Assetto Corsa Competizione vs iRacing: Which Is The Better Sim?

When it comes to choosing which racing sim title to start playing, there are a few good choices in 2024. With the recent release of Le Mans Ultimate and the upcoming Rennsport, there are now many options when it comes to racing GT and prototype cars.

Arguably, two of the most popular racing sims are Assetto Corsa Competizione and iRacing. Looking at the Steam charts each month, ACC regularly ranks among the top racing games. Recently, it has achieved 24-hour peaks of just under 5,000 concurrent players, according to Steamdb.

In comparison, iRacing doesn’t rank high on Steam charts, but that is due to the majority of players using iRacing through its own membership site and game launcher. MMOStats estimates that there are around 8,800 active players each day on iRacing.

With both of these racing sims racking up large player counts, which is the better sim to play in 2024? In this guide, I’ll look at both racing titles in detail. I’ll compare the similarities, highlight the differences and conclude which of the two racing games is the king of sim racing.

Comparing iRacing and ACC

I first want to look at both of these racing titles from a top-down overview. This will allow us to compare the two titles very quickly to spot immediate similarities and differences. Below is a comparison of iRacing and Assetto Corsa Competizione, showing how both titles stack up in terms of content, price and more.

Major differences between iRacing and ACC

Assetto Corsa Competizione and iRacing are fundamentally two very different sim racing titles. Assetto Corsa Competizione is focused entirely on GT racing and only includes GT disciplines, which include GT2, GT3 and GT4, as well as a few single-make cars.

This makes Assetto Corsa Competizione one of the best places to race officially licensed GT cars across full seasons and championships.

In comparison, iRacing doesn’t focus on an individual style of racing. It started life primarily with oval racing at its heart. In the 15+ years that iRacing has been around, it has expanded its car and series lineup to include road racing, from GT cars to LMP and open wheeled cars. There is also off road racing in the form of dirt ovals, rally cross and more.

This incredible amount of content makes iRacing a more well-rounded racing sim, especially if you like to race different styles of cars. iRacing series are often fixed, meaning everyone is using the same car setup, whereas most Assetto Corsa Competizione races allow the use of custom car setups.

Differences in pricing and structure

Picking up Assetto Corsa Competizione is a very standard process. You buy the game on your platform of choice. ACC is compatible with both Xbox and PlayStation consoles as well as PCs. This base game gives you access to all of the content that was available at launch.

The base version of ACC includes 11 tracks from all around the world including famous circuits such as Spa-Francorchamps, Monza, Silverstone and more. You can get access to a well rounded car list featuring 24 GT3 cars.

If you fancy adding more content to ACC, there are a range of additional DLC packs available. These include new disciplines such as GT2 and GT4 cars, as well as completely new tracks, and most recently the Nordschliefe. Each DLC pack for ACC costs up to around £/$15, and at the time of writing there are 9 indidivudal DLC packs you can purchase.

iRacing has a much different structure that consists of a monthly membership and hundreds of DLC items. To gain access to iRacing, you need to subscribe monthly. This traditional costs around $13.99, however you can utilise iRacing discount codes to bring this price down.

The subscription will grant you access to the iRacing membership site and the servers, allowing you to compete online against drivers from all around the world. Much like ACC, an iRacing subscription will grant access to a base set of content including 18 cars and 27 tracks.

From there, you can expand your car and track library by purchasing items individually. Some cars and tracks are required for you to compete in various series. A single car or track can cost you between $11.95 and $14.95, meaning things can get pretty expensive quickly. I’d recommend using iRacing bulk discounts when purchasing new content to help save some money.

Read our guide on how much it costs to buy everything in iRacing, and our top tips on racing iRacing on a budget.

Car and track comparison

One of the main differences between iRacing and ACC other than the pricing structure is the content that is on offer. Buying Assetto Corsa Competizione isn’t too dissimilar to a game such as F1 24. ACC focuses all of its energy on GT racing, and this comes with a few benefits.

By choosing a single style of racing, the developers of ACC, KUNOS Simulazioni can hone right in on how a GT car feels on track, with a goal of producing the best GT simulator. If you are a fan of GT racing and follow the Fanatec GT World Challenge or other GT series, ACC is the only way to race as specific teams and drivers with all official liveries. You can create your own ACC liveries and customise your car if you wish to add a layer of personalisation.

The DLC structure that grants new cars and tracks to players is focused on completing and fleshing out various different GT championships. You’ll often find new cars and tracks added to the game which in turn unlock the ability to race a complete season.

iRacing cars and tracks

iRacing handles its choice of cars and tracks much differently to Assetto Corsa Competizione. The cars and series that are available in iRacing are segmented into series which pit realistic car lineups together. For example, the IMSA series features a realistic mix of GT3 and LMP cars, which is very similar to the official IMSA series.

The main difference is that the series in iRacing doesn’t officially follow the real-world championships in the same way that ACC does. The IMSA series in iRacing will race real-world cars on real-world tracks. However, not all cars and tracks from the real-world championship will be included in a single series, and official liveries, teams and driver names aren’t included in iRacing.

This makes iRacing less realistic in terms of replicating championships, with a bigger focus on car variety and competitive online racing.

There are a huge number of different cars in iRacing, ranging from various oval series such as NASCAR and IndyCar to GT cars, open-wheeled cars and offroad cars. This gives sim racers a much larger choice when it comes to deciding on a car to drive.

iRacing includes various styles of racing, which means a much wider variety of tracks. There are a large number of ovals, both road and dirt, and one of the biggest selections of road tracks of any racing game.

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Car setup differences

Car setups in all sim racing games differ, and that is true when comparing setups in iRacing and Assetto Corsa Competizione. Both titles are based heavily on the simulation aspect of racing. However, both offer a different range of car setups, and both require different car setup knowledge to create truly good car setups.

