Favorite track / least favorite track

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Hey all,

I'm working on some circuit experiences and at times they are a real joy and other times they just stink. Not because of the difficulty in getting gold and not because of the car you have to drive, but because the track design itself. It made me wonder, what is your favorite track to drive and what is your least favorite track to drive? I'll go first:

Favorite tracks:
Spa
Deep Forest
Trial Mountain

Least favorite:
Mount Panorama
Grand Valley Highway
Nurburgring

Love the first 3 for how well they flow. You can run lap after lap and find ways to get faster at them by making tiny adjustments to your braking points, gear selection and your racing line. Hate the last 3 for how they can't make up their mind on what type of track they want to be. They are fast, they are slow, you are changing gears constantly, they have big curbs that throw the car off balance, they have way too many off camber turns, too many bumps/lumps in the track, braking zones that start right before a tight bend after a long straight. It's as if they are designed to intentionally kill the driver and induce car to car contact. No fun to drive and getting better/faster at them is a frustrating and unrewarded process.

What are your favorite and least favorite tracks in GT7?
 
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Favourite:
Spa
Interlagos
Watkins

Least
Catalunya - cannot find any flow
Fuji - boring and the worst hairpin ever
Trial Mountain - used to love it but now find it a chore
 
Favourite track: Watkins Glen
Least favourite: Laguna Seca

I didn’t consider the rally tracks. Those are all awful, although that’s mostly because of the game rally physics.
 
Favourite:
Watkins Glen (did not expect to enjoy this track so much)
Suzuka
Laguna Seca

Least favourite:
Fuji
Interlagos
Alsace
 
I didn’t consider the rally tracks. Those are all awful, although that’s mostly because of the game rally physics.
Yeah, I didn't want to omit them from the question, but I'm guessing most people ignore the dirt tracks and don't even consider them in this type of thread.
 
My favorite ones are: Nurburgring Nordschleife, Suzuka and Tsukuba. My least favorites are any of the tokyo expressway variants.
 
Favourites
  • Tsukuba Circuit (A deceptively simple track with lots of hidden depth, perfect for testing custom cars or hosting your own low-budget Hot Version)
  • Autodrome Lago Maggiore (I know it’s a meme to crap on this track because it’s so overused, but there’s a reason for that: It’s this current era’s Midfield Raceway - A fictional circuit that combines realistic track design with plenty of artistic license, eallowing for sections such as that iconic banked hairpin and Turn 5)
  • Grand Valley Highway 1 (Not that great for racing, but it’s a really fun track to hotlap and it’s arguably the prettiest track in GT7. If only it had dynamic weather or a full day-night cycle…)
Dislikes
  • Circuit de Sainte-Croix (It just feels like this was made as a sort-of fallback in the event PD was unable to secure the license for Le Mans, which they did. Not to mention all three layouts feel like they were designed by Hermann Tilke with just how little variety there is, both in corners and scenery)
  • Trial Mountain (Insert “Look how they massacred my boy” GIF here)
  • Daytona Road Course (I love the oval, as both a NASCAR fan and as someone who used to live only a couple hours away, but turn 1 and the bus stop chicane are the absolute banes of my existence. I’ve tried taking those corners hundreds of times in multiple different games and not once did I ever manage to get both of them right in the same lap. I can’t even do them on Forza Motorsport 7, a game with much more simplistic physics than Gran Turismo 7)
 
My Favorites:

Special Stage Route X - Its my favorite overall I just love a long track where you can just step on the gas and never let go for as long as you want.

Michelin Road Atlanta - Always been a favorite of my since Forza 3

Sardegna Road - With all the grinding I done on this track its become one of my favorites not just in gt7 but of any racing game.


Least Favorites:

Trial Mountain - I Never been a fan of TM and that doesn't change in GT7 sorry.

Nurburgring 24h Layout/Nordschleife - I hate this track in any racing game and only when the game forces me into doing any events on this track will I ever go there.

