Super Touring cars are some of the most interesting race cars Assetto Corsa can offer because they sit in a sweet spot. They’re light, they’re high-revving, they look aggressive without being over-aero’d, and most importantly, they expose driving habits instantly.
The VRC ERC Auriel 4 is VRC’s interpretation of the Audi A4 Super Touring platform, delivered as a factory-spec style mod with period-inspired liveries and the kind of polish VRC is known for. It is also a very different experience from the rear-wheel drive touring cars many sim racers default to, because this one, being front-wheel drive, has a whole nother issue to solve.
Find the ERC Auriel 4 on the official VRC store:
The Audi A4 Super Touring story is tied to one of the most competitive eras of touring car racing. In Germany, STW (Super Tourenwagen Cup) ran through the 1990s and used Super Touring regulations that produced close racing and constant development pressure.
Audi’s A4 entered that landscape as a serious weapon, and the car existed in more than one personality. The early headline was Audi’s quattro AWD approach. This system was a major advantage when introduced, and led the car to some decent success in its early years.
But the rules and the competition evolved. In 1998, the British Touring Car Championship, or BTCC, banned all-wheel drive cars from competing, forcing Audi to make the A4 into a full FWD spec. Although VRC says no specific team or year is replicated, the car being FWD in game indicates that this is one of the later versions of the A4.
VRC provides clear numbers for the Auriel 4, and they fit the Super Touring profile well. The mod is built around a 2.0L naturally aspirated inline-4, making 309 hp at 8,750(!) rpm and 265 Nm at 7,000 rpm, paired with a 6-speed sequential transmission.
Installation is straightforward, and VRC includes both a CSP-focused version and a non-CSP version for broader compatibility.
No special folders, no sound swaps, and no common first-launch issues.
This is a strong visual package, with one caveat.
Exterior: the Auriel 4 does a great job representing the real A4 touring silhouette. The aero, lighting, and overall proportions feel right. Some textures are slightly less detailed in areas most people will never stare at, but the car looks excellent in motion and in replays.
Interior: the cockpit is the highlight. It is detailed, believable, and very much a race car. Dash readability is strong, and while the dash placement can feel low, that is consistent with how these cars are laid out rather than a clear mod issue. No clipping, no major shadow problems, and nothing immersion-breaking showed up during normal driving.
The sound quality is strong and fits the era well. It does the job without calling attention to itself, which is often a compliment in touring car content. There are no obvious looping, clipping, or low-quality sample issues.
The Auriel 4’s driving identity is defined by one thing: front-wheel drive under power.
Overall balance leans understeery, but not in a lazy way. The car can be rotated on entry and through braking, and then it tries to push wide the moment throttle is used.
Braking behavior is interesting because it is slightly oversteer-biased. That sounds scary on paper, but it actually works as a tool. The braking rotation helps the car point toward the exit, which is important because once power comes in, the front tires quickly become the limiting factor.
Traction loss is not constant. It tends to appear mostly when throttle application is messy. The bigger issue is not wheelspin, it’s the way the car refuses to turn once the front tires are loaded with both cornering and drive.
This is why the Auriel 4 rewards smoothness and patience. It is fast when driven cleanly, and frustrating when driven like a rear-wheel drive car, as I very much experienced.
Kerbs are still harsh. The Auriel 4 feels slightly less violent over kerbs than the Beamer 320, but it still does not like anything beyond flat kerbing.
The biggest behavior note is tire life on the soft compound. Under the Lap Time Challenge format, the softs fall off quickly, and they can feel done after roughly three laps of real pushing. That is a meaningful limitation for hotlapping attempts because it compresses the window of peak performance into a very short run. Mediums would naturally be more sensible for longer race distances, but the benchmark rules prioritize peak grip for comparability.
FFB is a pleasant surprise. It communicates well and helps make sense of the understeer-heavy behavior, especially when the front tires start to load up under power.
The Auriel 4 was tested under the standardized OC Racing benchmark:
Best valid lap: 1:44.265
Extracting the lap is a mixed experience. The car can feel extremely heavy, which makes it harder to sense the absolute limit in the way a lively rear-wheel drive touring car does. At the same time, within a realistic time investment, 1:44.265 is a strong lap and a solid baseline for the Touring Car category. For me anyway. I was very surprised with the difference compared to the Beamer. Although my lap in that car had a lot more potential, I feel like a 44.2 in that car would be very hard to achieve, indicating a difference in raw pace between them.
VRC’s strengths show up in the details.
Liveries are another win: 8 total, copyright-safe, and clearly inspired by the era without crossing into branding problems.
There are three negatives worth calling out:
No major physics oddities showed up, and there are no missing variants that feel essential.
Like the Beamer 320, the Auriel 4 is part of VRC’s broader Tourers ecosystem, making them the only big team with efforts focused on this era. That makes it niche in a good way, because the broader Assetto Corsa mod market has plenty of free touring content, but not much that matches this level of consistency and polish.
Value is straightforward as a single purchase: $4.80 is reasonable for the quality. Where it becomes expensive is collecting the full lineup. Nine cars at roughly this price pushes to 44 USD, which is a real commitment.
The VRC ERC Auriel 4 is a unique touring car experience, and not in a gimmicky way. It looks great, drives with believable Super Touring character, and delivers a surprisingly quick Assen benchmark time once the front-wheel drive style clicks.
It will frustrate anyone trying to drive it like a rear-wheel drive car. But for drivers willing to be patient, rotate it on the brakes, and stay disciplined on throttle, it becomes a genuinely rewarding mod and a great addition to a growing Touring Car leaderboard.
What car mod should be reviewed next?
Drop suggestions in the comments, including what class should be added to the Lap Time Challenge leaderboard.
