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Assetto Corsa EVO Update 0.9 is now available, bringing three new cars, online leaderboards, Special Events, mandatory pit stops and a substantial collection of physics, force feedback, rendering and gameplay improvements.
However, the latest update also comes with a familiar caveat: Free Roam is still not here. KUNOS has now confirmed that Update 0.9 will not be the final Early Access release, meaning the game remains on its long road toward version 1.0 and will continue with Early Access update 0.10.
Editorial policy and disclosure
Update 0.9 adds three cars to the EVO roster:
The additions cover both modern GT racing and road-going performance cars.
The Audi R8 LMS GT2 fits particularly well with the update’s new competitive features, especially the revised racing slick tyre model that has been deployed across GT racing cars.
One of the biggest additions in 0.9 is the introduction of Special Events, giving Assetto Corsa EVO a more structured competitive element.
The new events are built around two formats: Hotlap and Hotstint. Both use persistent online leaderboards, allowing players from around the world to compete under identical conditions.
Hotlaps focus on setting the fastest possible lap. Players can select drivers around them on the leaderboard through the MFD and use their performance as a live delta reference.
Hotstints work somewhat differently. Instead of simply replacing the player’s delta, the system displays the gaps to nearby competitors as each sector is completed. This provides more immediate information about how a stint is progressing rather than forcing players to wait until the final result.
Limited Attempts can also be enabled for events. Players can practice freely, but only a set number of attempts will count toward the leaderboard. This is intended to add pressure and make the experience feel closer to a qualifying or competitive race situation.
Update 0.9 also introduces mandatory pit stops to multiplayer.
For timed races longer than 20 minutes, the launcher now allows players to select a pit window. During the race, drivers can manage their tyre compound, pressures and fuel load through the MFD.
The physics department has received another substantial pass in update 0.9.
The most notable change is an updated racing slick tyre model, currently deployed across GT racing cars. KUNOS has also improved the simulation of LSD differentials, added LSD friction faces to car setups and addressed several AWD-related issues.
The newly released cars have also received improvements to their throttle models, with KUNOS stating that these changes will continue to expand to existing content.
Other fixes include improvements to AWD clutch behaviour, lock controllers and the SF25 wet setup, which now defaults to wet tyres rather than intermediates.
The result is another step toward the highly detailed driving model that remains one of EVO’s strongest aspects.
The input system has received a significant technical overhaul as well.
Update 0.9 improves FFB device recovery after disconnecting or switching away from the game, with support covering DirectInput, Fanatec, Logitech and Thrustmaster hardware. KUNOS says force feedback should recover automatically within roughly one second after events such as Alt-Tabbing, reconnecting USB devices or power-cycling a wheel base.
TrueForce and FullForce have also received changes, while a new linearisation LUT system allows users to apply custom FFB shaping through a file in the game’s SavedGame folder.
There are also fixes for Fanatec reconnection recognition, automatic shifter functionality and several other input-related issues.
The renderer has received another round of optimisation, including improvements to vehicle and cockpit cubemaps, mirrors, windshield materials and shadow handling.
Temporal dithering has been added with DLSS and FSR in mind, while shadow receiver culling is intended to reduce the performance cost of shadows in mono view.
Another interesting addition is exposure fusion, designed to mimic how the human eye perceives exposure compared with a traditional camera. Exposure bias, exposure fusion and post-processing presets can now be adjusted directly on track with a live preview.
KUNOS has also added a graphical representation for wind and fixed several visual issues, including windshield shadow effects and TV camera jitter during replays.
Beyond the headline features, Update 0.9 contains a considerable amount of technical work.
Multiplayer receives fixes for server-disconnection crashes, duplicated admin commands and duplicated race numbers. Gameplay has also received CPU-side optimisation, code refactoring and fixes for damage repair, rain effects, HUD displays and external liveries.
The update also fixes an exploit that allowed players to effectively skip pit-lane time after teleporting back to the pits.
There is even a new damage rate setting for single-player assists.
On paper, therefore, Update 0.9 is considerably more than three new cars. It touches almost every major part of EVO’s underlying technology.
