Street Circuits We'd Like to Get Quality Renderings

[Purist]

I thought this might be a bit of fun. Yes, there are plenty of bad street circuits out there, but there are perhaps more than we'd think that have come, and gone, that weren't nearly so awful upon further reflection.

The trouble is, it can be quite hard, or impossible, to find a lot of them in anything more than a rather basic form. (And maybe some exemplary modders are spoiling us a tad as well.)

I admit I'm not the most up on everything out there, so some of the tracks I mention may have good versions already. Bear with me though, a number of them only exist in crude form, if there's a facsimile of them.

You don't have to complicate it as much as I do, but I thought I'd give a road map of sorts, so it doesn't feel as overwhelming.

My top 5 picks in a set of categories are provided here.

CART (1982-00):
1. Vancouver (1997)
2. Long Beach (1999)
3. Miami (1995)
4. Surfers Paradise (1996)
5. Cleveland (2000)

CART/IndyCar (2001-present):
1. Sao Paulo (2013)
2. Las Vegas (2007)
3. St. Petersburg (2003)
4. Houston (2001)
5. San Jose (2007)

*It was close between the vastly improved San Jose and Edmonton (2012).

IMSA:
1. Miami (1990)
2. San Antonio (1990)
3. Tampa (1990)
4. Columbus (1988)
5. Baltimore (2012)

*I almost went with Washington (2002) instead for the last one.

Trans-Am:
1. St. Petersburg (1990)
2. Long Beach (1998)
3. St. Petersburg (1997)
4. Vancouver (1999)
5. Detroit (2000)

*You should see what they had to deal with for the 1985 version of St. Pete.

Other Street Circuits (including a few old school public road circuits):
1. Lobethal (1950s, like the Deutschlandring recreation was done) (Australia's answer to old Spa)
2. Potrero de los Funes (2018)
3. Yahuarcocha (1971) (the 10-km ring road around the lake)
4. Vila Real (2019) (no joker lap needed, please)
5. F1 Port Imperial (2012)*

It's also an interesting illustration of what matters more when merely watching, as compared to taking part, virtually of course. Cleveland put on excellent racing, but it's easy to see that, if running it in rFactor or Assetto Corsa, there's not so much in the setting of the track to draw you in. The same is true when comparing Baltimore and D.C., or San Jose and Edmonton.

And while you like having a certain amount of "challenge" in a circuit, past a point, it can become more drudgery than you'd like; sometimes there are some of those chicanes I wouldn't mind if the modder had just forgotten those were in there. Worse still are those circuits that simply don't really have anything to offer in terms of a rewarding feeling for getting around well; IMSA's 1991 New Orleans circuit, and the Trans-Am Dallas track at Fair Park in 1988, are prime examples of this fundamental lacking.

All that said, especially the bit about omitting chicanes, it is probably more important with street circuits to get many of those small details right in order to get the proper feel of the track, as well as to actually have even a relatively accurate sense of the place and how it must be negotiated.

But I've rambled on more than long enough here. You guys have a go with your picks for temporary courses you'd like to see rendered faithfully in detail for your favorite game/simulation.

[TireSmoke86]

Surprised this thread never got any traction... are you on RaceDepartment? Seems like not a lot of activity here in Virtual Racers.

I for one would put in for the original Watkins Glen street course, since I grew up about 30 minutes away, and about 20 from the modern circuit. The street course was available for Grand Prix Legends back in the day, if I had time I'd work on developing an Assetto Corsa version in a heartbeat.
Flyin Ryan

[Woolley]

Add to that:

Pau
Macau
Birmingham

[Akrapovic]

iRacing has Detroit Belle Isle circuit.
One of the SIMBIN games (RACE07 or something) has Macau and Pau.

[NaBUru38]

RaceaRoom has Macau and Norisring.


http://game.raceroom.com/store/tracks/

[NaBUru38]

Project Cars 2 has Long Beach.


https://www.projectcarsgame.com/the-tracks/

[Carson Hayes]

Indeed, one of the most requested tracks has made it in the game.