Paul Jeffrey
Premium
Gary Paterson has finally finished his masterpiece - the much awaited Transit Van mod is here for Assetto Corsa!
Having been in development for more than a little while - building something of a cult following it has to be said, the much anticipated Ford Transit Van modification for Assetto Corsa has been completed and is now available to download - for free!
Download the 2005 Ford Transit mod for Assetto Corsa Here.
Having been lavished with ridiculous amounts of attention to detail, especially so for such a bizarre choice of vehicle in a racing simulation, @garyjpaterson, one of the key members of popular modding group Race Sim Studio, has quietly been working away in the background to bring this exciting mod to Assetto Corsa for a number of years now, producing his latest piece of free content to the community as something of a labour of love.
Paterson said of the Transit:
"Why? Very good question! I ask myself that all the time... I think the most logical reason is I wanted to get involved with modding, but having never 3d modelled anything I didn't want to choose something that would disappoint people if it didn't get completed or was just poor quality; basically I thought nobody would care about a silly van. Turns out a few people do.
But generally I've always had an affinity to the slightly unusual or novel stuff, much to the displeasure of many! So finding a car which is hilariously slow but also has that iconic motoring image because of the Top Gear segment, it has a little more value than it might otherwise have had.
A lot went into it. In the beginning, the learning curve was massive, enough to make me consider giving up on multiple occasions. I'm not really sure what kept me coming back, I think stubbornness comes into it. It got to a point where it became known as the mod that is forever in development, so I think that spurred me on to finally completing it.
And as any modder will tell you, research is a massive factor. A lot of time was spent simply learning about the car, reading transit forums, asking questions etc. Even more so with this one, considering not only was I trying to model a type of vehicle, i was modelling THE specific one used in Top Gear; EO05WJL. Even have the VIN number!
In the end it means quite a lot to me though, more than a slow diesel van has any right to be. Simply because it taught me the basics of 3D modelling which have given me some great opportunities working with some fantastic groups of people, what with the RSS GT mods and also some pretty interesting future projects that I can't quite talk about yet.
So it does make me laugh when I hear comments about how its a waste of time creating such silly mods, but its done me no harm whatsoever professionally so I have to disagree!
Interesting features? Well, its a diesel! How many of those are there in AC? I think the fact its been created over such a long period of time you do end up adding some small elements you perhaps wouldn't have otherwise (tax disc, glass codes, Top Gear Stopwatch, Flashing Beacon etc).
Also a huge thank you to @iRacer5, who produced the lovely diesel SFX quite a long time ago, 2016 I think. Wouldn't be at all the same without it, as it adds so much depth and character to the mod, and as well as a police livery kindly donated by @hal4000 to go along with the included flashing blue beacon lights (turn them on in the setup menu!)
There is definitely some fun to be had, its very much a 'momentum car', with lack of power and such high weight and drag, you really have to do your best and avoid scrubbing off speed, so its a unique challenge from the usual racecars and supercars. And judging by the laptimes of a few testers, its not as easy as I was expecting, I guess I've been blinded by the thousands of miles I've done in it!"
But generally I've always had an affinity to the slightly unusual or novel stuff, much to the displeasure of many! So finding a car which is hilariously slow but also has that iconic motoring image because of the Top Gear segment, it has a little more value than it might otherwise have had.
A lot went into it. In the beginning, the learning curve was massive, enough to make me consider giving up on multiple occasions. I'm not really sure what kept me coming back, I think stubbornness comes into it. It got to a point where it became known as the mod that is forever in development, so I think that spurred me on to finally completing it.
And as any modder will tell you, research is a massive factor. A lot of time was spent simply learning about the car, reading transit forums, asking questions etc. Even more so with this one, considering not only was I trying to model a type of vehicle, i was modelling THE specific one used in Top Gear; EO05WJL. Even have the VIN number!
In the end it means quite a lot to me though, more than a slow diesel van has any right to be. Simply because it taught me the basics of 3D modelling which have given me some great opportunities working with some fantastic groups of people, what with the RSS GT mods and also some pretty interesting future projects that I can't quite talk about yet.
So it does make me laugh when I hear comments about how its a waste of time creating such silly mods, but its done me no harm whatsoever professionally so I have to disagree!
Interesting features? Well, its a diesel! How many of those are there in AC? I think the fact its been created over such a long period of time you do end up adding some small elements you perhaps wouldn't have otherwise (tax disc, glass codes, Top Gear Stopwatch, Flashing Beacon etc).
Also a huge thank you to @iRacer5, who produced the lovely diesel SFX quite a long time ago, 2016 I think. Wouldn't be at all the same without it, as it adds so much depth and character to the mod, and as well as a police livery kindly donated by @hal4000 to go along with the included flashing blue beacon lights (turn them on in the setup menu!)
There is definitely some fun to be had, its very much a 'momentum car', with lack of power and such high weight and drag, you really have to do your best and avoid scrubbing off speed, so its a unique challenge from the usual racecars and supercars. And judging by the laptimes of a few testers, its not as easy as I was expecting, I guess I've been blinded by the thousands of miles I've done in it!"
Available to download HERE, the mod is the result of hundreds of hours work spanning across an almost three year period, and is the very first scratch built vehicle of its kind to be released to Assetto Corsa. Coming in just the single configuration for now, but featuring a nice range of resplendent liveries, this 2005 variant of one of the most iconic working vehicles on British roads is, without doubt, one of the finest pieces of community made third party content currently available for Assetto Corsa, and despite sitting rather strangely alongside some of the more exotic content within AC, is sure to become a bit of a favourite with sim racing fans throughout the world....
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So then, what do you think of it? Leave a comment below!
So then, what do you think of it? Leave a comment below!
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I don't know the 207D, but I owned its big brither, the 406D many years ago, and the stick in that I think was built from old railroad tracks 
