What track do you like to see for official pay content?
I went with Suzuka...
Modern Spa, while I really like it, it is a bit worn for now for me.
Bathurst,...well it's a magnificent track, but driven at 10/10th, and trying to stay off the walls...ahh I'm too old for this, it's just nerve wrecking.
Truth is, rF2 needs all of those tracks, except Silverstone, for I hate the modern layout with a passion
Modern Spa, while I really like it, it is a bit worn for now for me.
Bathurst,...well it's a magnificent track, but driven at 10/10th, and trying to stay off the walls...ahh I'm too old for this, it's just nerve wrecking.
Truth is, rF2 needs all of those tracks, except Silverstone, for I hate the modern layout with a passion
vittorio
Registered
I have to say first, that I am super happy, that i got laser scanned Nordschleife. I never had thought that a small team like S397 will do that. Cause of that I am very happy and surprised.
My votes for future modern laser scanned tracks goes to:
1. Laguna Seca
2. Spa-Francorchamps
3. Brands Hatch
Though not listed above in the top three tracks, but for what my heart really beats is to get Targa Florio for rF2. Probably not laser scanned, but maybe still based on a scanning technique that is very accurate.
My votes for future modern laser scanned tracks goes to:
1. Laguna Seca
2. Spa-Francorchamps
3. Brands Hatch
Though not listed above in the top three tracks, but for what my heart really beats is to get Targa Florio for rF2. Probably not laser scanned, but maybe still based on a scanning technique that is very accurate.
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Richard Busch
Member
I'd like to see all the WEC tracks and the Daytona Road Course. Road Atlanta would be nice also. 
There's a good recently released laser scanned conversion/rip of Laguna Seca on internationalsimracing
vittorio
Registered
Thanks for the info! Problem is illegal conversions/rips can only be used in private. If you want to race it online, no chance. Same for AC Nordschleife rip in the past. Good we have now a very high quality Nordschleife for rF2. Cause when new Online System comes, we can race it. Not possible for Laguna Seca rip.
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So, my philosophy in this is to try to select tracks that have a good association with other content (cars) that have already been released.
Let's start with Tatuus Regional F3/F4 matches. I think its been a really good tie-up with Toyota Gazoo in NZ to get the Engineering Consult tracks. They suit the FT60 really well. I'd like to see similar for other regions. I'm US-based, from UK originally, so I'll look to US first. This is a bit of a problem because regional F3/F4 does not use the Tatuus chassis (uses Crawford/Ligier) but they do have a tie up with Honda. There's an alternate path their with the Tatuus chassis we have for Road to Indy, but sadly they lost the Mazda tie in or that would have been a great combo as well. I'm not as familiar with the Euro regional F3/F4 scene, are there other manufacturer ties there we could leverage and then also get the circuits for? I'll note Engineering Consult did release Adria. I don't believe those we laser scanned but they are otherwise of good quality. I hope we'll see some official rF2 series for these cars as well as the GT cars.
Next open wheeler is formula E, which as @R.Noctua said, we need more tracks for. I know there are several third-party tracks for this, so maybe S397 can do a proper deal with them to get this set of tracks. Need more than the 2/3 we have, though they are difficult to laser scan since they are temporary. This feels like a missed opportunity to me so far.
The next set is a can of worms, with historical F1 cars. I'll leave this alone for now.
If we switch to GT cars, the problem here is the competition with ACC and their license with SRO. There are other regional GT3 series (British, ADAC) but that is also covered by Sector3. I see the GT Pro series has been scheduled and requires the use of Reiza Imola/VIR tracks, showing just how limited we are with even the first championship they want to create. We don't have GT4 cars yet, nor TCR cars though I expect we'll see some in due course.
Which leaves us with Endurance racing and prototypes. We've got all classes of cars for this from ELMS (LMP2/LMP3/GTE) though of course we lack the Ferrari and it might be nice to get some Ligiers, but at least we don't have to worry about BOP for the prototype classes. Its a real challenge to create a good multiclass series; so maybe start with an LMP3 series? We lack Barcelona, Monza (modern), Spa (modern), Le Castellet and Portimao. Whilst I have some sympathy for those that hate Monza's chicanes and find Spa over-used, we simply have to have them. The Asian series would mean us adding Shanghai, Bend and Buriram (we have Sepang). The further problem area is the US and IMSA. Lots of tracks needed there but I really think Watkins Glen is a must, its a really popular track on iRacing but who knows if NASCAR want to license any of their to S397. So I'd go with adding Road America to the already licensed Portland along with any other independent tracks like Long Beach, Mid Ohio, Mosport and suchlike.
Finally, I'll put in a plug for Assen. Many layouts, lots of fast corners. Plus its in Netherlands. Why do we not already have it, Marcel?
Let's start with Tatuus Regional F3/F4 matches. I think its been a really good tie-up with Toyota Gazoo in NZ to get the Engineering Consult tracks. They suit the FT60 really well. I'd like to see similar for other regions. I'm US-based, from UK originally, so I'll look to US first. This is a bit of a problem because regional F3/F4 does not use the Tatuus chassis (uses Crawford/Ligier) but they do have a tie up with Honda. There's an alternate path their with the Tatuus chassis we have for Road to Indy, but sadly they lost the Mazda tie in or that would have been a great combo as well. I'm not as familiar with the Euro regional F3/F4 scene, are there other manufacturer ties there we could leverage and then also get the circuits for? I'll note Engineering Consult did release Adria. I don't believe those we laser scanned but they are otherwise of good quality. I hope we'll see some official rF2 series for these cars as well as the GT cars.
