ACC Setup Subscriptions Explained: Better Than Buying Setups?

In this guide, we'll take a look at the concept of ACC car setup subscriptions. I'll show you how they work, who offers them, and whether they're better than finding individual setups or setup bundles.

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Competitive sim racing has exploded in recent years, and with that sim racers are trying to find anything that can give them a competitive advantage. That could mean upgrading their sim racing rig, buying a new racing wheel, investing in coaching, or finding the best car setups.

At Sim Racing Setups, we offer some of the very best Assetto Corsa Competizione car setups, with the majority of them being free to download and use.

But recently, more and more car setup creators are offering setup subscriptions for titles such as iRacing and ACC. These subscriptions offer access to hundreds of car setups, drastically reducing the amount of time spent looking for the perfect setup. But they come at a recurring monthly cost and pose a lot of questions.

In this guide, I’m going to take a detailed look at ACC setup subscriptions. I’ll show you exactly how they work, who offers them, and I’ll give you real-world examples in terms of cost to help you decide whether they are worth investing in.

How does an ACC car setup subscription differ from buying setups?

Typically, one of the best ways to find car setups is to search platforms like our own for free or premium car setups. We have hundreds of Assetto Corsa Competizione car setups on our website, created by various setup creators.

This allows sim racers to browse for specific cars and specific tracks, download, use and rate each individual car setup. You can even find ACC car setup bundles such as this Ferrari 488 setup bundle. Setup bundles include multiple car setups for every track in Assetto Corsa Competizione for a specific car.

But finding car setups in this way can be time-consuming. And if you are purchasing premium car setups, or setup bundles, it can be costly if you decide to try out different cars.

This is where ACC setup subscriptions work. When you join an ACC car setup subscription service, you normally get access to every single car setup that has been created. This will often include car setups for every car in ACC, across every track. And it can even include multiple race, qualifying and wet car setups.

A setup subscription will charge you a monthly fee to access all of these setups. Generally, when you purchase an individual car setup or setup bundle, you will get access to all improvements and upgrades made to that car setup over time.

When subscribing to an ACC setup subscription service, as soon as you stop your monthly subscription, you will no longer have access to any car setups.

ACC Coach Dave Academy CDA Setup subscription
Credit – CoachDaveAcademy.com

How much does a setup subscription cost?

Generally, an ACC setup subscription service will cost less per month than purchasing a setup bundle. I will use Coach Dave Academy as an example, as they offer one of the best ACC subscriptions around.

Purchasing an individual car setup through Coach Dave’s website will cost roughly £5.50 depending on the car. Purchasing a bundle which includes car setups for every track for a single car costs £17.99. Subscribing to Coach Dave each month to access every car setup costs £7.99 per month.

So buying ACC car setups from Coach Dave costs;

  • Buying an individual car setup – £5.50
  • Buying a full car setup bundle – £17.99
  • Subscribing each month – £7.99

Is a setup subscription good value?

Now we know the average price for purchasing individual ACC car setups, setup bundles and the monthly cost of an ACC setup subscription, we can start to look at how much value a subscription offers.

Buying individual car setups is easily the most costly route. If it is costing on average £5.50 for a car setup for a single track, you only have to purchase four car setups before it works out better value to buy a setup bundle.

Coach Dave Academy Setup subscription

There are currently 22 tracks in Assetto Corsa Competizione currently, so buying individual car setups for each track for a single car would set you back over £120.

Buying a bundle including a car setup for every track for a single car costs around £17.99, saving you over £100 compared to buying individual car setups for every track.

If you race multiple cars in ACC, you may need multiple car setup bundles so you have a car setup for each car you race and at every track.

Taking into account the cost of £17.99 for a full car setup bundle, for each additional car you regularly race in, you will need to purchase another bundle. If you were to race four cars as an example, it would cost you £71.96.

The good news about these purchases is that you can download them whenever you fancy, and with most setup creators, you will receive continuous updates until a major game update comes out.

The setup subscription option at £7.99 allows you to try out various cars at various tracks, each one with an optimised setup. This variety is great for sim racers who like trying out new cars, or race different cars across multiple series.

However, as mentioned before, the negative with a subscription is that once you cancel your subscription, you lose access to all of your downloaded car setups. There are also download limits in place to avoid people trying to download all car setups and then cancelling their subscription.