Alsace Village - Pure trash horrible track even the GT5 track editor could make better tracks then this thing.
 
At present

Like:
Nordschleife
Spa

Dislike
Willow

Used to hate Nordschleife prior to vr2, now I can't get enough of it! Such a shame cars wave you through on customer races, so there's next next to zero competition.

Spa, always a favourite. Love the overnight race, has a great feeling... alone in your car, battling against the night, torrential rain. Find it strangely relaxing... probably as tend to only play it in downtuned gr1 or 2.

Don't like anything about Willow... surroundings, circuit itself. No redeeming features I can think of.
 
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I'm beginning to think Laguna Seca is meant to torture you. Those darn sausages at the apex of every single turn are intentionally meant to kick you in to the shadow realm. You try to go over them and you get a penalty, go wide of them and you go wide on the exit killing your lap time.

Its not going on to my "least favorite" list but it's definetly way low kn my overall list of tracks I enjoy racing on.
 
Favorites : Laguna Seca, LeMans (classic version) & Sardegna
Dislike: Willow and Tokyo grind track
 
Favorites: Monza, Le Mans, Spa, Dragons Trail, Goodwood, Nurburgring all variations, Buthurst, Road Atlanta, Watkins Glen, Laguna Seca
Least favorite: BB Speedway, Tokyo all variations, Alsace, Sainte-Croix
 
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First, I have deep sympathy for all real-world tracks. There is nothing more honest and right than the intention of wanting to simulate drivers' experiences on real world race tracks in the virtual world. I can't dislike any real track. They all please me in their own way.

As for the originals, the reasoning is different. The artistic freedom and personal taste of the designer makes me judge them without any regrets.

I have my reservations about the apple of Kaz Yamauchi's eye - Tokyo Expressaway. I think this collection of city circuits is extremely generic, poor, sterile, mopish and glommy. And personally, these tracings annoy me even more because I'm pretty sure they're an unfortunate and modern rehash of SSR5 and 11, and, therefore, they are taking the place of two of the fanbase's most beloved originals circuits.

In addition, I think that the works of Alsace and St. Croix are two abominations, both are of a generic, careless and crude creative verve.

The setting and elements of the Alsace circuit make no sense, they are aesthetically wrong decisions, they are not pleasant, they give a feeling of indifference and neglect; realistically, it's cartoonish; the layout is clunky and inelegant, looking like a collection of turns that have no identity to one another. Very wide asphalt, guardrails very close to the asphalt track. I'm not against constant elevation changes. The problem is in the layout of the track and in the scenic decisions. I even suppose that Alsace is a kind of Frankenstein from Charade.

St. Croix isn't even worth commenting on too much. It is an extremely generic circuit and of a hideous design. 10,000km of pure waste of time and resources. I wish this was invested in El Capitan, Red Rock Valley and other nostalgic circuits.

France has beauty scenery, great real circuits like Charade, Magny-cours and Dijon-Prenois, a beautiful history in motorsport. The country did not deserve to be represented by these two abominations. It was entirely possible to build a super cool road race track or a permanent circuit in the beautiful Lac de Sainte-Croix region.

As rally tracks are so useless, a foreign body in this game, plus the horrific physics of a plastic car, I don't need to comment.

I really like Maggiore's design, because it has a creative vein and refined aesthetics and sophisticated intelligence. I like the holy trinity, the three classics, although some changes disturbed my sense of reality. I like Kyoto and its fast-paced layout and high-character aesthetic. And I really like the Croatia complex. If one day PD humbly accepts the community's suggestion, which is the combination of Seaside + Gardens, I'm sure we'll have one of the best and most fun circuits in the franchise.
 
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In PSVR2, all the road tracks have different characteristics. They come alive in 3D. Pretty difficult for me to pick a favourite now.

