rec.autos.simulators

For those of you who are fans of either Simon Stobbart's astonishingly
realistic skies (http://www.racesimcentral.net/) or the fantasy
track Diamante (http://www.racesimcentral.net/),  aka Warren Bennet's
Carnival, or both, you will be thrilled to discover the pair is literally a
match made in heaven.  Unzip the horizon/sky package Simon originally made
for Sears Point (he suggests that it's also suitable for Riverside...but it
isn't) in the Diamante folder, and Heilige Scheisse! you have a Diamante
transformed into one of the most beautiful tracks in GPL.  Now, if only we
could make the Phantom Track Marshalls disappear....

On Fri, 11 Jan 2002 12:58:11 GMT, "Stephen Smith"

Beautiful stuff. :)
Any idea where I could contact Simon to ask for permission to use this
in a Racer track?

Ruud van Gaal
Free car sim  : http://www.marketgraph.nl/gallery/racer/
Pencil art    : http://www.marketgraph.nl/gallery/

Steve,

I think I was using a combination of Al Heeley's work and maybe Simon's at
Diamante - like you, I'm a big fan of the track.  Of the "fantasy" tracks,
it's the one that feels the most real to me.  I'll try your suggestion,
though - you've been pretty spot-on about a few things in the past :^)

BTW, we miss your presence on the GPLEA boards - drop by
http://forum.racesimcentral.com sometime.

Rick

Steve why do you think it ain't suitable for Riverside? I've got it
installed on my USGP1960 long version Riverside and it looks ok to me. Is it
wrong for California or something??
TIm

Tim,

I have no idea if Simon's horizon looks appropriate for New Zealand (where
Diamante is theoretically located), although I like to think so.  Fersure,
it looks nothing like where Riverside is located: to the east, west, and
south of the track there is nothing but high desert (dead flat, sandy, with
scrub brush).
To the north: the San Gabriel mountains (tall enuf to have snow-capped peaks
as late as June, but far enuf away that they don't *loom*, if you know what
I mean).

Simon's horizon does look a *bit* like N. California, but much more like the
scenery surrounding Laguna Seca, an Army post considerably less lush than
the
wine country surrounding Sears Pt.  If anybody ever delivers Laguna67 (the
*fast* version of the track; the current track was slowed down to accomodate
motorcycle
racing, if you can believe it!), this horizon would look sensational.

Curiously, while Simon's horizon doesn't match the *inland* S. California
scenery around Riverside, it does look quite a bit like the area around
Orange County (north and/or east of Camp Pendleton), and might look
appropriate if anybody does U.S. road racing's only figure-8 track (it
wasn't a demo derby, there was a cross-over), Paramount Ranch.  As luck
would have it, this horizon would probably also work for the S. of France,
in case anybody is foolish enuf to want to promulgate the b-o-r-i-n-g Paul
Ricard circuit.

--Steve Smith da Gama