Learning UK Tracks From Video Games?

[Jamz]

Which are the best games to learn tracks from?

Yeah, yeah - half of you are screaming it won't help but you're wrong! Many racers have learnt new tracks by playing games even at the top levels like F1.

And I'm also fully aware no amount of virtual laps will prepare you for the first time you go around Paddock Hill and fall off the edge of the world!

But you CAN learn the layout of a track from a game... can't you?

So which are the best for UK tracks (especially Donington)?

[yingding]

i really don't know whats out there as far as u.k. circuits are concerned so sorry i just wanted to reply because i do do x-box
i got moto gp 'ultimate racing technology', kept it for the 500 class, sad but true. also got moto gp 07 & 08, donington on all of course and i hold the outrite lap record on the first !
it must be a reality that these games program your head for lines etc in a kind of way, i'm pretty sure i read somewhere that even rossi has used this medium.
not that i will transfer any of this into track time, unless somebody comes up with your answer and a bundle of cash for my fantasy,
(one of them anyway) !
isn't donington gonna be like changed somewhat with big f off buldozers and loads of cash for f1, ripping away all our great racing memories ?

[Jamz]

Donington is due to change, but they're keeping everyting from Redgate through the Old Hairpin and possibly the next corner... the virtual lap I saw of the track actually looked pretty damned good! Many people thought the addition of the Melbourne Loop ruined the track, anyway.

I figure that a few nights on a decent game before taking to the track will at least let you know which way the corners are going to go!

[crushedlizard]

I know what you mean. Knowing whether it's a left or right coming up will help! lol So long as it's accurate and you don't hammer it into a 'new' hairpin

Superbike 2008 and 2009 are pretty good.
2008 has Brands Hatch which I reckon is fairly accurate. Graham hill felt a bit weird on the game compared to real life, but the rest was surprisingly well rendered.

I've never been to Donnington but Superbike 09 has a pretty decent looking replica of the track. Plus it's pretty good simulation. Prepare to throw your controller through the TV though. It is VERY hard on simulation mode. Bikes just don't translate well to controllers.

It was SO much easier to go round Brands in real life than it was in virtual reality... tho admittedly that's also comparing a ZXR400 to a virtual ZX10R!

[wonderpupp]

I learnt Donington also from the motogp URT 500cc game on the pc, the layout, at least.

What they don't show you on the games is that the bumps on the track mean you can’t actually do the same lines on a real bike that you get away with on the game.

Experienced that on my Ron Haslam Race school day – and from that day forth, I fully understand why the racing line on tv isn’t always the one you’d use in the game…

Except for rossi at laguna, of course.

[-GQ-]

Couple of links on the topic:
http://www.motoforum.net/index.php?show ... 43&hl=Game

http://www.motoforum.net/index.php?showtopic=29219&hl=

[cargo]

The problem with video games is that crashing doesn't hurt..............

It's much easier to keep it mailed flat out on a screen than it is when your butt is on the bike....................Did anyone ever see Top Gear when Jezza tried this he failed miserable to match his real speed with his game speed..............................

Having said that if the game track layout is accurate then it can help with finding you way round but no more than that

[Jamz]

Cheers for the links GQ - they seem to be confirming my thoughts... The first TOCA games had most of the Brittish tracks. I'm pretty sure Cadwell was absent because it wasn't on the calender. The biggest worry is they're pretty damn old now, and even if the tracks themselves haven't changed I'm pretty sure the mapping was a bit crap back then!

Cargo, I did see that Top Gear and to be honest that the exact kind of experience I'm expecting!

"bullocks I can brake a tiny bit hard at the bottom of the esses then power straight through Old Hairpin and up the hill... err.. ARGHHHHHH!!!!!!!"

The Moto GP talk about the bumpy bits in the braking zones on the Melbourne Loop are probably what I'm most worried about.

[Vard66]

But you CAN learn the layout of a track from a game... can't you?

Yes.

My lap of the Nürburgring was based entirely on my experience of it on Forza 2, and as far as the corners themselves were concerned, it was pretty much inch perfect - it gave me a lot of confidence once I was about two minutes in and nothing had by then turned out different to the mapping of the track in game.

The only mild difference was in the elevation mapping, which was out by a fair bit in some places.

Bumps and surface differences were something I wasn't thinking too hard about, because my lap was in a car, so bumps were somewhat less important, and because the lap was perfectly dry, on a day when it was nearly 34 degrees, still, at about half six.