Car setups in Assetto Corsa Competizione

Inside ACC, you can make a range of adjustments to the car setup. These include adjusting the tyre setup, electronics, mechanical grip, dampers and aero.

Being based solely around GT racing, the options that you have to set up your car don’t vary too much from car to car or even series to series. A GT4 car will need to be set up differently from a GT3 car, and some setup options will be different. But the setup screens will fundamentally look the same.

Car setups in iRacing

With a much greater variety of cars in iRacing, the setup options will differ much more from vehicle to vehicle. A NASCAR Next Gen Cup car will have different parts of the car that you can adjust compared to a GT3 car or open-wheeled car.

In general, you do have fewer setup options at your disposal in iRacing compared to Assetto Corsa Competizione. When comparing GT cars, ACC has much more areas that you can adjust, making iRacing cars slightly easier to create a car setup for.

If car setups are’t your thing, iRacing also has fixed series where every car is forced to run the same car setup. This can take a lot of the pain away from finding or creating a good car setup.

Handling differences between both titles

Both Assetto Corsa Competizione and iRacing are designed to be the ultimate racing simulator. ACC is an evolution of the fantastic Assetto Corsa, a racing title released in 2014, yet it still regularly tops the Steam charts, with 15,000 players each day, according to SteamDB.

Assetto Corsa laid the foundations of the amazing physics and handling model in ACC, which has been developed to be one of the best examples of GT racing. The real party piece for ACC is its exceptional tyre model, which has constantly been developed over the game’s life.

This handling model has been constantly updated, with a huge update to the tyre model in 2020 with the introduction of the Pirelli DHE tyre.

With iRacing also offering some of the same GT cars as ACC, we can directly compare the two platforms. It is immediately apparent when comparing the same cars in both titles that iRacing does have more downforce in its handling model.

You can put in faster lap times in iRacing on the same track with the same car compared to Assetto Corsa Competizione. Much like ACC, iRacing has a complex tyre model that can punish you if you over work your tyres during a race, however, it isn’t nearly as complex as the tyre model in ACC.

Both titles feature track evolution and variable weather, thanks in part to iRacing introducing rain early in 2024. During a race, you will find that a gripper racing line will appear, allowing you to push your car harder, while off line, you’ll see marbles that will cause you to lose grip. Rain in both titles is well executed and will wash the circuit, removing a lot of the rubber and grip that is present during a dry session.

Competitions and online racing

iRacing is a racing title that is based entirely around online competition. The structure within iRacing will push you into different series to compete with other drivers. You’ll be given an iRating score which is an indication of just how fast you are within different racing disciplines.

There is offline AI racing available in iRacing, however this is a recent addition and isn’t overly fleshed out.

iRacing boasts a very comprehensive range of tools for racing online. They host races in each series multiple times a day, with the most popular series such as the Global Mazda MX-5 Cup having races every 15 minutes. This structure lets sim racers jump into a race that fits their schedule.

Series standings are all calculated by iRacing based on your finishing position with your driving etiquette being scored resulting in your overall safety rating. Both your safety rating and iRating are used to matchmaker your with drivers at a similar level to your own, allowing for competitive racing.

Competitive racing in ACC

ACC is configured to be much closer to a traditional racing title. You have a few different options for racing offline against AI drivers and can compete in a career mode, championships or individual races. Then there are different servers for online racing, however, the online structure is vastly lacking compared to iRacing.

There is no real option built in for competitive sim racing, with event organisers having to set up private servers to host races. There are various tools available to configure competitive races with the most prominent being Low Fuel Motorsports.

LFM has created a competitive platform, very similar to the structure inside iRacing. You can create a free account which gives you access to different series and will allow you to build your rating and safety score.

LFM hosts races at similar intervals to iRacing and tracks the results to create championship standings. Low Fuel Motorsports is a fantastic tool for competitive multiplayer in ACC. You can also use LFM or other tools to synchronise custom ACC liveries with everyone you are racing against.

Is iRacing or ACC more realistic?

Both Assetto Corsa Competizione and iRacing are incredibly immersive and realistic, with both titles offering different experiences. Assetto Corsa Competizione offers realism in the sense of competing against real-world drivers, in official car liveries across a range of championships.

ACC also offers a much better graphical simulation than iRacing, allowing for races to look much more realistic, with day and night transitions in particular looking stunning.

iRacing focuses much more on the racing simulation rather than presentation, and that is immediately obvious when navigating iRacing old-school menus.

With the huge focus on competitive online racing, iRacing offers one of the most intense and realistic recreations of how it can feel to be behind the wheel of a real-world race car. Damage is present in both games, but iRacing really punishes even the lightest contact.

Making contact with another driver can result in your car feeling incredibly damaged, and you’ll likely be given penalties depending on the severity of contact and who initiated it. In this sense, few games can compete with iRacing when it comes to creating a realistic racing environment and experience.

Which game is better for GT3 racing? iRacing or ACC

That leads me on to my final conclusion of this comparison between these two incredible racing sims. Assetto Corsa Competizione offers one of the best simulations of GT racing, whether that is GT2, GT3 or GT4.

The inclusion of real-world drivers and liveries allows you to compete as your favourite driver across an entire championship season. Low Fuel Motorsport is a very comprehensive tool if you prefer competitive online racing, and provides great tools for finding and competing online.

While the racing in iRacing is equally as realistic as ACC, the design of the game and its structure is incredibly different. The ongoing monthly fees and high price for additional content can put a lot of players off of iRacing.

This does mean that the player base is almost always incredibly invested in the racing which leads to highly competitive, and often very fair racing. Something that isn’t often common in many online races in other titles.

Find the best Assetto Corsa Competizione car setups to start improving your lap times.

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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

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