Leon Eurocup and Audi TT Sport Cup to Return to Assetto Corsa

Paul Jeffrey

Premium
Fordman Cars 4a.jpg

RaceDepartment community member @Shaun Clarke announces plans to develop and re-launch the very popular Audi Sport TT Cup and SEAT Leon Eurocup mods for Assetto Corsa.


Hot on the heels of a successful reworking of the GInetta G55 GT4 and GT4 SuperCup, Shaun Clarke admits he's caught the modding bug and secured permissions to revisit the very popular Audi Sport TT Cup and Seat Leon Eurocup mods. Both cars were initially created by Tommy78 but sadly have since been consigned to the scrap heap in recent years, as the cars have failed to keep up with the rate of development seen in Assetto Corsa in the last few months.

Originally released back in late 2015, both the Leon and TT Cup were instantly regarded as classic mod content and received a great deal of praise from the sim community for the level of detail and quality employed in both machines. Unfortunately for various reasons development post release failed to materialise and with the many updates to Assetto Corsa both cars have found themselves quickly falling out of date and becoming obsolete in light of the new Assetto Corsa build releases. Now due to some new functionality in AC and the changes to how audio is brought to the game these cars are pretty much broken and have, in many instances, been removed from many players game install.

Anyone who has tried the cars in their original form will no doubt agree that these are two pieces of content that deserve a second chance as they are quite simply too good to sit unused somewhere in the corner of the internet... enter @Shaun Clarke (previously known as Fordman). Buoyed by the recent success of his reworking of the Ginetta G55, Shaun has gained permissions from the original author of the Leon and TT Cup to bring the mods up to current Assetto Corsa standards and return these two cars back to their rightful place as stand out pieces of content in the sim.

Firstly for those of you maybe not too familiar with the original mods from 2015, let's have a quick recap of the cars as they stand so far:

Audi Sport TT Cup 2015
Audi Sport TT Cup.jpg

4 cylinder in-line petrol powered engine with gasoline direct injection, exhaust gas turbocharger with intercooler @ 1984cc 340hp with 'Push to Pass' technology.
6 Speed paddle shift
FWD
1,125kg minus driver

SEAT Leon Eurocup 2015
SEAT Leon Eurocup 1.jpg

4 cylinder in-line petrol powered turbocharged engine @ 1984cc 320hp
6 speed sequential SADEV
FWD
1,145kg minus driver

Shaun is not new to the world of real and virtual racing, having been a long time member of both the Assetto Corsa and RaceDepartment forums as well as having an active modding history in the still popular Live for Speed title over ten years ago.

We had a quick chat with Shaun earlier about his plans for the "new" mods, and what drives the Englishman to dedicate so much of his time in bringing a variety of machinery to sim racers for free.

"Well to be honest I started my “real” sim racing back in 2003 with Live for Speed, where I fortunately found it on a Codemasters Forum. Before this I played with Grand Prix by the one and only Geff Crammond, as I think most people have done. Before this, I was in the music / demo scene for the Amiga 500.

With LFS, and online racing, you had to make an online for yourself, so with me working for Ford, my Dad being a Mechanic for the BTCC Ford team in 80’s and my love of Fords, I came up with Fordman, and that’s where it has stuck.

I really enjoyed LFS, got to meet loads of great friends, which we still talk now, and then LFS hit the big time, with ESL Pro Sports League for Germany, which was great. There was nothing for the UK, so I asked, begged and pleaded and I ran a successful ESL UK Series for LFS with sponsors and prizes, which was great fun.

With the rise of online racing, people had / made teams, and I was fortunate to race for Boomerang Rapido (LFS) and myself and Will Dendy (IRL Driver now) organised the first ever real Karting event where even the Devs attended, was a weekend to remember.

I found Assetto Corsa while looking for something else, but for me, it was all horse power and I prefer Grass roots racing, where it started, not where it ends. I found the BTCC Mod that was converted from RF, originally by Andy Simmons and his group and got permission to work on it in AC, this is where I first got in to modding. A very grey area if you have never done this before, I will tell you...

With the help from *************, BBO@BSR and Chaos_Mouse we release V1 and V1.1.
Then in the following months somebody (I cannot remember who, so sorry) mentioned the Ginetta... and that's where is all started!"


Ginetta G55.jpg

34,500 downloads later and the Ginetta G55 GT4 and GT4 Supercup mods have very quickly become one of the premier pieces of modding content currently found in Assetto Corsa. Already working from a strong base, Clarke has methodically improved and updated the car to include all the latest Assetto Corsa technology and has put in an impressive amount of research to ensure the car is remarkably similar to it's real world equivalent.

"Everything that Chaos_Mouse taught me on, trial and error, looking tirelessly at reference videos on YouTube for cam angles, in car video, talking to people via Twitter, PM, actual drivers and most of all, the community feedback, it just grew from there, I say, I have the “bug”

The RD community have been fantastic, with suggestions, comments and pointing out problems, which I would of never found by myself, shout to AJ Daddy and Ross Garland and After_Midnight

I suppose this is what makes me smile and happy the most, to see people enjoy something you have tweaked / played with and that they enjoy it. My passion has and always will be the lower end of racing, not your GT3’s, LMP’s, road cars, open roads, but like for example the BTCC, the Ginetta and to come two more mods. If there is any modeller out there that wants to do the Formula Ford or MG Midgets…please give me a shout...!".

