For GT vets, tracks that you hated when younger but love now?

[Dave_H_87]

This question came to me as a result of this week's daily races, are there any tracks that you used to play on previous Gran Turismo titles that you hated but love now or vice versa?

Mine is Laguna Seca, the corkscrew used to give me nightmares as a kid/teenager and I used to avoid the track like the plague.
Now I look forward to seeing it come up in races as I've got older (definitely) and wiser (not so sure!)

Personally can't wait for GT7 to play some of the classic tracks and see if I'm still terrible at the final sector of Grand Valley (hope it's in GT7!)

Look forward to your replies!

 

[ShiftingGears]

My opinion hasnt changed about tracks I disliked

 

[fisheye]

The one I wish they'd bring back.

 

[TonyJZX]

Well I think for me often 1st impressions are lasting. What can one say about something like Spa?

I dont think there's many tracks that I "hated" and now "love". There are tracks that were beyond my comprehension 5yrs ago 10yrs ago that now I understand and enjoy the drive and the races.

There are tracks I will never like. Let's put those to one side... like say Catalyuna. Willow Springs.

There are lots of tracks that I just loathed to drive and race on that now I can handle.

Like Bathurst. And ultimately the Nurburgring.

There's also a few tracks I know people hate that I dont mind. Like the Nurburgring GP which is quite ok.

There are tracks that people like that I think are tepid. Like Laguna Seca. Monza.

There are tracks that I dont like but I at least, respect. Like Suzuka Silverstone.

I quite like most of the PD originals. They're all good.

 

[Norrin Radd]

The one I wish they'd bring back.

There are so many I'd like to see back, but that's a whole different and much longer discussion.

There have never been that many tracks I hated, but I hate the fact I'm so much slower now. take Laguna Seca I always used to attack the corkscrew hard and went off fairly often, now I bumble up to it and only really go off when someone shoves me. Don't like ovals though and never will, I just want to sleep we need Bspec or whatever it was for ovals.

 

[Redneckchef]

I despised the Nordschliefe. Hated every microscopic centimeter of asphalt. But as we've had it for a few dailies I enjoy a good ast around there every now and then. I know the track well enough to actually race it and it is a challenge, and soooooo hard to pass on. But not entirely too bad.

On the other hand Fuji is like runny poo from the devil himself having a bad curry. I hate that track. Tried to learn it. Can get solid laps on there. Still hate it. The sooner it is destroyed in some horrific earthmoving/repaving accident the better.

 

[fisheye]

I despised the Nordschliefe. Hated every microscopic centimeter of asphalt. But as we've had it for a few dailies I enjoy a good ast around there every now and then. I know the track well enough to actually race it and it is a challenge, and soooooo hard to pass on. But not entirely too bad.

The Nordschliefe is my favorite, I memorized every turn. I guess because the bus driver when I was a kid drove our bus like it was a Subaru WRX down a narrow winding mountain road with a cliff on one side and a mountain on the other.

 

[Parnelli Bone]

Another mention for Nurburgring. I wouldn't necessarily use the word "hate" , I never hated it, maybe dislike is a better word. Overall, it's the one track which has changed my opinion the most over the years. I went from disliking it to loving it, especially when I get most of its turns right.

Least favorite track is Twin Ring Motegi, and I continue to hate that one. It's challenging, but something about it is just so bland. Like, I don't care if I spend a lot of time there doing practice laps and so on. Then again, it is a testing track I think. It's not supposed to be scenic or fun.

 

[TonyJZX]

Yeah I think the Nurburgring is the best example of this. It would be overwhelming for anyone new.

But now I expect many of us have the gold or even diamond rank for the circuit experience.

 

[raghza]

Laguna Seca for me as well.
The challenge in GT2? with the Viper or something drove me crazy and I hated that track, the Corkscrew made no sense to me back then.
But starting from GT5 I have spent hundreds of hours on that track and it is now one of my absolute favourites.

I have never disliked Nordschleife, but for a long time it was more like a "free roam" than an actual track for me, since I had no idea which turn was coming up next.
And again, by now, I know this track well and really like it, which makes it my first choice when I just feel like taking some car for a spin.

 

[Norrin Radd]

I don't get the hate/dislike for Nurburgring, first time I saw it I though yummy something hard and it was. Took me ages before I had a clue about the track and what 15 years later I probably don't have a clue. I can get round fairly fast without binning it and for me that's as good as it gets.

 

[seadog777]

• Nürburgring Nordschleife (copy/pasted because I can't spell it!) I despised that track when I first came across it. Now I love it, but am still really, really 🤬 at it. It's the last track I have to get Gold in Circuit Experience and I am still a stubborn 2 seconds off after nearly 2 years!!!
• Red Bull Ring was another, but love it now and can get around it fairly well.

 

[Dave_H_87]

Laguna Seca for me as well.
The challenge in GT2? with the Viper or something drove me crazy and I hated that track, the Corkscrew made no sense to me back then.

