Kunos Simulazioni

What Kunos Simulazioni is

Kunos Simulazioni is an Italian development studio that makes driving simulations, best known for the Assetto Corsa series. Its own site describes it as an award-winning studio founded by motorsport enthusiasts with a single mission, to deliver the most authentic virtual driving experience possible. That focus on realism, rather than on arcade racing, defines everything the studio releases.

The company began in 2005 and has stayed small by industry standards while building a dedicated following. It produces both consumer games and software for professional racing operations, a combination that keeps its work grounded in real automotive and motorsport data rather than in invented handling models. The team's background is in the sim racing community, and that origin shows in how it talks about authenticity and the feel of a car.

A studio inside a racetrack

Kunos is unusual in where it works. Its research and development office sits inside the ACI Vallelunga circuit near Rome, a setting the studio and its store pages both highlight. Working beside an active racetrack gives the team direct access to cars, drivers, and teams, and the studio says this lets it develop its games with the cooperation of real-world racers.

The founders came out of the sim racing scene rather than from a large publisher. Among them are Marco Massarutto and Stefano Casillo, whose earlier projects included netKar Pro and a Ferrari-branded driving simulator. Those titles were the training ground for the physics engine and laser-scanning techniques that would later reach a much wider audience.

Assetto Corsa arrives

Assetto Corsa, released in 2014, is the game that made Kunos widely known. The studio's own history says it quickly became a favourite thanks to its physics engine, accurate car models, laser-scanned tracks, and a thriving modding community. It set a new benchmark for racing simulations and became a reference point for enthusiasts.

The game's design choices mattered as much as its technology. It offered officially licensed cars, real circuits recreated with laser scanning, and open tools that let players add their own cars and tracks. That openness helped the game outlive its release date, and it remains one of the most modded racing titles on PC, with a library of player-made content far larger than the original release.

Competizione and the esports turn

In 2019 Kunos followed up with Assetto Corsa Competizione, a simulation built around the SRO GT World Challenge. The studio says the game included official teams, drivers, and laser-scanned circuits, and that it raised the bar again through refined physics, advanced tyre modelling, and an esports-ready platform. Tying the game to a real championship gave it a clear reference point: if the virtual cars behaved differently from the real ones, that would be visible.

Competizione marked a shift toward official motorsport licensing, tying the simulation to a real championship rather than a loose collection of cars. It was adopted for competitive events, and it gave the studio a foothold in organised sim racing as well as in casual play, alongside the real series it set out to reproduce.

EVO, Rally, and the next generation

The studio's next leap came in 2025 with Assetto Corsa EVO, released in early access. Kunos describes it as built on a proprietary graphics engine with photo-scanned environments and dynamic weather, alongside enhanced physics, a new tyre model, and support for VR and triple-screen setups. The new engine was significant, since the earlier games had relied on the studio's own technology, and EVO rebuilt that foundation for newer hardware.

Around the same period, an early access rally title appeared. Assetto Corsa Rally was developed in collaboration with Supernova, another developer within the Digital Bros group, and built on a refined version of the Assetto Corsa physics engine. Neither title was finished at launch, following the studio's habit of building in early access with players rather than shipping a final product on day one.

Ownership and the Digital Bros group

Kunos is no longer independent. It was acquired in 2017 by Digital Bros, the Italian group that also owns the publisher 505 Games. Digital Bros lists Kunos among its brands on its corporate site, placing the studio inside a portfolio that spans publishing, distribution, and development. That group structure is how the series reaches consoles as well as PC, with distribution handled above the studio level.

The parent company arrangement explains how the Assetto Corsa series reaches consoles as well as PC, and how spin-off projects such as the rally title are staffed across more than one studio. For Kunos, it means access to group resources while keeping its own name and its simulation-first identity, with a larger organisation handling distribution and the business side.

Quick facts

Founded: 2005, in Italy. Headquarters: at the ACI Vallelunga circuit near Rome. Founders include Marco Massarutto and Stefano Casillo. Owner: Digital Bros, which acquired the studio in 2017 and also owns the publisher 505 Games. The studio has kept a small team and a narrow remit, and it speaks about motorsport enthusiasm rather than about scale.

Key games: Assetto Corsa (2014), Assetto Corsa Competizione (2019), and Assetto Corsa EVO (early access, 2025). The studio's games are known for laser-scanned tracks, licensed cars, detailed physics, and support for modding, which the team cites as central to the series' longevity, and it has since spread the name across rally and competitive esports versions too.

Games

• Assetto Corsa
• Assetto Corsa Competizione
• Assetto Corsa EVO
• Ferrari Virtual Academy
• NetKar Pro

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