Let's talk about your favorite S2U tracks

[///M-Spec]

I think one of S2U's strongest aspects is the huge track library.

Obviously everyone loves/hates/reveres/is terrified by/is aroused by the legendary Nordschleife. And tracks like Spa-Francorchamps and Laguna Seca are also shoe-ins for icon status.

Let's talk about some of the less well known tracks that you enjoy. I'll start.


Dubai. New track with very little history. But wow, what a gorgeous set of curves. It has a nice mix of high and low speed corners, with great sight-lines and interesting elevation changes. I was driving the widowmaker there over the weekend and had a blast. There's something very satisfying about getting it right at Dubai.

Oschersleben. Never heard of this track until S2U. Except for the main straight, it's most a bunch of low speed turns with only a few technical bits thrown in. But for some reason I love it. Getting your turn in just right for T1 and drifting into the line to set up for the sweeping T2 is quite satisfying. The quick s-turn in the back is a nice exercise in restraint. The all-important last turn before the main straight is a serious bitch to get right. I don't know if it has a proper name, but Bitch is what it should be called.

EDIT: Okay, turns out its called the Zeppelin curve. Sending a email to track owners about renaming it now...

Barcelona. Okay, it's not exactly obscure, I know. But this is the first time that I've seen this track in a sim, so it feels like a buried treasure for me. Superb mix of so many corner types. Some straight forward, some quite technical. Some are like threading a needle and some you just go flat out and hope for the best. There's nothing really dramatic here like the Corkscrew or Fuchsrohre. But still makes for a very satisfying lap.


M

 

[brambos]

I think one of S2U's strongest aspects is the huge track library.

Agreed! 👍

I love Spa. It's a spectacular track.

I was never a big Nordschleife fan, the turns and bends feel a bit too random for my taste, but it's definitely a challenging track.

Mount Panorama, Bathurst and Silverstone are also really nice!

And Dubai is growing on me, the more I drive there (love the skyline in the background with the imposing Burj Khalifa towering over the horizon!).

 

[bmwisme]

Road America (Elkart Lake, WI)... slow/fast corners, long straights for top speed, tradition (50's - 2011), scenic, and I have some personal experience on the track.
And of coarse Nordschleife - never gets boring!

A common denominator I see with most sim racers on their car and track favorites is personal experience - either owning a particular car or visiting/racing a track in real life.

 

[C_Raccoon23]

Even though I hated the event itself, I really like the Miami track used in the Dodge Viper eliminator.

 

[tribolik]

I dont know why but I was very pleasantly suprised both Zolder and Oschersleben (expecialy Zolder)
Catalunia was a old fav from both F1 CE and F1 2010 but I must admit I liked the old layout better (F1 CE)

And I just love Mount Panorama... I had played it before from a Grid DLC but the fact is that I didnt play much attention to it because I didnt like Grid all that much.

And off course the Ring and SPA.

Of the made up tracks Im also enjoying MIAMI a lot.

 

[magicaldog]

Nordschleife is my favourite but unfortunately after the 1.02 patch it is undrivable cause the whole system freezes and give me the three beeps !

 

[bmwisme]

Nordschleife is my favourite but unfortunately after the 1.02 patch it is undrivable cause the whole system freezes and give me the three beeps !

Hmm, I've never had a lockup on Nordschleife but then again I am not interested in driving the most exotic - more fun, for me, driving something I can relate to (D,C,B classes).

 

[vrooom]

What a driving/racing sim needs is great REAL tracks!
It may have many cars but if the track selection is bad the game is broken.
Thankfully Shift 2 delivers!

Road America (Elkhart Lake)
I consider it one of the greatest tracks. It's a very fast track build for fast cars, with elevation changes and some very high speed challenging corners that you must nail to make a good lap. Also a very dangerous track with minimal run-off area. Especially at the very high speed corner after the carousel (carousel... what a turn!), where you must be absolutely mental to take that curve at high speed in real life! All in all a great track which I find strange that is not featured in more games...

