A guide to Le Mans classic?

[Cheesehead2]

Hi, after years of enjoying the 1970 Le Mans race in rFactor with all the bells and whistles, and to some extent in Project Cars 2 with its dedicated DLC (which is visually stunning, but less historically accurate), I'm now committed to achieve the best possible classic Le Mans experience in Assetto Corsa.

First problem is you can't drive after 18:00 PM (i.e. at night) in stock Assetto Corsa, can you?

I keep reading I need to install Content Manager, SOL and CSP to achive such goals, but I've had problems with Content Manager in the past (in fact it made a mess of my AC install), so I'd prefer to avoid it if possible,

Even so, let's suppose I do install it. Will I be able to race past 18:00 inmediately? Will I have properly working headlights?

I'd much appreciate any advice on the steps I should take in this regard.
Thanks in advance, best regards.

 

[Interslice]

Step 1: Install content manager!

 

[Stereo]

In order of importance,
1) CSP - mandatory for headlights & night time, AC does not have these without it
2) CM - has a UI that can select night times (you could just edit the config files directly but there's no downside of having CM)
3) Sol - it's an addon to CSP that expands the weather options. Just to get night time it's not required but if you want clouds or fog or w/e at night then you need it.

 

[Cheesehead2]

Thank you very much for your detailed reply.
Just a couple of clarifications, please:

In order of importance,
1) CSP - mandatory for headlights & night time, AC does not have these without it
2) CM - has a UI that can select night times (you could just edit the config files directly but there's no downside of having CM)

Does that mean I can use CSP without CM?
If so, which are those config files and where are they?

3) Sol - it's an addon to CSP that expands the weather options. Just to get night time it's not required but if you want clouds or fog or w/e at night then you need it.

What is "w/e"?

Thanks in advance, best regards.

 

[Stereo]

w/e is "whatever"

The configs are in C:\Users\<you>\Documents\Assetto Corsa\cfg, the base launcher will only set

[LIGHTING]
SUN_ANGLE=45.00
TIME_MULT=1.0
CLOUD_SPEED=0.200

but under that CSP will also read

__TRACK_GEOTAG_LONG=9.055932
__TRACK_TIMEZONE_BASE_OFFSET=3600
__TRACK_TIMEZONE_DTS=1
__CM_DATE=1594080000
__TRACK_GEOTAG_LAT=51.80141
__TRACK_TIMEZONE_OFFSET=7200

If you don't use CM you have to set lat/longitude of the track manually to tell it where on earth the track is, and offset to tell it if DST is obeyed and how far it shifts, and the Unix timestamp (as CM_DATE) to tell it what time the race starts

 

[Cheesehead2]

Impressive!!
Thank you very much.

 

[Cote Dazur]

I'd much appreciate any advice on the steps I should take in this regard.

As other have said, give yourself a second chance and install CM and CSP, while you are at it do SOL as well.
Thousands player are using those everyday without issue, actually running AC with better performance than the "vanilla" version.
With all the toppings AC is the most advance SIM available today with almost anything available to play with, except rain that is still WIP.
I was running a recently improved le mans 85 version yesterday and it was just pure bliss.

 

[Cheesehead2]

As other have said, give yourself a second chance and install CM and CSP, while you are at it do SOL as well.
Thousands player are using those everyday without issue, actually running AC with better performance than the "vanilla" version.
With all the toppings AC is the most advance SIM available today with almost anything available to play with, except rain that is still WIP.

OK, you can be very convincing
I finally managed to install it, and everything is running fine this time. It was really worth it, thank you very much!!

I was running a recently improved le mans 85 version yesterday and it was just pure bliss.

Yep, I know about this '85 version. Do you rate it better than the well known '67 version?

 

[Cheesehead2]

Thanks to all who replied, it was really appreciated.

 

[Cote Dazur]

Do you rate it better than the well known '67 version?

It is a different layout, I like it better if I drive a group c car from that era.
Among the zillion thing I love about AC, as it stands today, is the ability to re-create any racing event past and present, car/track combo, complete grid, complete championship.
Very immersive and satisfying.
If you are inquisitive, it is all available, mostly for free, only requires a little patience and efforts but well worth it.

