I have a friend who's a big Dota 2 and Counter-Strike player, but he's been thinking about getting into sim racing lately. Naturally, he's played most of the Need for Speed and Gran Turismo games before, but his only experience with Assetto Corsa is limited to seeing me drive a few times. I sent him a Gift Code for the game via Steam for Christmas, so he can see what the fuss is all about.
As you've seen in previous stories, the Assetto Corsa universe is seemingly infinite, thanks to a strong community of modders still creating new content for it. Earlier this month, we tried matching Porsche's Nurburgring record in the 919 Hybrid Evo, but we'll give it another chance next month as we'll be using a Logitech G29 setup. And you might hear quite an F1 enthusiasts that they've chosen to stay away from F1 2022 in favor of Assetto Corsa. The whole experience is both challenging and exciting at the same time, and there's even more content to explore than you'd expect.
A while ago, we downloaded a mod called F1-75, which is a replica of Ferrari's 2022 race car. And we used it to have fun on every single track on the F1 calendar this year, going into each race. The same developers that created this mod are now focusing on the 2009 season of Formula 1, and today they've just launched their fifth car from that era. You might remember them as they also launched the 296 GT3 mod a while ago, which is a great addition for any GT racing enthusiast.
In 2009, cars were still using the 2.4-liter V8 setup, and some teams started using a kinetic energy recovery system (KERS) for a bit of extra oomph. If you're having a tough time remembering what 2009 was like, we'll give you a few hints. Lewis Hamilton was driving for McLaren-Mercedes. Kimi Raikkonen was still over at Ferrari. Sebastian Vettel was in a Red Bull Racing machine and took P2 overall at the end of the year. And Jenson Button won the championship for Brawn-Mercedes.
About a month ago, the developers we mentioned earlier released the 2009 F60, a replica of the car Scuderia Ferrari used that year. You can download this for free from their website. The Panasonic Toyota Racing TF109 chassis was up next, but you need to pay about $3 to get this one. And the same applies to all of the following vehicles too. The Brawn GP BGP 001 and McLaren-Mercedes MP4-24 were next on the list, and that brings us to today's release: the Red Bull Racing RB5.
While Vettel took an honorable P2 that year, his teammate Mark Webber wasn't far behind in P4. They scored enough points for Red Bull-Renault to finish in second place in the World Constructors' Championship. The team outshined both McLaren-Mercedes and Scuderia Ferrari that year, signaling what was about to come next for the series. The team of developers will release all the cars used by F1 teams in 2009, and they're halfway through already.
We've test driven the F60 over at Spa, and while it feels slightly slower than the F2004, it's still pretty exciting to be in. If you've got what it takes, you should be able to run a full lap at the Belgian circuit in less than one minute and 45 seconds. Vettel's best qualifying time back in the day was 1:44.592, so it could be exciting to see if you can improve on his performance via Assetto Corsa.
The things Dragos enjoys the most in life are, in no particular order: cars, motorcycles, diecast cars, and drifting. He's seen (and driven) many vehicles since he started his writing career back in 2009, but his garage currently houses a 1991 Mazda RX-7 FC3S Turbo II and a 1999 Suzuki SV650-S. Full profile
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