From Press Release:
Milan, Italy – 9th July, 2026: Global Publisher 505 Games and world renowned sim-racing developer KUNOS Simulazioni have released a massive new update for the early access racing game, Assetto Corsa EVO.
Update 0.8 adds three fully licensed track-ready cars (KTM X-Bow GT2, KTM X-Bow GT4 and Volkswagen Golf 8 R), South Africa’s historic and glorious Kyalami Grand Prix circuit, enhanced VR support introducing foveated rendering with more options to optimise performance/
visuals, and the next stage of user-generated content integration with players able to bring community-created cars and liveries into multiplayer for the first time. Assetto Corsa EVO’s featureset has evolved substantially since it hit Early Access in January, 2025 and Update 0.8 is the latest leap forward as the team accelerates towards 1.0 launch.
For a complete summary of Update 0.8’s headline features please see below:
NEW CARS
- KTM X-Bow GT2
One of the most extreme expressions of the modern GT2 class. Built around a lightweight carbon monocoque and a potent five-cylinder turbocharged engine, the X-Bow GT2 distils KTM’s stripped-back, function-first philosophy into a car of brutal directness.
- KTM X-Bow GT4
The GT4-homologated sibling brings the same lightweight DNA into a more accessible package built to GT4 regulations. Agile, communicative and quick to reward clean inputs, it offers a natural entry point into structured customer, racing sporting a distinctive silhouette and predictable handling.
- Volkswagen Golf 8 R
The all-wheel-drive flagship of the Golf range adds an everyday-usable, all-weather performance option to the roster, sitting naturally alongside the Golf 8 GTI that EVO players already know. Composed, fast and deceptively capable, the Golf 8 R is the understated rocket of Assetto Corsa EVO’s growing car line-up.NEW TRACK
- Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit
Update 0.8 adds Kyalami, the historic South African circuit and a venue with deep Grand Prix heritage, now in its modern, FIA-graded layout. Set at high altitude near Johannesburg — where thinner air subtly reshapes engine output and aerodynamic load — Kyalami is a true driver’s circuit featuring a flowing, undulating sequence of fast esses and committed direction changes that rewards rhythm and bravery in equal measure. Long a fixture of international GT competition, it brings a genuinely distinctive challenge to the EVO track list.USER GENERATED CONTENT IN MULTIPLAYER
- The first car editor release in Update 0.7 was limited to Single Player, but with Update 0.8 community-created cars can now be brought into Multiplayer, and creators gain support for external livery creation.
- On the Multiplayer side, the server launcher now supports modded car content, with a SHA verification layer that rejects modified cars or incorrect mod versions before they reach the grid. This keeps competitive integrity intact — every car on the server is the car it claims to be — while finally letting community content take its place in online racing. A new entry-list capability for defining starting order rounds out the toolset for organisers and league operators.
- For creators, external livery creation support opens the second stage of the roadmap to versatility, moving beyond the car itself toward the personalisation layer that has always been central to Assetto Corsa culture and to the online racing community.
A MAJOR STEP FORWARD FOR VR INTEGRATION
- Release 0.8 delivers the most significant VR update of the Early Access cycle to date, reworking the headset experience around performance, clarity and comfort. The headline is foveated rendering, including an eye-tracked variant on supported hardware and more aggressive foveating presets, which concentrates rendering effort where the eye is actually looking, reclaiming performance without a visible cost to perceived sharpness.
- In this update there are a full suite of new controls and optimisations for VR racing including pixel-density slider from 50% up to 150%, new world-scale option, supersampling, and a custom MSAA resolve tuned specifically for VR to reduce aliasing.
- VR now uses its own dedicated video-settings profile, separate from the flat-screen game, so headset and monitor configurations no longer compete. Performance-minded options, including a ‘prefer FPS over latency’ mode and an optimised pass that skips unnecessary work when upscalers are not in use. This offers players meaningful headroom to tune the experience to their rig, while the renderer now draws straight into the OpenXR swapchain to avoid an extra copy.
Update 0.8 adds numerous other core improvements to Assetto Corsa EVO related to technical rendering, physics emulation, handling, gameplay, audio, visuals, multiplayer stability and more. The official release notes have more information about these inclusions and are linked here.
Assetto Corsa EVO development is continuing at pace with KUNOS Simulazioni delivering meaningful new updates in the objective to offer a deeper, more open and advanced driving simulation.
For more information, please visit the Assetto Corsa series’ official site, www.assettocorsa.gg, fol
low the hashtag #wearesimracing, and stay tuned across Assetto Corsa social channels. To learn about publisher 505 Games and its products, visit www.505games.com ###
About 505 Games
505 Games, a subsidiary of Digital Bros, is a global publisher of video games across all major platforms. With a diverse portfolio of critically acclaimed titles, 505 Games is dedicated to delivering unique, high-quality gaming experiences.
