’ll be happy to simply hotlap solo around the initial tracks (which include Mount Panorama, Brands Hatch, Imola, Laguna Seca, and Suzuka), Evo’s early access