As for least favourite, I’ll go with dirt tracks, excluding Barcelona. That’s as much rally as I can handle in PSVR2, but it’s overall fun, driving on that hybrid circuit.
 
REAL:
1° Nürburgring
2° Francorchamps
3° Suzuka
4° Laguna Seca
5° Michelin Atlanta
6° Bathurst
7° Le Mans
8° WatkinsGlen

PDigital:
1° DF
2° GV
3° TM
4° DT
5° LM
6° HSR
7° KDP
8° StC
 
Like:
Suzuka (Every turn a challenge, great racing possible)
Nordschliefe (The daddy, especially if you get a good lobby of clean players)
Spa (I have never been good, but its a great track)
Lago Maggiore (Love it - every corner is satisfying)
Brands Hatch Grand Prix - Classic

Dislike:
Catalunya - Dreadful boring soul-less track. Every corner is frustrating and unsatisfying even when you nail it. At least they did a TT without that absurd final chicane, but even then it is awful.
Any of the Tokyo tracks - Yes, we get that the programmers are Japanese, but really they could do so much better than this. Walls everywhere. Ohh look a skyscraper - dont care.
Sainte-Croix - No flow. Never got on with any of these layouts.
 
Likes;
Trial Mountain - Looks really good, and all the corners flow really nicely, except for the final chicane.
Deep Forest - Same as above
Spa and Nurburg for obvious reasons
Watkins Glen - Generally just a really good track with great flow
Dragon Trail Seaside - Death chicane is frightening good fun

Dislikes;
Tokyo - because grind and walls. Pretty though. Potentially fun when you don't have drunk AI in the way.
Catalunya - because it's not a track. It's a collection of squiggles and corners randomly arranged to form a pointless F1 race.
St Croix - bloated, not memorable. It is a track, and that's as much as I can say.
Dragon Trail Gardens and Kyoto blend into one forgettable track with samey green scenery.
Willow Springs - don't really know. I just can't get on well with the track.
 
Favourites:

Le Mans - The reason I play GT. Have been in love with it since I first watched the iconic Steve McQueen at the cinema decades ago. Still enjoy watching the cinematography how ever many times I watch it. The opening with that iconic music is sublime.

Sardegna Road Course - Love long tracks that have straights, corners and curves. PD have nailed this one for me. (The church bells ring and you can hear them quietly as they recede into the distance)

Mt.Panorama/Spa/Laguna Seca - Usually provide great racing in fantastic backdrops.

Dislikes:

Trial Mountain & Deep Forest - Contrived and unpleasant with rhythm destroying corners.

Dragon Trail Gardens- Soulless. Can’t even decide which way around it should be raced. Don’t care for either.

Alsace - Le Mans ugly sister.
 
Favorite: Nürburgring Nordschleife
Least favorite: Nürburgring Nordschleife
:eek:

Ok, for real:
Favorite:
Watkins Glen:
this is the first track I ever truly was excited by when it came out, and my first win was on this track.

Dragon Trail Seaside: I grew to love this track and it was the second track I ever won at. For whatever reason it fits me well.

Least Favorite:
Catalunya:
I’ve just never been able to figure it out or enjoy it. Ever.

Any Tokyo track: it feels like they’re trying to attract Tokyo Drift fans or something with these layouts, without actually doing any real drift events. Which is good because all of those stupid skill challenges are horrific anyway!

Willow Springs: I just don’t like its flow. One mistake and your off into the desert somewhere and out of the race for good.

Laguna Seca: I’m more on the fence with this one, but I just hate desert tracks.