Spa-Francorchamps
If a game features Spa then this is automatically my favorite track!
Some of the most challenging corners, crazy elevation changes, high speeds and incredible rhythm. The only complain I have is that I prefer the old bus-stop chicane (featured in Shift 1) than the current chicane (featured in Shift 2 and used in F1), which I find to be much worse than the old bus-stop and not memorable at all...

Brno
What a track! I have watched Brno on TV but I have never driven it in a sim.
A real track build on physical elevation changes (like Spa) with incredible rhythm! Easy to learn, hard to master!

Classic Hockenheim
I will be honest. I hate the modern Hockenheim tilkedrome! I find it to be an awful track, both in real life and in-game, boring, repetitive, with no character, no rhythm, just a random collection of curves on a completely artificial, flat environment. But the classic Hockenheim (along with Monza) is the ultimate speed temple! High speed, great rhythm and beautiful scenery. Too bad that the real track is destroyed...
I am waiting for PSN to go live so that I can buy the Legends pack...

Monza
If classic Hockenheim is a speed temple, Monza is the speed cathedral!
Sometimes you just want to go fast, and test if you can take a chicane a bit faster and with even less downforce. Nothing beats Monza for that and once you get in the 'zone' you will have great time! Monza is speed, so the fact that Shift 2 conveys the sense of speed really helps. In my opinion, if a game can't nail the sense of speed (or the consequences of losing the braking point and hitting the speed bumps) then it shouldn't even bother with Monza...
I am also waiting to test the infamous Monzanapolis included in the Legends Pack as an easter egg!

...and I really can't decide!
Laguna Seca, Bathurst, Willow Springs, Donighton, Brands Hatch, Zolder, Nurbugring, Nordschleife (although I find it to be more of a driving track than a racing track and the high-speed freeze really doesn't help, but all-in-all trully one of the greats!) and the rest I didn't mention, all are amazing, even modern Hockenheim is good, I just like the classic one so much! Even the imaginary tracks and city courses are great in this game! I can enjoy the tracks I knew and also learn new tracks I didn't and in the process love them. And that's another amazing aspect of Shift 2! :tup:

Now, where is Imola (especially the pre-1995 configuration)?

 

[magicaldog]

Hmm, I've never had a lockup on Nordschleife but then again I am not interested in driving the most exotic - more fun, for me, driving something I can relate to (D,C,B classes).

I want something different from my old SAAB so I drive the Paganis in NFS S2 U

 

[LaBounti]

Road America (Elkart Lake, WI)... slow/fast corners, long straights for top speed, tradition (50's - 2011), scenic, and I have some personal experience on the track.
And of coarse Nordschleife - never gets boring!

A common denominator I see with most sim racers on their car and track favorites is personal experience - either owning a particular car or visiting/racing a track in real life.

Hey neighbor!

I haven't raced on every track yet. But My Favorite from Shift was Ebisu... But the track list is great. I love it mostly because it has less cliche tracks like the two big franchises...

 

[bmwisme]

Hey neighbor!

I haven't raced on every track yet. But My Favorite from Shift was Ebisu... But the track list is great. I love it mostly because it has less cliche tracks like the two big franchises...

Thought you sounded awfully close Send me a friend request once PSN is back up for some friendly AutoLog competition. I also need to explore more of the SU2 tracks but what I have seen so far are great.

 

[vrooom]

...

But the track list is great. I love it mostly because it has less cliche tracks like the two big franchises...

You mean tracks like Circuit de la Sarthe?

I would like Shift 2 to feature Circuit de la Sarthe but it is way down in my track wish-list. I find it to be more of a car reliability test-bench than a racing track. Circuit de la Sarthe is a track suited for 24hr endurance races, not for short regular races...

