RELEASED-final Pinwheel Circuit

[John Harding]

Small adjustment for the tracklights, tiny bit better performance:

[LIGHT_SERIES_1]
MESHES = tracklights
...
RANGE=120
CLUSTER_THRESHOLD = 20   ;;; min. meters between calculated lights
FADE_SMOOTH = 50
...

And about light pollution, you did not see "all values in KM"

[LIGHT_POLLUTION]
RELATIVE_POSITION=0.006, 0.011, -0.007
...

which is about here:
View attachment 7076

Thanks so much @fughettaboutit . You are the master. Firstly tracklights, it looks like I copied the cluster value over from the bridge lights and forgot to change them, and indeed those little tweaks will definitely help - now implemented! The light polution is unforgivable seen as, as you say, the comment from the original I presume from the wiki even states KM Now I understand why I must have set the density so high, because the pollution was from another city entirely! So 0.35 works well. I will move it slightly over to where the high buildings are I think (the city centre if you like). That area will need lots of work anyway as it's basically just boxes at the moment. Indeed, your aerial shot also reminds me I need to work on the landscape and blending this into the closer areas - it's a case of a placeholder texture that somehow never gets replaced

As for the spot lights, I seem to remember trying to get some to work, getting frustrated, and kind of leaving it and just then going for the tame lights that are always on, but the new addition for night time really work great. I will move on to implementing some further spots on the upper part of the bridge next. All I can say again is thank you:

 

[luchian]

Awesome report as usual . I love this approach, I should take notes.
Looking forward to giving your track a spin, hopefully the weekend.

This last photo looks so realistic! Great work.

 

[Sam Dale]

Sir, the word masterpiece probably gets thrown around too lightly, but I think this track qualifies! Looks spectacular, amazing to drive, and handcrafted with love and care. Even as a 0.1.0 beta this goes straight into my list of top tracks, that I think will keep me coming back.

I use a triple screen setup, and I noticed your replay cameras are quite wide FOV. I copied and tweaked your original file with a couple of narrower FOV variants (attached) others with triples may appreciate this option.

I feel like I have contributed little here, so my one piece of feedback is to do with the kerbs - the black and yellow first line of kerbs. Perhaps I have been conditioned by tracks with an exaggerated effect on the kerbs, but yours feel almost smooth, or at least slightly less bumpy than I am used to. They look great though.

In all, thank you for the sneak preview - I'm already hooked, and at a bit of a loss as to how it could possibly be better!

 

[John Harding]

Sir, the word masterpiece probably gets thrown around too lightly, but I think this track qualifies! Looks spectacular, amazing to drive, and handcrafted with love and care. Even as a 0.1.0 beta this goes straight into my list of top tracks, that I think will keep me coming back.

I use a triple screen setup, and I noticed your replay cameras are quite wide FOV. I copied and tweaked your original file with a couple of narrower FOV variants (attached) others with triples may appreciate this option.

I feel like I have contributed little here, so my one piece of feedback is to do with the kerbs - the black and yellow first line of kerbs. Perhaps I have been conditioned by tracks with an exaggerated effect on the kerbs, but yours feel almost smooth, or at least slightly less bumpy than I am used to. They look great though.

In all, thank you for the sneak preview - I'm already hooked, and at a bit of a loss as to how it could possibly be better!

Hi Sam,

Many thanks for giving the track a whirl and also for the kind words. Obviously I'm a little biased here but I also find it quite fun to drive to pleased to hear someone else does! That's reassuring. Let me know if you have a go at any hotlaps and beat my times

Funny you should say that about the cams, I kind of realised the same thing just the other day they were far too zoomed out. I've now implemented your edits with a few minor tweaks (the static cams remain at the same FOV just to make sure no action is missed). I might consolidate your two extra cam sets into one, not sure yet will have a look. However you've also inspired me to try implementing a few spline based cams (although the documentation here is minimal, I'm giving it a bash). Thank you so much again for this edit.

Kerb wise, I'm thinking of varying them a little, currently they are all the same serrated type (and probably not serrated enough), so I think I'll tweak some of them to raised them more and give a little more bump. Again, great feedback and something I can implement for sure. I'm quite happy with the physical road surface mesh, but the kerbs do indeed need some work before 0.2.

Thanks again and best Christmas wishes,
John.

 

[Sam Dale]

Many thanks for giving the track a whirl and also for the kind words. Obviously I'm a little biased here but I also find it quite fun to drive to pleased to hear someone else does! That's reassuring. Let me know if you have a go at any hotlaps and beat my times

Oooh, spline cameras are awesome - I would like to learn how to put them together too, as they add a whole extra element to replays!

I did have a quick crack in the Formula Hybrid 2021: 1:27.275 is my best so far

I'll have a try in some of the other cars in your list and see how I go

Merry Christmas to you too!

 

[Sam Dale]

You're right - the MC22 time is harder to match - I think there's a decent amount of time to unlock in setup (mostly to kill the understeer in the slow corners!). Best I managed so far was 1:27.791

 

[Sam Dale]

Managed a 1:27.330 in the McLaren with a couple of setup tweaks

 

[John Harding]

Managed a 1:27.330 in the McLaren with a couple of setup tweaks

View attachment 7144

Sam! Don't you know I have work to do today, I haven't got time to try to beat that Seriously though, good work the gauntlet has been thrown down. I managed to get down to 1:27.456 in the meantime but guess still a few tenths to find.

