Laser scanned circuits - ACC

Silverstone as well.

 

I wouldn't count on much difference in rescanned tracks. Result would be the same if the physical mesh was smoothed a bit.

 

Funny thing is that if they did rescan the tracks people would complain that the tracks have lost feel and character as the new surface is much smoother

 

Brands Hatch also had very recent upgrades, mainly external but there was a new curb put in on the tank in one section (forget where). I highly doubt Kunos are gonna rescan the track for that one little section though.

 

Repaved Silverstone still looks fairly bumpy in places.

I doubt it as well, considering it was the first circuit they showed for ACC. They may update the specific section manually if possible but an entire rescan because of one kerb makes little sense.

 

Watkins Glen comes to mind. I personally don't like the way it feels, even on DD, but it's true to life, I guess.

 

That's not laser-scanned in the same sense that AC tracks are. It's impossible to reproduce the 'feel' of a track from aerial LIDAR, that is all down to the artist.

 

Unless there’s been a significant layout change I’d rather Kunos scan new tracks than re-scan existing ones for minimal benefit.

 

Laser scanning equipment might have advanced in accuracy? Oldest scans of AC are pretty old. Or if tracks have been resurfaced. Curious if they re-scan any tracks. It's "just" the tracks in Blancpain season, so while scanning other tracks might be better use of resources, what other tracks.

Although I wouldn't complain if old scans are used, just curious. Some will certainly throw a hissy fit if resurfaced tracks aren't rescanned, since "It was supposed to be full Blancpain GT experience, only 11 tracks". And then throw a hissy fit, when track "lost detail". For pro (or similar) drivers it might matter, if they use ACC as training tool though.

 

I'm pretty sure laser equipment already had more than enough precision several years ago, and also the scans are probably more precise than what ends up on the sim for performance reasons, so I don't think you'd have to rescan anything with newer equipment. To me the only reason to rescan something would be a resurfacing or layout change.
Asphalt can deform over time depending on the soil it's built on, so you can get bumps where you had smooth asphalt and so on, but I definitely don't think that's a reason for a rescan.

 

Yeah no. But resurfacing might be reason. Not necessarily for me (I will never drive on these tracks IRL anyway) but some

 

I agree, but as everything in life, it's a matter of compromise. I don't believe the devs will feel like rescanning Silverstone, for example, when probably not even 5% of the players will know that it was repaved and rescanned. I don't think most ACC players will be as worried with those details as we are, and in that case it obviously won't be worth the effort. If they just alter the grip settings at Silverstone (the track became a lot faster on this year's qualifying) it may just be good enough.

 

It is interesting as for most players it doesn’t really matter BUT one of the things that separates a game from a sim is the ability to use it as a training tool, here it would mater a fair bit. Will be interesting to see what happens here. For me I’m happy either way

 

I'm not sure about this, but I don't think it prevents teams from using the sim as a training tool. As fas as I know teams used simulators even before circuits were laserscanned, if the layout is correct and there aren't any significant changes in bumps and elevation there shouldn't be a major issue in translating the simulator training into real life.
But as I said, I'm not sure, perhaps I'm wrong.

 

It may be a bad idea to rescan just after a resurface, the road may settle a bit over time meaning they end up with a rescan of a track that surface that only existed for a few months.

All they can really do is get a snapshot of a track at a particular time, unless there's layout changes it doesn't make sense to me to rescan, unless rescanning gets ridiculously cheap.. Maybe for AC2 they can add soil erosion into the dynamic track simulation.

 

Don't most tracks have their laserscans on cloud?
I could be wrong but at least it is that way for Nord and would make total sense for other tracks do the same.

 

I wish it was that simple. It's not just buying the license and then buying the scan from a company that already laserscanned most circuits. Just look at how the Nordschleife was laserscanned just before they put it on AC Dream Pack 1, Laguna Seca was scanned just before they put it on AC (even though it was already on iRacing), people from Kunos were recently at Hungaroring for laserscanning as well and so on. The only instance I remember of someone buying a laserscan that was already done was iRacing and R3E getting the Nordschleife scan that was made for AC (If I'm not mistaken that's the way it worked), and even so I believe they rescanned flugplatz for iRacing because it was reprofiled.
You may be able to get a complete scan if the circuit is already on iRacing or AC, apart from that you're likely out of luck.

(I may be wrong about all of this, but that's what I understood)

 

I remember reading that everyone, AC, iRacing, R3E, PCars2 got the Nord laser scan data from the same source as track does not allow private companies scanning the track.
Are you saying that Kunos were the first they did it for?
What about Forza 6, they had LS scanned Nord and I believe it was before AC.

EDIT: Actually it was Forza 5 https://www.gamespot.com/articles/e...orld-s-most-daunting-race-track/1100-6420174/

 

I'm not saying that. The Forza 5 version was released in June 2014, while AC's version, that according to Kunos spent 2 years in the making, was released around March 2015, so it's anyone's guess who ordered it first. That's not really the point.
What I'm saying is that I don't think getting laserscan data is as simple as ringing someone that already did it. It was the case for the Nordschleife, but for a lot of scans I believe Kunos has to order it themselves, especially if we're talking about a track that's been recently repaved. So what I'm saying is, if Kunos wants a scan for a repaved circuit, they probably would have to order it themselves, rather than just buying a finished product.

 

Thanks for clarification.
This is iRacing video but shows what level of labor is involved into laser scanning the track. So I'd assume "re-scanning" the track would not be as easy as snapping the fingers esp. for a small staffed company like Kunos.
Was surprised that it's not only 3D surface but colors as well that got "scanned" based on their reflective properties, that is brake line, acceleration line, tarmac color irregularities, etc.
https://www.iracing.com/track-technology/