Also, while Le Mans 24hr is one of the greatest automotive spectacles it's very hard to represent in a driving game the challenge of the event. It needs huge grids (40 or more so that the race doesn't get lonely), multi-class racing, unexpected technical problems, car-conservation to prevent problems, long pit-stop with extended services, etc. Le Mans 24hr is an adventure with unexpected events where the car is the real star, not just a really long predictable race, and the game should convey this feeling. In my opinion, the two big franchises do a really bad job of representing this race and so I don't mind that Shift 2 doesn't have this track since it isn't able to represent the track in all it's glory either...

 

[Stangmaster 427]

Leguna Seca, Road America, Spa, and Dubai. have nothing to say other than "Whoooooooooohooooooooo".

 

[AWDwhite_2g]

Brands Hatch. 1st turn, blind crest to a big down hill off camber sweeper with a wide sholder. Makes for some good saves and tastefull apexing!

Laguna Seca is my favorite track (In any game). Alot of turns and elevation diversity.

 

[Luminis]

My top tracks would have to be:

Brands Hatch GP
The track is pretty simple and straight forward, but somewhere below that supericial simplicity lies a rather interesting track. I love the high-speed corners and the constant switching between those fast straights and the slower corners 👍

Brno Circuit
I'll have to admit, I never really knew much about this track and didn't particularily cared about the fact that it was in S2U. That changed when I did the endurance event at Brno. Man, that track is amazing! It just seems to flow so naturally andd really invites you to keep pushing your car further and further. It's a rather fast track that still keeps a certain bais towards well handling cars, just the way I like it 👍

Glendale West
It's short, it's fast, but more technically challenging than other tracks of similar length, in my opinion. It's this games Tsukuba Circuit, just better 👍

Mount Panorama aka. Bathurst
I think there's not much of an explanation needed. Even though it's widenend, I think it still feels pretty narrow and insanely fast, especially if you're driving something like the Caterham. It's a legendary track for a reason:tup:

Strangely though, I'm not really driving on the 'Ring as much I thought I would or did in other games. I guess it's just that I found so many tracks I didn't know so far that I have little time (and interest) to spend time on the widened 'Ring...

Anyways, S2U's track selection really is top notch, just like the car selection.

 

[arvore]

I think one of S2U's strongest aspects is the huge track library.

I completely agree-right along with Autolog, which I unfortunately didn't saw working yet, but I figure that it will be pretty much like Shift 1 so it isn't a proper innovation, but a very nice feature either way which adds replay value to offline gaming.- it's one of the strongest points of appeal in the game.

Dubai. New track with very little history. But wow, what a gorgeous set of curves. It has a nice mix of high and low speed corners, with great sight-lines and interesting elevation changes. I was driving the widowmaker there over the weekend and had a blast. There's something very satisfying about getting it right at Dubai.

A great track and a first time to me in a racing game...it's very challenging since the elevation changes in plain corners with camber off, at times, requires great precision and skill in dealing with the weight transfer specially in road cars!

Oschersleben. Never heard of this track until S2U. Except for the main straight, it's most a bunch of low speed turns with only a few technical bits thrown in. But for some reason I love it. Getting your turn in just right for T1 and drifting into the line to set up for the sweeping T2 is quite satisfying. The quick s-turn in the back is a nice exercise in restraint. The all-important last turn before the main straight is a serious bitch to get right. I don't know if it has a proper name, but Bitch is what it should be called.

EDIT: Okay, turns out its called the Zeppelin curve. Sending a email to track owners about renaming it now...

LOL, it's really a tricky corner it seems to have a "closing" or late apex and if one outbreaks a little or go to soon on the throttle it's unavoidable to go wide.
About the track if I remember well it was in one of the TOCA series(2?; 3?) and always found it very pleasant.

Barcelona. Okay, it's not exactly obscure, I know. But this is the first time that I've seen this track in a sim, so it feels like a buried treasure for me. Superb mix of so many corner types. Some straight forward, some quite technical. Some are like threading a needle and some you just go flat out and hope for the best.

