Laguna Seca Laserscan Complete, Release for Assetto Corsa Expected Late 2017

[Paul Jeffrey]

Marco Massarutto has confirmed laserscanning of the epic Laguna Seca Raceway has been completed, suggesting the track may appear in game before the end of 2017.

Already widely acknowledged to be making its way to Assetto Corsa sometime in the reasonably near future, the noise around Laguna Seca and the simulation has died down somewhat in recent months, leaving fans of the game to wonder exactly what is happening with the famous American venue.

With something of a well timed update post on his personal Facebook page Marco Massarutto, Product Brand Manager of AC developers Kunos Simulazioni. has gone on record to state that the laserscanning element of the track creation has now been completed (albeit later than anticipated), and the track is in the works to be completed and released to the game by the end of the current calendar year.

Long anticipated by fans of both Assetto Corsa and American themed race tracks, Laguna represents one of the most impressive driving experiences in the United States and has been host to numerous high profile national and international level car and bike racing events throughout its illustrious history.

Well known to sim racing fans thanks to its almost ever present representation in games such as Gran Turismo and Forza Motorsport, finally PC players will get the opportunity to sample a fully lasterscanned version in Assetto Corsa.

Despite the delays Massarutto confirmed scanning completed just this week after unexpected delays, with the following statement made via Facebook released by the Italian Kunos founder:

"After a pile of burocratic and logistics issues that resulted in a sensible delay of our operations in US, [finally] Yesterday we have completed our laserscan survey at Laguna Seca, so the track should be completed and available for Assetto Corsa within the end of the year."

Exciting times ahead for fans of the track and simulation as it should prove to be incredibly interesting to drive a full scanned version of a track that has been so popular in racing games over the years. At this stage it is not clear if the track will be a free bonus content addition or form part of a future DLC release for the game, however it is expected that more details will be released in future as development back at Kunos HQ continues to progress.

Assetto Corsa is available to purchase now for PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4.

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Laguna! Anyone else excited? What are your memories from this track in other racing sims / games? Let us know in the comments section below!

 

[garyjpaterson]

KS should hire specialist who deal with licensing only. Just set the target cars and circuit, and let him do the job.

Isn't that what Marco does already? Deals with licensing?

Personally I think Kunos are doing a decent enough job with the way they are handling cars/tracks. Not perfect, but I'm happy enough.

The only thing I'd wish they would do it contract one/some of the amazingly talented track modders here to do Historic Spa with the data they have already collected (scans of some areas I believe). I'd pay for that 100%.

Otherwise, I'm looking forward to Laguna Seca, I've only ever driven it in PC briefly a few years back, and I quite liked it but it seems a lot more impressive in real videos.

 

[David Dominguez]

And lets face it, you won't feel or see a difference when you drive Silverstone in AC, rF2 or even Project Cars.

If you don't see the differences then you have a serious problem (especially with pCars version).

 

[Albert McSaltens]

So according to your logic AC isn't a sim because their licensed version of Zaandvort isn't laserscanned ... what a brilliant logic. I consider laserscanning a great tool, but people go a bit too much nuts about it and imply that other ways of doing a track are wrong. It is very nice to get some general accuracy, but it is really just a a snapshot of how a track is at a certain moment and you don't drive on the point cloud. Tracks change all the time: general layout changes, weather, temperatures, insolation or let it even be a repavement. The LS versions of Monza in AC for example is not up to date anymore. Same goes for the iRacing Silverstone, Lime Rock Park, or Suzuka and people are still forced to pay a fortune to get them, when ISI's non laserscanned versions of some of the tracks are more or atleast equaly accurate and more up to date. And lets face it, you won't feel or see a difference when you drive Silverstone in AC, rF2 or even Project Cars.

Are you saying this for real? jesus christ!, i can see the diferences between rF2 and AC silverstone just by watching a youtube video one after the other,. So obious!

