1952 Ferrari 500 F1 for Assetto Corsa: Finally Filling a Gap

Ferrari 500 is a F2 car racing in F1.jpg
Earlier in December, RaceDepartment received a 1952 Ferrari 500 mod for Assetto Corsa. With the creation, the 1950s in F1 finally gets some more sim racing representation. Here is all you need to know about the mod.

In recent years, the history of Formula One has slowly found greater sim racing representation. Third party Assetto Corsa creations, official Automobilista 2 content and a variety of seemingly random industry-wide additions mean one can recreate much of the series’ 70-year past.

That is until the late-1960’s however. In fact, the 1967 season received a lot of love thanks to Grand Prix Legends and subsequent recreations. Seasons following that received many a passion project. But it seems years before the ’67 extravaganza get lost to history. Furthermore, the entire 1950’s decade in motorsport has very little representation in modern titles, although there are numerous Grand Prix Legends mods.


That all changes now though. Those scrolling through recent Assetto Corsa mods on RaceDepartment may well spot an eye-catching offering. The 1952 Ferrari 500 F1/F2 car is a recent creation by Historic Sim Studios, the Revival Racing League and posted to RD by @Obi-Wan_Kannabis. A rare insight into this special period of racing, it is most definitely a mod to check out.

Early Formula 1: Deserving of Love​

With few racing fans of the 1950’s still around to tell the decade’s tale, it is no wonder why this early era of the sport is often overlooked. Taking place over 70 years ago, the 1952 F1 season requires a lot of research to truly understand. Furthermore, with the internet hardly even a concept at the time, books are the best bet for delving into details of the era.

This lack of awareness for the period is a true shame. With cars slowly finding pace thanks to the advent of more efficient engines and advanced weight-saving techniques, the cars were incredibly unique. Furthermore, tyre and brake technology being in their early days, driving such models is an absolute challenge.


Meanwhile, circuits from the period were rarely purpose-built venues. More often than not, racing in the 1950’s involved tackling large stretches of open road for hours at a time. Legendary courses of today began their lives as street circuits hosting the danger of early F1 in many cases.

This meant that, whilst struggling to keep power in check and doing all their best to remain seated, drivers had to contend with protruding barriers, worrying telegraph poles and rock-hard buildings. In-sim, this is sure to make for a thrilling experience, albeit without the stress of fatality lurking around every turn.

The Ferrari 500: A Dominant Force​

In the early 1950s, one car dominated them all. In fact, it is thanks to the Tipo 500 that Ferrari garnered its incredible reputation, all whilst propelling the infamous Alberto Ascari to the top of the all-time list.

After the withdrawal from the sport by Alfa Romeo in 1951, the Formula One World Championship went through a strange period that combined older F1 and the brand-new F2 regulations in a single event. This allowed Ferrari to put together a smaller, lighter model that could fight for overall honours. The Ferrari 500 emerged as the first model built to F2 regulations with its smaller engine.

Ferrari 500 is a F2 car racing in F1.jpg


Being the only new F2 car on the grid alongside archaic, clumsy F1 machinery, the Ferrari 500 dominated the first few seasons of its career. With Alberto Ascari behind the wheel, this red dart won all seven 1952 races in which it competed. In 1953, race wins were more evenly spread across the Scuderia’s four drivers – Giuseppe Farina, Mike Hawthorn, Luigi Villoresi and Ascari. But in the end, Ascari claimed his second title, with the Tipo 500 taking every top step of the year, bar the Indy 500 – which counted towards the World Championship standings between 1950 and 1960, though F1 teams rarely ventured to the Brickyard.

In 1954, the Tipo 500’s engine was bored out, expanding its displacement from to 2.5-litres. Becoming the Tipo 675 F1, the car now put out 210hp. Despite these changes, the arrival of Mercedes and Maserati to the F2 class led to the end of Ferrari’s time at the top. Nevertheless, the Ferrari Tipo 500 would remain a famous model in the history of the sport.

1952 Ferrari 500 F1 for Assetto Corsa​

Now, the car finally gets its moment in the sim racing spotlight thanks to a recent mod by the Historic Sim Studio. One can now download a beta version of the Ferrari 500 for Assetto Corsa on RaceDepartment.

The mod recreates the car in its original guise, between 1952 and 1953. As a result, it produces a more manageable 180hp from its 2-litre inline-four. A four speed manual transmission provides enough drivetrain flexibility to suit the variety of circuits present on the 1952 F1 calendar.