Also one of my favourites and very fast and challenging track with great flow, ideal for the GT1 and GT3 cars which are my favourite classes

There's nothing really dramatic here like the Corkscrew or Fuchsrohre. But still makes for a very satisfying lap.

Hmm la Caixa and the chicane before the last corner(turns 14\15) can be quite tricky...

.
Road America (Elkhart Lake)
I consider it one of the greatest tracks. It's a very fast track build for fast cars, with elevation changes and some very high speed challenging corners that you must nail to make a good lap. Also a very dangerous track with minimal run-off area. Especially at the very high speed corner after the carousel (carousel... what a turn!), where you must be absolutely mental to take that curve at high speed in real life! All in all a great track which I find strange that is not featured in more games...

One of my favourite tracks ever!
Very fast with a very logic flow and keeping you sharp and on the edge through out all the layout...a mistake is usually fatal.

Spa-Francorchamps
If a game features Spa then this is automatically my favorite track!
Some of the most challenging corners, crazy elevation changes, high speeds and incredible rhythm. The only complain I have is that I prefer the old bus-stop chicane (featured in Shift 1) than the current chicane (featured in Shift 2 and used in F1), which I find to be much worse than the old bus-stop and not memorable at all...

Very little can be add to what You say...I miss the bus stop chicane from the first delivery...La Source still feels very forgiving.

Brno
What a track! I have watched Brno on TV but I have never driven it in a sim.
A real track build on physical elevation changes (like Spa) with incredible rhythm! Easy to learn, hard to master!

Is currently, right alongside with Zolder, one of the tracks I can't get enough off!
I absolutely love Brno...even the little detail of the blue and red curbes.It's a very iconic track and it's meant for racing, no doubt about it.

I am also waiting to test the infamous Monzanapolis included in the Legends Pack as an easter egg!

I'm looking for Rouen!!!

...and I really can't decide!
Laguna Seca, Bathurst, Willow Springs, Donighton, Brands Hatch, Zolder, Nurbugring, Nordschleife (although I find it to be more of a driving track than a racing track and the high-speed freeze really doesn't help, but all-in-all trully one of the greats!) and the rest I didn't mention, all are amazing, even modern Hockenheim is good, I just like the classic one so much! Even the imaginary tracks and city courses are great in this game! I can enjoy the tracks I knew and also learn new tracks I didn't and in the process love them. And that's another amazing aspect of Shift 2! :tup:

Yeah all the classic tracks that were already in Shift 1-Silverstone; Donington; Brands Hatch; Autopolis,etc-were great and it was very pleasant to get back to them.
But I'm really adict to the new ones like Bathurst and speccially ZOLDER.

​

*not me just a random tube

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I'm loving this track!!!
The Kleine Chicane it's pretty challenging...keeping the right pace through Butte to find the right breaking point to Terlamenbocht complex-the hardest part of the track IMO- can be very challenging as well as breaking to Bolderberghaarspeldbocht(uff!!!) and getting on the throttle in the sweet spot to take Jochen Rindtbocht flat out!
Then there is the chicane with mythical Jacky Ickx name which has to be taken perfectly or compromise a few tenths in raw speed in the finish straight.

Now, where is Imola (especially the pre-1995 configuration)?

In SSV8NC...


Am I the only one to enjoy Dijon-Prenois?

 

[haehre]

Oschersleben was already on my list of favorite tracks due to having played a lot of GTR before. Bathurst and Autopolis GP are two tracks that I now like among the new tracks I've played through S2.

Suzuka, Nurburgring, Nordschleife, Silverstone and Brno are tracks that I already liked.

Many of the other tracks are fine.

Absolutely loathe Willow Springs, Ambush Canyon, all the city tracks, Dakota, ovals and Laguna Seca.

 

[vrooom]

Am I the only one to enjoy Dijon-Prenois?

No. I enjoy it too a lot. It's a very fast track with tricky corners and elevation changes that can easily destabilize your car. And once you become accustomed with it it has great rhythm! 👍

I'm looking for Rouen!!!