This is where the conversation around Assetto Corsa EVO becomes considerably more complicated.
KUNOS has now explicitly stated that Update 0.9 is not the final Early Access release, while also reiterating that Free Roam is still coming during Early Access.
The problem is that players have been waiting for it for a very long time.
KUNOS originally announced the Eifel open-world environment in December 2024, stating that it would become available in Early Access from summer 2025. The planned world was supposed to progressively expand to around 1,600 km² and include activities such as exploring, interacting with businesses, renting cars and upgrading vehicles.
That deadline has obviously passed.
As of August 2026, the official EVO website still describes the game as being in Early Access, but its current presentation no longer provides the same prominent summer-2025 open-world messaging.
For players who bought EVO specifically because of that promised open-world experience, this has become a major source of frustration.
Free Roam isn’t the only missing piece.
The game’s broader structure still feels surprisingly limited for a title that was presented as an evolution of the Assetto Corsa formula.
There is no traditional career experience comparable to what many players expected from the original marketing direction, while multiplayer remains relatively barebones compared with the more structured systems found in competing racing games.
That leaves EVO in an awkward position. Its actual driving simulation is arguably its strongest feature, but much of the surrounding game still feels like a sophisticated sandbox rather than the complete driving experience many expected.
And that distinction matters.
The original Assetto Corsa succeeded partly because of its enormous flexibility and community-driven ecosystem. EVO is supposed to take that foundation and evolve it into something broader. Nearly two years into Early Access, however, many of the features that would fundamentally change the experience are still waiting in the wings.
The launch of Update 0.9 has also not been completely smooth.
Steam discussions and reviews contain multiple reports from players experiencing crashes after installing the update. One recent review states that the game crashes when attempting to launch any game mode, including single-player, multiplayer and events. Another Steam review reports a driver-related crash when loading a race after 0.9, while other recent threads mention GPU crashes, system freezes and issues affecting different hardware configurations.
It’s worth stressing that these are player reports rather than evidence that every user is affected. Nevertheless, the number of active discussions around crashes immediately following the update suggests that the 0.9 launch has introduced some stability concerns for at least part of the player base.
And that is particularly frustrating considering that performance and stability have already been recurring concerns throughout EVO’s Early Access period.
The frustrating thing about Assetto Corsa EVO is that the game itself doesn’t feel bad.
In fact, the opposite is true.
The driving model can feel exceptional. Cars communicate weight, grip and suspension movement convincingly, while the force feedback and tyre simulation continue to improve. Update 0.9’s revised slick tyre model and physics work demonstrate that KUNOS is still actively refining the simulation underneath.
But the surrounding package continues to feel unfinished.
Performance could be better at this stage of development, while the game’s structure still lacks several features that would turn the impressive simulation into a much more complete product.
The biggest problem isn’t necessarily that Free Roam isn’t available today. Early Access means features can change and development can take longer than expected.
The problem is the gap between what was presented and what players have actually received.
A feature advertised for summer 2025 is still absent in August 2026. Career mode having been removed remains a major point of criticism from players. And recent Steam reviews show that some buyers continue to feel that the game was sold around a vision that hasn’t materialised yet.
Update 0.9 is arguably one of the more technical updates around Assetto Corsa EVO’s Early Access program. The three new cars are welcome, Special Events finally give players a proper global leaderboard competition, mandatory pit stops add some much-needed race strategy, and the continued work on physics, tyres, FFB and rendering shows that KUNOS hasn’t stopped developing the core simulation.
But that’s also what makes EVO so frustrating.
The foundation is good. The game built around it still isn’t.
Assetto Corsa EVO can deliver an excellent driving experience, but in August 2026 it remains difficult to ignore how much of the promised experience is still missing. Free Roam is still coming, according to KUNOS, but players have already waited far beyond the original timeframe.
And with Update 0.9 now generating fresh complaints about crashes and stability on Steam, the game has another problem to solve before it can convincingly make the jump from impressive simulator to complete racing game.
For now, EVO remains a great driving simulator trapped inside an unfinished package. Whether the remaining Early Access updates can finally deliver the experience players were promised will determine whether the long wait was ultimately worth it.