Ferrari Tipo 500 yellow.jpg


Created in an effort to recreate the 1952 F1 season, the Revival Racing League joined forces with Historic Sim Studio to put together this faithful recreation. It combines a free-use licence 3D model with physics from the HSS team.

According to the mod creators, the Ferrari 500 for AC is in an early state of development. The 3D model is reportedly taxing due to its lack of optimization. Meanwhile, some aspects such as animations and materials still require work. That being said, there is no doubt that this is a fun car to drive.

Ferrari 500 F1 racing in AC.jpg


With CSP extended physics enabled, one gets a true sense of the vague nature of these engines on wheels. The car floats around on the tarmac due to its small tyre surface area. Furthermore, the engine provides good throttle response. Many in the RaceDepartment comments appear to praise the car’s handling.

Alongside the mod, RaceDepartment also features every livery for the car in the 1952 season. Two separate skinpacks add the Scuderia Ferrari and Privateer colours. For a sense of competition, one could run this model alongside the Kunos Maserati 250F. However, this omits the enlarged engine the Ferrari received for 1954.

Where to Race 1952 F1 in Assetto Corsa​

As aforementioned, the 1950’s in sim racing is an often forgotten era. However, when it comes to circuits, the possibilities are far greater than the car list. In fact, Kunos itself has a couple of base game circuits that fit the historic bill.

Spectators with 1952 Ferrari F1.jpg


Whilst layouts did change frequently throughout the 1950’s and 1960’s, Silverstone 1967 is accurate to the 1952 F1 World Championship. Assetto Corsa also features a 1966 version of Monza as part of its standard content. Unfortunately, alterations to the final corner took place between 1952 and 1966. However, if you do not mind running the Parabolica rather than the twin-Curve Vedano, this too is an option.

Aside from original Kunos tracks, RaceDepartment can help in recreating the 1952 Swiss Grand Prix. In fact, Fat Alfie’s Bremgarten is available in the Download section for Assetto Corsa and one of the finest track mods created for AC. The opening round of the 1952 F1 season, Bremgarten is a fun circuit that brilliantly encapsulates racing in the 1950s.

RD also hosts a 1966 version of the Nürburgring. If the modern layout of the circuit is near-identical to its original guise, the 1966 model perfectly recreates the form in which it was built. The 1952 GP ran on the Nordschleife witht the old start/finish loop, meaning most should recognise the layout despite its historic tinge. Note that the Hohenrain-Schikane at the very end of the lap was not yet around at the time.

Bremgarten Grand Prix 1952 in Assetto Corsa.jpg


The rest of the 1952 season saw the paddock visit Spa, Indianapolis, Rouen-Les-Essarts and Zandvoort. Spend enough time trawling through the World Wide Web and you will find accurate recreations of each.

Meanwhile, the 1953 season is far trickier to complete. The Reims triangle replaced Rouen as host of the French GP. Just an old conversion from GP Legends is available on RaceDepartment of this infamous, and still standing circuit. Elsewhere, the addition of a stop in Buenos Aires, Argentina lacks representation in AC. The oldest version of the circuit available is a 1979 model which sported a longer, but still rather fast layout.

Would you like to see more 1950s F1 mods in sim racing like this Assetto Corsa Ferrari 500? Tell us on Twitter at @OverTake_gg or in the comments down below!
About author
Angus Martin
Motorsport gets my blood pumping more than anything else. Be it physical or virtual, I'm down to bang doors.

Comments

There is an abundance of high quality 1950s content if you know where to look: the amazing 1958 F1 mod for AMS1 and rF1 by ORM, the 1951 mod also by the same, excellent creator. There is a fantastic 1950s racing scene over in rF2, and there are also various period circuits available for, and being developed for AC that the Ferrari 500 F1 raced at and won at.
 
A couple notes regarding some things stated on the article.

One minor: in 1953 the Ferrari 500 also lost at the last race of the season at Monza, where Fangio outsmarted the Ferraris with his Maserati, staying on the slipstream and reserving his overtake movement at the last possible moment on the final lap.

One major: Assetto Corsa covered the 50s already with official content! The Maserati 250F was part of the official DLCs, both in 6 and 12 cylinder guises.
 
Thanks! That's a no-brainer for me :inlove:

Even if it's just one manufacturer at the grid at present, it's nice for hotlapping tracks of the time.

I certainly hope to see more on the 1952 grid in the future :)

In same breath take I'll credit Historic Sim Studios for spamming me from their Patreon account about numerous exciting pre-war updates and final works :inlove:

So many Christmas gifts - so little time :D
 
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AFAIK there is only one useable (not really great, but not bad either) 50s mod for AC.
The 1958 cars, BOPed to compete with the Kunos Masserati
 
Thanks! That's a no-brainer for me :inlove:

Even if it's just one manufacturer at the grid at present, it's nice for hotlapping tracks of the time.

