Recently completed Project Gotham 2 On X box and was rewarded with the Nurburgring circuit. Needless to say it is an absolutely massive circuit and pretty much flat out all the way.

What I wanted to know was. Is it anything like this in real life? As I can't imagine, if it is, any car apart from the odd Enzo or Claren F1 rattling round here without constantly bouncing off the rev limiter in top.

It's a 13 mile long circuit and it has some very challenging corners, so I don't think the in game version of it would be that accurate a portrayal of the 'ring in real life.

There's quite a few people on here who are regulars at the ring, so they might reply.

'Flat out all the way' - err I think NOT! It's probably the narrowest twistiest circuit in existence. VERY challenging.

Every time a mate of mine has been there on his bike at least one person has died on the circuit over the weekend he is there :( Its the sole reason I have never taken my R1 there as to me bikes and cars don't mix, especially when you are on a bike doing 180 mph and break heavily for a corner and a Porsche 911 turbo goes round the outside of you getting the back out while you have your knee down. Thats how its been explained to me by various people I know who take their bikes there :eek: They enjoy the kick they get from it, I would either be over cautious which would be dangerous or bin it in a corner like many others do through lack of experience of the track!

Diesel and I have a video coming out soon that will show you what it is really like.

Flat out everywhere, absolutely not. It is the most challenging race circuit in the world because you have to change your speed and direction constantly, quite often before you even see the corner as a lot of the track is blind as you aproach it. It also has the most severe gradient changes of any circuit.

In my Impreza i can touch 150MPH in 4 places, you can be doing as low at 30MPH in the slowest corner, so it is a VERY fast circuit, but only once you know where you are going, you cant drive that quickly in safety without building up a lot of circuit knowledge.

I wouldnt do it on a superbike, i know some of the people who have died or been injured there on bikes, but i can understand why they do ride the circuit. There is nothing more incredible than sharing a race track with a motorbike doing 150MPH a few feet in front of you with sparks coming off the riders knee sliders.

I am very careful around the bikers, not everyone is and its quite common for cars and bikes to get together due to misunderstandings or just plain lack of care.

and just as a bit of trivia. Microsoft paid one of the X Box team to come to the nurburgring and he strapped some cameras to my car to use for gaining footage to use in X Box games. This was about 12 months before the X Box was released if my memory is right.

I've unlocked it on PGR2 on the X-Box too and wouldn't say it was flat out most of the way at all.. Very bouncy & narrow with lots of nice challenging bends is a better description for the game..
Anyone else?? :D

Try it in a Mini Cooper its flat out all the way LOL!!!

its a tough track to master on the X-Box as the map is small you can't see the bends coming up, you also have an issue that some bends are flat out butt clenchingly fast, but then the next one that looks similar until your on it, is a tight little b!tch that has you skidding into the gravel :)

Go to Ian Litchfield's site - follow the banner ad - he has a video from inside the spec C doing a lap in a few seconds over 8 mins, which is a more than respectable lap time (under 8 minutes is serious stuff even in supercar terms). Didn't look much like flat out all the way to me.

Talking of proper drivers in fast cars round there, am I allowed to ask what JF's best lap is (in Scoob or otherwise)?

[Edited by NACRO - 1/14/2004 8:18:40 PM]

I agree, it's not flat out all the time in the game. But quite often, even in the ultimate cars you can be bouncing off the rev limiter for ages in top. Just thought that if it was like that in reality, in a Scooby or similar, you would have to constantly back off to avoid blowing up your engine.

Not sure a track suits the arcady Gotham handling style though. Feels very unrealistic on the Nurburgring to me. Still. Top game all the same. Trying very hard to get all platinums now. Banging my head against a wall trying to get the Focus RS up to 93 on the speed camera test. Very nearly given up altogeter. Any suggestions?

John, the cameras they put on your car may well have been for TOCA Race Driver, as they had a a short circuit Nurburgring on there.

And why is it they can manage to get the sound of a Ferrari just right on these games, yet they can't manage a Scooby burble. Beats me.

:cool:

John I have all of your earlier mpegs of you in the Sti @ the ring. Pure class with superb driving.

Sti5TypeRARingDoorMirrorNov2002
Sti5TypeRARingFrontBumperSept2002
Sti5TypeRARingHelmetcanSept2002
Sti5TypeRARingrearviewSept2002
Sti5TypeRARingRoofSept2002

I watch them now and again just to remind me how to drive smoothly. Fav is the last one with the roof cam :)

The footage for MS was on the full 13 mile circuit.

My fastest lap in the scoob is around 8:40 for the full circuit (8:15 BTG) on normal road tyres 2 up, i could go quicker on sticky tyres and using all the kerbs, but i dont want to kill the car. I was around 8:10 in the Westfield 2 up but didnt know the track very well back then.

The Spec C time is more than on the video as they stop it too early, add about 5 seconds, cheeting buggers. :D

Thanks Jye, thats the plan, do it all nice and smooth, it's easier on the car and i enjoy it more than driving on the ragged edge. If you like that you will love the video we are producing.

the videos are on my website if anyone wants to download them. http://www.johnfelstead.co.uk/videos/videos.htm

My favourite is the helmet camera, where i strapped the camera to my helmet at eye level, it gives a great view of what i see when driving. The door mirror camera position gives a great view of the apex's you need to hit.

The footage of me in the westie taken by Joerund on his R1 is interesting, sadly joerund was killed at the ring on his GSXR, we had planned to do the same with my Impreza.

Project Gotham Racing isn't bang on by any means, but I just watched the Litchfield video and knew if it was a left or a right coming up. Full respect to anyone driving fast around that thing... nutters.

Thanks for those John needed something to keep me off the game :)

The thing is, I bet most people play PGR2 with the behind car view as well, so it gives you a better perspective of the track.
Try doing it using the bumper cam and drive it in the manner you would if it was your own car. Pretty sure it wouldn't be flat out then (except for the main straight!) :D

I enjoy playing the ring, keeps the track relativly fresh in my mind, however, the gradients, kerb sizes and general speed are crap, also round karassel, you can tuck it in and hold on for dear life, in the game it kicks you off!
When is the video out john?

[Edited by NOZZER - 1/14/2004 11:25:10 PM]

JF is it true that you hold the lap record round the Nurburgring?

yes



























in my dreams. :D

I am fairly quick for an amateur driver.

We made a lot of progress on the video over christmas, hopefully it will be finished in a few weeks so out in time for the new ring season.

I'll have a copy please John :D

For reference against John's time, my best BTG time is 8.35 in my Skoda, also 2 up, on normal road tyres.

Edit to put the correct time in :rolleyes:

[Edited by TaviaRS - 1/15/2004 9:52:26 AM]

"flat out" LOL! :D

We went last year for a long weekend. I've done previous track days before in a variety of cars, but I crapped myself on my first lap in our Impreza! :o

A UK biker lost their life whilst we were there... :(

We're planning to go back this year, in our 200SX which should prove a little more entertaining! :rolleyes:

I'll be borrowing my bro-in-law's XBOX just to refresh my memory before we go. :D

[Edited by Squizz - 1/15/2004 10:52:18 AM]

John and I will finish the vid in early Feb. We are adding as much detail and info as we can to make it really useful if you are thinking of going there, which is why it is taking ages! It is really making the editing machine sweat due to the layers involved :)

Is there going to be any singing on this one? :D

Only by Nickelback mate! Trying to work Beyonce in but it makes John look a bit cheesy ;)

Beyonce and I make a great couple. :confused::D

and she likes getting her ar5e end out more than you do! :eek: :D ;)

and thats a lot. :D LOL