Assetto Corsa EVO: Early Access State, Content and Physics

Assetto Corsa EVO is the new simulator from KUNOS Simulazioni, the studio behind Assetto Corsa, published by 505 Games. It has been on sale in Steam Early Access for Windows PCs since 16 January 2025. This page describes the state of the game on 18 October 2026: what it contains, what has changed during Early Access and what is still to come. It replaces an earlier pre-release article whose claims about the engine turned out to be wrong.

Engine, platform and hardware support

EVO does not run on Unreal Engine. The Steam store page describes a new KUNOS Simulazioni proprietary, high-performance photorealistic engine, and every car is reproduced with the studio’s in-house physics and graphics engine. The official EVO page adds volumetric clouds and fog and dynamic global illumination to the weather and lighting.

The Steam page names Windows 10 and 11 (64 bit) as supported systems and lists no console version. VR runs through SteamVR, Oculus and OpenXR, and the developers describe VR and triple screens as first-class features of the new engine. Wheels, pedals, handbrakes and gamepads are supported, with force feedback on DirectInput devices and on Fanatec, Logitech and Thrustmaster hardware. Since the 0.9 update the force feedback recovers automatically after a wheel disconnects or the game loses focus.

What Early Access contains

At the start of Early Access, Kunos promised at least five tracks and twenty cars. Content has been added in numbered updates since then, and the roster now spans road cars, classics, hypercars and race cars. The most recent updates give an idea of the pace:

0.7: cars including the Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II, Datsun 240Z, Porsche 935 (2019) and Porsche 911 GT2 RS Clubsport Evo, plus editor tools and a new particle system.
0.8: the KTM X-Bow GT2 and GT4 and the Volkswagen Golf 8 R, the Kyalami circuit, community car content in multiplayer with SHA verification, and work on VR.
0.9, 26 August 2026: the Audi R8 LMS GT2, Audi R8 V10 performance quattro and Mazda RX-7 FD Spirit R (Type A), Special Events, mandatory pit stops online and a new tyre model for racing slicks.

The official EVO page lists circuits including Brands Hatch, Imola, Monza, the Nürburgring Nordschleife, Spa-Francorchamps and Suzuka, built with laser scanning and photogrammetry. The content available in Early Access changes with every update, so check the Steam page before buying the game for one particular car or track.

Game modes

Single player: available from the start of Early Access.
Driving Academy: listed by the developers as an Early Access single-player mode.
Multiplayer: online races with a server browser and self-hostable servers. Since 0.9, timed races of more than 20 minutes can require a pit stop with a selectable pit window.
Daily Racing Portal: scheduled online racing organised by the game.
Special Events: added in 0.9, Hotlap and Hotstint events with the same fixed conditions for every entrant and worldwide online leaderboards, optionally with a limited number of recorded attempts.

The store page does not describe a career mode. Mod support is limited to community car content in multiplayer; a general mod system like the one in the original Assetto Corsa is not described.

Physics and tyres

Kunos describes a new physics model with upgraded suspension, differentials and dampers, and a new tyre model meant to give more precise grip information through the wheel. Update 0.9 brought an updated tyre model for racing slicks, deployed on the GT racing cars, and the asphalt model responds to changing weather. Earlier updates reworked the dynamic track, in which grip changes during a session.

Physics in Early Access changes between versions. Setups and personal reference laps from one version do not necessarily carry over to the next, so after a major update rebuild your reference instead of chasing old times. Our guides to force feedback settings and clipping apply to EVO as to any other simulator, and the comparison of tyre models across the big sims explains why the tyre model matters most.

Free Roam and the road to 1.0

The largest missing piece is the open world. The Steam page says the full version will include a large open world map area scanned from real world data. On 7 October 2026 Kunos revealed it as Free Roam: a 1:1 scale recreation of the Eifel region in Germany. At launch the playable area will include the Nordschleife, the surrounding villages and the roads connecting them, with changeable weather, a full day and night cycle and AI traffic, playable solo or in multiplayer. The world is to grow to further parts of the Eifel over time. Free Roam had its public debut at Sim Racing Expo in Frankfurt from 16 to 18 October 2026. No release date was given.

The Early Access section of the Steam page still states the aim of a 1.0 release within less than one year from the start of Early Access. That point passed in January 2026, and no 1.0 date had been published on the official pages we checked on 18 October 2026. The same section says the price is expected to rise as content is added, so the full version will cost more than Early Access did.

Who it suits now

Buy now if you enjoy following a simulator through development, drive mainly road and GT cars on circuits already in the game, and can live with physics that change between versions.
Wait if you want Free Roam, a finished single-player structure or stable physics for league racing.
Look elsewhere for organised competition today: Assetto Corsa Competizione for GT racing, Le Mans Ultimate for endurance prototypes and iRacing for rated online racing.
Drifting still belongs to the original game; see our Assetto Corsa guide and drifting games for PC.

If you are choosing your first simulator, choosing your first sim compares the options by what you want to drive.

Frequently asked questions

Is Assetto Corsa EVO built on Unreal Engine 5?

No. The Steam page describes a new proprietary engine developed by KUNOS Simulazioni, and the cars use the studio’s in-house physics and graphics engine.

Is Assetto Corsa EVO still in Early Access?

Yes. Version 0.9 was released on 26 August 2026, and on 18 October 2026 no date for version 1.0 had been published on the official pages.

Is Assetto Corsa EVO available on PlayStation or Xbox?

The Steam page lists Windows 10 and 11 only. We found no console release date on the official pages.

When will Free Roam be released?

Kunos revealed Free Roam, a 1:1 recreation of the Eifel region around the Nürburgring, on 7 October 2026 and showed it at Sim Racing Expo, but gave no release date.