I certainly hope to see more on the 1952 grid in the future :)

In same breath take I'll credit Historic Sim Studios for spamming me from their Patreon account about numerous exciting pre-war updates and final works :inlove:

So many Christmas gifts - so little time :D
Yeah, Christmas is for time with the family...
Racin' is for time away from em!

@pai, I've taken that V12 around the nords a few times on line in one of the open Hot lapping sessions, it can be a bit of a handful when you're being chased by something modern, that's when you notice just how little grip there is on the skinny front tyres, and how much longer the braking distances are, great fun though.
 
Hey, "lead dev" guy here,
Thanks a lot for writting this article, it really means a lot to me, even if i have to nitpick a little. :)
Id like to clear up a few things.


About the Mods purpose:
For all the people hoping to get a full grid of cars for the 1952 season, i am sorry to disappoint, but it wont be happening anytime soon, as this is part of the Revival Racing League project.

The Aim of our league is to recreate every single race of F1 history as closely as we can, which unfortunately means we always lack some cars, both the '50 and '51 season were ran on 4 and 5 cars respectively. Now, we are not aware of any 1952 cars being available for AC at the moment, so the decision was made (without prior experience) to make the car ourselves, which means 1952 will unfortunately be a spec season.

This is the only way the project can move on, as it exists, because waiting for every grid of every season to be complete, is unfortunately wishful thinking. So you can expect mods from our league to fill future seasons lacking cars. Else, i might independently decide to make and release cars even if they are not strictly necessary to our effort, as i found the process very rewarding.


About our work on the car:
The original 3D model for the car was acquired almost exactly a year ago, we had mistakenly believed the model to be an accurate representation of the car as it raced back in the 50s that could just be plopped into AC and be ready to race.

Unfortunately, the more i looked, the more inconsistencies, technical issues and inacuraccies i found. From the suspension not making any physical sense, the steering wheel not being round, the polycount being huge, to the front end of the car, among other things, being completely fictional.

(This is in no way intended to be read as me throwing shade at the original creator, as many of the changes they made, were probably due to wanting to avoid getting struck down for copyrighting reasons, it is clear that he is extremely proficient at 3D modelling for any non realtime/game applications, but the historical accuracy and performance was lacking for our usecase.)

So, i started learning blender and dedicated the biggest part of the year to remodeling inaccurate parts, and improving every part other part of the 3D model best i could. According to steam i must have spent close to 700 hours doing so.

There is no part of the model left intact, and many completely remade from scratch, such as the suspension. I reduced the polycount by roughly 50%, and it is still at 700k verticies. This is, in effect a completely different model to the original, but i still insisted on labeling it as commercially acquired for transparencies sake.

This Frankenstein way of doing things, is the reason for many inconsistencies regarding naming schemes, file formats, LODs, polycounts and material count, and also the developement time, as i was learning constantly while cutting up and remaking existing stuff erratically. Expect any future mods to be completely bespoke, as i think a streamlined from the ground up process will be far quicker to release.

About HSS's involvement:
And finally HSS's involvement was strictly in the realm of driving dynamics, which i was frankly completely incapable of doing to a good of, that said expect an update from them concerning the tyres soon!

Final words:
I want to reiterate, this is a great, well written article, id have just liked you to have reached out to us for more background info on the car and the developement process, but i understand that it might not be a thing many people are interested in.

Anyways, we want to thank everyone for their kind words about, and praise of, the car, i am really honoured as i wouldn't have expected it to gain the amount of popularity it has, especially considering it's extremely chaotic developement and existence. And lastly, even though this project was mainly my affair in terms of moddeling and implementation into the game, an mainly HSS's in terms of physics, the RRL league's locals deserve as much, if not more praise, as they have been the enabling factor in the creation of this, and been the most supportive bunch along the way, helping out best they can. Without them this mod wouldn't exist.

Also, we don't have a full grid for the 52 season yet, wink wink, nudge nudge.


Anton Ezatl
 
ok, sorry i obviously missed them. thx
No problem mate. I got them via a pack that got all those cars in one file. But if you google them separately, you will find them, even with skins at Race Department:

Alfa Romeo 158
BRM Type 15
Ferrari 125
Ferrari 375
Talbot-Lago T26C

IIRC, they are available at one well known blogspot that constantly throws out cars and tracks at varying levels of quality.

Outside there, there is also a 1955 package of cars, also for free.
 

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Shifting method

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