How long of a track would you like?

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With new consoles power and SSD out would you like long distant loops/point to point locations and if so what distance? Some arcade racers already have some long time trials and there is the 30something mile TT game. But Sims and simcade games like Forza the tracks don't get over 15mi.. I would like a 50mi. track(public road course) with option of two 25mi. Segments.
 
Never been a big fan of ultra long tracks (apart from rally stages).

To me something like le mans is the longest length I like in tracks at. Can still find tenths which make a difference which is perfect for hot lapping, I dont seem to have the motivation to learn really long tracks as I dont feel like the small tenths I make in each corner really amount to much.
 
I get so jaded in people wanting to race the Nürburgring Nordschleife all the time, or even any track that uses this 12+ mile monster. I don't care for stupidly long courses unless it's Circuit de la Sarthe. There is no real preference for me in regards to how long a track should be to hold my interest. You also have to take into consideration the kinds of vehicles that race each course. For example, would you rather have Kei cars or hypercars around Special Stage Route X? Would you rather have low-end touring cars or Le Mans GT and prototype cars around Autumn Ring Mini?

The thing is, both short and long courses have their appeal and challenge. I care more about what challenge(s) a track provides rather than have a set preference as to what length tracks I'd rather race. I would fancy the challenge of racing the streets of Seoul or London as much as I would racing proper circuits like Monza and Spa-Francorchamps. There was even that 12-mile or so Circuito de la Sierra race track in Gran Turismo 6 that I once raced. One game I once played mostly has longer courses. That game has a course even longer than the Nordschleife! And that game? That game I am mentioning is "Suzuki TT Superbikes: Real Road Racing Championship." You had tracks in that game as short as Aberdare Park (the shortest in the game) to the Snaefell Mountain Circuit (the longest in the game and home to the Isle of Man TT course). The goal of such tracks is to meet the track and take on each challenge the track(s) provide.

Maybe I'm not properly answering the question. And if I am not, then let me just make my moral of this story. I mostly prefer courses between 1.5 miles to just over 3 miles. Sometimes four miles or more, just not longer than Circuit de la Sarthe (8.5 miles). Anything longer is mostly just for certain special challenges that I wouldn't casually race.
 
In GT6, there was that special time trial event thing. A completely fictional track in Italy. Cannot recall the name, but while I seemed to repeat itself a few times (the Nordschleife kinda does as well), I thought could be pretty entertaining for an online race. Was narrow, but those huge fast sections where for a mile it was flat through some long bends.

I remember guys building huge circuits in the GT5 track builder. Essentially long ovals with elevation. And in the karts, and with the draft, we had packs of 10-12 karts blasting over giant crests into blind corners and the like.

Though, like I said, long circuits tend to repeat themselves. So before you invest time into building a 30 mile or so circuit, think about it a bit.

Maybe go scan or do whatever you do to recreate the Pikes Peak Hillclimb. That’s a longer circuit I know many players would want to see. And GT more than any platform is the best place for such circuit.
 
I would like to see an open world racing game where you can do these types of gentleman time trial rallies. With classic cars. Or something like a Mille Miglia type racing game.
 
I like long tracks. The thing is, you can't approach a 30km+ course with the same mentality as a normal circuit. I think this is what makes most people frustrated when trying to learn them. You need to treat it as a rally stage or a road race. Driving at 100% is just going to end in a crash. Drive at 90%, and always leave a room for error. Once you drive enough laps over many years (not hours), then you can learn to attack at full speed.

It just depends how much work the devs want to put in honestly. Assetto Corsa already has the full Targa Florio track (72 km), which was ported and improved from a mod for Grand Prix Legends, a game released in 1998. So technology is not the limiting factor.

Would be amazing to see a game include the full Mille Miglia, Carrera Panamericana, and other legendary epic road races from the past.

I also would like to see another procedurally generated open world racing games like FUEL, but that's topic for another day.
 
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In terms of just length, I suppose I enjoy a short circuit or Nordschleife-length track more than something in the middle. I prefer quick laps for honing a laptime, and lengthy tracks or point-to-points for going for a drive.

Or something like a Mille Miglia type racing game.
There have been a few. The first coin-op title developed by Kaneko is the most interesting and most playable one IMO. The stages are only a minute long, though.
 
There have been a few. The first coin-op title developed by Kaneko is the most interesting and most playable one IMO. The stages are only a minute long, though.

