Assetto Corsa

Assetto Corsa built a reputation as one of the most accurate racing simulators thanks to its finely modeled vehicle physics and licensed circuits and cars from real-world motorsport, on which the effort to recreate real car behavior as faithfully as possible clearly shows. Virtual reality support let players sit in the cockpit in a genuinely authentic way – tracking speed through the dashboard display with peripheral vision, naturally judging braking points through depth perception, and turning their head to check mirrors, none of which ever felt as natural on a flat monitor and which noticeably changed how the player perceives speed and the proximity of rivals.

The game offers a wide range of cars, from road models to full-blooded racing specials, and a set of tracks faithfully matching real circuits, which, combined with a VR headset and a supported controller or wheel, makes it one of the most popular titles among the sim-racing community, one willing to invest even in costly hardware. The modding scene has also added hundreds of additional cars and tracks over the years, helping Assetto Corsa maintain an active player base long after its original release, even after the arrival of newer competing simulators it still competes with today for the sim-racing community's attention.

The sound design of engines and tires, combined with a precise feel for driving, helped Assetto Corsa become a reference point for later sim-racing titles, including its own sequel. In VR mode, the difference between driving on smooth asphalt and a broken road surface stands out noticeably as well, since the player perceives the car's jolts spatially, not just through a screen. In VR it then offers one of the most convincing feelings of speed and control over a vehicle that the PC platform can offer in the racing simulator genre.

Why play: For its precise feel of driving and the noticeable difference between smooth asphalt and broken road surface, Assetto Corsa offers in VR one of the most convincing feelings of speed in the racing simulator genre.