Question Time: The Track You Didn't Appreciate Until Driving It In A Sim

[susuwatari]

Mugello.

 

[atlantakat]

The VRC version of Barber Motorsports in AC. The next completely clean lap I manage in an Indy Car will be my first.

 

[kondor999]

Hungaroring: This track always had a terrible reputation in F1 (for boring races), but that's with F1 cars (that have a hard time in other cars' wake). The only reason I got the track was because it was part of a Raceroom package.

Well, with lower-powered cars with less aero (GT3, TCR, classic DTM), it turned out to be a fantastic track, and I've countless great battles there in Raceroom. It's like a micro-Nordschleife

 

[BULLET4JUSTICE2]

Silverstone, I fell in love with the track when I drove the Ferrari SF70H there in AC. when I used to be a FORZA pleb I couldn't see what's the fuss about the track, never enjoyed it in FORZA.

 

[Corey Rogers]

There can be only one ....

Belle Isle, Detroit.

Drove this track years ago in Indycar Racing 2. Wasn't a fan, actually I hated that race until I played it in the game. It turned out to be a wonderfully fun and technical track with lots of overtaking. Would love to see the 90s version in a current sim.

 

[Gelly916]

Cadwell Park for me. I've always been a fan of British racing circuits, but when I was introduced to Cadwell Park via Simulator, I was in awe. Very fun track!

 

[leclettico]

All those from Tilke. So boring to see as so exciting to drive on.

 

[tajpapa]

Estoril, Sentul and Prince George.

Sentul?!

For me it must be: Suzuka, very tricky!

 

[NtsParadize]

Mexico. Oh wait, I actually still hate it, awful

 

[Richard Dastardly]

Imola - didn't appreciate it that much until I started driving it. I don't like the first chicane & definitely not the one at the top, but otherwise it's absolutely absorbing to drive and it's made me appreciate how other people drive it more too.

Road Atlanta would be another one, that one's even got a chicane that adds to the track! and I didn't quite appreciate how on edge some of it was until I started driving it.

Driving Laguna Seca, on the other hand, has put me off it. Far better circuit to watch racing at, I think - I've no desire to try it for real now. Oddly I'm going off Spa the more I drive it too, I guess I'm starting to get fed up with circuits with overly long flat out sections.

Tell you what else though, I'm starting to appreciate just how many older tracks have been thoroughly wrecked, not just the obvious ones. The one I can think of that hasn't is oddly enough ( given what I said earlier ) Imola, because the old bus stop on the pit straight & the chicane down the first hill were abominations.

 

[MarcG]

I'm going to preempt my response with the Nordschilieferyino tracky place, ya know that long one!

Why? Because a long track like that has never appealed to me in the slightest, having to learn all those corners was a massive turn off so I stuck to regular tracks where its easier to remember them.

But now it's coming out for RF2 it'd be rude not to learn the Greenish Heaven or whatever it is, I'm actual quite looking forward to it hence the preemptiveness of this post.

 

[Emin3X_PL]

Monaco. But after 200 laps in 2 days i really enjoy this track

 

[Nick Hill]

A couple that have already been mentioned that ring true to me (in addition to Silverstone): COTA and Paul Ricard. Two of the most visually unappealing tracks in the world, but both present one challenge after another to the drivers. Fun to drive, difficult to master.

 

[destinationriver]

Zandvoort. Always hated to drive there because I just didn't knew it, every corner was a surprise. Think after the F3 round in 2018 there I decided to do the same thing. Took the F317 and just did lap by lap by lap. Now it's one of my favouriter tracks ;D

 

[NikiGouda]

I never liked watching it because I just thought it was another one of America's attempts at making a decent road course, and that they should just stick to building ovals.

I'm sure you're just joking, right? I`m afraid not many people will agree
with your opinion though.

 

[DonZmeuheu]

There can be only one ....

Belle Isle, Detroit.

Drove this track years ago in Indycar Racing 2. Wasn't a fan, actually I hated that race until I played it in the game. It turned out to be a wonderfully fun and technical track with lots of overtaking. Would love to see the 90s version in a current sim.

Well Iracing has Belle Isle Detroit. I love this Track. Its bumpy as Sebring and tight as Long Beach. One of the Best Tracks

 

[ATSSHD]

All those from Tilke. So boring to see as so exciting to drive on.

What about Sochi,Abu Dhabi,Moscow raceway,Buddh Indian gp track?
COTA is interesting but i can't stand it. The rest of his tracks are great imo.

 

[Thales_98]

Very unpopular track, but I'll have to say the Valencia street circuit used in F1. Very boring races in real life, but I find it very fun in the virtual world.
There are cases when I didn't like a track while watching the real races there and driving them in a sim just made me hate them even more, eg Sochi and Yas Marina.

 

[Shovas]

I'd like to see the opposite of this question now: What track did you dislike before sim racing and still dislike after sim racing?

I see people mentionining they liked Daytona after driving it but I still am not a fan. It's just another forced road course at an oval lacking inspiration.

I don't understand the 24h of Daytona. I like watching long endurance events but Daytona? That's a long drag. Wouldn't want to be the commentators there.

 

[Vic Flange]

As a slight twist on the original question I have a couple of tracks that I could not drive until I drove them in VR. First, and somewhat predictably is the Nordschleife. Secondly was Brands Hatch. I really disliked it in every sim/game I played until I played it in VR. Now I love the place.