There are dozens of sim-racing titles on the market, some of which focus on a specific category of motorsport in its simulation version. Formula 1 fans, for example, turn to the F1 saga from EA Sports and Codemasters, and the same goes for rally drivers on the small screen. Those looking for a diversified experience often find what they’re looking for in Assetto Corsa, iRacing, rFactor or even Forza Motorsport.

Of course, we all started somewhere. For some, it was Gran Turismo that got the ball rolling on their sim-racing adventure. For others, it was good old Need For Speed that got them started, and then they moved on to the next level of realism.

The world of sim-racing is vast. There are titles for everyone, from NFS for people who just want to have fun and unwind after a hard day, to pure simulations like Assetto Corsa.

Speaking of Assetto Corsa, it’s one of the most popular sim-racing titles in the discipline, featuring drivers from all over the world. The game is complete, perfect for those new to sim-racing, as well as professionals. But Assetto Corsa has more than one trick up its sleeve, chiefly its ability to support mods. In what follows, we’ll take a look at the 10 best mods present on this sim-racing title, and at the end, we’ll also see how to install them.

What is a mod?

According to Wikipedia, a mod is “a modification by a third party of an existing video game, in the form of a plugin that is added to the original, to add functionality or modify existing functionality.” If that’s not too clear, I see mods as follows: they are modifications made to a video game in order to alter gameplay, graphics, performance, compatibility with a certain platform or peripherals, or the addition of elements to the game, such as new maps, a new story, new equipment and so on. In other words, a mod allows you to modify a game to make it more attractive to a certain audience.

These mods are widespread in the gaming world, especially for titles that are considered classics. This applies, for example, to Resident Evil, Dino Crisis and Assetto Corsa.

The 10 best mods for Assetto Corsa

We now move on to the top 10 mods, as far as I’m concerned, for Assetto Corsa. This list touches on just about everything in terms of mods, from content management and dynamic weather to the addition of vehicles, categories and game modes.

This list is purely subjective, which means that some virtual racers will approve of it, while others will have different proposals. Nevertheless, I consider these mods to be essential for improving the driving experience and also the game itself.

The content manager

We’re starting with a mod that will support all the others. This is the Content Manager. This mod allows you to manage the content of the base game, as well as other mods installed for Assetto Corsa.

Content Manager allows you to modify the game’s interface, making it more user-friendly and easier to navigate. With it, you’ll have total access to all the parameters of Assetto Corsa sessions: vehicle, track, weather, number of laps, competitor AI, car category, and so on. It’s really comprehensive, and Content Manager is a must-have for Assetto Corsa. As I said above, it’s an essential mod for installing and using other mods, because yes, you’ll be able to control and configure them via Content Manager.

Soil

Let’s move on to a mod that adds immersion and realism. Its name is Sol, and no, it doesn’t allow track control. Well, not literally. Sol is a mod that enables dynamic weather in Assetto Corsa, and this is crucial for maximum immersion.

As standard, the title doesn’t support dynamic climate change. By default, you can add rain during races, snow or fog, but nothing more. No part of the track is under water, no fog dissipates after the sun rises, and so on. On the Nurb, for example, the track is so long (over 20 km) that the weather varies according to your position. Assetto Corsa doesn’t support this natively, but the Sol mod does.

This mod offers, among other things, real-time dynamic weather, the day/night cycle for magnificent sunsets and sunrises, especially if you have the custom Shader mod, the possibility of having tracks with ice on the road, rain that can leave puddles in certain places, and so on. Sol is complete, and above all essential for an ultra-immersive driving experience.

Custom shader pack

The Custom Shaders Pack is much more suited to drivers wishing to give Assetto Corsa a lick of paint. If you haven’t already heard, the title from Kunos Simulazioni and Digital Tales USA LLC is over 10 years old, and it shows in its graphics. I wouldn’t say they’re ugly, but time is unforgiving, especially in a constantly evolving industry.

So, the Custom Shaders pack. This mod brings revised graphics, with far more detail on textures, car shapes, tracks and environments. There’s also much more detailed weather, much closer to reality, especially if you already have the Sol mod installed.

Technically speaking, and by that I mean improved in-game immersion, you don’t really need this mod, as it makes the game visually more beautiful and tries to close the gap against the competition in the graphics field. But if your machine is capable of running the latest gaming titles in ultra, then the Custom Shaders pack is a good mod to give a title released over 10 years ago a facelift.

Real F1 Car Mods

Real F1 Car is a mod that adds Formula 1 to Assetto Corsa, as well as other racing cars. Developed by a studio called SDD (Sim Dream Development), this mod offers drivers a new facet of AC with cars that are not part of its catalog.

Among the various vehicles available to drive, you’ll find F1 cars from several generations, including older models with V10 and V8 engines, and recent V6 models too. If you’re a fan of engines screaming at over 16,000 atmospheric RPM, you’ll love Real F1 Car. As far as I’m concerned, it’s a sim-racing must-have for drivers of all experience levels.

Endurance World Championship 2023

The WEC is a flagship motorsport discipline, with cars spanning several categories. And Assetto Corsa endurance fans have the pleasure of racing on legendary WEC circuits such as Le Mans, thanks to the 2023 World Endurance Championship model.

