What's the Best Race Track to Never Feature in a Video Game?

  • Thread starter SlipZtrEm
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I do have some questions about the strictness of definitions here. Potrero de los Funes may have appeared in Ride, but that is a bike racing game, so one can still fairly say it hasn't appeared in a car racing game, for which there is typically a much larger audience.

Similarly, say a track appeared in some form in an early arcade game, even if just vaguely referenced in the shape of a map? Would that count? Would prior variations of tracks before substantial alterations were made count? Or versions made after?

If one's definitions are too strict, tracks can wind up being excluded for featuring in old, poor quality games which no one can find a legitimate copy of. If one's definitions are too loose (is it a computer game and not a video game if it's a PC exclusive or whatever) then one is just opening the flood gates.

That being said, I'm going to nominate the Mille Miglia, as I'm pretty certain no one's found a way to fit a 1000 mile circuit into a video game yet:

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Going to go a bit self serving here and nominate a track in my home town that do not exist anymore:

Westwood Motorsport Park:

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(damn that Eye of The Tiger intro though :P)

The only thing I can think of that Westwood has been even done in is a Race Department mod for Assetto Corsa, but I can't vouch for how authentic it is.

FAKE EDIT: Also, I wanted to add the street course for the Molson Indy Vancouver, but I know it has been in one of the PS1 era TOCA games (and even the first TOCA on PS2, which I didn't know) but it lead me to this video from @Latvija27 on Port of Vancouver 2 on DRIVECLUB that I wanted to address since I was a resident of Vancouver and know the streets fairly well:



Latvija, the course layout is pretty much the same in DRIVECLUB as it was for the Molson Indy, but it's not an issue of rights. It's because the land that the Molson Indy existed on simply does not exist any more due to development of the old Expo 86 lands around BC Place and Science World, and False Creek as a whole. So the old layout from 1990-1997 wouldn't work. And by the time that the 2000's version quit, the south end of the course was already in development for the Olympic Village to be used in the 2010 Winter Olympics. There's also the small fact that many of the residents hated the event.

So yes, it's the same layout, but transplanted in the area around Coal Harbor and Gastown.
 
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DK
Codemasters will have you covered in a couple of months. ;)

Anyway, I'd like to nominate the Curacao GP for poops and giggles.
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Whaaaa? Grid 3 maybe? Man, that'd be great. Motorsports focused, with the combined effort of the old Evolution devs... I can't wait.

I loved that Grid 1 had the 2006 LeMans series in it, save a few manufacturers. Unreal that it's been 10 years since a console game had that complete of a line up of an endurance racing series.
 
I'd nominate the Nurburgring south loop "Sudschleife". Short against its big brother, it was still 7.5km and offered similar elevation changes. And it would add 4km in a combined north/south loop compared to the north/GP 24H. Could also design it with the vegetation approaching the the tarmac and no racing barriers. Could be an amazing GTS fantasy track. As it's primarily destroyed, there's not too many existing pics or videos so it'd be done by "memory" and GPS drones.
 
@Roger the Horse -- Depending on the definition, like you pointed out, there are some games about the Mille Miglia. There's an arcade game (as in video arcade cabinet) called Great 1000 Miles Rally with overhead 2D graphics, taking place on point-to-point stages that are named after the route but otherwise bear very limited resemblance, of course. There was a sequel, but that one didn't even try as much as the first game to be authentic. There's also the PS1 game Mille Miglia, but you race on circuits in that one, and a DOS game called 1000 Miglia, which I have not played but looks like it's about as close to legit as a game could be at that time.

Great 1000 Miles Rally is a fun game, anyhow. One of the best-handling 2D overhead racing games, in my opinion, and a nifty bit of motorsports and racing game history at once. :)

 
Birmingham Superprix Circuit

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Coolest street circuit in the UK imo, produced some decent racing when it was on the Formula 3000 and BTCC calendar for 5 years in the 80's. Pretty sure it's never been in a published video game (I think it's been an unofficial mod though). Plenty of other UK race circuits have featured in games but not this one. They are actually trying to revive the circuit at the moment because of changes to the law allowing racing to be held on public roads.
 
Targa Florio (at the top of my wish list) is/was available for rFactor. Arctic Circle Raceway/Mo i Rana was in the game STCC 2 by SimBin.
 