Next open wheeler is formula E, which as @R.Noctua said, we need more tracks for. I know there are several third-party tracks for this, so maybe S397 can do a proper deal with them to get this set of tracks. Need more than the 2/3 we have, though they are difficult to laser scan since they are temporary. This feels like a missed opportunity to me so far.
The next set is a can of worms, with historical F1 cars. I'll leave this alone for now.
If we switch to GT cars, the problem here is the competition with ACC and their license with SRO. There are other regional GT3 series (British, ADAC) but that is also covered by Sector3. I see the GT Pro series has been scheduled and requires the use of Reiza Imola/VIR tracks, showing just how limited we are with even the first championship they want to create. We don't have GT4 cars yet, nor TCR cars though I expect we'll see some in due course.
Which leaves us with Endurance racing and prototypes. We've got all classes of cars for this from ELMS (LMP2/LMP3/GTE) though of course we lack the Ferrari and it might be nice to get some Ligiers, but at least we don't have to worry about BOP for the prototype classes. Its a real challenge to create a good multiclass series; so maybe start with an LMP3 series? We lack Barcelona, Monza (modern), Spa (modern), Le Castellet and Portimao. Whilst I have some sympathy for those that hate Monza's chicanes and find Spa over-used, we simply have to have them. The Asian series would mean us adding Shanghai, Bend and Buriram (we have Sepang). The further problem area is the US and IMSA. Lots of tracks needed there but I really think Watkins Glen is a must, its a really popular track on iRacing but who knows if NASCAR want to license any of their to S397. So I'd go with adding Road America to the already licensed Portland along with any other independent tracks like Long Beach, Mid Ohio, Mosport and suchlike.
Finally, I'll put in a plug for Assen. Many layouts, lots of fast corners. Plus its in Netherlands. Why do we not already have it, Marcel?
Fábio Martins
Registered
Nurburgring Tourist with traffic cars that spawn every X time, Kyalami, SPA and Bathurst.
Jirka Gillig
Registered
Quality tracks with no ai bugs
John R Denman
Registered
I would say a correct version of Sebring. The current laser scanned version has a surface nothing like the real track.
Sure the bumps are mostly in the right place, but the depths are way off, probably from laser shadowing.
Sure the bumps are mostly in the right place, but the depths are way off, probably from laser shadowing.
stonec
Registered
What's your reference for stating this? You claim the laser scan was done wrongly, which is a pretty bold statement, considering that dev studios don't go on track themselves to make the scan. Laser scanning tracks in 2020 is pretty much a mature procedure where the developer usually pays lots of money to the track company to obtain the source data. I'd say there's almost no way the scan itself would be off.
John R Denman
Registered
Ergo, I've driven Sebring a number of times between 1982-2001. I've rode bikes there a few times, last time in 2017. Moreover, I support two IMSA teams with full access to their telemetry files (both MoTec users). One of the IMSA drivers uses rFactor2 as training tool, who also agrees.
As for the laser scanning procedure there are several ways to introduce errors.
Shadowing is somewhat common among concrete block pavement where pavement blocks are uneven with large chips broken on the trailing linear edge of the block when scanning at resolutions of less than 2-3". Sebring has hundreds of those potential error points.
Not all laser scanning systems have the same features such as 9 axis accelerometer internal adjustment feedback loops. As the scanner mounted vehicle travels the path it not only moves in the direction of the path it also moves vertically over the bumps. Not much of a concern for lower end scanner units (lacking 9 axis feedback loops) as the vertical changes are detected in multiple directions milliseconds apart however they suffer from sine errors which typically tend to increase the actual vertical rise. Moreover they can't compensate for vehicle suspension travel very well.
Another error point comes from the differences between the methodology used to convert scan point sample averaging to surface model features and waypoints. Generally an ad-hock black magic art.
Its not too much of a concern overall to me. I'm glad S397 put an effort to creating Sebring, I just hope they can learn that not all laser scanning systems/contractors will produce accurate results at the resolutions required. Laser scanning is definitely the best way to accurately model a track when its done right, but just sending a purchase order to a an offshore vendor to produce data and deriving a method to convert that data without actual comparison to actual track data is far from any guarantee of pavement accuracy.
A perception of mine is that S397 doesn't seem to follow typical SW Dev practice by first defining and documenting features and change requirements before a new a release of code and then testing those changes to the requirements it would be consistent that when contracting to a vendor for laser scanning data they may be a bit weak on requirements. That's only my perception, based on the fact that they rarely publish any sort of details in advance of changes, and some changes maybe just bug fixes are not mentioned. And that's every bit heir right to practice in that manner, so its not something I'm faulting them for just pointing it out.
I'll keep buying content to support S397 because at the end of the day its the only true race simulator thats affordable to the general public.
atomed
Member
So your feel is that the real one is bumpier?
Alex72
Registered
Thanks for the info. Could you elaborate on the issues? Like where you think the elevation is off up/down? Just out of curiosity. I love the track myself and i have no issues with if its a bit off here and there. Its a really well made track and super fun to drive.