Paul Jeffrey
Premium
Probably one of the finest sim racing mod tracks today, we check out the excellent Watkins Glenn circuit by talented modder @LilSki …
LilSki is an incredibly talented track modder in the Assetto Corsa community, having already proven his ability with some very fine recreations of modern and historic motorsport venues from the United States, not least of which is the exceptional Bridgehampton Race Circuit released back in 2015 - a first and very impressive project from the then new modder.
Since Bridgehampton LilSki has learnt a great deal about making tracks for AC, and all of that new found experience and skills are evident on his latest masterpiece - the exceptional Watkins Glen International Circuit... now updated to a finished and completed version 1 release.
You can download Watkins Glen International v1.0 here.
Watkins Glen is an historically important racing venue in the United States, and arguably one of the finest race circuit locations anywhere in the world. Recreated to exacting standards by the author, this is simply the finest recreation of the track, first or third party, you will find anywhere in sim racing.
Here's what @LilSki has to say about the latest version of Watkins Glen:
Why Watkins?
Why not? It historically has been my favorite modern day circuit. Going all the way back to the very first NASCAR Racing games it has been my "goto" track if it was available. It has stood the test of time and other than the bus stop and some extra runoff it is pretty much untouched since 1971 when it was reconfigured. It is a very fast track with a great flow. And it has the one chicane I actually enjoy. Pretty much once I discovered there was good Lidar data for it I knew I had to build it.
How long did it take?
Too long..... I started this sometime in July of 2017. Everything was going well until I realized how many different track side objects this track has. It has so many different buildings around the course which ate up a ton of time to model and texture. I also wanted a full on race day feel which required 3000+ RVs and cars around the track. All that and the addition of our first baby girl this past December has meant spare time (and sleep) has been limited.
What are you most proud of with it?
I'm happy I was able to achieve my original vision for the track. When I loaded it up with RVs I was worried performance would be terrible. Thankfully performance didn't drop that much and I was able to keep them. This was also the first time I did anything with the amazing shader mod. I had a lot of fun driving at night when setting that up.
What got you interested in track modding?
Well this goes back to a very early version of X-plane and then Flight Sim 2002. It was back then I learned to model with gmax and 3d studio. I didn't do any modeling for quite some time until AC came out in 2014-15. I sat down one day and said to myself that I really wanted a proper and accurate Bridgehampton. No version I ever used in older sims all the way back to GPL were ever accurate. So I decided this time I would learn to use Blender since it was free and started building Bridgehampton. It is still to this day my all time favorite course. It just works so well with so many different types of cars. I didn't have much intention to do other tracks after that but I really enjoyed the building process. Then being able to race the course with other people online was just so much fun I thought why not build another....and another....and another!
Do you have future plans for the track?
Not really no. Once I get to 1.0 I usually consider it "done". I have a few minor bugs I have fixed and will put out an update in a week or so. After that it is time to move on. The only time I broke that "rule" was for Bridgehampton. Given it was my first ever track I learned so much on the next two tracks, and I found better data, I decided to rebuild it to 2.0. The only other plans I have for Watkins Glen is a vintage version from 1970 which was the last year of the original configuration.
What's next on the agenda?
I have a couple projects in the works currently. Some private and some will be public. I'm not quite ready to announce much yet but one will be my first ever ground laser scanned track that should be released to the public for free when completed. I also still have Greenwood Roadway and Augusta International Raceway on my list as well for more historical content. I've already posted some in progress videos of those when I did test layouts a while back. What interested me in them was they still exist today to some degree, and are captured in lidar data. So a historical lidar scanned track seemed like a cool concept to me. So basically lots to do with little time to do it!
Why not? It historically has been my favorite modern day circuit. Going all the way back to the very first NASCAR Racing games it has been my "goto" track if it was available. It has stood the test of time and other than the bus stop and some extra runoff it is pretty much untouched since 1971 when it was reconfigured. It is a very fast track with a great flow. And it has the one chicane I actually enjoy. Pretty much once I discovered there was good Lidar data for it I knew I had to build it.
How long did it take?
Too long..... I started this sometime in July of 2017. Everything was going well until I realized how many different track side objects this track has. It has so many different buildings around the course which ate up a ton of time to model and texture. I also wanted a full on race day feel which required 3000+ RVs and cars around the track. All that and the addition of our first baby girl this past December has meant spare time (and sleep) has been limited.
What are you most proud of with it?
I'm happy I was able to achieve my original vision for the track. When I loaded it up with RVs I was worried performance would be terrible. Thankfully performance didn't drop that much and I was able to keep them. This was also the first time I did anything with the amazing shader mod. I had a lot of fun driving at night when setting that up.
What got you interested in track modding?
Well this goes back to a very early version of X-plane and then Flight Sim 2002. It was back then I learned to model with gmax and 3d studio. I didn't do any modeling for quite some time until AC came out in 2014-15. I sat down one day and said to myself that I really wanted a proper and accurate Bridgehampton. No version I ever used in older sims all the way back to GPL were ever accurate. So I decided this time I would learn to use Blender since it was free and started building Bridgehampton. It is still to this day my all time favorite course. It just works so well with so many different types of cars. I didn't have much intention to do other tracks after that but I really enjoyed the building process. Then being able to race the course with other people online was just so much fun I thought why not build another....and another....and another!
Do you have future plans for the track?
Not really no. Once I get to 1.0 I usually consider it "done". I have a few minor bugs I have fixed and will put out an update in a week or so. After that it is time to move on. The only time I broke that "rule" was for Bridgehampton. Given it was my first ever track I learned so much on the next two tracks, and I found better data, I decided to rebuild it to 2.0. The only other plans I have for Watkins Glen is a vintage version from 1970 which was the last year of the original configuration.
What's next on the agenda?
I have a couple projects in the works currently. Some private and some will be public. I'm not quite ready to announce much yet but one will be my first ever ground laser scanned track that should be released to the public for free when completed. I also still have Greenwood Roadway and Augusta International Raceway on my list as well for more historical content. I've already posted some in progress videos of those when I did test layouts a while back. What interested me in them was they still exist today to some degree, and are captured in lidar data. So a historical lidar scanned track seemed like a cool concept to me. So basically lots to do with little time to do it!
Available to download HERE, this is easily one of the finest tracks in Assetto Corsa today and is yet another epic release from the prolific LilSki , author of such incredible tracks such as Bridgehampton, New Jersey Motorsports Park Lightening and Riverside International.
If you like your tracks fast and dangerous, with plenty of excitement thrown into the mix, then Watkins Glen is without doubt the track for you!
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So then, what do you think of it? Leave a comment below!
Like what you see here at RaceDepartment? Don't forget to like, subscribe and follow us on social media!
So then, what do you think of it? Leave a comment below!
