Reaching the finish line in a racing game takes on average about three minutes. When the race lasts much longer, for example a quarter of an hour, it is either the final or some additional challenge for more demanding customers. Of course, this is not the case with all kinds of simulators, the authors of which try to do their best to make the player feel like a real driver. One of them is Assetto Corsa Competizione, the second installment of the series launched in 2014 by Kunos Simulazioni and 505 Games, in which you can sometimes rub your eyes in amazement at the way the competition approaches the subject (e.g. Forza Motorsport or Gran Turismo).
Forget about everything that has nothing to do with realism. Getting experience points, getting promoted to more leveslas, and the time-shifting function, not to mention inventions such as collecting finds. In the career mode we don't go one race after another, because at the very beginning we have to prove our skills in three ten-minute test runs, driving Lamborghini in sunny weather, in the rain and under the cover of night. After turning on every possible assistance, you still need to be on your guard, even if you take advantage of probably one, the only element that still reminds us that Assetto Corsa Competizione is still just a game. Hell of a realistic game, but still a game. We are talking about the possibility of switching on the optimal driving track, so that we know when we can add throttle and when we should start braking.
But when we buy games like Assetto Corsa Competizione we don't want to make things any easier for ourselves (unless we're just starting our adventure with simulators), because the point is to feel at least a substitute for what real drivers experience. If you're not quite familiar with car tuning, you can use three preset settings, but there are so many different sliders for experts that their number can sometimes make you dizzy. Especially since, in addition to modifying performance and adjusting the difficulty level, the game offers many additional features to enhance realism. It's up to us whether the tyres will wear out during the competition and how many kits we'll take in alternately. We can also make it necessary to refuel when going down to the box, as the Assetto Corsa Competizione can easily activate the fuel gauge.
Burying under the bonnet in Assetto Corsa Competizione is not only an art for art, because it is a game in which every decision, even the smallest one, is of great importance. This is due to the fact that the driving model is refined in the smallest detail, which makes each car drive in a completely different way, and after modifying the performance of the machine, you can get a better lap time or, on the contrary, push yourself to the last place. This is very important because the creators of Kunos Simulazioni offer us not only access to the competition itself, but also to the qualifications and the training that precedes it. Interestingly, you can spend a lot of time on one track, because training can last up to two hours (a minimum of 10 minutes, although you can skip this stage), qualifying up to 40 minutes (here we also have the option to jump to the next session), and the race itself will take us 120 minutes (a minimum of 20 minutes).
Assetto Corsa Competizione requires patience and therefore time. In return, it's really fun, because even if we get to the finish line again in the last place, we'll still feel that we've made some progress. Maybe not in the game itself, but in learning to drive these super fast cars, because mastering the available machines is not that easy at all, even though it is possible to switch on the aforementioned optimal track, and each trip off the track invalidates the lap, while a collision with a different car reduces our rating for safe driving. So we're going to be losing to power, trying to learn from our successive failures, slowly climbing up the career ladder, and whether or not we can reach the very top will depend on our perseverance. It is important to remember, however, that every mistake, even the smallest one, is the fault of the player, although occasionally it happens that the AI driver will push us to the grass, as a result of which we will lose valuable seconds.
In the career mode, we not only take part in three session competitions, but we also go to the track to test new tires, for example. In addition, Assetto Corsa Competizione offers championships and special events where we simply try to win individual races on faithfully reproduced tracks. The same applies on the web, although multiplayer - apart from normal competitions - also allows you to drive freely. The countdown timer is set 24 hours a day, and players join the game "on the fly", simply enjoying the ability to drive a car.
In terms of graphics, Assetto Corsa Competizione looks really decent, although it's a bit different from games like Forza Motorsport 7 or Project CARS 2, but it's better than Gran Turismo Sport. So there are no fireworks, but there is a specific atmosphere that makes the reviewed production hard to mistake for any other simulator. It is worth noting, however, that despite the not necessarily satisfactory quality of textures, Kunos Simulazioni has put a lot of effort to ensure that the player can enjoy faithfully reproduced cars and tracks. Both have been created with great attention to detail, which will surely satisfy all racing enthusiasts. However, they won't be happy with the not-so-successful optimization, because on a PC with an AMD FX-8350, 16GB RAM, and a GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB GPU, even with all the graphics watersports turned off, it was hard to achieve a constant 60 frames per second.
To sum up, I must say that the time spent with Assetto Corsa Competizione is hardly lost. I enjoyed the game (but there were some frustrating moments, but as I said before, it's a common occurrence here) due to the phenomenal driving style. With many options to adjust the level of realism, car settings and other parameters, not only veterans of the genre, but also those who have not yet reached for such demanding productions can get acquainted with it. For my part, I recommend the work of Kunos Simulazioni, I recommend both of them, because Assetto Corsa Competizione is simply a successful racer in the world.