 

[Tberg]

I think you just did pretty well to show that from the past few pages in this thread, you havent actually read and understood the points the people you are responding to were making.

They arent saying that a laser scanned track has a road mesh that is superior to a non-LS track, or that the road mesh being derived from point cloud data is better (although it objectively is).

What they are saying is that the accuracy of the track is better. The accuracy of the layout is exact... the accuracy of every corner is exact... the camber in every corner is exact... the width of the track is exact... the length of the track is exact... the elevation throughout the track is correct... Combine all of that with the road mesh having the small bumps in the road that exist in real life, and the overall reproduction is superior to it's non-LS counterpart. Of course, I am not talking about art direction or aesthetic appearance whatsoever. Non-LS tracks can look quite beautiful. But art is an entirely different topic/issue.

Drive on any of the LS Nordschleife's we have available as sim-racers. iR's, R3E's, or AC's and see if you notice a difference. The only thing you will notice is the FFB is different (R3E's track is very smooth, AC's is bumpy, etc.) and the art direction is different. Now, load up Pcars and drive their Nords. If you dont want to pull your hair out after the first 3 corners from how comically inaccurate the layout is... laserscanning is completely lost on you. Yes this last sentence is hyperbole, but the differences are stark, and easily apparent.

I was going to reply to this hitmaker guy, with the same about pC Nords. I remember trying it in the Atom, way back when a friend pitched pC to join him, but I just couldn't get my head around how terrible and smoothed out the layout was. For real tracks, LS adds very much to the immersion the sim is trying to create, in combination with the car and FFB. If one of them lacks, it's just more game than sim. Can be fun, but it's no longer virtual trackday/race simulation.

 

[MarcG]

All this fuss over something many people don't actually understand, personally I don't care if Aris got down on his hands and knees and used an Etch-A-Sketch to get accurate millimetre bumps and features...It's from Kunos...It's gonna be great quality whatever the source!

 

[Joseph Maxx]

if Aris got down on his hands and knees and used an Etch-A-Sketch to get accurate millimetre bumps and features

Ummm... I don't know about you but I would pay extra just to see that!

 

[Epistolarius]

KS should hire specialist who deal with licensing only. Just set the target cars and circuit, and let him do the job.

Marco Massarutto, the co-founder of Kunos Simulazioni and where this news about Laguna Seca is coming from, is the licensing manager. I suppose he also runs the company in general but licensing is his job and I think so far he did a pretty good one at it if you look at the content released so far. We don't know what the exact issue was with Laguna Seca so I wouldn't blame anyone.

 

[Ring Rat]

I literally can't wait for this. I go to the Rolex Motorsports Reunion each year from Seattle Wa... And all ive ever wanted from AC is the Nordschliefe, and Laguna. 917/30 and Laguna is my sim racing holy grail for decades, and it is now officially in sight.

If they made our toy (BMW z3 M Coupe) an official car, id just have to quit my job and Play AC on the 'Ring and Laguna in VR for the rest of my days unless i won the lottery and could have one in Germany and one in Monterey and just do actual track days on those two courses.

 

[TheSourceOfTheNile]

The only thing I'd wish they would do it contract one/some of the amazingly talented track modders here to do Historic Spa with the data they have already collected (scans of some areas I believe). I'd pay for that 100%.

<Snip>

mod edit please don't link to dodgy external downloads, thanks

 

[LilSki]

Go to <snip> to get Spa from 1966. It's a fantastically made mod and it reminds me of the one from Grand Prix Legends.

It's fantastically ripped from rFactor 2.

mod edited

 

[GT VIRUS]

Fantastically? It has holes everywhere and has no effort put into it

 

[gecco]

To know that a track is laserscanned and thus is as true a representation of its real counterpart as is possible is nice for sure, but its ultimately not a stringent requirement for a high quality track.
Some people seem to be overly obsessed with having all the bumbs and scratches and blades of grass at the right place.
Laserscan is just a very convenient way to get precise info on the track and its perimeter, and providing the track artist with the neccessary data to work with. What the trackmaker then makes of it, is solely up to him.
Zandvoort was done to the same level of detail as the laserscanned tracks, and does not lack behind the smallest bit in appeal or quality.
I'm very much looking forward to Laguna Seca, but not because it is laser scanned, but rather because I know, that Kunos only puts out highest quality content, no matter the source material!

