Assetto Corsa Server Hosting

What can you run on an Assetto Corsa server?

An Assetto Corsa dedicated server is acServer, the server software from the game's developer Kunos, and it is the backbone of organized racing. On one track and layout, with the car list you choose, it runs practice, qualifying and race sessions in turn. A public practice server, a weekly league, a hotlap evening for one car class or a drift meet on a closed circuit are all built with the same software.

The server can hand out seats in two ways. With PICKUP_MODE_ENABLED=1, a joining driver simply takes a free car from the entry list, which suits open servers. With pickup off, the server first opens a booking session and the grid is made up of those who signed up. Leagues usually go one step further and tie each seat to a driver's GUID, so everybody sits in their own car.

The server on this page is the race-focused stock acServer. If you want to cruise an open highway through AI traffic, host car meets or run long freeroam sessions, we have a separate Freeroam + AI server built on AssettoServer, which generates that traffic on the server side. In short: racing, qualifying, leagues and rules belong here; traffic and free driving belong on Freeroam + AI.

Which plan does acServer need?

acServer is very light. It renders nothing and runs no physics; it collects position and status data from the drivers and redistributes it. That is why the Bronze plan with 4 GB of memory is more than enough even for a full grid. What limits grid size is the track rather than RAM: MAX_CLIENTS cannot exceed the number of pit boxes on the layout you pick.

Consider Silver if you keep a large collection of mod tracks and cars on the server and switch between them from week to week, purely for disk and memory headroom. Gold and above are far beyond what this software asks for; a single race server cannot use Emerald's extra cores or Xtreme's 32 GB.

Two things actually make a difference to how the racing feels. The first is location: our Istanbul datacenter gives drivers in Türkiye and neighbouring regions a short path, so rival cars appear closer to where they really are in wheel-to-wheel battles. The second is CLIENT_SEND_INTERVAL_HZ, which sends position updates more often when raised, at the cost of more bandwidth and CPU. Change it in small steps and test.

How do server_cfg.ini and entry_list.ini work together?

server_cfg.ini defines the rules and entry_list.ini defines the grid itself. Every model you list on the CARS line of server_cfg.ini needs at least one matching [CAR_n] block in entry_list.ini, otherwise nobody can pick it. TRACK and CONFIG_TRACK set the circuit and layout, and SUN_ANGLE sets the time of day.

Sessions are described in the [PRACTICE], [QUALIFY] and [RACE] blocks: duration, lap count, wait time and whether the session is open. RACE_OVER_TIME tells the server how long the rest of the field gets after the winner crosses the line. [DYNAMIC_TRACK] controls starting grip and gain per lap, and [WEATHER_0] onwards chooses the weather.

On the realism side, FUEL_RATE, TYRE_WEAR_RATE and DAMAGE_MULTIPLIER work as percentages, while ABS_ALLOWED, TC_ALLOWED, STABILITY_ALLOWED and TYRE_BLANKETS_ALLOWED govern the assists. ALLOWED_TYRES_OUT is how many wheels may leave the track before a penalty, and LEGAL_TYRES lists permitted compounds. KICK_QUORUM and VOTING_QUORUM set voting thresholds.

In entry_list.ini each [CAR_n] takes MODEL, SKIN, DRIVERNAME, TEAM, GUID, BALLAST and RESTRICTOR, and ballast and restrictor are exactly what leagues use for performance balancing. The panel may write a few values such as server name, passwords and ports at startup; if a file edit does not stick, check the panel's startup settings.

How do you upload content with Content Manager?

The easiest route is to build the configuration on your own PC in Content Manager. In its server section you create a preset and choose the track, cars, sessions and rules through the interface. Once the preset is ready, the packing option gathers the configuration files and the server-side data of your cars and tracks into a single archive that a remote server can use.

Extract that archive and upload its contents to the server folder with SFTP or the panel's file manager: the configuration files go into the cfg folder, and car and track data go into the matching folders under content. Then restart the server from the panel.

With mod cars and tracks, one thing matters above all: the server compares the files on each driver's PC with its own data. If the versions do not match, the driver is kicked with a checksum error. If you run a league, pin the exact version of your mod pack and its download link in the announcements channel, and when an update lands, refresh the server data and the drivers' files at the same time. Taking a manual backup from the panel before a big change lets you return to last week's race setup within minutes.

How do drivers connect, and how do you run race night?

With REGISTER_TO_LOBBY=1 the server registers with Kunos' online lobby, and drivers find it by name both in the game's own server list and in the Online tab of Content Manager. If the lobby is unreachable, Content Manager can also add the server manually by its IP address and HTTP port. For a closed league, set a password and share the connection details only with registered drivers.

During the race, administration happens in chat. Type /admin followed by the ADMIN_PASSWORD from server_cfg.ini to become an admin. From there, /next_session moves on to the next session, /restart_session starts the current one again, /kick and /ban remove drivers who break the rules, and /help lists the commands.

An Istanbul server gives drivers from Türkiye and nearby regions balanced latency. In a mixed league, everyone racing on similar ping also means fewer disputes after contact in close battles.