Now that Toledo Speedway has been released for the NR2003 community, let me take everyone on a tour of how this project went together, and the details that were put into the project.
First off a huge thank you to J.R. Franklin, without him the track would not look nearly as nice as it does and wouldn't function right. He has taken every bit information I have given to him and put it into the track, no matter how small of a detail it was. He has also faciliated much of what you see, the cameras are a product of one of his contact's, the trees are his, and much of the beautiful surroundings were placed by him, including the industrial park off the backstretch.
In late 2005, I stumbled upon a very early beta of the Toledo track, and traced it back to Jeff Shrewsberry. At the time, Jeff was getitng out of track making and I guess I asked at the right moment because he gave me the project (and a much updated version). Also in on the project was Todd Garren from the Late Model Project. Todd and I worked on it, and both got busy, and the track sat on the back burner.
It wasn't until Spring of 2006 that I resumed work on the track. I ran into some troubles with the fence (never put a texture on the top of a fence, never ever!) and it kept crashing Sandbox. Each time I had to start all over again because I lost all progress when the track file wouldn't open. So, I began looking into the issue during the summer of 2006, and later that year I discovered the problem. I resumed progress and started painting walls with logos.
After discovering the photos I had dug up from the internet didnt cover the entire track and at times had differing sponsors in the same spot, I again put the track on hold, and began working on a plan to obtain more photos. So in April, I attended the ASA Late Model race at Toledo and took hundreds of photos (I was also covering the race). My dad was sent on a mission to take a photo of each billboard and the wall paint that corresponds with that section of the track, which he did.
When we got home, I found logos hard to come by for some billboards and tossed the idea around of how to fill those spots, which were filled with fictional sponsors. You will notice several sponsors which are not at the real track, but appear in the game.
J.R. came into the picture early this year and proved invaluable, I owe him a huge thanks for all his help, from the ini file, to the scenery, pit stalls, even down to his expertise in track making that helped me make up my mind on several details. When he sent me a graphic update in late June, I literally was speechless. He claims he has never been to Toledo, yet he created graphics that in my opinion looks EXACTLY like Toledo. (I think he snuck a trip to the track in without telling me).
By the way, there are a few things that are not at the real track that appear in the game and I will tell you why.
-Theres jersey barriers on the frontstretch in the game, but none in real life. These were placed to protect the extended pit road, since Toledo does not have 43 pit stalls, and actually has shared pit stalls for the ARCA event (which cannot be done in the game), we extended pit road down the frontstretch and to avoid black flags for an unsafe pit entry (when you spin and cross the line between the track and pit road) we put up a wall. Also if NASCAR were to go to Toledo, they would have to extend the pit road and avoid the shared pit stalls.
-There is an asphalt apron in turns 3 & 4, but its just grass in real life. This apron was added for slower cars online to get out of the way, and for the AI cars to have a place to get up to speed before being dumped onto the racing surface, and also a place to slow down when entering the pits.
Anyways, almost 2 years later the track is out and the American Sim Racing Series is ready to battle on the high banks of this ultra fast 1/2 mile. Reach up and pull those belts tight one more time! Let's go racin' boys!
-Jim
Friday, July 20, 2007
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
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