Personally I am bored of the same tracks in every generation of sims to come out. Sure they may be historic, traditional if you like... but the same old thing. I like someone that thinks outside the box and creates something as if it should exist in the real world. Maybe converting a local set of roads to become a rally stage. To me, a fantasy track is a step outside the box. A track that I may want to make would be something that no one necessarily will know. It wouldn't be famous or in the public eye, but it would be made with reality in mind and a recreation of what is real.
Based on the diametrically opposing views on this topic all around, can we conclude it by saying thank goodness ISI is releasing a little bit of everything so no one will have to go sit in a corner and cry that they are not getting what they prefer?
What??!! Haha oh man, I thought Orchard Lake was a fantasy track all these years lol. See it makes no difference...Just finding out now that it's real when I thought it was fantasy for the past 8 years doesn't automatically just make the track better. It's still the same track. And Vice versa... All the tracks in Simbin's STCC The Game and most in Game Stock Car could be fantasy for all I know. I've never been to any of them, I've never seen races on them on television, or internet videos, etc. Simbin and Reiza could be lying to me about all those tracks being real for all I know, it makes absolutely no difference to the track. Just like in the Orcharc lake example above - finding out, 8 years later, that Orchard Lake is not a fantasy track doesn't all of a sudden make the track any better, funner, etc. than it has been the past 8 years of playing on it. What about if Spa, Suzuka, etc. Never happened to exist in real life. Then you would of never had experienced them...Well think of it the other way around - how many "Suzukas" and "Spas" are out there that haven't happened to have actually been built (or even "built, yet" ). You catch my drift ? There are many beautiful tracks to drive out there, with amazing corners, corner combinations, challenges, characteristics, etc. Also, what about if you didn't know if the track was real or not?... Woupd you then be incapable of determining if you like and enjoy driving the track just because you don't know yet if it happens to also exist in real-life? Or how about if you were told a track was real, you then therefore drove it and loved driving the track, then let's say you found out the track was actually not real - would you then all of a sudden forget just how much you loved driving the track and then just not like it anymore, even though you couldn't wipe the smile off your face when driving the track beforehand??
Jesus, Spinelli. That guy cares for the realism part of it, what's the big deal? Someone else here is quite adamant of something in the other side of the spectrum. This is my example but it's as good as all other personal examples. If Spa or Suzuka weren't real I'd still adore them and wish they were real. The fact they are is fantastic, and because they are fantastic they have acquired the status of being mythological. I've rarely seen and driven in fantasy tracks (not talking about inaccurate representations, because I adored GPL's Spa and Rouen) I liked. A couple of tracks in the Gran Turismo series were quite sweet, some for the graphical aspect, some for the layout, a couple for both (don't ask names because that ship has sailed). Essington is one example of fantasy I enjoy because it has aspects I appreciate combined into one place. It's a matter of the creativity and things clicking, it isn't easy designing something awesome. It's not just piecing together "anthological" track sections to compose a fantasy one. That one track from the community contest that feels3 held doesn't entice me, to be honest. Sometimes simplicity coupled with being fortunate enough to have beautiful surroundings and/or generous topography is all you need. Old Hockenheim, Monza, Mosport, old Rouen, old Watkins Glen, etc.
I think what people are missing here is the same thing that happens in real life. Independent thinkers consider many things to be arbitrary while others revere what independent thinkers believe to be completely coincidental. Europeans may like soccer. Americans like (American) football. Why? Because they happen to be born in whatever country. Me? My American friends think I should be deported because everything I am interested in is European or global...road racing, the Tour de France, tennis, the Olympics, etc. Why? Simple. It's because I PARTICIPATE in all those things. I don't give a rip who the F is doing anything I am not doing myself. Spectators are completely alien to me but that's fine. I have decided to tolerate them but seriously it's the same as real life nothing different. I'd like to say we sim racers have more in common than not but sadly that's not true. We have all the diversity of any real life cross section of society.
Would you rather give a chance to a fantasy track or get South Korea, Sotchi, Singapore, Shanghai, Losail or Abu Dhabi?
I have a different perspective to add to this discussion. Let's look at the world of video games. In particular, highly competitive, huge tournament, super mega high payout events like DOTA or League of Legends. The world of video gaming is becoming increasingly popular as a *spectator sport*, rather than just an underground hobby. Millions, and probably more like hundreds of millions, of people watch and play these games every single day, and it is growing into a huge industry. But, it's not just the MOBAs like DOTA and LOL, other games like Counterstrike and Unreal Tournament and I'm sure many others are getting bigger and bigger everyday...as a *spectator sport* (emphasis on that.) My point is, what do WE do when (or if, but let's be positive here) sim-racing gets super mega popular? That's when this whole debate will really have merit. Do we, as a sim-racing community, restrict the events to currently well-known real-world tracks...that spectators know very well? Well, that would make perfect sense of course. Spectators understand better what is happening on screen as they watch. Fans of that track in real life may be more interested to watch that event. BUT...the cons: The tracks are run in real life by real-world drivers in real cars that actually go fast. Spectators aren't going to be too excited to watch the SAME thing they can see on TV in reality, rather than a video game version (and no matter how realistic the sim is, it is still a video game to spectators). Even moreso, fans can go to the real track to experience the real thing...you don't get the hair-raising excitement of 43 V8 powered monsters going 200mph rumbling your entire body and blowing your ears out while watching a video game. However, fantasy tracks don't have those issues. Spectators can watch something that they've never seen before in real life, and can't see in real life because it doesn't exist. Fantasy tracks, to a spectator, can provide a new experience: they can more easily get into the action (rather than focusing on whether that building in the background looks different than the real thing), they can see wild and exotic locales that they've never been able to see on TV, and with an accurate physics system and tracks designed within realistic parameters, it's just like watching a brand-new series of racing. Even cars can be fantasy in this regard...again, provided that the physics are properly modeled. That's just another perspective to maybe think about when dismissing (or not dismissing) fantasy tracks altogether. We all love the sport of sim-racing, and I know most of you would love it if it became even 1/4th as popular a spectator sport as MOBAs. Some of you guys would have fan bases larger than some professional sports players. But I honestly don't think the sport of sim-racing can ever get to that level if we restrict ourselves to just copying what we see on tv.