[Wabby]

The Moto GP talk about the bumpy bits in the braking zones on the Melbourne Loop are probably what I'm most worried about.

I can't comment on that, as I have only ever done the national circuit (car) around Donnington.

What I can tell you though, is that you will fill your pants the first time around Coppice, and that the bump on the circuit at the moment just before Mcleans (Where Stoner dumped it in qualifying this year) is felt very hard even in a car!

The tip into Redgate will probably be about 3 seconds after you do tip in the first lap, man that corner is sooo long and catches most people out into it.

Have a good day mate, and get loads of piccies.

Would have TD my ZXR for the first time, but I booked this week off work instead of next

[cargo]

Sorry guys but there is nothing on any circuit in mainland UK that can fill your pants like there is on the IOM

Ballagarey.................
Crosby
Alpine
Brandish
Brayhill
Ballacrye
Bishopscourt
and lots more.......walls trees houses gardens grass banks all inches away..................and all taken flat full stick on a 400 tucked in under the bubble...............

Never mind all the ones that are flat full stick in 5th or 4th....................Donnington is for little boys

[Jamz]

Sorry guys but there is nothing on any circuit in mainland UK that can fill your pants like there is on the IOM

Ballagarey.................
Crosby
Alpine
Brandish
Brayhill
Ballacrye
Bishopscourt
and lots more.......walls trees houses gardens grass banks all inches away..................and all taken flat full stick on a 400 tucked in under the bubble...............

Never mind all the ones that are flat full stick in 5th or 4th....................Donnington is for little boys

If you get it REALLY wrong at Donington it is still possible to go through the old arches down at Old Hairpin! They look pretty tight!

[wonderpupp]

But the track is reallly really wide, and the hairpin was not a problem. Nor was coppice.
It was just those damn bumps in the braking zone into Goddards.

just follow other people round on the first few laps to get an idea of the best lines.
Knee down at macleans and coppice by the end of the day.

You'll probably find they will put out some cones about on the corners, like braking, turning and apex to help you figure your way about.

[Jamz]

Well, I got a copy of SBK 09 (2 copies actually if anyone wants to buy one?) and spent the weekend having a good look at Donington Park.

I can now say that riding it in real life.... is sooooooooo much easier!

Even on a bike I'd never ridden before in my life I only had a few mildly scary moments but didn't come close to leaving the track or binning it.

Did the game help?

Yes! I had some idea of where the corners went and how sharp they were, and there were even a couple of places on the game where I found I could pass most people that worked in real life! The last corner of the Craner Curves before the Old Hairpin is great if you stay full on the power because everyone else is lifting and straightening up for Old Hairpin... And the first left hander out of Old Hairpin could be taken flat out and knee down - nobody else seemed to be doing this in my group, so I'm sure I'd have just copied them if I hadn't done these moves on the game!

As some said, though, what a game can't prepare you for is the breathtaking drop down the Craner curves, and the climb up the other side - and the bump halfway down the back straight where your front wheel ends up pointing skywards!

The only way the game let me down really is by making me think I'd have a lot more moments where I went sailing off the track - thankfully they stayed on the game!

[Vard66]

Good time had then, Jamz?

The elevation is something game designers aren't as worried about as the corners, I wouldn't think. The generl public isn't so likely to be so picky about gradients. And as you said, unless they are significant, designers won't put bumps in on the tracks - nor will they alter surface traction - for example, the Nürburgring is a mish-mash of many different surface types and conditions, some of the surfaces used on the Nordschlief are more than 100 years old, and there are some sections of course, where you can clearly see even in games that the track has been grafitied.

In game, while the visual representation of the grafiti is there, and forewarns you, this won't be slippery.

In real life, Oh yes it will.

Of course, another thing that ought to be pointed out, is that games like Forza - don't have (that I've ever discovered) a rain or even slight adverse condition setting, so the races you run on the game are at maximum grip levels of dryness.

*Edit*

And the first left hander out of Old Hairpin could be taken flat out and knee down - nobody else seemed to be doing this in my group, so I'm sure I'd have just copied them if I hadn't done these moves on the game!

I can sympathise with this also - my passenger for the lap had never even seen the 'Ring in games - so every time I opened up coming out of a corner, it was definitely more than he would have been pushing - there were a few corners where I came out of my track-focused trance enough to notice Jon with his teeth bared, and hissing breath in through locked jaws!

The rest of the whole lap, he was busily, and with intent, engendering large finger grooves in both the seat bolster and the door card handle...