February 2021 update: Lidarscan Thunderhill, Sebring and Toronto
Hi Everyone, Sorry for being quiet for a bit, I'm working on some fantastic stuff for you all, however it's taking a bit longer than expected.
Following information provided to me by 'lilski' I have figured out how to grab and use the Lidar data that is available for a large proportion of the united states, using this data will make the tracks so much more accurate as the data is a lot more precise than what I have been using in the past. The examples in the images in this post show how the data correlates with my version of Thunderhill. You can see for example from this, that my hill isn't steep enough, this can now be corrected, as well as all of the other parts of the track to make it much more true to life - meaning you'll get a better experience in the end.
However this will lead to a few delays as I get used to the new techniques, and make the required changes. I also plan to retroactively apply this to Chuckwalla as well, Willow springs I'll leave for now as that uses the lidar data from GT:Sport already.
Going forward all of my new tracks will use this technique as I aim to deliver the highest quality tracks I can. For example this will work fantastically on Pacific Raceways.
Speaking of new tracks, on the horizon I have my first historical track, that is Sebring from '66 and '67 with the help of a member here I have access to a wealth of reference material. You can see the start of this project in the images, it's a fantastic layout and i'm sure it will be a blast to drive.
Secondly, and a bit further along in development is the Toronto Indycar street course.
City tracks take a long time to make, and for this one I have had to create most of the buildings myself from scratch - which again, takes a lot of time.
So new updates for things are a bit bare at the moment, but there is a whole host of content coming along nicely. I'll try and get one more update out for you this month so you have something to drive about on. But I really appreciate your patience.
Good things come to those who wait :)
Thanks again for all of your support, and I hope the monthly text summary posts are useful to you all.
Any questions or feedback is much appreciated.
Thanks,
Ty
Comments (11)
Is the Pacific Raceways mod available? Where can I find the download link?
Hey, Thank you very much, this helped me tremendously for my first track day at Chuckwalla. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtoWExwPZCg&t=1s I just found out that you have spring Mountain and I will play by using that one. Thanks again
Any upcoming updates to the Thunderhill map?
Hi Joe, Still working on it! It looks like the mesh refinements from the laser scan data is a bit more time consuming than I anticipated. Thanks for your patience. Ty
Ty, glad I crossed your path. Chuckwalla looks really good. I am a member there and drive that track frequently so if you need any info at all I can help you with it. Thanks. Looking forward to comparing the sim to my real driving. I have a ton of in car videos if those help you at all. Thanks again.
Extremely excited for Sebring, great era, unique track with all its lumps and bumps. Basically 1 of 3 most famous endurance races that I see referred to most often in the USA, Le Mans, Daytona 24hr and Sebring 12hr. Can't wait to see this progress.
Great update!
Hopefully this will mean a fix for the JUMP between 3W and 4W at Thunderhill (2 mile.) Data looks gorgeous.
Great direction as for LIDAR and higher quality tracks. Just as indicated above I would love modern Sebring. Thunderhill and Toronto will be epic.
Fantastic! I'm greatly looking forward to the updated Thunderhill and new Pacific Raceways (the local track where I've driven 100's of miles of the past 20 years). Nice work :)
You should do modern version of Sebring while your at it, we are severely lacking a laser/lidar version on AC, although the reboot one is good, it lacks the track character