Endurance racing content is popular in sim racing at the moment, but fans of the sport do not have the features to fully immerse themselves. But Angus has an idea that could change that.
Image credit: Kunos Simulazioni
Hooray, everyone! Assetto Corsa Competizione is now about as close to the perfect VLN and Nürburgring 24 Hour simulator one can get. Following the release of the Nordschleife to the GT3 simulator, fans of the infamous race can finally experience what it is like to battle through traffic on the Green Hell at 3am.
But there is one issue with that: The Gesamstrecke, as the Germans call it, is over 25 kilometres long, so laps are not the matter of a minute. As a result, completing the dozen laps it takes the real Nürburgring 24H top class to close up on the lower classes requires a good hour and a half of driving in clean air.
The question to those looking to experience the true madness of the exciting enduro is, how would you go about setting up such a session?
In most games, putting together a practice session and waiting for the track to fill up would be the best solution. But in ACC, classes leave the pits at different times. So only at the end of each session will the circuit ever really fill up. Fear not though, here is my letter to racing game developers as I have the solution; a new game mode.
Race starts are fun, but mid-race stints are where immersion lies. Image credit: Kunos Simulazioni
Sure, most games allow the player to take a step back, letting the AI take control for a stint or two. But when you want to simply jump behind the wheel and experience the traffic management of the middle of an endurance event, this will not do.
As you might know, I myself am a major enthusiast of watching cars racing for periods of time most will deem unhealthy. So, I have a lot of experience in trying to simulate the immersion of a mid-race stint. The simple solution would be a feature or game mode that allows you to load up exactly that, a mid-race stint.
Rather than loading a race and starting from the pits, this mode would show your car, driven by AI, come into the pits and park up. Decide what tyres you want, any potential setup tweaks such as brake bias, wing angles and pressures, and set on your way. All the while, opponent cars are flying down the pit straight driving cars of all different classes.
Imagine leaving the pits in Le Mans Ultimate to begin a double stint at Sebring. Image credit: Studio-397
Going deeper into the functionality, one could set this up to run at different points of a race, be it bang in the middle, or a final stint to the chequer. Settings such as the number of stints you want to do and weather conditions would also be adjustable.
But that does not mean that scoring or results are not relevant to the mode. In fact, many a time will a real life endurance racing driver complete a stint only to see their car crash out later on. They will nonetheless be happy with the way they drove. From comparing average lap times through traffic to tracking one's evolution through the field or even matching fuel usage targets. Much of this will sound boring to the online sprint racer. But for endurance fans, this is where we get to nerd out.
Aside from the basic tracking and sense of accomplishment, developers could use this format of game mode to create challenges. Much like EA WRC has the Moments game mode and F1 23 Replay sets events based on real-life races, Assetto Corsa Competizione could place the player at the start of a stint with real-life similarities.
For example, in 2021, Kevin Estre began the 24 Hours of the Nürburgring towards the back of the GT3 field. But in his first stint in the Grello Manthey car, he managed to climb up to the podium positions.
This sort of feature's functionality is far from limited to ACC. Sportscar racing is a popular sport for games at the moment with Le Mans Ultimate releasing as the official WEC game whilst Automobilista 2 recently signed a deal with IMSA. Both titles would benefit from the additional 'gameification' of a Moments rival.
Just imagine loading up a stint during the 2023 Le Mans 24 Hours, just as the early evening rain is setting in. You are about to hop into the yellow #3 Cadillac that spun out in the Porsche Curve puddles and your goal is to reclaim the lost time. Can you do it?
What do you make of this new endurance-focused sim racing game mode? Tell us on Twitter at @OverTake_gg or in the comments down below!
Image credit: Kunos Simulazioni
Hooray, everyone! Assetto Corsa Competizione is now about as close to the perfect VLN and Nürburgring 24 Hour simulator one can get. Following the release of the Nordschleife to the GT3 simulator, fans of the infamous race can finally experience what it is like to battle through traffic on the Green Hell at 3am.
But there is one issue with that: The Gesamstrecke, as the Germans call it, is over 25 kilometres long, so laps are not the matter of a minute. As a result, completing the dozen laps it takes the real Nürburgring 24H top class to close up on the lower classes requires a good hour and a half of driving in clean air.
The question to those looking to experience the true madness of the exciting enduro is, how would you go about setting up such a session?
In most games, putting together a practice session and waiting for the track to fill up would be the best solution. But in ACC, classes leave the pits at different times. So only at the end of each session will the circuit ever really fill up. Fear not though, here is my letter to racing game developers as I have the solution; a new game mode.
Sim Racing Endurance Stint Feature
In sportscar and endurance racing, it is very rare that a single driver completes a race by themselves. Teams of up to a quintet of pilots will come together to get their car to the front of the field. So perhaps it is time sim racing reflected this aspect in offline modes.Race starts are fun, but mid-race stints are where immersion lies. Image credit: Kunos Simulazioni
Sure, most games allow the player to take a step back, letting the AI take control for a stint or two. But when you want to simply jump behind the wheel and experience the traffic management of the middle of an endurance event, this will not do.
As you might know, I myself am a major enthusiast of watching cars racing for periods of time most will deem unhealthy. So, I have a lot of experience in trying to simulate the immersion of a mid-race stint. The simple solution would be a feature or game mode that allows you to load up exactly that, a mid-race stint.
Rather than loading a race and starting from the pits, this mode would show your car, driven by AI, come into the pits and park up. Decide what tyres you want, any potential setup tweaks such as brake bias, wing angles and pressures, and set on your way. All the while, opponent cars are flying down the pit straight driving cars of all different classes.
Imagine leaving the pits in Le Mans Ultimate to begin a double stint at Sebring. Image credit: Studio-397
Going deeper into the functionality, one could set this up to run at different points of a race, be it bang in the middle, or a final stint to the chequer. Settings such as the number of stints you want to do and weather conditions would also be adjustable.
Plenty of Potential
You may be wondering where the gameplay of this mode would come in. In fact, standard quick races see players race for an end result. Furthermore, championships get you motivated to perform over the course of a season and battle regular opponents. In this theoretical mode, there is no true final result as the race continues after you stop racing.But that does not mean that scoring or results are not relevant to the mode. In fact, many a time will a real life endurance racing driver complete a stint only to see their car crash out later on. They will nonetheless be happy with the way they drove. From comparing average lap times through traffic to tracking one's evolution through the field or even matching fuel usage targets. Much of this will sound boring to the online sprint racer. But for endurance fans, this is where we get to nerd out.
Aside from the basic tracking and sense of accomplishment, developers could use this format of game mode to create challenges. Much like EA WRC has the Moments game mode and F1 23 Replay sets events based on real-life races, Assetto Corsa Competizione could place the player at the start of a stint with real-life similarities.
For example, in 2021, Kevin Estre began the 24 Hours of the Nürburgring towards the back of the GT3 field. But in his first stint in the Grello Manthey car, he managed to climb up to the podium positions.
This sort of feature's functionality is far from limited to ACC. Sportscar racing is a popular sport for games at the moment with Le Mans Ultimate releasing as the official WEC game whilst Automobilista 2 recently signed a deal with IMSA. Both titles would benefit from the additional 'gameification' of a Moments rival.
Just imagine loading up a stint during the 2023 Le Mans 24 Hours, just as the early evening rain is setting in. You are about to hop into the yellow #3 Cadillac that spun out in the Porsche Curve puddles and your goal is to reclaim the lost time. Can you do it?
What do you make of this new endurance-focused sim racing game mode? Tell us on Twitter at @OverTake_gg or in the comments down below!
