Not always. Portland International Raceway is a City park in the center of a commercial/industrial zone. Unfortunately, that commercial/industrial zone is in a floodplain below a residential neighborhood about 2 miles away. Those residents resent the distant noise that racing brings with it, so there is a nearly constant pressure to close the track. Having a reminder show up in "video games" might be the political lever that shuts the door to the track. [Ironically the neighbors don't try to close the railroad that loudly toots horns at 3am while moving freight or close the slaughterhouse emitting an awful stench]
Not forgetting that most race tracks dont actually make that much money to start with, so any means of income to them has to be at a price where they feel they get substantial value from.
... which is why having a couple of rigs with the track and a couple of cars used locally could bring continued revenue. Ten pounds for twenty minute lan race. Make that on race meetings, maybe up the price, and there's a nice little revenue stream better than a one-off sale price. It's a real life subscription model.
So you are going to present to someone who invests and thinks in millions of dollars an idea which produces 30 pounds/ hour (just using the above as an example) = $55/hour of gross revenue (before taking into account equipment costs, staffing, facility costs) which will likely generate 10 hours of usage on a weekend or $500-$600 before expenses that this is where they should put their energies? I don't think they would give it a second look. Not in a world where people can get the same experience at home on their PC or console if they are at all interested.
By all means feel free to take one very quickly written line and turn into a baseless assumption including your millions of pounds. There are several revenue streams which an organization can explore, all at different levels of revenue and with their own margins. You're not from ISI or the track ownership group to know the values involved nor the possible service to be provided. I'd love, love to engage in a lengthy argument on the possibilities and realities of a licensing agreement, even in a condescending tone such as yours.
I have sporty little street car. Having driven many hundreds of virtual laps at road atlanta, as soon as i bougnt the car i just couldn't wait to sign up for a track weekend there, at a cost to me of about $600. Did the same thing at barber in birmingham. I just knocked out seversl days of practice and racing at virtual sebring. Now i can't wait to sign up for a go there. So i'm just one example of how sim track can draw in real money. If it costs them nothing to grant permission i don't understand why they shun the publicity.
Agreed, of course, because that was my point, too. Be lucky you have three amazing tracks within a (relatively) short driving distance!!! I suspect you'll add Atlanta Motorsports Park to your list soon
Yes, actually i will. Funny thing is, i had never even heard of it except thru rf2 forums! Quite an example of a sim presence advancing real life awareness
Given my interest in specific real life racing series I am on the same boat. So many tracks I learned about first due to GPL, and then of course rFactor 1 or other older games.
This isn't a track team tweet, but an interesting little convo from VirtualR between Tuttle and a (somewhat trolling) user. Don't think it belongs here, but didn't know where else to post it. Some interesting stuff from Tuttle and a good bit of anti-rF2 myth busting. User: Tuttle:
OT...far out I hate that site, probably about time I take another self enforced ban for a few months XD The amount of misinformation...and trolling...and hate... Be careful though, Hexa. You might get labelled a fanboy, which then seems to invalidate everything you say... Lol XD
Of course it's complete misinformation regarding graphics on VirtualR. Still, if graphics would be on a level parallel to other modern sims, these wrong rumours wouldn't float needlessly around. I personally think rF2 HDR/lighting is a fail the way it is currently implemented. HDR tries to be too aggressive and as a consequence it cannot be tuned tuned correct for all circumstances. For example, in cockpit view the outside scenery suddenly gets a lot lighter due to auto exposure working too aggressively. Interlagos at daytime hours looks bad, way worse than GSC Interlagos, due to lighting. Clouds look much worse than static clouds, the difference is too big to be blamed just on the dynamic weather. Shadows are more or less jagged, especially in cockpit, this was something that especially recent builds seemed to make worse. Running shadows can be seen on many tracks, even on high settings, unlike in other sims. There are bugs with HDR on certain monitors, showing purple artifacts. Shadows are generally very dark. Etc.
Oh yeah, I think nearly everyone would agree with the above, many things need to be refined and worked on, and I'm sure they will be in time. I haven't seen anyone really say that they are absolutely happy with how things look right at the minute. Things need work, say the clouds for example as there are no large cumulus clouds present. However, I am much happier with the fact that there is a dynamic cloud system present in rF2 that can be improved, rather than having (at the minute) better looking pictures of clouds as the skybox, but no actual cloud system in place. The same goes for rain, night racing, damage, etc. Dunno if this was ever featured on VR...good coz it shows you how the clouds roll in and how it's not just a static picture sitting there. So it's the same as above, awesome that there is this dynamic system already in place, it just needs to be tweaked and have a few more cloud types present.
Wow, the misinformation in that post was incredible. Good on Tuttle for being able to communicate with those twits.
Why are you guys wasting time talking about certain user comments in the comments section of a simracing news website? It is user comments on a news site, if you look at videogame or even local news websites, you will find the same discrepancy in levels of posting. About the clouds, it was posted and I believe the consensus was AC needed to improve their skies. One should criticize misinformed users in such hypocritical manner.
Has this comparison video been shown on virtualr and bsimracing? This is a very relevant and informative video comparing specifics of two different products, and tells you much more than the multitude of stupid on-board lap comparison videos can show in terms of comparing two different products.... This video should really be highlighted.
Many, many, many, many weeks ago it has. If you read prior posts to yours or check VR or anything yourself, you'll see.
