When you’re throwing a Mitsubishi Evo this way and that along Welsh singletracks like an uncontrollable ballroom dancing partner in Dirt Rally 2.0, at no point do you have the spare brain capacity to stop and think, “The handling physics probably let me get away with one there.” Rally is the most demanding of four-wheeled disciplines, and Codemasters’ venerable 2019 release certainly never felt like it was watering down the challenge. Not until we stepped into the cockpit in Assetto Corsa Rally.
As you might already have seen, there’s a fresh young upstart making a name for itself in the virtual track. Following a reveal at Sim Racing Expo 2025, this new technical partnership between Kunos Simulazioni (who provide the physics engine and support) and Supernova Games (who head up development itself) has a lot of expectant eyes on it. And having driven several stages, in several vehicles, in all kinds of weather, we can say this much: Expectant they should be.
It takes about two corners to realize this is a different kind of rally sim. One corner, if it’s tighter than a left or right three. If you carry in an optimistic level of corner speed and hope you’ll find that Codemasters-style turn-in that initiates a nice, easy-to-control powerslide, you’ll be writing your co-driver’s wife an apology card very soon. No, this is an unflinching, rigorous kind of loose surface driving simulation, something more of the Richard Burns Rally school, where enjoyment takes a backseat to authenticity.
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To that end, the Supernova devs have actually gone out and laser-scanned the rally stages that feature in the game. As in, every bit of every course, all 15km+ of them. That’s a first for rally games, and when you’re behind the wheel, it means you really notice the width of the road. The trackside objects, which seem to be licking their lips in sadistic anticipation as you approach. The ditches and divots, all modeled with unprecedented accuracy, which absolutely can’t wait to turn your Delta Integrale into iron filings.
It’s that combination of accurate road topography, precisely true-to-life angles, and peripheral hazards that makes the stage stand out in Assetto Corsa Rally. But truth be told, it’s the sensations of the vehicle that make you care in the first place.
Caveat time: When you’re test-driving in a high-end sim racing rig, it can sometimes be difficult to discern how much you love the hardware from how much you love the software. But even in the decadent Sim Racing Expo setup that we sampled the game in, it’s clear that the physics engine is the star of the show. Your platform responds to both your inputs and the road’s with razor-sharp agility, and there’s a snappy feeling when the back end enters a drift that requires very precise timing and a measured wheel input to countersteer against. In other words, the car’s an absolute handful.
Which is, of course, the intrinsic joy of rally. Simply stringing a few corners together without a significant bit of the car falling off is inherently satisfying, and truth be told, it takes us one and a half entire stages before we tune in sufficiently to the handling model in order to achieve this. Once we do, it’s a vehicular flow state. There’s nothing else in the universe. Just a steady stream of pace notes, worryingly unsighted rural windings, and raucous engine noises.
Audio is another area of particular care for the team. Not only does the engine rattle and roar in a very convincing manner from inside the cockpit—everything from minor knocks to stage-ending dismantling is captured with eerily immersive sound. How such audio samples were captured is anyone’s guess, and we haven’t ruled out the fact that the devs simply took to the Welsh countryside with some mics and worked down the list of ways to write off a Hyundai i20 Rally one by one.
This being an Early Access release, it’s a barebones offering that first arrives on November 12. Two locations—Alsace and Hafren—will feature, along with a robust vehicle roster that includes classic 1970s Group 4 machinery your dad would have posters of in his garage, WRC icons like the 2001 Citroen Xsara, and modern hardware in the form of Peugeot’s 208 Rally4. Oh, and a 1984 Lancia Rally 037 EVO 2 Group B. Terrifying.
The experience of driving those gravel roads in Hafren, and the snaking runs of tarmac through Alsace, keeps popping back into our heads. The sharpness of the car, the unforgiving nature of initiating rear slip. The euphoric feeling of getting a prolonged sequence right. The sound and the force feedback—placing you in the car. It’s clear that this will be a sim we drive for many, many months after its initial early access release, and could well be the title that finally topples RBR. There are question marks—most pertinently, how much additional content is planned, and what sort of cadence it’ll arrive at—but right now our brains only have the capacity to digest pace notes, and those notes are telling us it’s flat out until November 13.
NOTE: This article first appeared on TopGear.com. Minor edits have been made.
