Watkins Glen WIP (v11)

**TimCollier** · 04-07-2006, 09:50 PM

OK guys, you can download the track from the following link at Rapidshare:

http://rapidshare.de/files/17461292/...n_v11.rar.html

Now, let me start by saying you will see some misaligned sections of grass outside and inside of the track. I originally intended only to give out the road layout and fences, but realised that without some other objects it's hard to find your braking points...so I threw in the brake markers, some other objects, and so forth. I added the Sunoco signs from another track, and placed them based on pictures I received yesterday...

Ignore the fences, armcos, and so forth...and especially the textures. I thought I'd get Mike Tyler to mess with those once I got the track in shape for him to look at....

But run the circuit with the adjusted track elevations and bankings in the turns and tell me what you think. I'm definitely running slower lap times now!!

Take note of your best lap time in your Player Records before starting this and then post what your lap time was before and after (in the same car obviously!)

The frame rates have not been optimized yet either, so any concern you have about that, let it go

One more thing...I have checked the elevation changes of the track from two different sources and this is pretty darn close. I checked the inner loop section against site photos and so forth, and it's right. I have checked the banking in each turn and they are right (based on the website info). So, don't use anything you may have driven in the past as a reference, because it may have been off a little

But above all else, tell me if it's better....or not. And be honest.

Thanks guys.

Be sure and delete your WatkinsGlen track folder and HAT files before installing and running this track!!

**davidan** · 04-07-2006, 10:00 PM

Awesome Tim. I will download it tonight and either run some laps later or tomorrow and give you some feedback ... Appreciate the work you are doing on this very much.

jrowland96 · 04-08-2006, 12:02 AM

I'll try and run some laps later tonight or tomorrow night... My girlfriend's niece is visiting this weekend, and we just got back from Chicago and the Blackhawk's game. Back downtown all day tomorrow too.

Tim, I found another WG conversion (I think this one is from NSR). It's OK for at least the Nascar layout, but if you can fix the one you're working on, the boot version would be better to have.

jrowland96 · 04-08-2006, 01:41 AM

OK, Tim... Ran several (8-10) laps here in the PCC mod, and it's MUCH better than before, and only found a couple of issues... I only focused on the actual track geometry. banking, turns, feel, etc.

I'm attaching 3 screen shots to show where I found the following issues...

WG-T1.jpg: Biggest issue. Going into turn one, where the track mesh changes from being a pure straightaway to being "bent" into the turn radius. There's a "fold" in the track from going downhill to being more level, and it's an abrupt change that really throws the car off, rather than being a smooth elevation transition. It's more prevalent on the outer edge of the track, so it seems that if you were looking at the mesh, it's right where the straight transitions from being a simple "grid" mesh, to being the mesh in the turn (like a japanese fan). I've highlighted the area in the screenshot, and it's right where my front tires are in the shot.

WG-LastT: slight issue with the last turn before the front stretch. Not sure if it's accurate, but kind of feels different/bad to me. the section inside the pit-in blend line feels much more banked then the outer track outside of the blend line (right where my car is crossing in the pic). If you go down to the inside curbing in the turn at the apex, as you cross over the blend line, the banking flattens out and you really can't be accelerating off the turn there... you either have to go wide through the entire turn or really baby it if you hit the apex. Basically the banking doesn't feel consistent across the width of the track. Transitioning between the inside race line and the outer race line isn't a "sharp" transition like the turn 1 issue, but it's still kind of harsh, and seems a bit extreme (kind of like a mild version of that turn on the Nordschleife where the inside line is really banked, and outside line is smoother, if that helps what I'm trying to communicate).

It just feels like it has a bit too much of that "saucer" feeling with the banking that the original version suffered from... I guess I'm thinking the banking the entire width of the track in the turn should be more like the outer line, and consistent through the turn.

WG-Pit: The last issue is a graphical texture issue, so not sure if it even applies to this version, but the Pit entrance line is elevated about 3 or 4 feet off the ground above the track, and goes through the car and cockpit as you cross it. Sucker nearly decapitated me! lol

I think if you can fix the first two issues above, the actual track geometry would be perfect, and ready to go. After that it's all graphics fixes, texturing etc. but the track itself is done in my opinion, after those 2 things.

Great job, and this is definitely going to be the "definitive" Watkins Glen for rFactor!!

Also, I noticed that there weren't any cones/ barriers to stop you from going down the backstretch and skipping the boot... I meant to try going down there, but I forgot until now. I'll try it later. Anyway, are we going to get two versions with this, with and without the boot? It would make the Nascar guys happy I'm sure to have that layout as an option. It looks like that section of track is built and exists.

Great job again, and when I get more of a chance I'll really try and fully test, but I honestly didn't find anything outside of what's listed above.

**davidan** · 04-08-2006, 11:38 AM

Tim Great Job thusfar on the track surface and turn degree changes!!! I just got done running some laps and have some feedback/information for you. First of all I noticed all of the same things John did. The three biggest turn areas where I think some smoothing needs to occur are

Turn 1

last turn after the chicane before you got back in the GP section of the course. Seems like there is a slight drop off there too

Last turn coming onto the front stretch seems bumpy, maybe it's supposed to be that way ... (Same as what John Said)

I focused exclusively on lap times, and here were my times which were much slower than my laps from the last version which were 5-6 seconds faster

1:58.457
1:57.310
1:56.702

I figure I will get down in the 1:54 range and I figure the VOR fast guys would be running 1:51 or 1:52.

By comparison here is some data from the GT3 Porsches Last year in the Grand american Rolex Series:
=====
2005 Practice 1 Porsche GT 3 Hotlap = 1:57.679
2005 Practice 2 Porsche GT 3 Hotlap = 1:58.140
2005 Practice 3 Porsche GT 3 Hotlap = 1:56.999
GT Pole = 1:57.255
Raced in the 1:57 - 2:00 range

also here is a link to the track records at Watkins Glen
http://www.theglen.com/track_info/facts_records/

course qualify record by a GT car in Rolex Series on the GP circuit was 1:54.874 in 2004.

Race record was 1:52.066 in a GT Class car

So we are close, if anything we could slow it down slightly a bit more, but I think we are in the neighborhood for sure ...

looking great let me know when you need another version tested.
by the way frame rates were good 60-70's.