Honorable Mention:
Sardegna Road Course:
I did so many grind races on this track that I’d be happy to never see it again, ever, but I did actually enjoy the Nations Cup race there this week so I can’t put it on the ”hate” list.
Grand Valley Highway 1 (Not that great for racing, but it’s a really fun track to hotlap and it’s arguably the prettiest track in GT7. If only it had dynamic weather or a full day-night cycle…)
There is no dynamic weather in southern California! Just “hot” or “not as hot.” :D
 
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Favorites:
Laguna Seca
Nurburgring
Watkins Glen
Grand Valley (honorable mention)

Dislikes:
Willow Springs
Dragon Trail
Kyoto
 
Favourites
  • Tsukuba Circuit (A deceptively simple track with lots of hidden depth, perfect for testing custom cars or hosting your own low-budget Hot Version)
  • Autodrome Lago Maggiore (I know it’s a meme to crap on this track because it’s so overused, but there’s a reason for that: It’s this current era’s Midfield Raceway - A fictional circuit that combines realistic track design with plenty of artistic license, eallowing for sections such as that iconic banked hairpin and Turn 5)
  • Grand Valley Highway 1 (Not that great for racing, but it’s a really fun track to hotlap and it’s arguably the prettiest track in GT7. If only it had dynamic weather or a full day-night cycle…)
Dislikes
  • Circuit de Sainte-Croix (It just feels like this was made as a sort-of fallback in the event PD was unable to secure the license for Le Mans, which they did. Not to mention all three layouts feel like they were designed by Hermann Tilke with just how little variety there is, both in corners and scenery)
  • Trial Mountain (Insert “Look how they massacred my boy” GIF here)
  • Daytona Road Course (I love the oval, as both a NASCAR fan and as someone who used to live only a couple hours away, but turn 1 and the bus stop chicane are the absolute banes of my existence. I’ve tried taking those corners hundreds of times in multiple different games and not once did I ever manage to get both of them right in the same lap. I can’t even do them on Forza Motorsport 7, a game with much more simplistic physics than Gran Turismo 7)
I can help you with your Daytona troubles! For T1, you enter low to keep the car stable, brake right before the yellow line, hit the first apex, come out to the middle of the track, then cut in for the second apex and steer out of the corner once you're more or less on a path to hit the first corner in the flat chicane before the hairpin. For the back straight chicane, you take it quite a lot like the Dragon Trail death chicane: enter wide, brake right between braking boards 1 and 2, downshift twice (or thrice, depending on the car), then keep tight to the right side of the road on the short chute between the two right-handers. Then you exit the second right early to cut across the left on exit and keep low heading into NASCAR 3.

As for my faves:

- Nurburgring 24h/Nordschleife. I used to HATE this place, but it's absolutely the best track in the world for learning on. It'll kick your ass time and again, but the wide range of corners and the unique way in which they flow and connect really pushes you to the max and keeps you on your toes. Plus, the entire third sector is just incredible: fast and flowing, endlessly intense and it makes you feel like a god when you get it right.

- Daytona Road Course: Another track I used to despise because, like Mirai, I could never get T1 or the bus stop right. But after learning them, it's a fun challenge full of unique late-apex corners with unusual approaches and differing lines. The chicane also manages to get the blood flowing every time I go through it.

- Maggiore: Fantastic flow, lots of challenging corners, and again - that third sector tho. The long run into the banked hairpin, the uphill chicane, the two right-handers you drive as one (especially the second, with the fact you have to take such a square line on entry to get a good line for the ensuing left). Thrilling.

- Tokyo Expressway. Yeah, we're only supposed to include three per section, but I personally find these tracks (especially South Inner Loop) hugely satisfying to drive. Lots of flowing high-speed corners with very little margin for error. But more impressively, those familiar with Tokyo's highways (I've driven on SRP quite a lot and have spent more than a few hours oohing and ahhing at Tokyo in Google Earth) will see that these tracks seem to be a kind of Greatest Hits of notable spots in the Tokyo highway system. I could go on for quite a while, but one example is how East Clockwise rapidly switches from a long and straight tunnel a la those leading both to and from Haneda Airport, to a replica of the turn from the Bayshore Route's westbound route to the Rainbow Bridge, and then to a sequence of corners that feels a lot like the flowing sequence of corners near the end of the C1's outer loop.


