We finally have an official release date for the most anticipated sim racing update of the year. Speaking on stage at the 2026 SimRacing Expo in Frankfurt, Kunos Simulazioni Co-Founder Marco Massarutto confirmed that Assetto Corsa EVO Free Roam will launch on December 9, 2026 as the centerpiece of Early Access Update 0.10.
Alongside the December 9 launch date, Kunos revealed concrete numbers on the scale and multiplayer structure of Assetto Corsa EVO's open-world Eifel region: the initial playable map rolling out in December is already larger than the island of Manhattan, and online Free Roam servers will support up to 30 drivers per lobby.
Airborne LIDAR Roads Around the Nürburgring
For over a decade, driving the Nürburgring Nordschleife in the original Assetto Corsa meant spawning into the tourist car park and stopping at the barrier at the end of the lap. In Assetto Corsa EVO's Free Roam mode, the barriers open up into the real network of public country roads, mountain passes, towns, and junctions surrounding the Nürburgring in Germany's Eifel region.
Rather than generating generic procedural highways, Kunos scanned the entire terrain using airborne and terrestrial LIDAR survey data. Every crest, drainage ditch, camber change, and frost-heaved bump on the public highways feeds directly into EVO's suspension and tire physics engine.
- Over 60 sq km Playable Area: Initial Eifel map chunk exceeds the 59 sq km footprint of Manhattan.
- 30-Car Multiplayer Servers: Cruise, meet up at local parking lots, and run point-to-point stints with 29 other drivers.
- Interactive Locations: Real local gas stations, tuning shops, and car rental hubs integrated into the map.
- Modular map streaming designed to expand outward in subsequent updates.
- Full dynamic weather and 24-hour lighting across the entire open region.
- Playable hands-on at the Frankfurt show floor through Sunday evening.
Why 30-Player Lobbies Hit the Sweet Spot
Keeping online lobbies capped at 30 simultaneous cars on the initial >60 sq km map ensures that towns and popular mountain stretches around Adenau and Nürburg feel lively without tanking CPU framerates or physics netcode stability. As Kunos unlocks additional sectors on its path toward the full 1,600-square-kilometer Eifel target, December 9 marks the day open-world cruising officially meets true laser-scanned sim physics.
