Yesterday marked a significant day for racing enthusiasts with the Early Access debut of Assetto Corsa EVO on Steam. This new addition to the series opens up its engines to both standard displays and PC VR headsets, though early reactions have been mixed. VR users, in particular, are raising eyebrows, with many suggesting you might want to hold off until some vital patches roll out to tackle the game’s challenging optimization issues.
KUNOS Simulazioni, the creative minds behind the 2014 Assetto Corsa and its 2018 sequel Assetto Corsa Competizione, have finally brought forward the much-anticipated Assetto Corsa EVO. In its Early Access form, the game offers five tracks, 20 different vehicles, a single-player mode, and support for SteamVR headsets, along with capabilities for triple screen setups.
Even though the complete experience is set to unfold over time, adding up to 100 cars, 25 tracks, an open world map, and both career and multiplayer modes, it’s clear the current VR experience is falling short of expectations.
The community isn’t holding back their opinions, with over 2,700 reviews so far, which place the game at a ‘Mixed’ score. While some point out the expected lack of features, most VR-related feedback is straightforward—it needs major optimization. For the VR crowd, it’s proving largely unplayable right now.
“As it’s early access, I won’t dig into the performance issues,” writes Poloman, a Steam user. “However, VR is currently unviable—I get 150 FPS at 3440×1440, but VR only manages 30 [FPS].”
Mattios shares a similar story, saying, “Even with a hefty RTX 4090 and i9 13900k, I find the game unplayable with VR at the lowest settings, targeting just 80hz. The latency spikes are unbearable no matter the settings. Flatscreen mode is another world altogether—it runs smoothly maxed out, barely touching 80% GPU and 10% CPU without needing to upscale.”
Dan adds, “It’s hard to recommend it as things stand. VR optimization is lacking; on my system (Radeon 7600X + 7900 XT), it only manages 50 FPS while using a Quest 3 with Link and OpenXR—even with minimum graphics settings and just one car on track. Not to mention the visual glitches I encountered mainly in the menu. Plus, the default FFB settings didn’t meet my expectations for a Kunos game. I’d suggest waiting for updates before deciding.”
Historically, KUNOS Simulazioni’s Assetto Corsa titles have seen staggered feature additions during similar Early Access phases, so this gradual content rollout isn’t unexpected. While VR support hasn’t always been available from day one, it’s long been a crucial aspect of the series.
The original Assetto Corsa was a pioneer in VR racing, introducing experimental Rift support as far back as 2013 and extending OpenVR support in 2017. Assetto Corsa Competizione followed suit, with full VR support arriving just a month post its traditional release.
KUNOS Simulazioni is committed to reaching a full 1.0 release “within less than one year from the start of Early Access,” so we’re eagerly awaiting further optimizations. These adjustments are crucial to making the VR experience worth the $32 investment.