Me too! It's so retro and it doesn't look like a track since it is based on public roads! And also it reminds me of the beautiful point-to-point tracks of NFS Porsche Unleashed...

And how I forgot Autopolis? I have never heard of Autopolis before Shift 1 and it's an amazing track! It's like a mini-Spa but it has a completely distinct character. Some really challenging turns after the start/finish straight, a very tight hairpin and then the crazy downhill straight, brake and off balance right followed by a series of consecutive uphill blind turns that require both speed and caution! Not a very long track but a real blast!

And Enna-Pergusa is a unique track too, stop-and-go off course, but with a really nice landscape and sometimes you want something different! And tracks, like Willow-Springs which I didn't like in Shift 1, I find them to be excellent in Shift 2, probably due to the better handling and less over-the-top track-side environment (though it is still a bit over-the-top, but I don't mind since I think it adds to the race atmosphere and fun-factor). Really, I like them all (except maybe Ambush Canyon which I tried only once, and I haven't tried yet any of the ovals)!

 

[Spagetti69]

Just seeing so much diversity in peoples opinion of there favourite tracks makes me smile.

Goes to show the track selection is great.
Better than 99% of the crowd saying Nurburgring as in other titles.

Oh I love em all BTW.

 

[paulpg87]

i just know that i can't wait anymore to get my hands on legend dlc...old nurburgring!! rouen!!

 

[brambos]

i just know that i can't wait anymore to get my hands on legend dlc...old nurburgring!! rouen!!

And the hidden oval on Monza!

 

[Starfirebird]

I'm a big fan of Spa,Road America and Laguna Seca. 👍

 

[paulpg87]

And the hidden oval on Monza!

i drove on it in real life so i'm not so hyped for it

 

[FLX1981]

My favs are those you dont see too often in other games: Dijon, Zolder, Road America, Bathurst... cant wait to try Rouen and the old Hockenheimring!

And thank god, no mo' Tsukuba!

 

[akyp]

Right now Road America is on the top of my list.

Used to love Spa in Shift 1, but I have yet to come across it in Shift 2 despite 75% complete.

Used to love Nordschleife too but it just blows in Shift 2 with the way the opponents are set up.

 

[yellomello]

Bathurst Because since I was 3 I wanted to go across the top of the moutainand down the dipper then to conrod straight

Irwindale Speedway Just because It is used in Forumula D read my title and my sig and look at my pic

 

[johngt]

Also, while Le Mans 24hr is one of the greatest automotive spectacles it's very hard to represent in a driving game the challenge of the event. It needs huge grids (40 or more so that the race doesn't get lonely), multi-class racing, unexpected technical problems, car-conservation to prevent problems, long pit-stop with extended services, etc. Le Mans 24hr is an adventure with unexpected events where the car is the real star, not just a really long predictable race, and the game should convey this feeling. In my opinion, the two big franchises do a really bad job of representing this race and so I don't mind that Shift 2 doesn't have this track since it isn't able to represent the track in all it's glory either...

I live in hope of someone doing a proper Le Mans game for the current generation of consoles.

 

[C6.R]

Spa francorchamps an amazing track with unmatched shapes , straights and turn an very much history

Road America super straights with unbeliveble speeds and just before turn 3 a super scary brake point.
love Kink it's a real good feeling to nail that turn.

Miami scary as hell , but super fun

Riviera I hate it , it's to narrow , stupid corners , just stupid

 

[bmwisme]

Riviera I hate it , it's to narrow , stupid corners , just stupid

Wrong thread, your Riviera track comment should be on the "Stupid Tracks" thread

 

[amar212]

Shift 2 have the best rooster of real-life tracks on consoles. Only game that surpases it is original TOCA Race Driver series, especially TRD3. But those were different times.

However, real-life tracks are not my favorite. In my book, Shift 2 shines with city-tracks. Every city have great tracks that are so beautifully designed and challenging.