This addition to Assetto Corsa allows you to take the wheel of several cars covering different categories. These include LMH, or proto/hypercars, LMP2, or GT2, and LMGTE, or GT3. These three categories offer several cars, all of which are available to drive in Assetto Corsa. With them, you can challenge the world’s WEC circuits, such as the 24 Hours of Le Mans, especially if you already have the Sol and Shaders mods, giving you a breathtaking visual experience, literally.

WEC 2023 is a mod clearly aimed at drivers who are fans of endurance racing, with the setup to match. In fact, I’d advise you to get a WEC race-specific steering wheel, like the Fanatec ClubSport Steering Wheel Porsche 911 GT3 R V2 for example. With it, you’ll really feel like you’re in the cockpit of a Porsche, with its Flat 6 screaming at such high RPMs that it’ll intoxicate you. The sound of an atmo engine rising to a symphony is pure bliss.

2REAL traffic simulation

Racers in Assetto Corsa are limited to closed tracks, just as they are in real life. However, there’s one fun element missing from this recipe, and that’s cars in PNJ sauce, for non-player character. Those who have played Need For Speed and Forza Horizon will know what I mean. And for the rest of us, it’s just the average person’s cars that populate the roads of the maps.

2REAL Simulation is a mod that adds these cars to Assetto Corsa tracks for a simple reason: to enhance the realism of real-life driving. With cars literally coasting on the track, the driving challenge is inevitably higher. Not only will you have to drive your vehicle in sometimes difficult conditions against other drivers, but on top of that, you’ll have to take into account cars that are in tourist mode on the track, with an AI that manages everything randomly.

The result: the perfect recipe for sharpening your reflexes and adopting a much more realistic driving style. The mod in question doesn’t want to encourage you to break the law on the open road in the real world, but to train you to better manage difficult situations where improbability is present at all times.

With 2REAL Simulation, driving will be even better, especially if your setup is geared towards on-track realism. It’s a mod I really like, and one I’d recommend to racers looking for realism and immersion on the small screen.

Touge project

The Projet Touge mod is simple: add drifting and specific tracks to Assetto Corsa. It’s a sentence that doesn’t really need any further explanation, in my opinion.

This mod allows you to traverse something like 50 kilometers of open road with trails over mountains and hills, all with magnificent scenery.

Based on Formula D, the world’s premier drifting competition, you’ll be able to cross more or less all the curves available to you, putting you in the shoes of a drift king. The art of sliding is unique in motor racing, and the emphasis is on precise car placement and driver skill.

Porsche P91 Hybrid Evo

The Porsche P91 Hybrid Evo is one of Assetto Corsa’s top 10 mods. This mod gives you the cockpit of the Porsche 919 Hybrid Evo, with a different name for licensing reasons, but with the same performance. The result: you’ll be driving a veritable missile on wheels, which still holds the record for the fastest lap on the Nurb with 5 mins, 19 secs and 546.

With this mod, you’ll be able to drive this sublime and fearsomely fast car on Assetto Corsa and its circuits. With over 1100 horsepower developed by two engines: one electric and one internal combustion, and above all an aero system specifically designed for maximum downforce.

RSS GT Pack

The RSS GT Pack is a mod that lets you add 6 GT cars to your Assetto Corsa catalog, and not just any cars, believe me. These are more or less limitless monsters from the 1990s and 2000s. They include the Saleen S7-R, the Ferrari 550 and 575, the Dodge Viper GTS-R, the Lister Storm and the Lamborghini Murcielago R-GT, all of which are not only stunning in terms of design, but also frighteningly efficient on track, offering sensations that can literally blow you away.

This mod is visually faithful to these monsters from over 20 years ago, but also in terms of feel, it’s almost identical. As in real life, these cars are very sensitive to the slightest touch of the right foot: as soon as you touch the gas pedal, the rear end spins without warning, despite their enormous spoilers.

LA Canyons

LA Canyons lets you drive on the roads surrounding Los Angeles, and especially the canyons of the City of Angels. This mod offers you a unique, mostly leisurely experience behind the wheel of sublime cars that don’t have to be fast.

The setting is magnificent, with graphics and landscapes that are both sumptuous and, above all, faithful. With LA Canyons, you’ll really feel like you’re on the winding roads of one of America’s most iconic cities. If you’re a fan of leisurely driving, you need LA Canyons.

Installing mods on Assetto Corsa

Let’s finish with how to install the mods on this list. Although I imagine you’re already familiar with Assetto Corsa, the idea is to have a comprehensive guide that covers the mods and also their installation.

First of all, you’ll need a Content Manager. You can find it by searching the Internet, or on this website. Once downloaded, run the executable file (.exe) to install the mod on your machine. There’s not much to do to install it, except follow the on-screen instructions.

Once you have Content Manager on your machine, simply search for and download other mods. Most of these are natively compatible with Content Manager, and you’ll get them in compressed .zip or .rar format. Once the mod files have been downloaded, simply drag and drop the compressed file into Content Manager, which will take over and install the mod in question. In the end, you’ll find the new mod on Assetto Corsa, and all you have to do is go for a test drive.

I hope this article helps you in your career as a virtual pilot.