 

[Cheesehead2]

It is a different layout, I like it better if I drive a group c car from that era.
Among the zillion thing I love about AC, as it stands today, is the ability to re-create any racing event past and present, car/track combo, complete grid, complete championship.
Very immersive and satisfying.
If you are inquisitive, it is all available, mostly for free, only requires a little patience and efforts but well worth it.

One of the reasons to prefer the '85 version (even for recreating Le Mans 1970) is that it allows for 55 cars (the exact amount entered in 1970), whereas the '67 version allows only for 36.

However, I have barely found 36 cars to complete a historically realistic grid (including some payware ones), let alone 55. And believe me, I am VERY inquisitive.

Thanks once again, best regards.

 

[Cote Dazur]

However, I have barely found 36 cars to complete a historically realistic grid (including some payware ones), let alone 55

I am curious to see the list of those 55 cars required to complete that historic grid and what cars you have already found. I would be glad to help, if I can.

36 cars for a particular year of an historic grid seems already impressive to me, I am a little surprise that you would use the term barely. 36 is probably already a lot more than in any other SIM past and present.

 

[Cheesehead2]

I am curious to see the list of those 55 cars required to complete that historic grid and what cars you have already found. I would be glad to help, if I can.

A complete list of the 1970 Le Mans entries is HERE.
I have all the Porsche 917 (both K & LH), all the Ferrari 512s CL and one of the Lola T70, all with their historic skins and numbers. I do also have a Corvette #1 and a yellow Ferrari 512M #9, which I consider assimilable to the historic ones. That in respect of freeware.

As for payware, I have one Porsche 908/02 Flunder, all 3 Matra (if you accept one with #33 instead of #31), the Healey, all 4 Alfa-Romeo, all 3 Chevron B16, all 2 Porsche 910, and one Porsche 907 (this one with a fantasy number, "276" to be precise)

That totals 34. Add to that a couple of Porsche Carrera RSR 3.0 to replace the missing Porsche 911, and you've got the mentioned 36. As you can see, most of the missing cars are Porsche 911 group 2. I tried first to replace them with some rally 911's, but their performance on track was so poor I finally opted for the Carrera's.

 

[Cote Dazur]

As you can see, most of the missing cars are Porsche 911 group 2

This should not be too hard to get, are they different physically or is it mostly the specs and performance?
I am often in that thread:

Assetto Corsa PC Mods General Discussion

I see that I have in my mountain of AC mods a physics swap for the Rollovers DPi set done by @gladbecker82 I have not tried these. I still use the original Rollovers physics as I was never happy with the GTP DPi physics swap. What are opinions on @gladbecker82 physics swap?

www.gtplanet.net

Maybe some people there can help.

 

[Cheesehead2]

Thanks once again, I'll have a look there...

 

[Cheesehead2]

This should not be too hard to get, are they different physically or is it mostly the specs and performance?

They're noticeably different. The rear fenders in the Carrera RSR are much wider and it wears a rear wing, while the 911s are more similar to the old 901.

 

[Cote Dazur]

like this one?

Porsche 911 Carrera RSR - Chassis: 911 360 0001 - 2014 Tour Auto

Porsche 911 Carrera RSR - Chassis: 911 360 0001 - 2014 Tour Auto

www.ultimatecarpage.com

 

[Stereo]

I am working on a 1967 912 that'll look similar to the under 2.0 911s but it'll have less horsepower and more tire grip since it's based on a modern historic racing group (same deal as GTL). So probably not very good performance at pre-chicane Le Mans. Specifically it's modeled after the 911 R bodystyle which doesn't seem to have entered Le Mans at all, only shorter GT races.

 

[Cheesehead2]

I am working on a 1967 912 that'll look similar to the under 2.0 911s but it'll have less horsepower and more tire grip since it's based on a modern historic racing group (same deal as GTL). So probably not very good performance at pre-chicane Le Mans. Specifically it's modeled after the 911 R bodystyle which doesn't seem to have entered Le Mans at all, only shorter GT races.

OK, thanks anyway.
Sure I'd appreciate some screenshots when possible.

 

[Stereo]

Still lacks the full interior so I'd say it's a bit under halfway done. I might need to dig up someone to do period liveries also.