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Highly sophisticated racing simulators are increasingly common these days. What racing drivers can’t learn prior the race itself can be experienced and absorbed on these high-tech platforms. This allows drivers to be highly competitive regardless of the track they are going to face next.

A few months ago, we detailed secret stunt tracks that were found deep within Gran Turismo 6’s code. Today — in keeping with our recent looks back at the PS2 era — we’re bringing you clips of secret tracks from the GT Concept series of spin-off titles.

We can’t really imagine more hazardous driving conditions than those presented in the latest video in Marcel Pfister‘s Mixed Reality series. Night-time combined with a severe snowstorm manages to create a really uncomfortable racing scenario. To experience the danger full-scale, Marcel used an Oculus Rift VR headset in combination with green-screen technology, a well-known recipe we have encountered in all previously-released Mixed Reality videos.

Assetto Corsa has landed on consoles today (at least, in Europe and the UK). Players on both the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One will get to enjoy the title before it launches in North America this coming Tuesday. If you happen to own both consoles, the video above should help you decide which one to opt for.

With only two race weekends left on the calendar, the 2016 season of the All-Japan Formula 3 open-wheel series is slowly coming to a close. Normally, this puts enormous pressure on drivers whose  overall standing depends on a point or two. Jann Mardenborough has managed to avoid this unpleasant position by winning the last two races at Motegi. This perfect weekend brought Jann a comfortable advantage over his rivals, and brings him one step closer to claiming the championship title.

High-technology racing simulators are the offspring of modern computing, allowing professional drivers to practice abundantly before facing the real thing. For that reason, it’s not unusual that Formula One teams invests plenty of money to make the simulators highly accurate. For many of the drivers competing in this world there’s sometimes no better way of polishing their driving skills in the hopes of getting one step closer to success. Not all drivers agree, however: Lewis Hamilton thinks differently about simulators.

With no delays in sight, only days remain until the console version of Assetto Corsa is available to the public. PS4 and Xbox versions of the game are scheduled to see daylight on August 26 in Europe and August 30 in North America. To further increase anticipation, Kunos Simulazioni has launched a sheet listing all the supported driving accessories you’ll be able to use in the game:

https://youtu.be/jE7Ni_p1k-Q

Today we’ve brought you some new entertainment from Marcel Pfister‘s Mixed Reality video series. Racing at night is what Marcel decided to demonstrate, using his tried-and-true pairing of an Oculus Rift VR headset with the aid of green-screen technology. Support for Oculus was made available for the PC version of DiRT Rally last month in a sizeable download.

Team Redline is one of the world’s most prominent online racing teams, founded all the way back in 2000. Today, it claims some of sim-racing and motorsport’s fastest drivers, including iRacing star Greger Huttu and Formula 1 pilot Max Verstappen.

Only one week is left until the worldwide release of F1 2016. To ensure loyal supporters can prepare all the required equipment for their first drive, Codemasters has released the full list of compatible controllers and steering wheels for the game. Hopefully you’ll be able to find your beloved product in the list below:

The next video is all about visual presentation. IGN has recorded some Forza Horizon 3 video footage featuring one of the game’s cross-country competitions in 4k (2160p) resolution, the current peak of display technology. The various changes in the terrain surfaces the cars were running on offer good opportunity to inspect the technical abilities of the upcoming free-roam game. The stunt sections provide a great example as well.

The new Developer Diary video from Monster Games contains more details regarding NASCAR Heat Evolution, the upcoming racing game scheduled for release on September 13 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC. From the previous Developer Diary video we learned about  priorities the developer has set to offer a completely new experience to fans of the popular auto-racing event. Today we get to inspect details regarding the gameplay itself.

If GTPlanet were focused solely on Gran Turismo, we would miss so many opportunities to bring interesting news on other driving games to the front page. In this particular case, that would be a clear misfire as Absolute Drift: Zen Edition is one of the more interesting driving games we have seen lately, bringing some much needed diversity to this genre.

Very interesting details involving Monster Games’ upcoming NASCAR Heat Evolution driving game were revealed during the last “Develop Diary” video episode, which focused on important elements of driving game development: accessibility to a wide range of players and the overall handling model.

Quality steering wheel support is a prerequisite to a complete and pleasant experience for modern driving sims. Nowadays it is almost impossible to expect significant sale results from driving simulators unless they support plenty of accessories that the market clearly demands.

The 2016 Spa 24 Hours endurance event recently finished with the #99 BMW M6 GT3 from ROWE Racing team claiming the victory after 531 laps. Variable weather conditions and several unforeseen pace interruptions caused enough anxiety to make the race entirely unpredictable.

Fans of the most popular American auto-racing series are undoubtedly excited as progress on the newest NASCAR game continues. As you may have heard when we shared the official trailer earlier this week, Monster Games — the developer behind early-2000’s NASCAR games and PC classic Viper Racing — is working on NASCAR Heat Evolution. The game is scheduled to appear on September 13 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC.

Project CARS is no longer the sole title on the market that supports Oculus Rift in its retail form. Recently support has been added to rally simulator DiRT Rally, introduced in an update earlier this summer for PC game versions. Although the download weighed an eye-popping 10.2GB, it certainly seems to be worth it, considering the praise from people who’ve used it.

Located in Britain, Oulton Park circuit has hosted a number of Formula-style events during the its existence — British F3 still visits every year — before it became widely associated with modern touring car competitions. If driving around this challenging course in an open-wheeler seems to be rather unusual, then perhaps the following challenge should make you reconsider.