The Random Business

One of the most recent posts in both Team [R]GARAGE's Facebook and Twitter is that it dropped lots of things. Klaus Mikaelson leading by miles? Not that. Me fighting for second place with Margo Roth Spiegelman? Not that too. Carrie Mathison against Cookie Lyon? Nah. Sora Choi and Katie Moore on the grid? Don't get me started on that. Claire Fraser limping last? Not even that. So what gives?

The essence of the post was not to merely drop the character names into the grid I was racing at that time which I might see one or two of you familiar with at least one of the twenty names shown on the bottom left corner of the screenshot. The real essence was I am making a bunch of random cars for Turbo Sliders lately, and since you can clearly spot two known cars already which are Aston Martin DBR9 GT1 which I finished a long time ago (you can download it here) and Audi R10 TDI which is still unreleased until now, combined the fact that I write many times about getting a mid-2000s Le Mans grid of all classes, the reasoning is set: Le Mans Series! This should help you guess out which three other cars are...

But lately, since I had a Blogger's Block which I wrote not long ago, I've been itching myself to make random cars for Turbo Sliders. I wanted to take a random car which I have been longing to make and put it to the game, even though I don't see anyone asking it. I should say that I have a big passion for creating race cars in a top-down perspective, relying on blueprints and stuff. Since the introduction of the three prototypes, I may have made almost 10 random cars of different classes, some of them are WIPs that have been buried a very long time and some are made from scratch.

I would keep this to secrecy, but realizing that the activity in the TS community is quite low, with SCARTS as the only current active community right now, I'm trying to add a little spice to the activity radar.

LE MANS SERIES

Cars in the Le Mans series races are split into four separate classes: LMP1, LMP2, GT1 and GT2. With multiple classes in one race, players will have to just focus on their class. In case you're not aware that I'm quoting the crew chief's explanations of Le Mans races in Race Driver GRID, then congratulations, you just have. And, in case you're also not aware what kind of cars will I make off this class, you're in luck: the roster is based on Race Driver GRID's roster, with several additions.

Currently Aston Martin DBR9 GT1 is just one of them that's finished business, and the Audi R10 TDI is awaiting for release. The other three cars on the first picture? They are Creation CA06/H, Lola B05/40, and Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (996), which belong to LMP1, LMP2, and GT2 respectively. For the former, it's still a placeholder, yet the image is actually close to finishing, and for the last two, they are pretty much finished. In total, I have finished almost half of the prototypes and still a long way to go for the GTs.

All the GT2 cars in one picture: BMW, Panoz, Porsche, and Spyker

The GT2s got some excessive love from me beforehand though, as I became addicted to making more of them the moment I've finished my Panoz Esperante GTLM. The shape was traced a long time ago after relying on 3DSimEd and Enduracers Mod for GTR2 as the blueprint for the car is nonexistent. I had no passion in doing the shading work until I started working on it little by little, and granted, the end result is satisfying. I managed to work the trunk shape and the wheel arches in a good way, although it could be better (especially for the roof part). The good result of the Esperante GTLM has motivated me to also make the Porsche afterwards, and then the others such as Spyker C8 Laviolette GT2-R, which is quite different from its very first form as I noticed, and the BMW M3 GT2, which is currently the longest car I've ever worked although I had several difficulties there. The rest of the GT2 grid would consist of Ferrari F430 GT2, Spyker C8 Spyder, and Jaguar XKR GT2.

I also took the time to make the Prototypes, starting off with the Lola B05/40. Again, I used 3DSimEd and, this time, the SCC Prototypes Mod as the base. Also same story as the Esperante GTLM: tracing, unmotivated, leave it, motivated, tracing again, shading, ???, PROFIT. The shading could do better as in the game the car looked like it has little to no shading whatsoever, but that might be because of the stripes which kinda destroy the shading work.

In the end, I have lots to do for the GT1. I am currently working on the Gallardo RG-1 though not without shading issues, and just started on making Corvette C6.R. Whatever it is, this class will have some work sooner or later as long as my motivation doesn't die on me on the shading phase.

MORE UNEXPECTED RANDOMS

Peugeot 306 Maxi Kit Car and Zakspeed Capri Gr. 5 Turbo. Wait, ZAKSPEED CAPRI ON TURBO SLIDERS? You must be kidding!

Yup, more unexpected randoms also make up the grid. Zakspeed Capri Gr. 5 Turbo is one of them. I never had any intention of creating a Group 5 car initially until I randomly stumbled into a news that RaceRoom Racing Experience, a free-to-play simulator developed by SimBin (which also developed GTR2), finally featured the car to the game as an additional content (or DLC - Downloadable Content). I just googled the car and after looking at hundreds of image results, I made it out just for fun out of boredom. The shading is quite easy due to the real-life bodykit it posesses, but somehow it is somehow far too simple, the shape is barely there. It's far from finished though as there will be a couple of details to be worked on for this car, so it'll be a matter of time to see a Group 5 getting represented on a top down game.