And my least favorites:

- Grand Valley Highway 1. Good track, but not great to actually race on. It's definitely far more of a highway cruiser; a track that you take a fun car for an early morning blast on. Nothing wrong with that, but it's definitely something of a one-trick pony.

- (I'm really struggling here) Nurb GP. It's a fun track for sure, but something about it just doesn't gel with how I drive. I can't seem to get fast here, but I also recognize that the reason I'm not that big on it is 100% me, so take that for what you will.

- SSRX? Here's another track I actually quite enjoy, but I've gotta say that the use cases here are extremely limited. Driving here is a unique experience, and the atmosphere is actually a hell of a vibe. That said, you're not driving here unless you're trying to test a car's top speed or you're in the mood for the world's most absurd slipstream battle. Outside of that, not much use to driving here.
 
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Favourites:
-Watkins Glen
-Suzuka
-Le Mans
-Bathurst
-Dragon Trail Seaside

Least Favourites:
-Alsace
-Sainte Croix
-Tokyo Expressway
-Fisherman's Ranch
-Colorado Springs
 
Favorite: Spa. Due to its prevalence in racing sims it's my go-to track for testing anything as it's probably the track I've driven the most, and in GT7 specifically being one of the few tracks with full weather and 24h ToD makes it more interesting than the rest.
Runner ups: Watkins Glen, Suzuka, Deep Forest, Dragon Trail Seaside.

Least Favorite: Willow Springs. For the life of me I cannot nail this track, it's a track where simultaneously you feel like you're always leaving time on the table but if you push too hard any wheel touching the grass is an instant spin into the miles of dirt.
Runner ups: Any dirt / full oval tracks, St. Croix, Bathurst, Alsace.
 
Most Favorite:
Mount Panorama - As an aussie I feel like I'm obligated to like this track😁, but in all seriousness there is no better feeling than nailing a good lap across the top of the mountain. Racing here is always good as long as you don't get idiots trying to overtake in stupid spots.
Nurburgring 24h/Nordschleife - I remember I used to hate this track in previous GT titles until I actually had to learn it while doing the circuit experience. Now I love it as you are racing against the track as much as other cars.
Laguna Seca: I think its a lot of nostalgia from previous titles but I always love racing here.

Least Favourite:
Autodrome Lago Maggiore - I'm surprised by how many people like this track but to each their own. For me though this is the worst designed original circuit imo and just hate driving on it. The eastern section in particular always drives me nuts!
Le Man - Honestly I just find this track boring...
Suzuka - Simply for no other reason that I just suck on it!
Catalunya - Like a lot of others have said I find it hard to find a good flow and rhythm here. That said last weeks time trial there definitely helped in learning the subtlety of the track.

Honorable Mentions:
Willow Springs - I actually really enjoy the flow of this track and once you get in the rhythm it is quite enjoyable to punch out laps. It probably also helps that everyone seems to hate this track and struggle there so I always seem to go quite well when the dailies are here.
Blue Moon Infield A - Really enjoy driving this circuit and feel it is way too underutilized.
Goodwood - For such a simple circuit at first glance, it can take a lot of nuance to actually nail a good lap here. Definitely more fun with older cars.
Grand Valley South Reverse - After doing the historic sports car race here I fell in love with driving it in this direction. Awesome fun driving this in Gr.4.
 
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Favourites:

Nurburgring Nordschleife
Goodwood
Circuit de la Sarthe, Le Mans
Mount Panorama,Bathurst
Spa-Francorchamps
Interlagos
Monza
Red Bull Ring
Lake Maggiore (Full Circuit)
Dragon Trail (Full Circuit)
Trail Mountain (full Circuit)
Deep Forest (Full Circuit)
Laguna Seca
Road Atlanta
Watkins Glen
Suzuka

Least Favourites:

Alsace
St Croix
 
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