I have had v1.21_by_CreamK of this track for Race07 for quite some time now; I've tried it a couple of times, and while the creator absolutely deserves credit for all the work and the countless hours he must have spent building this huge track, there are a few things about that version that really turned me off.
First of all, I fail to see why the creator thought it necessary to have these very steep/deep trackside ditches along almost ALL of the track; if you end up in one or hanging over one the wrong way it may take you ages to get out of, or not at all.. I feel that's a MAJOR turnoff for using it in online races. One very small mistake can ruin one's race, and especially on a long twisty track like this that's very likely to happen. Really unnecessary IMO.
Another important thing is the huge amouts of flickering I experience; all the roadsigns and some other objects flicker like crazy when passing, or even when standing still on the track. May be some video issue on my end, but I've tried various view settings, AA on/off, Vsync on/off, various in-game graphics settings but it just won't go away.
Furthermore there's something strange with the tarmac track textures in this track; when standing still they're fine and actually looking good, but as soon as I start moving they start looking weird, just like some kind of flicker. It's very unpleasant to look at and gives me a headache after a few laps. I have not experienced this sort of thing with any other (add-on) track for any simbin game I own.
However, seeing the large increase in version number for this one, I thought I'd download it and give it a try.
But HOLY COW:eek::eek: this thing has grown fat.. a 230MB download, unpacked it is 355 MB!! That's one Targa Florio and a half! (was 71MB/163MB for v1.21)
Loading time is OK for me, but I don't see where the increase comes from; only difference I see is a rather different (not necessarily better) first corner, much improved pit lane entry and the addition of a lot of Armco barriers and tire walls.
These however only start halfway through the corner at certain points, so when you really miss your braking mark you slide behind the Armco/tires instead of against it. And while the ditches seem a lot less deep, there's still several places you can end up stuck in a ditch or in the gravel. I've encountered some invisible objects in the gravel as well, but hey, maybe I shouldn't have taken a Cougar for my first laps out, but something with decent brakes instead
.
I've experienced NO trackside flickering in this GTL version, which is great, but the tarmac textures are the same as in the Race07 version, so no improvements for me there..
I do understand that this version still is a beta, so probably I'm just a nitpicking whiner.... And it's a good thing someone is still working hard on this track's evolution, but I'm sorry Hiroshi, at this moment I cannot share your enthusiasm (yet)
