Best Assetto Corsa graphics settings
Assetto Corsa's in-game options get you to a playable baseline, but Custom Shader Patch — installed through Content Manager — is where the real visual gains are. This guide covers both layers for any PC specification.
What does each Assetto Corsa graphics setting do?
Assetto Corsa's built-in graphics options are modest compared with modern titles, but choosing the right values for your hardware still makes a meaningful difference. The most impactful settings are shadow resolution, anti-aliasing and cube map reflection quality — these three account for the majority of GPU load variation. Resolution and anisotropic filtering should almost always be kept at native and 16x respectively, as rendering below native resolution degrades sharpness more than lower quality settings save FPS.
| Setting | What it does | Recommended |
|---|---|---|
| Resolution | Match your monitor native resolution. Rendering below native hurts sharpness more than lower quality settings save FPS. | Native |
| Fullscreen mode | Exclusive Fullscreen gives the lowest input latency; Borderless Windowed makes alt-tabbing faster. | Fullscreen |
| Anti-aliasing | Reduces jagged edges. FXAA is fastest but blurry; MSAA 4x is the best quality/performance trade-off. | MSAA 4x (high PC) / FXAA (low PC) |
| Anisotropic Filtering | Sharpens textures on surfaces at oblique angles — track tarmac, walls, run-off. Near-free at 16x on modern GPUs. | 16x |
| Shadow resolution | Sharpness of shadow edges. 2048 is a good balance; 4096 is expensive and rarely needed below 4K. | 2048 |
| Cube map faces | Reflection quality on car bodywork. Higher values cost significant FPS in multi-car races. | 2 (low) / 4 (high) |
| World detail | Draw distance for trackside objects. Reduces pop-in at higher values. | High |
| Motion blur | Camera motion blur. Most sim racers turn this off — it obscures the image while braking. | Off |
| Depth of field | Focus blur in replays and showroom. No FPS impact during driving. | Low or Off |
Recommended graphics presets by hardware level
| Tier | Resolution | AA | Shadow res | Cube maps | World | Target FPS | GPU equiv. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Low | 1080p | FXAA | 1024 | 1 | Medium | 30–60 fps | GTX 1060 / RX 580 |
| Medium | 1080p | MSAA 2x | 1024 | 2 | High | 60 fps | GTX 1070 / RX 5700 |
| High | 1080p / 1440p | MSAA 4x | 2048 | 4 | Ultra | 60–100 fps | RTX 3070 / RX 6800 |
| Ultra | 1440p / 4K | MSAA 8x | 4096 | 8 | Ultra | 100+ fps | RTX 4080 / RX 7900 |
How does CSP improve Assetto Corsa graphics?
Custom Shader Patch is a free graphics extension that replaces and augments large parts of Assetto Corsa's renderer. It adds dynamic weather, volumetric lighting, improved ambient occlusion, real-time reflections, car lighting effects, and post-processing including bloom and lens flares. CSP also enables the weather mods Sol and Pure — the two tools responsible for most of the striking AC screenshots you see online. It is installed and updated entirely through Content Manager, which handles all version management automatically.
| CSP feature | What it adds | Recommendation | FPS cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Extended Ambient Occlusion | Adds realistic shadow depth in corners between objects. | Enable | Medium |
| Weather FX | Enables Sol and Pure weather integration. Required for sky mods. | Enable | Low |
| SMAA | Better anti-aliasing than FXAA at similar performance. Pairs well with lower MSAA. | Enable | Low |
| Car Lights FX | Volumetric headlights and brake glow effects. | Enable | Low |
| Track Adjustments | Fixes and improves track materials, surfaces and reflections. | Enable | Low |
| Extra FX: YEBIS | Post-processing lens effects — bloom, chromatic aberration, lens flares. | Screenshots only | Medium-High |
| Godrays | Volumetric light shafts through trees and barriers. | High-end PC only | High |
CSP is installed via the Custom Shader Patch section in Content Manager's settings. Our CSP installation guide covers the full process, and the CSP settings guide explains every major option in detail.
How do I improve FPS in Assetto Corsa?
