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37¾ Mile Isle Of Man Mountain Course - Conversion from GPL

Build History

This full length "37¾ Mile Isle Of Man Mountain Course" was built by Jim Pearson entirely from scratch over a period of 14 years from 2005. It is a totally different track to his much earlier "Abridged / Shortened" 20 km version.

It was released by him for the simulation Grand Prix Legends ( GPL ) in June 2019.

Jim's original PDF Readme , release files and three release videos are located here;
http://jrpearson.homestead.com/37MileIOMMCRelease.html

The release thread for GPL is located here;
http://srmz.net/index.php?showtopic=12928

Note: This track replicates the actual roads existing before Windy Corner and Brandish were opened up with much bigger radii in 2006.


Conversion Credits

Converted to rF2 by S.Victor(Xiang) with assistance from Corti(Andres).

I approached Jim in February 2020 and agreed to the conditions set out in his track Readme PDF ( See above ) He then gave me written permission to convert his track to rF2.

Amongst these conditions were assurances that the permission being granted would be limited to rF2 in this case and that no income would be derived or sought for the conversion.

Jim monitored development of this conversion throughout, providing some useful assistance as required. He has asked me to include his assessment of my work as follows;

" When approached by Xiang earlier this year, I was encouraged to grant him permission to convert my 37¾ Mile Isle Of Man Mountain Course GPL track to rF2, as he appeared to me to have the right combination of skills, dedication, high standards and respect for the original work that I was looking for.

My faith in him has been richly rewarded, as he has persevered to overcome many of the real technical difficulties inherent in translating a very complex and lengthy GPL track into a quite different rF2 rendering and surface model.

He has surpassed my expectations and I believe the results display and drive as well in rF2 as they do in GPL, the sim it was originally tailored to. I hope you enjoy the fruits of our collective labours and show due appreciation of Xiang's work on your behalf.

Credit is due!

Jim Pearson
October 2020. "


Track Info

Length: 60.72 KM / 37.75 Miles
Max vehicle: 48
Real road (0.9-1.0m density) & 2.7%(10cm) crossfall
Hundreds street lights
Out lap timing support


Layout Configurations

- Mountain Course
- Mountain Mist, ( Which is the same track, but has patches of Ground Fog and Mountain Mist replicating two options available in the GPL track. )
- Mountain Rally, which includes:
* Stage 1 (14.70 km): from Quarter Bridge to Cronk-Y-Voddy.
* Stage 2 (17.44 km): from Glen Helen to Ginger Hall.
* Stage 3 (15.61 km): from Ballaugh Bridge to Guthrie's Memorial.
* Stage 4 (19.26 km): from Gooseneck to Governor's Bridge.
* Stage 5 (18.93 km): from Keppel Gate to Ballacraine.
* Stage 6 (15.31 km): from Greeba Castle to Rhencullen.
* Stage 7 (17.31 km): from Ginger Hall to Bungalow.


Notes & Recommended Settings

Jim's original PDF Readme is highly recommended for a complete view and understanding of the original GPL track and design choices.

Draw Distance (similar to LOD):
IOM is designed specifically around Draw Distance for GPL cockpit view. Draw Distance(LOD) is important for optimization as well as showing or hiding road and scenery at proper designed distance.
RF2 conversion has kept same principle in mind. It means player with view other than cockpit may find that scenery or road sections appear too soon or in the air, due to the different camera position or LODMultiplier value. The recommended way to enjoy this track is through cockpit view.
Note, if a track piece appears in the mid of air along the forward driving direction while using cockpit view, it means the car mod is set on a higher LODMultiplier value than default 1.0 value. Additionally, the default value for Swingman view is 2.0, which also enables you to see further than the track LOD is designed for. Higher LODMultiplier value will cause significant performance issue, as more objects rendered. However there is no way to enforce LODMultiplier value from track itself, the only fix is by editing car mod camera file.

Out lap timing:
The track supports immediate out lap timing. Timing starts when car exit pitlane.
It's important to note that driver must wait pit lane to open before exiting garage (watch out for "Pit Closed" signs), otherwise timing will not work. Due to track length and out lap timing mechanism, extra caution is needed for not over speeding in pitlane (60KPH). Receiving a penalty and then jumping back to garage will result immediate DQ after you exit pit the third time (everytime you exit pit from garage counts as a lap).

Road surface & RealRoad:
The road surface has been re-constructed to fully support RealRoad tech, which has a 0.9-1.0m mesh density, with 10cm crossfall and varied physical bumps to replicate the real world track condition during the 90's.

Weather:
It is recommended to set weather to Default weather, or any Cloudy weather for varied illumination and immersion.

Shadow:
A special technique is used to achieve soft shading and natural looking shadow across the whole track. Some pre-baked hardshadow from Jim's original GPL version are also preserved.

Night lights:
Thanks to Corti's assistance, over 200 street light sources are carefully placed at various locations, for extra immersion and challenging night racing.

Flagger:
In original GPL version, 2D flagger acts as marshal, and it was recreated in RF2 through digitalflag and startlight for extra nostalgia of the GPL era.

Billboards & Xboards tree:
Due to the different way of rendering between two sims as well as complexity, only a small amount trees were converted to Billboards.

Textures & Material:
All texture assets are kept as faithful as to original track. Every materials have used the latest IBL shader & PBR rendering for advanced visual effects, while still preserve all the original texture details.

Trackside Cameras:
Trackside cameras have been fully reworked with two available cam groups. Camera Group 1 includes 203 new tracking cams for complete & best viewing coverage. Camera Group 2 includes 219 static cams that were originally created by Jim from GPL version for most authentic view.

AI Waypoint:
AI Waypoint has been fully rebuilt, including new fastest path, as well as left, right, block path for challenging races against AI. The new fastest path line has also been adjusted by hand for min-maxing AI performance against multiple types of vehicles.

Collision wall:
All collision objects are rebuilt & optimized. A new race-friendly 120km collision wall encloses entire drivable track area to prevent vehicles from stranding inside terrain objects, or falling off the track in serious crash.


Thanks to Jim’s extensive assistance and support, as well as every friends’ help!