And then there's one car which I actually made and finished before this come to fruition: Peugeot 306 Maxi Kit Car. This time, it's the blank, red-color version. Currently, this is the only F2 Kit Car to have its blank version being made, with the rest are being on consideration because I made that car at the time my passion was still with F2 Kit Cars, now that it's on grand tourers, prototypes and Dekotora. I don't intend releasing this car ASAP, looking at how I would play the same strategy as the aforementioned Le Mans Series pack, which would mean that if the rest of the cars were finished, the F2 Kit Car Racers pack will become updated to a new version, with an all-new image as I seem to have a love-hate relationship with the current car images, also with the new, revamped physics too which would describe these cars well. You can get the current version of the F2 Kit Car Racers here, featuring well-known F2 cars like the 306 Maxi, Renault Maxi Mégane, Citroen Xsara and more.

From left to right, Nissan GT-R LM NISMO paired with Lola B12/80 and Doran JE4 with Ferrari 333SP. Both cars have a connection with the ones they are racing with in this screenshot.

Last but not least, two of the last cars I would like to show you. These are two of the most recent creations of mine which has somekind of connection to the previous WIPs. These are the Daytona Prototype car Doran JE4 and my favorite (yet flopped) LMP1 effort Nissan GT-R LM NISMO. For the former, I remember making this car before my old HDD was broken, but this effort topped my previous effort, with the shading clearly visible even in the game, and the physics were meant to close the Ferrari 333SP as if the prancing horse were a Sixth Ranger addition to Race Driver GRID's "Prototype" roster, which consists of Doran JE4, a GT Prototype like Nissan R390 GT1, and a Group C like Mazda 787B. For the latter meanwhile, I felt like I would like to try my hands on creating this car seeing that it doesn't take much shading work, while I'm trying to devise a new technique to make shading work on the future prototype cars easier. In the end, the car is all ready to finish, not to mention it features the entire NISMO squad in the 2015 running of 24 Hours of Le Mans, and with a physics that will give the other successful prototypes a run for its money, no more flopping around! Although that it won't come with a blank version because present LMP1 cars are exclusively for manufacturers only, it will be released along with Lola B12/80 LMP2, which would made up a more modern roster for yet another multiclass Le Mans pack.

RANDOM TRACKS

Not just cars, I made random tracks too. Having no motivation at all to continue the Dubai Autodrome track, I decided to make some random tracks which would fill the roster for my track collection, precisely the Custom one. Here, I made two tracks: Park Avenue and Autumn Peak. The former is a short custom car racing track, and the latter is yet another TSE-styled track which utilizes the Autumn / Fall tiles previously used in Grant Heights, hence the name. All these tracks are ready to be downloaded and are also added to the corresponding section of the [R]GARAGE site, so you can try them right away.

Park Avenue is clearly based off of a now-defunct Kenjeran Park Circuit, whose layout captivated the hell out of me that I want to try how I can make my own fantasy version of the circuit. Park Avenue itself is a club racing track located in Park Avenue, USA, loosely named after Monopoly's Park Place. The track is founded in 1972 to cater club racing activities, and is home to many classic car races. Nowadays the circuit also host some of the club-level racing series, grassroots-level races, and even welcomed Drift events to encourage growth of racing hopefuls of various disciplines. The technical nature of this track means that car control will be necessary to tackle all the apex on this track, especially the Turn 8 through Turn 10 which can be a bitch if taken incorrectly. Care will also need to be taken in the early sections as you would take the first turn in a high speed that there's a chance that you would visit the gravel trap, and the second turn which would be followed with the third turn. Experience Park Avenue here.

Autumn Peak meanwhile is a TSE-styled track which draws inspirations from similarly-themed tracks from the likes of Autumn Ring from Gran Turismo and Autumn Mountain from Enthusia Professional Racing, which the layout is loosely based on. The track was meant to be a track that has endured through different motoring eras shown by its "worn" white lines and cracked roads, which adds the authenticity. The track itself is semi-technical, combining slow and fast corners with high-speed sections, including the track's iconic forest section. The right kink on the Southwards of the track replaces the right hander for more driving challenge, of which the driver's braking point will either make or break their race. History-wise, the track was home for vintage formula races back in the day before it was abandoned for a long time and eventually salvaged by a new owner in 2011 with a revised layout from the original, after the plans of building a real estate within this area was relocated somewhere. Download the track here and experience the Autumn / Fall experience with F1 Prime!

Well, that's all for today's mission report. I don't know if anyone would drool over these cars and tracks amidst the low activity level on Turbo Sliders, but hopefully they will when they are released. For now, lots of works to do...

~[R]