Is the crown held by Richard Burns Rally for the last 21 years about to be toppled?

They’re an industrious lot over at Kunos Simulazioni. Apparently not content with the vastly ambitious Assetto Corsa Evo project, they’ve also teamed up with Supernova Games to make Assetto Corsa Rally, a seriously exciting new loose surface racing sim that’s all about rigorous authenticity.

Built in Unreal Engine 5 rather than the proprietary engine Kunos built for AC Evo, this new mud-flecking endeavour is making a surprise debut on Steam Early Access as soon as 13 November, where you’ll be able to begin the long, arduous, and immensely satisfying process of mastering its vehicle physics.

Cars from the 1960s to present will feature, including the Group B monsters that never should have been. Thankfully they’re much safer when you drive them in a videogame.

The ultimate testament to the project’s devotion to accuracy thus far is this: they’ve gone out there and actually laser-scanned the tracks. This is unheard of in rally games previously, even in the most celebrated and authentic to date. The Dirt Rally games offer stages inspired by real-world locations but which aren’t corner-by-corner recreations. EA WRC does feature sections in its stages which do follow the real WRC courses, but only sections. Not even the everlasting king of rally Games, Richard Burns Rally, can boast 1:1 authenticity in its stages.

Here, though, not only are the elevation changes and the angles of each corner captured in super-high fidelity, but the ditches, trackside logs, lumps of earth and other similar obstacles laying in wait to destroy your cocky Lancia Delta Integrale, they’re all captured too. Um, thanks?

We’re getting hands-on time with AC Rally as we speak, and will report back as soon as our heart rate returns to normal levels.