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Rather than name one specific racecourse that deserves recognition, I'm going to go with a whole genre: Board tracks! Basically the original super speedways, these high-banked ovals (and, in the case of the very first one which was in Playa del Rey, California, circles) of the 1910s and '20s were constructed entirely of wood. Speeds were high and, naturally, so was the danger, for both cars and motorcycles.

Done right, a game based around the AAA Championship Trail as it existed during that period, with a mixture of board tracks, dirt tracks and road courses (and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, obviously) would be absolutely spectacular.

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Has Thunderhill Raceway Park ever appeared in a racing game?

It's a fun rollercoaster of a circuit and one of the turns is a freaky steep drop (we used the bypass, but I got to see what it was like during a parade lap). T




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Ahvenisto. Small track in finland very much like miniature version of Nurburgring meets Spa.

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This is the very track where Häkkinen drove "very slowly" with Captain Slow in top gear.



It has been in AC as a mod, and this is one of the best videos of the track.



Here is the real thing

 
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The recent article, when compared to the additional info about Spa-Francorchamps licensing for GT Sport, got me thinking about something. What if a racing game mostly used more obscure tracks so that they ultimately didn't have to pay as much for licensing? I'm sure licensing fees for a more popular circuit like Le Mans or Nurburgring could potentially be expensive, so I wonder how that compares to the fees to include a track that's either never appeared in racing games, or only a few of them? Regardless, I'd love to see the following come to Gran Turismo: Lime Rock Park in the north-western corner of CT, and the Schenley Park circuit that hosts the Pittsburgh Vintage GP. The latter could be a good companion event to the Goodwood Hillclimb, and/or a good place to have events featuring vintage vehicles like the Pebble Beach winners.
 
Some great tracks and videos - very enjoyable thread!

I like racing on tracks with elevation changes and a great sense of speed through the closeness of roadside furniture (walls, poles, houses, signs etc.) and if possible a great history - these tracks are normally too dangerous to be in current use.

My three nominations are: 1. Meadowdale International Raceway, Carpentersville, Illinois, USA
When this circuit was built the idea was obviously to build a track which outdid all others - so it had a corner called the "Monza Wall" with banking 7 degrees steeper than Monza, the longest straight (up to that time) - 3/4 mile downhill. It also had a massive grain silo inches from the track, a long section where the cars ran in opposite directions just a couple of feet apart separated by a low wooden barrier. The track is now a nature reserve, some has been demolished, but the terrain could be scanned and a virtual track built.
Meadowdale Compilation 1.jpg
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Below - as you can see, a mod was made which gives a reasonable impression of the track, but I would like to see a top quality version in a modern game.


Second nomination - Longford Tasmania. This circuit was used as part of the Tasman series and had lots of exciting / dangerous features - two river crossings over curved wooden bridges (scuba divers were on hand during races), a pass under a brick railway bridge at an angle and a pass over railway tracks - one race had to be cut short due to a train arriving! It has featured as a mod in a game. Below the late great Frank Gardner talks briefly about the circuit:



Third nomination - Dundrod, Northern Ireland - used from 1950 - 55 for the RAC Tourist trophy for sports cars, but stopped due to danger. Mike Hawthorn holds the lap record from 1955 when he piloted a Jaguar D Type - he was an absolute master of this tricky track. The motorcycle boys do not consider this track too dangerous so it is still used each year for the Ulster GP. Unlike the Isle of Man TT, which is really a time trial, the GP is a true race with all the bikes setting off together. At 7.4 miles the circuit is a manageable length and easily scanned for gaming. The circuit has hardly changed over the years - a classic version could just omit the signage and road markings.

Enjoy this short clip!

 
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Autódromo de Sitges-Terramar in Spain. High banked concrete oval built in 1923 and almost totally abandoned since, it's still in extraordinarily good condition.



Fuji Speedway original circuit in Japan. Massively large, exceptionally fast, incredibly dangerous. It always amazed me we never got that version of Fuji from GT.



Roosevelt Raceway in New York, home of the 1936-1937 Vanderbilt Cup. Later converted to a horse racing track, the 1936 (and to a lesser extent 1937) race track designed expressly for the revived Vanderbilt Cup was a thing of beauty.

 
Another mention of Magny-Cours. While it used to be in F1 titles and perhaps some motorbike games, it has been surprisingly absent in recent car racing games. Forgotten classic almost.
 

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