Plenty of models out there... Hiding a few parts, with correct wheels and a few texture changes and you are right there. I altered the model to the last image here. I think it's pretty close.I still have some thoughts from yesterday that have stuck with me, so I want to shift attention away from the "stolen pay mods" controversy, and more towards a general issue I have with historical authenticity and how AC modders need to step up (even if it's just the little things sometimes). I think what really came across as a shock when I switched my modded-sim-racing focus from GTL/GTR2 to Assetto Corsa is that while the latter game is significantly more popular, the actual attention to detail in a lot of mods -- especially earlier historic models predating, let's say, the 2000s -- can be seriously lacking compared to the deeper level of enthusiasm and accuracy that still somehow came from a smaller community. A telling case of what I'm thinking about can be displayed in just one car: the Nissan Skyline KPGC-10 GT-R. This is probably the best example I can think of when it comes to a well-known classic car that has a lot of fans and a lot of useful online resources devoted to it, to the point where an appearance of not only its road-going model but its cult-hero race-spec version is pretty much a given in modding circles.
So what's my gripe? Well, at the risk of making myself look like a fun-hating dork whining about "my immersioooooon," Here's a visual aid. From top to bottom: the real-world KPGC-10 (or at least a highly accurate replica) as it was raced in 1970s Japan, a mod created many, many years ago by Team21 for GT Legends, and the KPGC-10 that comes with the AC Legends GTL Classics pack.
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OK then. Well.
That bottom version is the most accessible and possibly the only version of the racing Skyline I can find without going on a wild goose chase of dead-link-strewn, unfinished, and private YouTube-posted mod footage. As you can see, it doesn't really bear more than a superficial "I guess that's the same source car" resemblance to the historic racing Skyline, or really to any period-correct Skyline that actually raced anywhere outside the fanciful imaginations of Need For Speed: Shift 2-era Slightly Mad Studios. Yes, the model was available, yes, it looks good, and yes, I trust that every bit of attention was paid to making it handle like a car of its specifications should. The PDF I got this screenshot from shows every indication that the team behind this mod knows the racing history of this car, and knows it well. And yet they used a model with a completely fictional widebody kit, and then took the step of giving it (and I quote) "a turbo engine delivering 417Nm @ 4000 rpm @ 1 bar of boost pressure. Maximum power is 452hp at 8000rpm" for league-friendly power-balancing purposes. When you get to that point, this 1971 "Hakosuka" might as well be a 1981 Zakspeed Capri for all it matters.
Not to pick on Bazza in particular, as his mods are actually a good example of someone knowing there's something missing in the game and working to fill that gap. In fact, it's the general sense of overall quality control and testing that goes into these mods that leads me to wonder why the AC Legends version can't go that extra step and give us a better representation of the genuine article. If I want to drive an accurate simulation of an actual historic-spec racing classic GT-R -- the kind of cars that obliterated the competition on the old banked Fuji Speedway of the early '70s -- I still, somehow, won't get it in AC despite the fact that the Team21 GT Legends mod was already meeting this standard in 2009. What is the reason for this, honestly?
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(I will fill your plate endlessly!)
Not my Cup of tea to replicate historic skins, but I can help too.