Btw, just to say I released the Circuit 0.2.0 on Racedepartment now, this was a goal of mine before the year was out. You can find the post here:
https://www.racedepartment.com/downloads/pinwheel-circuit.47559/

I managed to get some of the kerbs improved I think (some still to do). Got some spline cams working, I must post something about that in future. Thanks again for the feedback everyone and Merry Christmas.

 

[John Harding]

Managed a 1:27.330 in the McLaren with a couple of setup tweaks

View attachment 7144

It's taken me a while, but by a gnat's whisker:

 

[John Harding]

Finally getting this track edge sorted I think...

 

[Sam Dale]

@John Harding your spline camera work inspired me to have a play around with my own, and the long champions wall looked like a perfect place to simulate a tracking camera. I'm not sure I've implemented it entirely correctly, but I think it looks pretty good either way. The cameras_4.ini and Spline4.csv are in the attached file to be added to your data folder (assuming there are cameras up to cameras_3 there already).

 

[JrC]

Well @John Harding , I finally got a chance to try your track...

and it's really fun. My current favorite track is Algarve/Portimao because of the corners and elevation changes and your high speed dip corner definately has an Eau Rouge feel and the combination of high speed corners into braking is a lot of fun.

I had to tweak the setup with weight and wing for my default but was able to get the RSS hybrid flat out through 3 of the high speed corners. Great fun! Im usually not a fan of fantasy tracks but this is really well thought out.
Kudos! Getting good fps with 26 cars too... 90+ buttttt I won't lie... more pitboxes

i only got to a 1:34:550 in the Formula Hybrid 2021 so I need to find where you guys are getting those 7 seconds.

 

[Sam Dale]

i only got to a 1:34:550 in the Formula Hybrid 2021 so I need to find where you guys are getting those 7 seconds.

1:26.801

 

[JrC]

1:26.801

That's not helping....

 

[Sam Dale]

That's not helping....

I made sure Sidekick was showing throttle/brake/gear and everything

 

[JrC]

I made sure Sidekick was showing throttle/brake/gear and everything

Im just messing with ya ...

Now I have to find another second ... good lord

 

[JrC]

Got it down to a 1:29:109 but those last few seconds are going to be hard to find.

 

[John Harding]

@John Harding your spline camera work inspired me to have a play around with my own, and the long champions wall looked like a perfect place to simulate a tracking camera. I'm not sure I've implemented it entirely correctly, but I think it looks pretty good either way. The cameras_4.ini and Spline4.csv are in the attached file to be added to your data folder (assuming there are cameras up to cameras_3 there already).

Thank you Sam, this is a great addition - I also know it takes a bit of time to figure out so much appreciated! I also managed to get one kind of working for the first straight, so I will combine this one into your set so I'll probably have actually just the two groups of cams, distant (with some splines) and closer (with some splines) otherwise I'll lose track!

One thing I can't get my head around with regards Spline cams is the duration bit, because for slower cars it doesn't seem to work (the spline cam kind of runs out of motion before the car has left the shot). I'm not sure what the solution is other than to set the duration to the slowest car that might go on the track, probably something like the Lotus GT4 or similar. Not sure if you've come across the same issue?

By the way that sub-1:27 lap is crazy hard to beat, still can't do it either. JrC!

 

[John Harding]

Well @John Harding , I finally got a chance to try your track...

and it's really fun. My current favorite track is Algarve/Portimao because of the corners and elevation changes and your high speed dip corner definately has an Eau Rouge feel and the combination of high speed corners into braking is a lot of fun.

I had to tweak the setup with weight and wing for my default but was able to get the RSS hybrid flat out through 3 of the high speed corners. Great fun! Im usually not a fan of fantasy tracks but this is really well thought out.
Kudos! Getting good fps with 26 cars too... 90+ buttttt I won't lie... more pitboxes

i only got to a 1:34:550 in the Formula Hybrid 2021 so I need to find where you guys are getting those 7 seconds.

Thanks @JrC , pleased you like it! There is still work to do visually, but in terms of configuration it seems to work quite well. I wondered if my first track should be a fantasy one, however I like creating things so I've had quite some fun doing it. Maybe I'll recreate something as my next track now I know many tricks of the trade. How many pit boxes would be a good amount do you think? There is still time for adjustments

 

[JrC]

Thanks @JrC , pleased you like it! There is still work to do visually, but in terms of configuration it seems to work quite well. I wondered if my first track should be a fantasy one, however I like creating things so I've had quite some fun doing it. Maybe I'll recreate something as my next track now I know many tricks of the trade. How many pit boxes would be a good amount do you think? There is still time for adjustments

In terms of pitboxes thats a design choice... just moar ..
I know they are numbered so no sure how much room is there but 30 would be sweet.
Vancouver had such a long pit road I just added in as many as would fit for the people with the CPU/GPU horsies...

Will look forward to your next project but you have a knack for the fantasy thing and some of the recreations are low hanging fruit for those of us that lack the imagination. Either way Im sure it will get good.

Im able to keep in the 1:30:000s in traffic and ive been alternating between hot lapping and race weekends to learn the track a bit better. I need a bit more mechanical grip in the low speed corners.