Assetto Corsa is primarily CPU-bound — physics and AI run on the CPU, and many GPUs sit waiting on the CPU during multi-car races. That said, graphics settings still have a meaningful impact. Reduce them in this order for the best FPS-to-quality trade-off:
- Shadow resolution — dropping from 2048 to 1024 is the single largest FPS gain in the in-game settings, typically 10–20%.
- Cube map faces — reduce from 4 to 2 if FPS drops in races with many reflective cars close together.
- Anti-aliasing — switching from MSAA 4x to FXAA can recover 15–25% FPS, though at noticeable sharpness cost. MSAA 2x is a useful middle ground.
- CSP YEBIS post-processing — if CSP is installed, disabling Extra FX saves significant GPU load without affecting core visual quality.
World detail and anisotropic filtering have minimal FPS impact and should be left at high settings in almost all cases.
Graphics settings — common questions
What are the best graphics settings for Assetto Corsa?
For most PCs, the best Assetto Corsa graphics settings are: resolution at native, MSAA 4x anti-aliasing, anisotropic filtering 16x, shadow resolution 2048, world detail High, motion blur Off. Installing Custom Shader Patch (CSP) through Content Manager improves visuals far beyond what in-game settings alone can achieve — enabling CSP's extended ambient occlusion, SMAA, car lights FX and weather FX adds more quality than any combination of in-game slider changes. CSP is free and managed entirely through Content Manager.
How do I improve FPS in Assetto Corsa?
To improve FPS in Assetto Corsa, reduce settings in this order: shadow resolution first (from 2048 to 1024 is the single largest gain, typically 10–20% FPS), then cube map reflection faces (from 4 to 2), then anti-aliasing (from MSAA 4x to 2x or FXAA). Disabling motion blur and depth of field recovers a small amount. World detail and anisotropic filtering have minimal FPS impact and are worth keeping high. If CSP is installed, disabling YEBIS post-processing in Extra FX settings typically saves 10–20% FPS with minimal visual loss.
What does Custom Shader Patch do to Assetto Corsa graphics?
Custom Shader Patch (CSP) is a free graphics extension for Assetto Corsa that replaces and augments large parts of the base renderer. It adds dynamic weather, volumetric lighting, improved ambient occlusion, real-time reflections, car lighting effects such as volumetric headlights and brake glow, track surface improvements, and post-processing including bloom and lens flares. CSP also enables weather mods Sol and Pure. It is installed and managed entirely through Content Manager — the CSP section in Content Manager settings handles download, installation and version management.
What anti-aliasing should I use in Assetto Corsa?
MSAA 4x is the best standard anti-aliasing option in Assetto Corsa for modern hardware — it removes jagged edges on car models and barriers without the blurriness of FXAA. Paired with CSP's SMAA option in Extra FX settings, MSAA 2x plus SMAA often looks as sharp as MSAA 4x alone at better performance. On low-end PCs, FXAA is the only practical option. MSAA 8x provides marginal improvement over 4x at significant FPS cost and is rarely worth it below 4K.
Does Assetto Corsa need a good GPU?
Assetto Corsa is primarily CPU-bound — the physics and AI calculation on the CPU is typically the bottleneck, especially in races with many cars. A mid-range GPU such as a GTX 1070 or RX 5700 is sufficient for 1080p at high settings with CSP enabled. GPU load increases significantly with higher shadow resolutions, reflection quality and CSP post-processing effects such as YEBIS. At 1440p or 4K with all settings maxed and CSP active, a modern high-end GPU makes a meaningful difference.
Can I use ReShade with Assetto Corsa and Content Manager?
Yes. ReShade works with Assetto Corsa and is compatible with Content Manager. However, if CSP is installed, its built-in post-processing through YEBIS and Extra FX provides many effects that ReShade would add — bloom, SMAA, depth of field, colour grading — without the compatibility risk of a separate injection layer. Most players who use CSP find ReShade redundant. If you do install ReShade, place it in the Assetto Corsa root directory and match the renderer to what AC uses.
Set up Custom Shader Patch for the best visuals
CSP transforms Assetto Corsa's graphics and is free to install through Content Manager. Our guide covers the full installation in under ten minutes.
Install CSP