Reims Revivial 2012 - v1.1 Released

After undergoing surgery to remove a rather displeasing lump from the throat I have finally got back into making circuits. I had a good amount of time to think about why I bother uploading tracks to the community when I get very little in return. Ultimately the positive comments generally far outweigh the negative comments, and now I simply need to ignore pathetic criticisms in the future.

My tracks will continue to have my own personal 'fictional' advertising and imagination to them. I would only use more realistic advertising if I was working on a track that I was aiming to be oh a high calibre of accuracy to the real world counterpart. However I rarely make these sorts of tracks these days to avoid unwanted mockery of my skills.

Now to talk about the updates to Reims Revival 2012 v1.10!

I listened to the community and by far the biggest issue with Reims was the hole that I had overlooked upon its initial release a few weeks ago. This hole is now completely gone! I also removed the wonderful background image and replaced it with something dull in the form of the default background. I did this as it more closely resembles the region in France which does not have fantastic mountains. Finally the only other significant update is a modification to the bumps / terrain on track.

Initially I had intentionally gone for an aggressive bump profile around the track to emulate the real world layout which was not in the best condition in parts. However I have toned this back a peg or two to improve the AI's performance in terms of lap times around the circuit. Yet, I have not reduced the bumps to the extent that one or two individuals would have liked. If you find that the bumps are too rough then please consider these setting changes that I run :

- G27 Wheel (set to 280 degrees rotation, Full wheel ffb) + 86%

- Real Feel Plugin (latest version)
- Depending on the mod, either Real Feel settings or Strong / Medium FFB options
- TC OFF (or low)
- Stability Control OFF
- All other driver aids off.

I find it easy to drive around the circuit with these settings, if you find it hard with the bumps then be sure to keep practising and sooner or later you will get better at driving.


A complete list of the track version history can be seen below:
_________________________________________________________________________________
CHANGE LOG :
1.00 - Initial release

1.10 - Replaced skybox with 'default skybox' (to be more accurate of the dull landscape)
     - modified the bump profile
     - fixed bug / hole in the track
     - other minor tweaks
_________________________________________________________________________________

KNOWN ISSUES:
- Some F1 cars (particularly modern F1 cars) flip on the kerbs. This was not built for modern F1 cars.
- RECOMMENDED to run the track with Circuit Display settings set to FULL, otherwise some tree models will have an error.
_________________________________________________________________________________

As always, my tracks are best downloaded from NoGripRacing and you can get the latest version of Reims Revivial 2012 v1.10 HERE or simply search for it at Rfactorcentral.com


COMING SOON:
Attia Stadt Grand Prix, a fictional city / town Grand Prix set in the German / Austrian landscape.

Enjoy!

Reims Revival 2012 - Released

Fictional History :
Reims was a formidable circuit in its time which originally spanned 46 years. It was shortened for 1952 and would operate as a high speed circuit until 1972 when it finally was decommissioned as a circuit for the final time.
Forty years have passed and finally it was agreed that a revival circuit would be set up for competition classic car and classic Grand Prix racing. It opened for its first race in 2012 which was to be a classic Grand Prix meeting.
The circuit had been upgraded from the days before safety was more than an idea to make it a class three racing venue (Formula One being a class one event). This enabled the circuit to obtain a classic car racing status for 2012.

The very first event was a classic Formula One meeting consisting of F1 cars from the 1950s and 1960s. Other supporting races including Historic Touring Car and DRM were also held on the weekend of July alongside the main event.
The circuit was highly successful and it was renewed for a further 4 years of operation to run from 2013 - 2016. However the final turn (turn 10) it to be modified into a chicane for safety reasons.

NOTES:
Consisting of 10 turns, Reims Revival 2012 is a clockwise circuit of extremely high speed. It is not the original circuit but a shorter version to bring it up into the twenty-first century. 
Many of the new turns were designed to avoid the now prominent roundabouts where the original circuit once stood. However much of the circuit runs on the same stretches of road that existed back during its original configuration (1953-72 layout).

