The way video games are released and handled after release has changed considerably over the years. Gone are the days of a title you buy staying the same no matter what, as the internet became much more widespread in the past 20 years. Of course, this allows developers to update and patch their titles essentially as they please, even on consoles.
Things did not stop there, however. These days, it is not uncommon for games to be playable in Early Access way before they actually release in full, and sim racing is not exempt from this. The most prominent example in 2025 is Assetto Corsa EVO, of course, with the eagerly-awaited sim by Kunos Simulazioni having seen its first Early Access release 16 days into January. The approach has both advantages and disadvantages, and it appears that expectations for Early Access titles have risen considerably as well, leading to potentially bigger disappointments.
Does this mean that sim racing has an Early Access problem, then?
BeamNG.drive has officially been in Early Access since 2015. Image: BeamNG
What is Early Access?
Early Access is basically self-explanatory. Before a game is finished and released, publishers and developers may offer players to play the game in Early Access. Usually, this means that they pay less than they would on full release to play during pre-release development stages, during which they can also give feedback to the developers. On the flip side, parts of the game may not work as intended yet, or content may still not be fully realized.
Most commonly found in projects of smaller studios, Early Access releases can be a way for a studio to secure the funding needed to complete the game while also taking the community’s wishes and suggestions into account. At the same time, Early Access can be viewed as an enormous beta test that would cover nowhere near as many variables as an internal one could.
Our own Community Manager @Christopher E has worked as a Producer for Studio 397 and Development Manager for Motorsport Games in the past, and he thinks positively about it: “Early Access for sim racing really makes sense, in most cases, and might be the only way for a title to ever get in our hands. Games, and specifically sims, require a substantial amount of resource – code, art, testing, marketing, licensing – which translates to a long development time. Early Access can help small studios make a first return, build a reputation, and, if their title is successful and well-received, provide part of the funding to continue the project.”
“We can’t forget that sim racing is a niche within the gaming industry, so it is a blessing we get brand new titles at all, even if they are very bare bones and have bugs and lack content. One big thing Early Access has going for it: developers are highly motivated by positive feedback. Receiving encouragement on their WIP can help keep moving things forward. We, the public, have more influence than we think.”
in 2025 it seems like quite a few developers and publishers choose this route. And of course, after running our community poll on the topic, we could not even try to answer the question posed in the title without asking a few developer studios to share their thoughts on Early Access – so that’s what we did.
Image: Kunos Simulazioni
Assetto Corsa EVO Early Access – Kunos Simulazioni
As mentioned, Assetto Corsa EVO is the most prominent example for an Early Access title in the sim racing space. After the successes of Assetto Corsa and Assetto Corsa Competizione, developer Kunos Simulazioni aims to deliver something completely new with AC EVO, blurring the line between a pure racing sim and an open-world driving simulator.
Despite being one of the biggest names in sim racing, Kunos is actually not that big of a company, and releasing AC EVO in Early Access allows them to keep it this way. “Thanks to the EA program, we can keep the size of the Kunos team reasonable“, explains Kunos Co-Founder and Managing Director Marco Massarutto. “Products like AC EVO are so complex that they need a lot of time in development, even because we are not used to re-using the the previous technology without retouching it deeply, if not completely.”
According to Massarutto, there are currently 35 people working on Assetto Corsa EVO, “and coordinating a team like this – even if our team size is ridiculous if compared with many of our competitors – is quite demanding, because we don’t want to lose the focus on what the vision of Assetto Corsa is, and finding the right developers to understand and respect the DNA of AC is not that easy.”
Image: Kunos Simulazioni
Staying True To The AC DNA
In a way, the Early Access program could be considered a measure to keep the quality of the title consistent. Hypothetically, even if the amount of needed developers who are in line with the AC DNA could be found, it might not actually all that beneficial, as Massarutto continues:
“We recognize that we could double or triple the Kunos team to face all the challenges that a production like EVO require but, first of all, doubling the team would reduce – possibly – of 20% the development times, not 50% or more, and it wouldn’t make Assetto Corsa dev-costs sustainable, especially in the current situation of the video gaming industry, where a lot of products don’t cover neither the production and licensing costs with sales.”
While Assetto Corsa EVO is an exception to this, according to Massarutto, “with a team of 70 to 90 people, I guess the situation wouldn’t be so good in the current days.” Digital Bros, of which publisher 505 Games is a brand, leaves Kunos every freedom the studio needs, as Massarutto highlights, “and the EA program favors this freedom. The alternative? Making Assetto Corsa less simulation, more game, trying (and failing, possibly, like many others did) to embrace a much wider audience with a generic racing game. It wouldn’t be Assetto Corsa anymore, and nobody wants it. Not Digital Bros, not Kunos, not the community.”
