Assetto Corsa developer Kunos Simulazioni has said that the next game in the sim racing franchise will not be a spin-off like Assetto Corsa Competizione, and will instead be a proper sequel.
In an interview with racing game publication OverTake, studio executive Marco Massarutto spoke spoke about the same, saying that AC2 was not an accurate codename for Assetto Corsa Competizione, and that the next instalment, unlike the last one, is going to be a full-fledged sequel. For context, several files in Competizione use AC2 as a descriptor for the game.
“To be brief, the codename [‘AC2‘] that was given to Competizione was wrong,” said Massarutto. “The new Assetto Corsa is going to follow what we did with Assetto Corsa 1. It is not just a sequel, it is much, much, more. It’s definitely not a spin-off like Competizione.”
Massarutto spets quite a bit of the interview talking about an upcoming DLC for Assetto Corsa Competizione that will add the famous Nürburgring Nordschleife as a racetrack. He talked about how the decision to bring the track to the game only happened thanks to a partnership with SRO Motorsports Group for the Intercontinental GT Challenge series, which would bring 24 Hours of Nürburgring to the game.
“My reaction was ‘Oh my god, not now, not now,’” said Massarutto, since it essentially threw the studio’s development schedule into disarray. “This was our initial reaction because our workflow is on a schedule, and we didn’t know anything about the announcement. It was even a surprise to us, even though we have worked with the SRO for many years. They wanted to make a surprise, and they did!”
The release of the new DLC is stated to be one of the reasons for the sequel’s lack of a release date currently. Digital Bros—parent company of publisher 505 Games—revealed in a fiscal report last year, however, that the company is targeting Spring 2024 launch window for Assetto Corsa 2.