Track Dev Update: Announcing Toban Raceway Park

Discussion in 'News & Notifications' started by Luc Van Camp, Feb 14, 2016.

  1. Luc Van Camp

    Luc Van Camp Track Team Staff Member

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    [td]Toban Raceway Park Announcement

    It is with quite some excitement that we would like to publicly announce that work is underway on the rFactor 2 Toban Raceway Park project -- without any doubt our best-kept secret ever! An honest promise with every intention of fulfilling it, that's basically how the project can be summarized, referring to Scott Juliano's original track development update thread from 2011 where Toban for rFactor 2 was first mentioned:[/td]
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    Other high priority projects got in the way of that planning, but now Pier and I decided that it is finally time to deliver on that promise, having made plenty of technical and artistic advances since our 2011 track releases. So not only will the place have aged a further five years, it will also be the most detailed track we have done to date -- a treatment Toban deserves due to popular demand.

    The fact that some of you managed to guess the track correctly within minutes after we posted the first ambiguous teaser shot is a mind-blowing testament to the knowledge and passion of our little niche community, and shows just how popular that demand has been.

    So what can you expect in the not-so-distant future? As explained by Scott, the track owners are operating on a low budget and they haven't had a chance to modernize the infrastructure too much. But it definitely isn't an upgraded conversion brought to our latest standards. It is a scratch built track, made with modern techniques and populated with our finest props to date. Going for the scratch built option does require a lot more time and effort, but it was a necessity in order to address the oversized scaling of most original rF1 objects which were used to fill the scene with as few objects as possible -- in turn a necessity for the hardware requirements a decade ago.

    In fact, scale was one of the biggest challenges we faced during development. The look and feel of the original objects don't always translate well when everything is scaled down to more appropriate proportions and all the extra details get added. Some compromises had to be made, whilst keeping a good level of fidelity compared to the rFactor version we all loved.

    Some things have definitely changed though. For artistic reasons, we have relocated the track to California where, in its finished form, Toban's excellent racing terroir will be encompassed by lush vineyards. Two new layouts will join the existing line-up in the track owners' hopes of further building upon the legendary Long and Short layouts. And perhaps the biggest change, and this may come to a surprise to some of you, the cheap track owners had found a few buckets of the original yellow paint and had applied a fresh coat to the curbs -- several years ago. A close inspection shows that some bits of paint have worn off, revealing a few spots of blue paint that the rF1 modding community used in texture updates for this track, and that a lot of you were familiar with. Well, they're yellow again ...

    Even though there are still a lot of tasks to be completed as we work hard to improve the quality of nearly every asset, there's light at the end of the tunnel and we're still aiming to put Toban into Release Candidate testing in a couple of weeks. Fingers crossed!

    TobanA_01.jpg TobanA_02.jpg TobanA_03.jpg TobanA_04.jpg TobanA_05.jpg TobanA_06.jpg TobanA_07.jpg TobanA_08.jpg TobanA_09.jpg TobanA_10.jpg

    Short summary for those who don't like reading: Toban is coming soonishly soon ... ish. Just wanted to get that info out so that everyone can relax, and there's no more need for Mystery Track teasers.

    Toban_Logo.png
     
  2. adamfarmer

    adamfarmer Registered

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    Many thanks! I can't wait to see all those details in action.
     
  3. Andregee

    Andregee Registered

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    very promising
     
  4. sg333

    sg333 Registered

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    Should we start a kickstarter for some new grandstands? ;)

    Great to finally have confirmation :)
     
  5. Woodee

    Woodee Registered

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    FINALLY.... cat is out the bag.... AND RUNNING ACROSS THE CIRCUIT......NOOOOOOOOOO!
     
  6. Cozza

    Cozza Registered

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    Too be fair. Most track teasers where meet with "ITS TOBAN!!!" even when it wasn't :p :p :p
     
  7. Superdevil

    Superdevil Registered

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    Happy Valentines Day Toban my sweet love. I long for the day when we're together again...

    Thanks Luc!
     
  8. Jamie Shorting

    Jamie Shorting Registered

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  9. Foxiol

    Foxiol Registered

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    Amazing!!! So many memories of the first launch to try rFactor Demo for then go and buy it! That first crash at Toban that I'll never forget after trying the lovely physics! ;)
     
  10. brownninja97

    brownninja97 Registered

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    Oh now this is gonna be glorious with the Group C cars.
     
  11. Alesi

    Alesi Registered

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    what i dont understand its a terrible color of asphalt and thats why it look strange??? all ISI (and non ISI) track with this awful color ashalt??? why ??? cant u make it like real??? come on(((((
     
  12. FlyinFinn2

    FlyinFinn2 Registered

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    Fantastic!
     
  13. Eddy

    Eddy Registered

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    Great piece of writing there Luc :eek:
    Loved reading the long version.
     
  14. deBorgo83

    deBorgo83 Registered

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    Excellent news!
    What a fabulous track Toban is. Memories of the rF MP Demo and racing the rTrainer on the Long Reverse layout are flooding back already. Really looking forward to this release.
     
  15. Woodee

    Woodee Registered

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    I hope the V8 Howston from rF1 makes an appearance on it??? :D
     
  16. krulkrul

    krulkrul Registered

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    For me the most iconic turn in this circuit is this one:

    View attachment 19383

    Please don't screw that turn :D

    I've drive some mods of this track in other sims and in all of them that turn is completely another thing.
     
  17. Nimugp

    Nimugp Registered

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  18. Saabjock

    Saabjock Registered

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    Jesus! I'm getting old.
    I couldn't remember which track Toban was.
    It took Nimugp's screenshot to jog my memory.
    Sure....we'll take that circuit again.
    I remember having some of the most 'epic' battles there in the original RF.
    Always loved the fast right-to power-burst left at the end of the main straight...especially in the RSDG Megane-Trophy mod and ISI's Formula cars.
    Bring it on.
     
  19. buddhatree

    buddhatree Registered

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    I guess it's time for me to admit that I've never driven Toban :eek: So I'm looking forward to this! :)
     
  20. jkn87

    jkn87 Registered

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    finally, it took too long!! this is my most played track in RF1. now i still have to wait till VR support to play it...so maybe some more years waiting to try it.. HOPE I'M WRONG!
     

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