This week’s v1.13 update to Assetto Corsa includes native OpenVR support, adding official Vive and OSVR support to the title. The popular racing simulator previously only supported the Oculus Rift, and HTC Vive owners had to use the Revive hack to launch the game in VR.
Assetto Corsa has a long history with virtual reality, having supported the first Oculus Rift DK1 development kit in 2013, back when the simulator itself was in its early stages. With major physics engine and content development to focus on, VR support was always in an ‘early’, unfinished state, but its core driving experience was so convincing, it was worth the effort to jump through the hoops required to race in VR.
Rift owners have enjoyed a more effective VR implementation since developer Kunos Simulazioni applied the v1.6.1 update in May 2016, which allowed for full interaction with the in-game UI and the various HUD ‘apps’. Since then, the state of VR in the sim has remained largely the same, with no sign of native support for the HTC Vive, or indeed any VR menus. The Revive injector quickly enabled unofficial Vive support, but it has never delivered the same performance as the Rift, and seemed to exhibit odd world scaling issues.
The latest v1.13 update brings some important improvements to the software, including much-requested multiplayer features such as reversed grids and mandatory pit stop functions for server admins, and most significantly for VR enthusiasts, the HTC Vive is now supported natively via OpenVR as well as the OSVR HDK. Full details of the update can be found on the game’s Steam page.
The VR support is in ‘beta’, and while the performance on Vive has improved, the Rift remains smoother still, and OpenVR appears to exhibit similar world scale problems seen when used with Revive. In addition, the recent v1.12.3 update that allowed audio to follow head rotation is not functioning on OpenVR. So for now, the native Rift support remains the stronger VR experience, but with OpenVR actively receiving attention from Kunos, the gap will hopefully begin to close.