That's it! I remember doing that challenge over and over and over again without success.

The Nordschleife is just as much a test of memory as it is a test of driving, I love time trialling it.

Catalunya is the closest I get to the opposite, used to love it as a kid but now it is hit or miss.

 

[Def-Infinity]

The track I "hated" most was Sarthe, solely because of Muslanne and Test IA-16.

On the opposite end, I really despise Monaco now, whereas a few years ago I'd probably tell you that it was the coolest track to ever exist.

 

[Timm Sheehan]

Since I don't have too much past GT experience I have no past tracks to call out but reading the posts above has me wondering, do you all hate those tracks because of the tracks themselves or is it they don't have good races on them? My example would be Monza, love practicing on the track but really am not fond of races because of the carnage at the turns.

I am not pleased with Big Willow, once your off the circuit your fellow racers won't see you back on the track for at least 10-15 seconds. That is a race killer to me.

 

[O604]

I hated Big Willow, Streets of Willow Springs and Horse Thief Mile at first. Love Big Willow now. Don't mind Streets, still hate Horse.

Also hated all the Tokyo Expressway layouts at first. Turns out I just hate Daily Race traffic on Tokyo Expressway. The less cars, the better race on Expressway.

I though St. Croix was useless for a while. I wrong. DT Gardens the same... most of the fictional tracks it took me while to appreciate.

 

[Dave_H_87]

reading the posts above has me wondering, do you all hate those tracks because of the tracks themselves or is it they don't have good races on them?

That’s a good point, it’s easy to criticise or dislike a track because of a variety of reasons.

Personally I tend to dislike the ones that I just don’t seem to be able to feel like I have any chance of getting the hang of them (which is nonsense).
Lago Maggiore GP and Bathurst fall in to this category on this game.

Conversely to you, I love Monza partly because I seem to get lucky with avoiding the carnage. Plus I feel like it’s a track you can extract your best from.

 

[deviln3]

Back on GT2, there was a driver license challenge or something for Laguna Seca which took me forever to complete as a kid. I hated that track growing up, and later on Nurburgring was just too darn challenging to ever keep the car on the road.

Now I love both of them.

 

[XSquareStickIt]

I used to hate all configurations of Willow Springs. I still do to some extent (because I'm awful around them), but I've learnt to appreciate it for being a very old, largely unmodified, and therefore unique feeling racetrack that's very punishing for mistakes and offers drivers very little reference points. I love the scenery of the wide open desert, and how so many layouts are positioned so close to each other. Turn off auto respawn in time trail, and it provides for some fantastic free roam shots that no other track in the series can even hope to provide.

Horse Thief Mile is a track that initially struck me as a trolling track, especially with the bugged grid start on the forward configuration that remains unfixed to this day. But, the fact that it's a real life track that's offered in reverse is huge to me. After being forced to learn it for a few lobby races from the Car of the Week thread, it began to grow on me, and now it's one of my favourite tracks in GT Sport, because it is the closest thing we have to a narrow, winding mountain pass. The swathes of "useless" N100-N300 cars in this game that would put you to sleep on most tracks feel right at home at Horse Thief Mile, and I'd argue that it's the best way to measure low powered, lightweight cars because most tracks favour high power cars. I just wish we had an adjustable FOV, or VR to actually turn our heads, because the track is so tight that you can't really see anything until it's too late in bumper or cockpit cam.

 

[YRS2703]

For me Lago Maggiore GP II and DT Gardens are the bane of my existence. I can't seem to get any sort of speed on those two, and Gardens doesn't feel that fun to race IMO.
My favourite though has to be La Sarthe or DT Seaside. I always feel like I can push as hard as I can on those... still remember comparing my hotlaps on La Sarthe in Gr.3 when the Manufacturer Series had a race there, and finding that I was 2-3 seconds faster compared to people in my DR range somehow.

 

[HaydenFan69]

It took an entirely different game to change my mind about one track. I really did not like Brands. But when Assetto Corsa Competizione came out with the career mode starting at the circuit, running that track for the practice and qualifying sessions on top of 30 minute races a few times over with various cars made me really start to enjoy the track.

I really loved Suzuka. One of my favorites. But lately I just haven’t enjoyed it like I used to.

 

[Rob Kessler]

This question came to me as a result of this week's daily races, are there any tracks that you used to play on previous Gran Turismo titles that you hated but love now or vice versa?

Mine is Laguna Seca, the corkscrew used to give me nightmares as a kid/teenager and I used to avoid the track like the plague.
Now I look forward to seeing it come up in races as I've got older (definitely) and wiser (not so sure!)

Personally can't wait for GT7 to play some of the classic tracks and see if I'm still terrible at the final sector of Grand Valley (hope it's in GT7!)

Look forward to your replies!

Still love Red Rock... Hope they bring it back.