Built in 1999 and located in Malaysia, the Sepang International Circuit has hosted a variety of major motorsport events, most notably the Formula One Malaysian Grand Prix which has taken place every year since its opening.
The primary route consists of 15 turns and 8 straights with plenty of overtaking opportunities along the 5.543km of track, so it should definitely make for some great racing in GRID Autosport.
Now for some science; the track surface was built using a specially formulated bitumen compound, a mixture of hydrocarbons that are obtained during the distillation of petroleum. This special compound is not only incredibly smooth but it also helps protect against the tropical Malaysian climate.
It’s the first time the circuit will appear in a GRID game so we’re excited to see what you think once you’re driving your favourite Touring, Endurance or open wheel around it at launch.
Sepang at Night, home to the Endurance discipline
So what’s it like to drive? Here’s Graham Bromley, our Lead Level Designer with all the details.
“When we were looking for tracks for this game we wanted to get a good cross-section of some iconic world famous locations, a selection of more modern tracks, and hopefully some tracks that players may not have had the opportunity to play yet.
We looked a number of modern circuits, and Sepang International was one that stood out for a number of reasons.
Aside from its fame, its tropical setting, its distinctive grandstands, and number of driveable layouts; we all loved the way it drove.
Sepang has a nice variation of high speed and low speed corners, some interesting undulations, and it also has some long straights that allow you to get even the fastest cars up to top speed. The combination of these features makes for a circuit with challenging and interesting racing.
The high speed straights lead into some of the more technical corners (like the unique combination of corners 1 & 2 after the start finish straight for example, and the hairpin at turn 15) and these make for great overtaking zones when there’s traffic, so it’s a difficult track to drive defensively on, which makes for some great races with plenty of leadership changes.
In contrast the fast sweeping sections flow really well together and allow players to build up a rhythm which, with good lines, will help players gain time around the track (for example turns 5 & 6 into the double apex of turn 7/8), however if you get the line wrong through here, you’re times will suffer and your opponents will catch up.
There are also some of very challenging corners (turns 4, 9 and 14 stand out) players will find more time on these corners as they get to know the circuit and perfect their lines, which gives the location a depth and re-playability, and this lasting appeal and challenge was one of the features that attracted us to Sepang.
Sepang really is a driver’s circuit, easy to learn, but difficult to master.”
Sepang is the first circuit on our list and moving forward we’ll be talking about new locations each week all the way up to launch. What do you think of Sepang? Looking forward to driving around it, happy to see it make its way over to GRID?
