Tracks Info:
Race 1: Blaine County 24h ShortLaps: 2
Weather: Clear
Time: Night
1m29.701s custom Prairie
Props are in the road at every corner. Outside props have big gaps, like WRC Germany hinkelsteins. Are these suitable for a race track? Suggest you ask Petter Solberg.
After the first third of the track, concrete barriers at 90° to the traffic. Sticking out into the road
at the corner exits by 2-4 metres! Really bad. Especially for contact racing. With understeering front wheel drives.
Pinching the corners so aggressively will make this a car masher. Wheel to wheel becomes impossible. There's barely space for 1 car to get through safely, let alone 2 or more.
With no pit lane due to broken GTA Mode and 9 laps...this will be extremely annoying. And we can't drive the flowing lines we expect in Sandy Shores, making it a pain even when in clean air.
Race 2: LSIA Compact GPLaps: 2
Weather: Clear
Time: Noon
1m13.819s custom Prairie
Pinches badly at CP4 after 20 seconds of flat-out from the grid. Literally a single lane with concrete at 80° to the racers.
CP12 should be deleted (or moved further North) so your triple arrow points back a bit more. That would indicate a full 180° turn - currently the angle looks like you will be turning onto the broad road and not going all the way back into a little road. Could use outside props here to help guide racers. (It isn't a cross-over because the route is spread over 2 levels.)
CP6 and CP8 should be deleted. They simply obscure the CP for the turns which are soon afterwards.
Race 3: Airport Snuff[This isn't in the first message but is in the playlist I bookmarked.]
Laps: 2
Weather: Clear
Time: Noon
1m01.786s custom Prairie
This is dreadful. Sorry, it really is.
Checkpoints are 5-10 metres from the apex points. Apex props are provided but you shouldn't make people drive through empty space. The checkpoints are the only visible part from distance so that is what people are braking and turning towards, only to find they are miles off the racing line. This is a fundamental mistake, imho.
Tyre Line leads you past a tight hairpin into a longer turn. But then you use Tyre Lines on the opposite side to mark a tight hairpin, with no props blocking off the wider turn. All the other 'normal' corners up to this point use concrete so it feels like Tyre Line is being used to mark 'special' corners...but it hasn't been used in that way. It's inconsistent. Also, the checkpoint here (CP7) is really vague and looks like you could go down either available turn.
Also, I'd just mention that Tyre Line should never be used in a contact race! Even if someone doesn't see themselves hit it, 'jitter' and trans-global internet connections means the car in front might suddenly stop dead and wreck the front of your car. This can cause chain reactions of carnage in the mid-pack. Again, something which should be obvious to all race creators in an experienced racing crew - surely you've seen this happen?
The early checkpoints are a bit close together. There's no time to position the car and the route is actually quite straight. Less CPs and clearer props might make this opening section easier to follow.
The end of the lap is extremely well placed and constructed. Sadly, it eats a lot of props which might be limiting your options elsewhere?
Race 3: Criminal Records GP HYPELaps: 2
Weather: Rain
Time: Current
ms custom Prairie
[Is not present in the playlist.]
Race 4: Downtown Compact GPLaps: 2
Weather: Clear
Time: Morning
2m12.101s custom Prairie
Mixed surface, using construction sites and car parks moves this into compact parkour rather than pure racetrack. That's a popular genre and uniquely suited to compacts so it's fair enough in an event which celebrates everything these versatile little vehicles can do. (The event is missing a bonafide rally stage. Junior WRC or WRC2 style, though.)
CP5 is entirely unsighted! What a glaring fault! You literally cannot see it when you turn hard right as indicated by the double arrow at CP4. The a conrete railway bridge makes this turn entirely blind so you assume a 90° onto the broad road, heading East. Not a double apex right, going back on yourself to the North.
CP9 is a triple arrow pointing exactly down the access ramp to an apartment car park.
What makes it worse...this ramp is blocked by
completely unsighted Tyre Lines which stick out into the road. Tyre Stacks at both ends stand waiting to scatter additional debris if anyone brushes past them. Just...bad.
(On lap 2 I overshot the exit. Drove up the stairs to the plaza instead of up the access road to the rear car park. There are no outside props or an exit CP to guide how tight the turn is.)
CP20 is a triple arrow hairpin. It uses a concrete pillar for the flyover as an apex point. The CP is placed exactly in the middle of the turn. That means the
direction arrow is completely obscured by the pillar. You can't see where to go until you've gone past the braking point. No chance to position the car before as you can't see the arrow at all during the approach.
Just before that, you exit an underground car park. The exit ramp is quite steep and even my Prairie went airborne. Outside props are gappy and quite low. Even though I braked I bounced off them. In an intense situation I can see people getting badly caught up on top of these low props. Suggest using Barriers > Construction Fence here, the tall blue ones. The height will make them safer and more visible - especially because the approach has this crest/jump/ramp thing. Also, they are longer so you might be able to fill the gaps.
What the...CP23 is entirely unsighted! Fast approach to an arrow which points South along a broad road with a median. Naturally you let the car run to the outside half of this wide street. But...the CP is behind you. Inside a car park entry. With a concrete lined median between it and you.
CP26 marks the exit of this car park section. But it's entirely hidden behind a gate booth. It's a small CP due to the roof above it. You could move it West so it is just inside the car park, with the central part clear from the flyover. Then it would be a big CP and point helpfully onto the main road.
Race 5: Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca Remake ( my version )Laps: 2
Weather: Noon
Time: Current
1m20.170s custom Prairie
This is GTA by default but that might not be safe at the moment. (You are promoting people try Compacts here by featuring it in a Compacts event.)
There's a lot of pole protection but none at all during the opening section. That's when poles are most likely to get knocked down - and also when they cause the biggest pile-ups!
CP7 has become a small one. Might be due to a slight hole in the road. Try placing it again in a slightly different place and it should become big again. (You can tell the difference before testing - if the number is high up, it's a big CP. If the number is nearly touching the arrow, it's a small CP.)
CP11 is way early and the very gappy barrier arrangement really makes it look like I should turn before the median. The actual route is after the median so that's where the CP should be, for clarity. There's a traffic light tight to the exit so I think you've chosen the wrong half to block off! However, this is where a pipe-lined alleyway serves as The Corkscrew so your hands are tied. Therefore, just have to get that CP to be as helpful as possible.
The exit of this corkscrew alleway has a short and very steep ramp. The car inevitable gets airborn, which makes this a more extreme turn than the entry. That's the wrong way around and it stops this signature turn from feeling like it should. (Same criticism as I have for the R* Verified version, which uses the same alleyway.)
As with the R* Verified track this is copied from, the final section is wrong. Laguna doesn't end with a fast right, a tight right then a hairpin left. It ends with a fast right then a dog-leg left. It would be a better representation to go straight at CP15 and turn left at the next road. (There's a lack of pole protection at the exit to this hairpin. In front-wheel-drive Compacts there will be much debris here, I predict!)
Anyway...The good news is I won the playlist. 1st place and best lap in every race! Hope I can reproduce that result when other people are racing with me!