 

[Rolz]

Just saw this... fantastic news! Would love you to come to Australia and do a few tracks here when done

 

[Tibor Solyom]

If you don't see the differences then you have a serious problem (especially with pCars version).

I don't know anything about the pCars version, but the other ones (AC, iR, R3E) weren't made from the same source? Afaik it was laserscanned byself the company of Nürburgring, and they sold the data. If it's true, should I see any differences? Of course I mean the road itself, not the graphics, surrounding, etc.
BTW if this 3 company did 3 separetad laserscan process (more or less the same time) IMO I shouldn't see any differences either, because all are laserscans. Am I wrong?

 

[RasmusP]

I don't know anything about the pCars version, but the other ones (AC, iR, R3E) weren't made from the same source? Afaik it was laserscanned byself the company of Nürburgring, and they sold the data. If it's true, should I see any differences? Of course I mean the road itself, not the graphics, surrounding, etc.
BTW if this 3 company did 3 separetad laserscan process (more or less the same time) IMO I shouldn't see any differences either, because all are laserscans. Am I wrong?

Well you will clearly SEE a difference. But you shouldn't FEEL a difference, that's correct!
Of course tire simulation and the cars will give you a slightly different experience but you should be able to be fast at all laserscanned Nordschleife's! (I know, he mentioned silverstone)
The point was ac (laserscan), project cars (Def. Quite different than the Real World!) and rf2 (not laserscan I think? Never tried it...). And there you can't apply you braking points etc.

 

[Emery]

But you shouldn't FEEL a difference, that's correct!

Not quite true. Feel will totally depend on which points are thrown away when converting the point cloud to polygons even when the same point cloud is used by different artists because they'll pick different starting points for the polygons and can use different point reduction methods. The tracks would be generally similar in feel, but they won't be exactly the same.

 

[Tibor Solyom]

Not quite true. Feel will totally depend on which points are thrown away when converting the point cloud to polygons even when the same point cloud is used by different artists because they'll pick different starting points for the polygons and can use different point reduction methods. The tracks would be generally similar in feel, but they won't be exactly the same.

Yeah, that's why I wrote my comment. No offense to anybody, just find it funny....
So, there is no perfect solution. Laserscan is not enough, because different artists make different tracks. And on top of that tracks are always changing. It's a very hard world.

Emery, not against you! I just find this endless discussion about laserscanning really funny.

 

[David Dominguez]

I don't know anything about the pCars version, but the other ones (AC, iR, R3E) weren't made from the same source? Afaik it was laserscanned byself the company of Nürburgring, and they sold the data. If it's true, should I see any differences? Of course I mean the road itself, not the graphics, surrounding, etc.
BTW if this 3 company did 3 separetad laserscan process (more or less the same time) IMO I shouldn't see any differences either, because all are laserscans. Am I wrong?

He mentioned Silverstone in that comment, not Norschleife.

 

[Andy_J]

I couldn't care less if a track is laser scanned or not. As long as it is pretty accurate, detailed and good for racing a sim racing car, truck or bike, then I am happy.

 

[RasmusP]

I couldn't care less if a track is laser scanned or not. As long as it is pretty accurate, detailed and good for racing a sim racing car, truck or bike, then I am happy.

Yes, absolutely (I wrote more about it earlier in this thread). All I want for a sim is: I watch a video of the Real thing, load the sim and it's the same. I don't care about correct walls, curb colours, mikro bumps etc.
One perfect example what kills that experience is the Karussell @ Nordschleife, ac vs pcars.
But I repeat my self, so I'll show my self out now