Donnington (national) - great track

[h106frp]

Downloaded this and i have to say - what a great track!

Without the stupid extension section the whole track just flows fast and beautifully in GPB. Much better than i remember it from GP500.

First one i have found with a really nice balance of grip on the rumble/kerbs, you can take liberties with the grip but not too much.

All the turns are great no problems on inclined entries  Really repeatable cornering

and... most of all I love the bumpiness/ripples on this track, just right in first person to get the bike moving a bit and give a feel for being close to the limits. Actually feels like it might be worth trying to adjust the suspension settings and see if it reflects in game.

Any suggestions for more tracks like this?

[Hawk]

I haven't really tried this track much at all..... When I remember first loading it up it looked like the track was too narrow compared to the real track?
But this was a long, long time ago since I loaded it up. But given your review I may just give it another try because I love Donington Park. 

Hawk.

[h106frp]

That was my first instant impression - narrow - but it just flows so well it does not really matter. First track i have tried where it has felt 'fast' with a natural line even for my fumbling efforts. Its also a real work out on the gearbox, just what i needed  . Running the R6 on stock settings and it works well.

Any idea what a 'reasonable' (novice) lap time should be on SSP600 ? Just something to aim for

I know a lot of tracks have been smoothed, but this is a great one in first person with the ripples left in and remembering to back off slightly for the bump under the dunlop arch makes the long straight fun (unless your showboating a bit of air under the front wheel )

[Hawk]

I really don't think that dip in the main straight under Dunlop Bridge should have your wheel lifting so easy like it does?? I think that dip is too severe than in real life. I cannot remember that dip causing my front end to lift like it does on this GPB track version of Donington. Not sure whether that is a GPB physics issue with the Uphill and Downhill and camber issues? Or whether it's a bike physics issue?

As for the track surface ripples - Probably and likely that they are not true to real life either.

Most race circuits are pretty smooth these days.... Might be slightly bumpy in places but nothing like we see in a lot of the tracks for GPB that cause the bike to washout for no good reason; and a lot of that is because the track surface bumps are way too severe than in real life - I mean any real bike would washout if they hit bumps that severe on a race track, especially while banked over. Lol.

Same with a lot of the kerbs on tracks for GPB - If authors want to model the kerb ribs then they should make sure they get the correct height, shape and severity of those ribs..... I mean some of the kerb ribs on the GPB tracks must be equivalent of 3+ inches high! Too much by far! Of course a bike is going to washout on kerbs that severe. 

Sorry H, I cannot help you with a time to compare for your ride at Donington as I haven't tested again there yet. I'm sure someone will post a comparison time for you to judge yourself against soon. 


Hawk.
PS: Anyone ridden on the REAL Donington Track lately who can confirm/deny any of the above remarks?

[Napalm Nick]

Anything less than 1:20 will get you in the top ten H 

The fact that there are only 7 on the scoreboard at the moment means you could be 8th just for turning up!

Haven't tried there myself yet but will do.

[matty0l215]

I used to love both the Donnington tracks but nobody raced them online (something about bumps on the uphill section under the 1st bridge )

You might want to try Croft, it's flatter than Donnington, but is still a nice track.

[Napalm Nick]

Just run a few laps - have opened GPBOC 2 server with Donnington National (not connected to HotLap server).

I ran some laps on the 'extended version' a while ago but just tried this national version.

Took my (non traction control) Suzy Gixer round it (complete with Silverstone Wet setup Slick tyres) and it is great fun indeed.

The bumps on the straight give a great (yet safe) feeling I wouldn't say they were anything excessive , there doesn't appear to be a 'nightmare corner' and the Dunlop bump is awesome fun. Timing a throttle roll-off just right can mean both-wheel air time!. Its true it does cause an overreaction if hit flat out with the throttle pinned though    .

So far I would confirm it's a great track, haven't found any kerb problems yet but to be fair I've only notched up ten laps - hardly into pushing-it territory just yet.

Oh 1m18s so far.

[h106frp]

I am so slow... thought i was doing well with low 1.20's  Must try and get turn 1 right, still a bit hit and miss at points where you need to run right out to the track edges to set up a good line and take multiple turns in one steady sweep.

Practice, practice, practice  Last week i was happy to just stay upright....

Maybe we should think of this track as being Donnington at its most run down state. The scenery depicts modern layout, maybe the track surface originated from an older game. Maybe they have been racing trucks again 

Even though they are bumpy the grip seems predictable on the turns and seems to give good feedback. Weird that a track with some issues seems easier to learn on, still i am a newbie at GPB and maybe my expectations of a good track will develop with a bit more practice time, possibly the surface ripples are causing me to take thing a bit steadier with the result that my technique is developing a bit.

This sort of surface would be nice for the road racing based tracks though.

It is a lot of fun but i the Dunlop dip is very severe even on a 600, hitting it flat out you can almost 360 the bike. Slight roll off and you just feel a bit of a hero - awards for the most artistic effort? 

I am sure that track schools still run here so maybe someone will have ridden it recently, I think BOBR mentioned he had done a few laps.