"The future of the Ginetta is almost at its end, regarding updates. Everything has changed right down to lights flashing, and introducing 2 x models to suite the racing, was great fun and really enjoyed it, and could not be possible without the help of the RD community, so to me, this was a community project."

Now that the car has been finished (for the time being anyway), Clarke was keen to use his new found skills and experience on another AC project, which is where the long forgotten TT and Leon come in to play...

"All the sims now push the super / hyper cars which ok is nice, for some, but for me, it’s where it career started, not where it ends, like for example the F3 by RSR, that’s fantastic and such a high bench mark to meet, but its “grass roots” its where is all starts and sims seem to forget this important part.

What does the future hold, well like I said, I have “that” bug, and I now can announce that I have permission to work on another two fantastic models, that due to unforeseen circumstances, have been left to die, but, I will bring them back to life…Audi TT Cup and the Seat Leon Cupra TCR.

I have permission from Tommy, who I have been friends for a long time, and he, after seeing what I done with the Ginetta, would love me to work on these previous models and bring them back to life, which I am seriously honoured to do".

I'm sure many of the sim racing community will be undoubtedly very excited to hear that these two classic machines are coming back to life in Assetto Corsa, and I for one can't wait to see what happens.

In the pursuit of realism Clarke has even enlisted the help of a real world SEAT Leon Eurocup driver to guide him through the physics changes taking place with the new car. Do not be fooled, this update won't simply be a case of just adding some new sounds and throwing V10 tyres at the cars, Shaun is looking to make a big impression of these two mods as he reinvents the vehicles and does his level best to produce a realistic driving experience.

"Well what do I have planned for the cars, well to make them driveable would be good, and get the sounds back. Regarding the Seat Leon, I have the great pleasure in announcing that a real life driver is going to help me. He is going to test every change I make, so we can make this as close as possible to the real thing….Bozian Stand up and take a bow mate.

Bozian is a real life driver of the Seat Leon Cup, so this is not only a good thing, it’s fantastic, as us sim racers always strive for the closest we can get, which is sometimes very difficult.

So for the future of the cars, well that is down to you lot. Do I think they deserve a proper series, when they are complete, of course I do, should we lay them to rest and just drive them off line…no THEY HAVE LODS !!! :)

So the future of these mods, going forward will lie in the hands of you, the community and always….give your feedback. 10,000 eyes are better than 2!"


One final word from Clarke, who as always remains a true gentleman and a credit to the sim modding community

I would like to thank, first and foremost the RD community and Paul Jeffery for their support, also Lux Liveries for my personal liveries, GTEYE, Rackservice for their support and Chaos_Mouse for well, just everything he has taught me. WACK and Chris Bluna for their 3d work as without these people, nothing would of happened, but thanks to Kunos as well, for producing a WIP sim, that will get there….eventually.

But I cannot miss out the most important in all this, and that has to go to my Wife. She knows this is my passion, my love for it, and tirelessly lets me get on with it, seriously without her, none of this would of happened, so I have to thank her, and so should you to... :) "

Shaun and RaceDepartment would like to offer thanks to Thomas Brown and Matt Neal for the included images in this article, thanks guys!

We will be keeping a keen eye on the progress of the new Audi Sport TT Cup and SEAT Leon Eurocup mods as development progresses. Whilst you wait you can download Shaun's Ginetta G55 GT4 and GT4 SuperCup mods exclusively from RaceDepartment. You can track progress of the development in the Fordman's Revival thread within our Modding Discussion Forum.

Assetto Corsa is a racing simulation from Kunos Simulazioni for Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and Windows PC.

Fordman Cars 1.jpg
Fordman Cars 2.jpg
Fordman Cars 6b.jpg
damage.jpg


Sim racing is an awesome way to compete with other people in a range of beautifully created cars from across the different eras of motorsport. We really like sim racing here at RaceDepartment and love to host some pretty epic racing events and leagues in a wide range of different software. If Assetto Corsa is your thing then head over to our Assetto Corsa Racing Leagues and Clubs forum to have a look at what events we have scheduled in the coming week. If going toe to toe isn't your cup of tea then that's fine, we also host a lively sub forum dedicated to Assetto Corsa where we post the latest news and give you the community the opportunity to discuss the game in detail. As well as our sub forum we also host a wide variety of mods for Assetto Corsa (PC only) and even a dedicated area for modders to discuss their WIP projects and ask questions of the community. Head over and get involved in the discussions today!

Looking forward to the upcoming rebirth of the Leon and TT Cup cars in Assetto Corsa? Have you tried the previously rereleased Ginetta GT4 from @Shaun Clarke? Let us know in the comments section below!
 
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