I am very happy with the track-side cameras. This is the first circuit where the cameras do not overlap or have other issues. Included is a two lap camera file.

As always, my track has been uploaded to NoGripRacing and can be downloaded HERE. It should also be available from Rfactorcentral in the coming days.

If you enjoy playing my tracks, then please consider donating anything to my paypal. Thank you!

Enjoy folks!

News and Reims

After much thought, I finally released Donington Park 1937 to Rfactorcentral as well as Phoenix Proposal 1989 v2.5.

Originally I was not going to release either tracks to Rfactorcentral for a number of reasons. The most prominent reason is the lack of merit to much of the 'feedback' I get from the community. By all means, let me know if something is broken, but don't be too picky with the most insignificant details. For example, the ratings I often get on Rfactorcentral are perplexing. Why would I receive a 2 out of 5 for 'Ok track naming' for Imola 1960s? The name either clashes with others in the menu of the game, or the folder has the same name, or it does not. In this case, it never did. As far as I could tell, I was the only person who has bothered to tackle the old Imola in this way (until recent times, where Carrera 1988 made the 1988 layout to Imola).

You see, things like that bug me. Well, that sort of thing, and blanket low scoring. Arguably the hardest circuits I have made were my renditions of New York in the early 1990s, those being Lower Manhattan GP and Lower Manhattan INDY. I released them to Rfactorcentral and the first few ratings I got suggested that the circuits were only a 2.5/5. While I know I am not the best circuit designer / modeller out there, I did believe they were looking at least a 3.5/5. It was a 'hmm' moment. It put me off from adding other tracks to Rfactorcentral for some time. I found that the community at Nogripracing was far more respectful for what is ultimately free content that we modders slave away at for their and our own entertainment.

Since those releases now over two years ago, the ratings of both Lower Manhattan GP and the INDY course have improved dramatically to 4.5/5 each. Which is better than I could have hoped for. In fact, my latest releases to Rfactorcentral (Donington and the latest version of Phoenix) have scored very well so far, and to top it off, Donington has (so far) received some great generally positive feedback which is something that can easily restore faith in humanity - at least for the time being!

Now that I have all that rambling out of my system for the next five minutes, I might let you all know about my latest project which I effectively finished two months ago, yet have not released it anywhere. That project is Reims Revival.

This is the original 1953-67' layout

This is shortened layout for the 2012 revival

Here it is in an editing program

As you can see from the screenshots, the Reims Revival 2012 circuit is much shorter than the 1953 original layout. The 1953 layout was 8.372km. While my shorter 'revival' circuit will be just 6.765km in length. 

Gone are the two hairpins from turns 5 and 7. The first corner has been modified as the original layout is now a roundabout. Instead, I have dug into the farm land to convert the original turn 1 into three separate corners. From there the circuit follows that of the 1953 layout until we get up to the section where the track originally led up to the first hairpin. The satellite image suggests that even though the circuit is overgrown and lost that the stencil remains. I decided to cut it out entirely and turn the circuit towards the highway in the exact spot where the old road fades away into the paddock. This section becomes turn 5 to 7.

From there the circuit has its fastest section on the highway up and over the hill which follows the original 1953 layout exactly. However I have again shortened this section which once led to a hairpin to around half the length. Instead, as the circuit passes the second wooded paddock, it turns right and then immediately left off the hill in a fast sweeping fluid move to a purpose built road that I have added to bring the circuit back to the main straight. As you can see the long straight on the final part of the circuit will be a challenge for novice drivers. There is a wall immediately at the end with zero run-off area. Obviously this would not happen in real life in now days, but I thought it was a fitting challenge.

In total the circuit went from a total of 7 turns into 10 turns. The circuit is most definitely still a power circuit with, what I believe, to have the essence of Reims still intact. The main reason I have made the changes from the original course is the road has changed in real life to roundabouts or towns or disappeared entirely.

I will be keen to know what you all think of my remake of Reims for the 21st century.

I am planning to release this track in the coming days to both Nogripracing and Rfactorcentral, so be sure to look out for it!