Long Beach 1980s-ish

[jamesknopp]

Back in the late 90s and early 2000s I spent time modifying the GP2-4 series... Mainly textures and track mods... Little did I know it would be the foundation of my career in CGI.

With COVID-19 locking us down, I eventually found myself in October with some much needed time off and, for various reasons, little to do and plenty of 'personal projects' to attack should I prefer to that over lying in bed all day...

I decided to have a play with AMS/rFactor with the intention of rebuilding the Long Beach 80s track from the 1979 mod by GPC - it's a favourite, I thought it would be cool to update the track - it also seemed like a good idea to revisit certain 'realtime' development given developments seen recently by Unreal and Unity...

I play AMS a lot still - it feels 'right', as do a lot of rFactor mods...

The initial development was good, Patrick Depailler's onboard lap was rinsed within an inch of it's life... I got a track running quickly with improved visuals, but I quickly found myself realising AMS & rFactor, are tech no longer fully supported! Cameras and AIW's were no longer easily fixed!

A quick move to rf2 beckoned!! Additionally, as with any personal project, the requirements change radically in a very short space of time!!

A simple import/convert and some tidying of textures became a full remodelling job and so on and so forth...

This started October 1st 2020... it's now January 1st 2021 - after around 4 weeks on and off between then and now, I've found myself with an amalgamated Long Beach 1975-1982 track!

The AI was a nightmare! But a fun project to 'improve' - it ain't totally finished - I can safely day that's 3 days there!!

I've borrowed elements to get things in position...

• The GPC chaps, who developed the original 1979 mod for rFactor, provided the basis of this track.
• Original marshall elements provided by ISI/Studio 397
• Asphalt/Concrete textures from Studio 397
• Virtua_LM - vehicles/campervans

My hope is to spend some time to tweak and rebuild these placeholder elements to a unique standard.

This is a personal project - I'm hoping to share with the community in good time.

Screenshots are provided - I hope these are well received!

There's no timeframe for a release - business/work starts again soon so time becomes limited! Plus, I've foolishly started looking at race footage again - improvements must be made!!!

There are elements from GPC and ISI/S397 that need addressing/replacing - should anyone from GPC/ISI/S397 see this, please drop us a line!

All the best,
Jim K

 

[Ole Marius Myrvold]

Hnngh! Yes!

 

[Mauro01]

oh yes!
what an interesting project

 

[jamesknopp]

Hi all,

a small additional preview!

Cheers
Jim

 

[bears]

Looks great good luck with it

 

[dradecki]

Looking forward to this. I was at that race in '79, pretty much where you have the camera in your 6th screenshot. LB was a different town back then. You seemed to have captured the surrounding site lines.

 

[Ole Marius Myrvold]

3.2km It might just about fit in to the "Short Track Sunday" events in the rF2 club... Now I'm even more hyped for this!

 

[atomed]

Hi all,

a small additional preview!

Cheers
Jim

The first video, at 0:22 gave me goosebumps.

 

[jamesknopp]

Looking forward to this. I was at that race in '79, pretty much where you have the camera in your 6th screenshot. LB was a different town back then. You seemed to have captured the surrounding site lines.

That's amazing - did you get any photos?

I've tried to give it a sense of how it was - I've spent a lot of time trawling Getty and Motorsport images - always feel if you can get the general feel right, it all sits in far more nicely. It's not perfect, but 'similar' buildings, a bit of camber on the main straight, some nice scaled textures all helps!! I've even tried adding a hint of Grissom - problem is it's too far out and you cannot see anywhere at the moment!!

3.2km It might just about fit in to the "Short Track Sunday" events in the rF2 club... Now I'm even more hyped for this!

I think it's around 3.2!?!?

The UK has announced another lockdown, so if the 'real work' dries up, I know what I'll be doing!

 

[Ole Marius Myrvold]

I think it's around 3.2!?!?

The UK has announced another lockdown, so if the 'real work' dries up, I know what I'll be doing!

It said so on Wiki. It's on the limit for the Sundays, but it's actually 1km shorter than Red Bull Ring(!) and that's considered a short track due to the low lap-times. looking forward to the progress on this track! Not looking forward to another lockdown... looks like we'll get that in Norway as well.

 

[jamesknopp]

It said so on Wiki. It's on the limit for the Sundays, but it's actually 1km shorter than Red Bull Ring(!) and that's considered a short track due to the low lap-times. looking forward to the progress on this track! Not looking forward to another lockdown... looks like we'll get that in Norway as well.

I'm sure Wiki is on it - my track might be a little bit inaccurate! Although hopefully not that bad!

Yes I fear we are all in this for the long game - harder times ahead before this gets better sadly.

 

[Ole Marius Myrvold]

I'm sure Wiki is on it - my track might be a little bit inaccurate! Although hopefully not that bad!

Yes I fear we are all in this for the long game - harder times ahead before this gets better sadly.

As long as it feels accurate enough I don't think that should be an issue

Indeed. I'm currently in month 10 as furloughed -.-

 

[jamesknopp]

Indeed. I'm currently in month 10 as furloughed -.-

Crikey - sorry to hear that, not at all easy.

I know a lot of people who had a tough time, for example, who work in sports broadcast and everything stopped instantly. I just hope the vaccines do the job!

 

[Ole Marius Myrvold]

Crikey - sorry to hear that, not at all easy.

I know a lot of people who had a tough time, for example, who work in sports broadcast and everything stopped instantly. I just hope the vaccines do the job!

I've filled the time with simracing and learning to make liveries in photoshop

Yup, not a broadcaster here, but I run kiosks on the national football stadium in Norway, and the top-flight club in the city I live in. With maximum of 200 spectators on matches, it hasn't exactly been a good time lately!

But enough about negative stuff, that doesn't fit in this thread

 

[dradecki]

That's amazing - did you get any photos?

I've tried to give it a sense of how it was - I've spent a lot of time trawling Getty and Motorsport images - always feel if you can get the general feel right, it all sits in far more nicely. It's not perfect, but 'similar' buildings, a bit of camber on the main straight, some nice scaled textures all helps!! I've even tried adding a hint of Grissom - problem is it's too far out and you cannot see anywhere at the moment!!

Wish I still had them. They got lost somewhere years ago. I think I've moved 15 times over these years. It's unfortunate, because back then the garages were makeshift bays in the convention center. I was there over all three days. I spent a bunch of time at the Lotus bay (I was fascinated with the Lotus's back then, still am). Even got a shot of Mario. And then I also was at Gilles bay. Loved watching that Ferrari. It kills me that I don't have my pictures from that weekend.

 

[jamesknopp]

Ah mate! What an amazing experience though!! Can only imagine how frustrating it must be mislay those photos.

Must have been a fairly magical time - a lot of stories around then, but also just before the sport became much more closed off.

My only experience close up was Silverstone 2002, a test session around about April. I tried taking a photo of Ralf Schumacher getting in the car only to be ruthlessly blocked and grabbed by the Williams security!! I was only 14!

 

[Mauro01]

Any news about this interesting project?

 

[jamesknopp]

Hi Mauro,

slow progress sadly due to work commitments. I had been rebuilding some assets a couple of weeks ago but have yet to pick it up since. Hopefully a bit of free time in March may come my way and I can perhaps get a version out!

 

[bears]

Slow progress is good progress mate... good luck

 

[maximus1971]

We are watching your work with interest and we hope for a version soon.