Image: Kunos Simulazioni
Indeed, a concern many in the OverTake community raised before the initial release of EVO is that the title would stray too far from its simulator core, fearing that it would be too far on the casual side. Fittingly, community input is also important to Kunos, as Massarutto continues:
“The Early Access program allows us to ‘extend’ the Kunos team with the best beta testers we can find on the planet, the sim racing community: they play EVO like no others, they can find what is missing, what is wrong, what can be improved, and at the same time they support the development with their purchase and spread the word with other gamers. And I cannot thank all of them enough!”
Early Access Keeps Pressure “Reasonable”
With how complicated sim racing titles have become, the approach also “allows the team to stay focused on content and features with a reasonable pressure: imagine being an athlete who trains for four years to join the Olympic games, and then he puts four years of training on the table, all in one shot. It’s insane“, finds Massarutto. “We have been working on EVO for more than four years now, and working behind closed doors for so long and then releasing ‘the kraken’ crossing our fingers would be insane as well, at least for us.”
After having opted for an Early Access program with both previous entries to the Assetto Corsa series, the AC EVO one has been met with high expectations, and a number of sim racers were disappointed with the launch. Others, however, saw a lot of positives. For AC EVO, Massarutto confirms that “it has been a succesful story, and this is just the beginning.”
Kunos’ Managing Director’s closing words to the community: “Let me thank all of you for the patience and the trust you are showing with us, it’s a bond we don’t want to lose, and we are working at our very best to make you happy!“
Image: Motorsport Games
Le Mans Ultimate – Motorsport Games & Studio 397
The sim racing community was wondering about a lack of information on Le Mans Ultimate as its supposed release in February 2024 drew near. Once Motorsport Games and Studio 397 did open up communication about the official WEC game, many were surprised to learn that the title would launch in Early Access instead.
On one hand, the game was not in a state that was deserving of the v1.0 status, as Motorsport Games and Studio 397 CEO Stephen Hood repeatedly explained. On the other hand, LMU would not have seen the light of day without the Early Access program at all.
“A Lifeline” For LMU, MSG & Studio 397
“Early Access enabled us to launch a title that already had a lot of content and work poured into it, with tonnes of potential, and be honest about where we were as a company and what we needed to do to continue to exist“, says Hood. “There were too many issues cropping up, and we knew the game couldn’t be considered the complete ‘official game of the FIA World Endurance Championship’ without key features like driver swaps. So for us, much of our focus has been filling out what we believe to be the requirements to meet a full release including improving stability, whilst listening to the passionate community that has built up around the product.
Image: Motorsport Games
“Our Early Access launch demonstrated Studio 397’s capability to deliver, and continue to develop, a meaningful product” continues Hood. “It has proven we do have the talent to compete at this level and the passion demonstrated over the last 12 months I think, has won a lot of people over. Early Access was a lifeline, without which I cannot confidently say we would still be here without.”
There are, however, also sim racers who are not too happy with the decision to offer 2024 WEC season content as paid DLC while LMU is still in Early Access, a point that continues to pop up in the OverTake community as well, also with the added notion that the 2024 content should have been in the game to begin with.
“Stability And Features Were Our Focuses”
However, “the content promised and delivered in the base game is, and has always been, of the 2023 centenary season“, reiterates Hood. “As previously mentioned, stability and features were our focuses in Early Access. Like many sports and racing titles, we have given the option of additional content to bring the game up-to-date with the ‘real world’. “
That does not mean that Hood thinks the release of the 2024 content could not have been handled differently: “Arguably, an option could have been to retain this additional content for sale post version 1.0 or to increase the base game price to include this content but we’ve always had the approach of offering players the option. Of course we understand some of our audience don’t agree with DLC during Early Access – You can still enjoy the game, play online or offline with all categories with just the base game alone.”
Automobilista 2 – Reiza Studios
Following the small success of the original, Automobilista 2 launched in Early Access in March of 2020 before its full release in June of that same year. Since then, the sim by Reiza Studios has been continuously evolving with updates of different magnitudes, taking arguably its biggest step forward in November 2024 with the release of version 1.6.
“Racing sims are very complex to put together, not only from a technical and production standpoint but also commercially given the number of third-party IP these games normally feature“, says Reiza Founder and Lead Developer Renato Simioni. “AMS2 pre-production was especially tricky as we were getting to grips with a new game engine while organizing several licensing deals, many of which with new partners – and then the pandemic hit as we were still advancing several of these deals.”
In this difficult situation, the Early Access phase was a helpful method for Reiza to keep advancing Automobilista 2. “An Early Access release in such casescan be an excellent resource to introduce the game to the market, bring in some cash flow and receive invaluable feedback from those users that can not only endure those growing pains, but also actually enjoy contributing to the development process at the time it can make the most difference, continues Simioni.