For this reason, there are daily download limits of 6 setups per day, or 30 per month for the first month, increasing as your membership continues.

What do you get in the CDA setup subscription?

Currently at the time of writing, Coach Dave has over 1,000 car setups, and that number will only go up over time. If you subscribe to the CDA setup subscription for ACC, you will gain immediate access to all of those car setups.

That large number of setups includes a range of dry and wet car setups for a large number of the cars in Assetto Corsa Competizione. You also get access to the Motec data files allowing you to compare your lap times to the times of the drivers who create the car setups.

On top of the car setups, you gain access to a range of YouTube onboard lap videos, track maps so you can print and study each track, 10% discount off coaching sessions and unlimited access to future car setup changes.


ACC Setup Subscription Price Example

So let’s break this down into a real-world example, to see if a setup subscription would be a good option for your requirements.

With the example below, the following assumptions are being made; An individual car setup costs £5.50, a bundle costs £17.99, and a subscription costs £7.99 p/m. There are 22 tracks in Assetto Corsa Competizione. The first column assumes an individual car setup is purchased for all 22 tracks. Buying individual setups in this way is extremely non cost-effective, and isn’t recommended.

How Many Cars Being Raced RegularlyBuy Individual Setups For All 22 TracksCost To Buy Complete Car Setup BundleACC Car Setup Subscription Cost
Car Setups For 1 Cars£121.00£17.99£7.99 p/m
Car Setups For 2 Cars£242.00£35.98£7.99 p/m
Car Setups For 3 Cars£363.00£53.97£7.99 p/m
Car Setups For 4 Cars£484.00£71.96£7.99 p/m
Car Setups For 5 Cars£605.00£89.95£7.99 p/m
Cost Over 12 Months£95.88

Is a subscription better than buying individual setups?

As you can see using the example above, purchasing individual car setups for each track separately is highly unadvised, unless its a one-off purchase. I included the individual column to give a perspective of value.

But when it comes to comparing the cost of buying setup bundles vs subscribing, the decision gets a little harder. You can see that across a 12 month period, a setup subscription does work out rather expensive.

If you only race with a single car, or even two cars in ACC, the cost of car setup bundles across 12 months is much lower than the 12 month subscription cost. However, if there is a major ACC game update, you will have to purchase the setup bundle again.

If you race with multiple cars in ACC, say 4 or 5 different cars for example, and you require competitive car setups for each of them, then a subscription really does start to provide good value.

The value of an ACC setup subscription is really in the sheer amount of content. You can try any car on any track and instantly have a competitive car setup. And over time, as major game updates are released, as the physics and tyre model inside ACC is improved, a setup subscription provides these updates as part of the monthly cost.


Should I consider a setup subscription?

And that leads me to the big question that I asked at the beginning. Is an ACC car setup subscription better than buying setup bundles? And the answer is, sometimes.

It is a really situation-dependent question and will be different for everybody. If you race a wide variety of cars, then yes a subscription can help save you money. If you only plan on racing a single car, then maybe a subscription isn’t right.

View Coach Dave’s ACC setup subscription.


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Frequently Asked Questions

How important are setups in ACC?

Car setups are incredibly important in all racing sims, and that includes ACC. A car setup isn’t just designed to make you faster, although that is a primary reason for creating a setup. They can also make the car easier to drive, which in turn improves your consistency. The difference between a good and bad car setup will have a huge impact on how your car behaves and how fast you can go in ACC.

Who offers ACC setup subscriptions?

Currently, the biggest ACC car setup subscription provider is Coach Dave Academy.

Does Coach Dave Academy subscription have a daily download limit?

Yes. To avoid people subscribing and downloading all car setups and then cancelling their subscription, CDA does have a daily and monthly download limit. This is 6 car setups per day up to 30 per month for your first months’ subscription. The daily and monthly limit increase for each month you stay subscribed.

Author Profile Picture

Article written by Rich

Founder of SimRacingSetups.com

Rich is the founder, F1 car setup creator and content writer for SimRacingSetups. With over a decade of experience as a graphic designer, marketing director, competitive sim racer and avid motorsport fan, Rich founded SimRacingSetup.com to share his passion and knowledge of sim racing and Formula 1 with other sim racers. Regularly writes for sim racing website SimRaceReviews.com

Disclaimer: Some of the links on this page may be affiliate links. We may earn commission from any sale after clicking a link. Read our affiliate policy.
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