Gotta make sure people keep dumping their money into the game.
 
I like long "tracks" as long as its point to point road routes, if is an actual track like the Nordschleife or a loop like the TT I'm not as keen.
 
In terms of arcade-style racing/driving games or casual racing/driving games, you don't want tracks to be brutally long, because most types can't take some very long courses. You want to be able to keep most players' interests in mind long enough and have easy enough courses to master. You also want to consider track length for mobile device games as well. Are you going to be content offering very long courses and some very long races if certain mobile devices can't handle it?

The lovely mobile racing game, "Assoluto Racing," was one of the first-ever mobile games (and maybe the only one) to offer the full-length Nürburgring Nordschleife. I have not tried the track out yet (when DO I want to try this track?), but having the full-length course in fine accuracy is an accomplishment. I have Circuit de la Sarthe in "Real Racing 3" for my two Android TV boxes. I wouldn't want to try pushing Circuit de la Sarthe on a smartphone or tablet. But... it's there if you're ready for it.

One more thing I thought about with track length is not necessarily about individual tracks. Think about open-world type racing games like the Test Drive Unlimited series. You have to wonder what races you set up in these locations and for how long. Using TDU2 as an example, you can have short races around a few miles/kilometers, or you could have the ultra-long races around Ibiza and Oahu/Hawaii- both time trials lasting at least 40 minutes covering hundreds of miles/kilometers.


Just a few extra things to think about in regards to track lengths.
 
In terms of arcade-style racing/driving games or casual racing/driving games, you don't want tracks to be brutally long, because most types can't take some very long courses. You want to be able to keep most players' interests in mind long enough and have easy enough courses to master. You also want to consider track length for mobile device games as well. Are you going to be content offering very long courses and some very long races if certain mobile devices can't handle it?

The lovely mobile racing game, "Assoluto Racing," was one of the first-ever mobile games (and maybe the only one) to offer the full-length Nürburgring Nordschleife. I have not tried the track out yet (when DO I want to try this track?), but having the full-length course in fine accuracy is an accomplishment. I have Circuit de la Sarthe in "Real Racing 3" for my two Android TV boxes. I wouldn't want to try pushing Circuit de la Sarthe on a smartphone or tablet. But... it's there if you're ready for it.

One more thing I thought about with track length is not necessarily about individual tracks. Think about open-world type racing games like the Test Drive Unlimited series. You have to wonder what races you set up in these locations and for how long. Using TDU2 as an example, you can have short races around a few miles/kilometers, or you could have the ultra-long races around Ibiza and Oahu/Hawaii- both time trials lasting at least 40 minutes covering hundreds of miles/kilometers.


Just a few extra things to think about in regards to track lengths.

GT PSP has the full Nordschleife as well. Depends on whether you include dedicated portable gaming systems as "mobile" games I suppose.
 
I'm ok with the Isle of Man TT however its one of those things of adding it in and all that work vs. what you get out of it. Hell we already have the David Higgins WRX TT car!

I know heaps of people are already turned off by the Ring. I know I was too because I felt that GT5/6 and all the Forzas seemed to place undue emphasis on it for quite a long time.

My feeling about this would be that the Ring would be the final word for PD as a far as long tracks goes.

That whole Sierra de Fuego track in GT6 made no sense in its addition and further, people dont like it and they dont want it back.

PD needs to focus on its fundamentals... same as Turn10.... more of the classic real world tracks, more of the classic original tracks that people ask for.

Even the Ring has real steep learning curve... I'd love to see how many people were able to gold experience it in GT Sport.
 
A big difference exists between a long track (or point to point) and a good long track.

Plenty of titles already have long tracks or point to points. The WRC series has had epic stages over 20kms for a number of years now, and when you hit PC titles the number of long track and free-roams that exist as mod content for the likes of RF2 and AC are huge, a number of them are not very good at all, but some are excellent, such as 'Fat-Alfie's' mod tracks for AC, the 1967 version of the 'ring (complete with south loop), the IoM recreation in RF2, and free-roams like LA Canyons, Lake Louise, Glencoe and the Shuto Revival Projects (over 100kms of Tokyo Highway)



Personally, anything more than the 'ring starts to require a lot of investment to get to know inside and out for it to be a regular for me, and the larger ones I tend to just use for relaxed driving.
 
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