Ever since the GT7 game release back in March 2022, sim racing drivers have been debating about which game was better between Assetto Corsa and Gran Turismo 7.
While they both have their pros and cons, it can be tough to decide which one is the perfect sim racing game for you.
In this blog post, we’ll take a look at some of the key differences between these two popular racing simulators.
Our goal is to help you decide between these two racing games by looking at few different factors including:
- Driving realism
- Variety of cars and tracks
- Graphics quality
- Car handling
- Compatibility
- Laser scanned tracks
- Prices and Download
So let’s now get started with our in depth comparison guide.
Table of Contents
How realistic is it to drive?
Assetto Corsa is probably one of the most powerful and popular sim racing software that is frequently used by real life drivers to practice their driving skills.
Thus, it is natural for Assetto Corsa to offer some of the most realistic and professional driving experience for its users.
After years of testing a variety of racing games, we can safely say that Assetto Corsa still stands as possibly one of the best and most advanced simulator combining all aspects of a realistic driving experience including handling, sound quality, force feedback, tyre model grip and much more.
Gran Turismo 7 is another great racing simulator that has been around only from March 2022.
Despite being known more as a game rather than a pro racing simulator, the developers of Gran Turismo 7 are still prioritizing their simulation engine to be as realistic as possible to real-life racing.
In fact, the software itself was created based on real life racing physics!
Variety of cars and tracks
Assetto Corsa doesn’t have as many cars and race tracks to offer, but they are definitely one of the best racing game when it comes to GT3, Formula and Drift racing.
There are currently 178 different cars available to pick, and you can choose them to race in a total of 19 race circuits plus 45 different track layouts.
On the other hand, Gran Turismo 7 features more than 520 cars from countless manufacturers around the world.
All in all, the car details and specs in Gran Turismo 7 are quite impressive, but they could definitely add a bit more realism when it comes to their car physics and handling, as Assetto Corsa did.
As for the tracks, there are 35 venues with 25 extra different layouts for you to race on, which is pretty similar to the number of tracks available in Assetto Corsa.
Graphics quality
Assetto Corsa has a state of the art graphics that we can hardly find any flaws in it.
Both the car exterior and interior are very detailed and you can see how they pay high attention to every single detail including also the racing cockpit onboard view.
As long as you are using a PC with a powerful GPU and processor, be ready for the ultimate graphic experience!
Similarly, Gran Turismo 7 is also known for their excellent graphics quality.
It has been one of their strong points since their 2022 release, and their unique Playstation version makes it even more accessible for console gamers to enjoy the great graphics.
Car handling
The car handling in Assetto Corsa is known to be very very hard to adapt to.
For us, we would call it very realistic rather than very hard.
Yes, the only reason why it is relatively harder to handle a car in Assetto Corsa is because of how realistic it is compared to driving a car in Forza Horizon 5, Project Cars 3 and Nascar Heat 5.
In fact, despite being more difficult to handle at first, then once you get used to it, it will actually provide a much better sense of realism that racing enthusiasts always keep looking for.
In contrast, the car handling in Gran Turismo 7 is not quite as realistic as Assetto Corsa, in fact you’ll often struggle to properly feel the grip from the tyres and won’t be able to tell whether the car is sliding or not.
However, it is quite a bit easier to adapt to, and that’s why we highly recommend using Gran Turismo 7 for beginners who just want to have fun with a realistic racing simulation.
Compatibility (PC, Xbox, Playstation)
As you might know already, Assetto Corsa is available for PS4, Xbox One and for PC with a Windows Operating System of 7, 8, 10 and above.
Since playing on PC usually tends to yield the best graphics experience thanks to powerful GPUs, this gives Assetto Corsa a slight edge over console-only racing simulators such as GT7.
With that in mind, racing with consoles should not always be overlooked, especially when you’re racing with Gran Turismo 7 which is only available on Playstation (PS4 & PS5).
In fact, especially for Playstation users, we highly recommend Gran Turismo 7 over Assetto Corsa as it really is one of the few and best racing games that you can run on Playstation 5.
FOV (Field of view)
FOV is one of the most important factors that will determine the immersion of your overall driving experience.
As it applies with most high quality racing games, you can always adjust your FOV in the settings menu.
In the case of Assetto Corsa and Gran Turismo 7, we believe that both games have excellent FOV even when used by default and so you won’t really have to change it that much.
Having said that, mak sure you check our free FOV calculator that we’ve recently released!
Are tracks laser scanned?
Laser scanning is something that will not directly affect your racing performance, but it is highly regarded by sim racers as one of the most important factors to get on point for sim racing games.
In Assetto Corsa, every single one of the race tracks available are based on real life racing venues compared to GT7 fictional tracks list.
Thus, all Assetto Corsa tracks are completely laser scanned up to each and every detail, so that you can experience the tracks just like you would if you were driving on them in real life.
Similarly, Gran Turismo 7 has only got some tracks that are based on real life venues, and only a very few of these are laser scanned to provide users with the most realistic details from the kerbs and bumps on the track.
The majority of tracks that are not laser scanned in Gran Turismo 7 are the ones based on fictional and historical racing venues.
Online multiplayer
Assetto Corsa is an racing simulator that is mainly dedicated for online multiplayer racing.
It’s in fact one of the most popular simulators where the best sim racers from all around the world use it to test out their skills against other talented drivers.
In fact Assetto Corsa comes with a sophisticated licensing system where you will be able to participate in racing events with racers of your skill level.
Gran Turismo 7 applies similar measures to make sure their online races are kept competitive and fun for racers of all levels, though it’s nowhere near as competitive and professional as Assetto Corsa online events.
Force Feedback (FFB)
While Assetto Corsa and Gran Turismo 7 operate on different devices, it is safe to say that both developers have done a great job in maintaining a precise and accurate force feedback system.
Some drivers would most likely be fine racing with default settings, but you can always adjust the in-game force feedback according to your own preference in the settings menu, to either make the wheel feel “heavier” or “lighter”.
Prices and Downloads
Assetto Corsa
| Device | Price | Link |
| Playstation | $39.99 | Playstation Download |
| Xbox | $24.00 | Xbox Download |
| PC (Steam) | $19.99 | PC (Steam) |
Gran Turismo 7 prices
|
Device |
Price |
Link |
|
Playstation |
$69.99 |
Playstation Download |
So which one is better for you?
As you may have discovered, both Assetto Corsa and Gran Turismo 7 are great choices depending on what you are looking for in a sim racing game.
If you’re looking for the most realistic experience with excellent car physics and laser scanned tracks, then Assetto Corsa is the perfect choice for you.
On the other hand, if you’re looking for a simple GT online multiplayer experience that is fun and competitive for all skill levels, Gran Turismo 7 is probably better.
You should really give both of them a try and see which one suits you the best!
As always, happy sim racing!