Another view. My experiences in the car sector showed me the people do not use public simulations and smile at computer games. It is usually considered like a child playing on a console, apart from the technical aspects of the software/hardware they also do not take seriously. I'm talking about adult human, for the most part pros among others, mechanics, engineers and motor vehicle masters. In most cases these people can not build a relation to reality and also feel not to drive a car. We are used to it, they don't. What do you think how serious these people would take a software fully with fantasy names or content. This way, it is difficult to make it popular and even iRacing is still a game for pros. There is a reason for the rfpro product, believe me and rf2 is just another simulation game. Fantasy can not improve this only worsen in my opinion.
My point was that I don't care what the track is called if I know its a certain track and it was made by ISI, anyone really if it is ISI quality. I am 57 years old and have been a motorsport fan for about 49 years of that. I read all the magazines available in Australia during those years, I lived about 10 mins from Sandown in my younger years and live about 20 mins from it now and about 50 mins from Phillip Island, I have driven Calder Park in a sedan racing car and have been to Bathurst, Winton, Melbourne GP about 5 times, I recently went to the US for a holiday and travelled through Watkins Glen on the way to Niagra Falls, I didn't get to the track though. These are all real tracks that are part of my life in one way or another, that is why I like real tracks, I know they are there and have had an influence on me in some way. Name them what you want, the will still be the tracks that I have wanted to drive all my life. Tracks that aren't real don't do anything for me because of these reasons, if some makes a track with great corners or straights etc , in a game it might be good to drive, but how do you now if it would drive or look like that in real life, you can't know because they don't exist. They just become another addon for a game, might as well be " playing " a game, not attempting to simulate ( as much as a pc can ) what I know is there. P.S. I've been a space program fanatic since I saw one of the Gemini craft go across the night sky where I lived too, I know I will never go to space, but that doesn't mean its not there, I know its there, that's why I want to do it.
Wow you made it easy because those are all horrendous tracks, but even most of the "great" tracks IRL suck in sim racing because their boring. Hence the many fictional tracks because people understand this.
@NWdogg, good points all of them and I'll add that sim racing can be so much better than IRL because like f1 tracks and safety rules nobody likes and terrible racing, etc., etc. And I WILL spectate something I can do myself and so will others. And spectator feedback can be incorporated into the sport will will be democratized b/c anyone can build tracks, broadcast, design seasons, etc. IRL? Nope you have absolutely ridiculous tracks made by someone because he is an engineer and knows how to make sure the track doesn't food or sink.
Who needs these people? No offense because I know you are one of them But IRL Motorsport needs to be left behind. OK before the flaming what I mean is that sim racing can be so much better than real racing and much opportunity is lost because of that narrow mindedness. Using the fantasy video game tournament and spectator example, if other games have both large participation and audiences then why not sim racing. Like stated above quit the stupid graphics and arbitrary accuracy complaints and break free. After all that is what simulation allows you to do. Why not take advantage of it? IRL sports fans and industry people? Please! Instead recruit gamers who are hard core and want to learn about driving skills, vehicle dynamics, setups, strategy, etc. and also have opportunities to be broadcasters, etc. with experience, etc. What you need is a whole new breed of sim racer, not those who seek to "be immersed" or to pretend to be someone in real life. Instead, let those IRL drivers wish they were us. What most of you are missing is that if you let go of lame IRL ties, then sim racing instantly becomes 100% immersive because you ARE sim racing you can show people your rig in real life because it exists and when you turn the wheel it affects everything in the simulation which is a real simulation, etc., etc. Open your minds and amazing things could happen...
Well, first of all, what i like and what i use for my personal simracing hobbie only matters to one person, me. Personally i will not miss any "tons of cool fictional" content cause i will not make any use of it. I can elaborate a bit more if its your desire. What made me embark simracing world was the excitment of recreating real life racing. The joy of picking that exact car on that exact track. Open Microprose F1 and put 20 cars on monaco and be a happy man. It could had blocks instead of buildings but i was there. For 20 minutes i was in monaco racing an F1 car. That is what i care and what i search in simracing titles, the recreation of real life racing with real life cars and real life tracks. How it is a step back? Well, been around this for aprox. 20 years and actualy i admin several simracing races where real life drivers make their practice. Im not seeing real life drivers using fictional content if they have another title which gives them what they need. Fictional content is not a step forward im sure of that. But again, its my opinion, respect it as i respect yours.
Maybe you guys just misunderstood something there. They begged for it because they thought they could get the track within a few days/weeks (on screens it looked nearly done). Not because it is a so great track...
