Thanks for the feedback, Emery. I think you're spot on.
I have driven the track at speed and admit it's not perfect in the rFactor version I have done. I will comment and take each point into consideration:
Track surface: Although I have driven it, it still needs a little tweaking here and there. It's very time consuming to get every foot correct. Or close to it. I praise those track builders (now that I see it's not as easy as it looks to build a track) that are able to get it near perfect. Overall the track does have a few "characteristic" type bumps.
The three main notable ones are:
(1) Turn 1 (just before pit exit) is actually it bit smoother on the real thing.
(2) The "dip" just before TURN 5a (back part) is actually a bit harsher than I have it.
(3) The top of TURN 7 (where the drag strip meets the track) is a bit course overall on my version but does actually have a pronounced "bump" on the inside. I sort of recreate it but I was having elevation problems there.
Getting the elevation right was the hardest part of this track. It's still "not-quite-there" but I may tweak it again, as I think I know what I need to do know...
I agree to point on the shoulder texture. Pacific Raceways is NOT a beautifully manicured track by any stretch of the imagination.
But you're right about the hairpin segments. I'll make a note of that. I noticed it too.
Trees. Yes. I need help fixing that. It does it on mine too. I can't figure out why it's doing that and it was really pissing me off. The trees are actually pretty easy to delete and re=add if necessary.
I can easily add more spots. I was just worried about being too crowded on race starts... and that issue leads into the next point: AIW editor... May need a bit of help on that as I may not understand it as much as I think I do (did).
Track width is a bit debated too. My original seemed too narrow...I drove it again this past July and thought it was much wider that I thought in person. But...in the cockpit it seems "narrow" or, at least more normal. It's only when you see the play-backs that it looks way too wide. So yes, I could probably tweak it in a bit. I actually notice it on on the entrance of TURN 5. I'm able to cheat and hold a lot of speed as I come up the hill off the dip and easily straighten the turn out. You can't do that on the real course. That area does need to be narrowed down.
Keep in mind the track was built by "novice" track builders back in the 60's. They didn't make the track width very consistent throughout it's length. Almost like they made it up as they went.... It's built more like a giant, natural walking path. It varies it's width all throughout the track. It's very difficult to mimic it perfectly unlike an FIA approved F1 track.
Anyway, I'm still tweakin' and working on it. Thanks for the comments! And let me know if you'd like to help with the next release. I can send you the working files from BTB. I could use all the help I can get.
-Kyle