In a way, the Early Access approach lives on in AMS2 even in 2025. For a limited time in 2023, sim racers could join the Paddock Club to receive access to the beta program, allowing them to play and test new versions ahead of their release. This did not come at a lower price like in a ‘normal’ Early Access program, however, with prices being higher than the retail version’s instead – which was due to the fact that Paddock Club members would receive any existing and future DLC for AMS2 at no extra charge, saving them money in the long run.
Community Opinions On Early Access
After establishing that Early Access is regarded as helpful by sim racing developers, let’s look at the other side of the coin – your opinions. We recently ran a poll to ask the OverTake community about just that, after negative thoughts regarding Early Access seemed to pop up more and more.
Positives
With that in mind, the poll results are a bit surprising, as most participants chose an answer that saw Early Access as a positive thing. In fact, almos two thirds of those who answered, namely 62.5% thought that the approach is a good idea, although to varying degrees. Most of those who were in this positive camp also want the game in question to receive regular meaningful updates while its developers are transparent about their work.
One OverTake community member that is in this first group is @pz666. They state that they “love the transparency of the Early Access phases in development“, and that “rather than having the game out there as a fully released title with major flaws like so many other titles in sim racing, having the Early Access on there gives me the relevant tempering to my expectations.”
Meanwhile, @Nitro McClean offers an interesting take on Early Access: Despite “three bad experiences in a row now” with Rennsport, LMU and AC EVO, “I am glad that there is something like Early Access. It gives the opportunity for anyone who is curious to try it out early. If these people share their experiences with us, we will know what to expect. But don’t be angry when you find out it is not what you like. I am not angry after three bad experiences. Just disappointed in myself that I could not resist the temptation.”
Project Motor Racing is set to release in 2025, likely also in Early Access. Image: Project Motor Racing
OverTake user @Ghoults is “all for small studios going the way of early access for their first release if they need the funds to quit their jobs or pay the bills to keep the development going. They really need the things early access bring on the table and probably don’t have any real alternatives.” However, this should be limited to small studios, in their opinion: “I think it is somewhat sad to see bigger developers going that route. They don’t need to do it. I’d guess they do it to create more hype for the actual launch.”
This is supported by @hotak, who understands the increased need for strategies like Early Access due to development costs that have risen whereas game prices have stayed roughly the same: “I think we should understand that what we’re paying like 30€ is something we are massively underpaying, and unfortunately by not falling prey of those tactics and refusing to buy early access games we’d only benefit big publisher and leave us less and less SimRacing studios.”
@Slapped has had good and bad experiences in gaming in general, “but that is the risk you take when deciding whether a particular game is something worth the risk buying in order to finance further development – it doesn’t always pay off.” But “when talking about sim racing or sim driving, I’ve got to say that the Early Access phases, have, for the most part, been pretty good.”
Addressing the negative comments towards AC EVO’s first Early Access release, they agree that “it’s pretty bloody minimal at the moment. However, people forget that Kunos’ Early Access has always meant very early access, but they’ve always delivered down the line.”
Negatives
And while a fair few OverTake community members were unsure about Early Access (16.9%), just under 21% rejected the idea, mostly because they feel like Early Access is too often used to sell unfinished WIP titles.
Finish is the key word for @jgf, for instance: “I want a finished product. Anything less and you’re just paying to be a beta tester.” In another reply, they add to this that “years ago, beta testers were paid, rarely in cash but in computer components and/or software. During a year with Sierra, I built a new system, except case and monitor, from such perks.”
@Johnny Speed was not too pleased with their own experience regarding Automobilista 2 due to the feeling of the sim being unfinished. “Then they sell DLC without fixing core game issues? Then they sell ‘Club access passes’? It left a sour taste, and I really do like Reiza’s games.“
For @Speednut357, it is the thought and way of communication behind the Early Access program that counts. “We recognize the complexities of game development and the necessity for sustainable funding models. However, early access should not be exploited as a method to monetize unfinished products over extended periods. The sim racing community deserves transparency regarding development timelines and a clear distinction between early access support and additional content purchases.”
PISTA Motorsport by REG Simulations is currently in Early Access as well.
Perhaps, @aphidgod‘s post in the poll’s discussion thread sums it up best: “Buying into early access is entirely voluntary. You don’t have to participate if you don’t like it. If you somehow feel hard done by after jumping into an EA title, you truly have nobody to blame but yourself.”
Of course, there were more opinions given by our community members on the topic of Early Access. Read the full discussion thread of our Early Access poll here to dig even deeper!
Going back to the initial question, however, it does not seem like sim racing has an Early Access problem. The approach is helpful for developers, and many sim racers seem to appreciate the option of being part of the development process – in the right conditions, that is.
Are you surprised by the poll results? What are your thoughts on the perspectives of the developers? Let us know in the comments below!
Nota: El contenido ha sido traducido por Google Translate, por lo que algunos términos pueden ser imprecisos
Fuente: https://www.overtake.gg/news/does-sim-racing-have-an-early-access-problem.2912/