Rome Night Love

[jeffgoddin]

I've heard about it forever, and I may sound like a noob for saying this, but after MANY years of GT2, I think I've just raced Rome Night for the first time, and I'm in love! Such a technical course! It was the Micra Trophy unfortunately, so I didn't have the hp to fully exploit it, but I could tell that is was a great balance of managing a lot of mid speed corners and catching low speed sharp corners at max speed. And for all I know I ran it reverse...

Okay, so I've never cared about Arcade mode and have never even put the disk in the PS1, I've never gotten into the super license special event generator, and I'm not a Gamesharker, so the only way I'd ever meet the Rome Night course is in the manufacturers events, and somehow the first couple times I played through the game it just never came up.

So, anybody else want to chime in? Perhaps I'm just used to all the other courses, though reverses are usually still interesting, but it seemed like Rome Night was an especially interesting course.

Some of my other favorites at this point have been Grindelwald reverse (especially touge-like IMO) and apricot (rewards skillful driving more than other tracks I think), though I generally enjoy all the tracks.

 

[loulou221]

Rome Night is indeed a very interesting course, because it allows you to take different driving lines, even if it is very demanding. The end of the track is quite hard, because oversteer and understeer are increased.
Grindelwald reverse is my favorite track, because the downhill section is not too slow, but not too fast, so you can hear your cars revving high in second or third gear, it's really fun.

 

[skynyrd]

I always liked Rome Night, almost as much as Tahiti Road and Grindelwald. It's a real shame they barely used it.

 

[LeGeNd-1]

I loved Rome-Night too. It's a kind of replacement for SSR11 in GT2. Not that it could match the latter, but it's better than nothing. It's a shame there is no race that uses it except the random manufacturer events or event generator.

I wish PD would bring it back. The new Rome track in GT5 doesn't hold a candle to it.

 

[Parnelli Bone]

Not only is Rome Night a cool layout of streets, it actually looks a bit better than most tracks in GT2, night or day. Makes me wonder why it isn't featured more often outside of Arcade/manufacturer's/Event Generator modes.

GT4's Paris/George V has sort of the same feel as Rome Night (it's a night course with similar visuals...statues, sodium lights, etc) but hasn't got Rome Night's flow. In comparison, I remember I could drift alot of Rome Night's corners. Paris/George V has too much "stop/start" action, its streets are too narrow most of the time, which means it's hard to get any sort of a flow going.

 

[LeGeNd-1]

I've seen a youtube vid of George V, and it does seem like there's no flow to it at all. The corners are all 90 degrees, very narrow and the inside kerbs are way too high. Even by watching it I can tell it's not enjoyable to drive on. The only interesting corners is the HUGE roundabout that goes around the Arc de Triomphe.

Rome-Night is one of those city tracks that actually have a flow. You can connect one corner to that other, and navigating through them doesn't feel forced or unnatural. It feels like a well designed normal circuit, but with guardrails on its sides instead of grass/gravel traps. Monaco, Seattle, R246, Seoul, C/SSR5/11 and New York are some other 'flowy' city tracks. Hong Kong, Opera Paris, George V and Madrid are not.

 

[Parnelli Bone]

I've seen a youtube vid of George V, and it does seem like there's no flow to it at all. The corners are all 90 degrees, very narrow and the inside kerbs are way too high. Even by watching it I can tell it's not enjoyable to drive on. The only interesting corners is the HUGE roundabout that goes around the Arc de Triomphe.

Yes. This is the one area where somebody could possibly get a drift going, assuming they tweak their car up for drifting somehow. The rest of George V has me gritting my teeth!

 

[Mr. CoolFiat]

it's like some kind of street racer track, where you try to evade the cops or something due to those 90 degree turns

 

[Patruck GT2]

The main point of RN is its uphill-downhill sections. You feel the track isn't flat, and this makes any race more unpredictable, more enjoying.
Actually they only put it in the S license where you have to drive a 155TI in it (a good car-track match): one of the hardest ever license tests in the game. I used it to drift too, years ago: it was good for hybrids and for very tuned FR sport cars (C3 corvette, etc), as in the first right corners, with the right tyres, it was possible to perform very long drifts. The first section is the best for that.
It seems that the best city tracks in the whole series are the ones which aren't flat: Hong Kong is flat, Seoul is flat, Opera, Rome L/S and George V are flat. Seattle,Monaco, Tokyo and this aren't.

 

[Parnelli Bone]

^You forgot Citta d'Aria and Costa di Amalfi in your non-flat list.

Hong Kong wasn't a flat-elevation track, matter of fact it actually does rise quite a bit, to the point that one street actually bridges over another. I would say that Hong Kong wasn't necessarily as fun as Rome Night or Seattle.

I liked Hong Kong because it was scenic, but it wasn't very fun. Seoul? Meh. Never was crazy about Seoul. Opera/Paris was kind of fun to me, but a lot of gamers hated it. George V/Paris was the worst. No fun at all. Very challenging, though, and pretty.

I don't wanna spread rumors, but there's always the possibility that Rome Night (or other missing tracks) could re-appear in GT5's seaonal events. If this happened, it would be a temporary thing, unfortunately. I don't program, so I don't know if this could even be possible. I don't see why not, though.

 

[Pupik]

Rome Night is one of the best tracks in the game; a pity it isn't featured in any regularly-scheduled events. I recall that it can be part of the Event Generator.

RN combines elevation changes with blind corners, missing sight-lines, sweepers, and no two corners are alike. Definately a challenge, with a steep learning curve, but a rewarding one at that, since it has great rhythym when you string a few good laps together. My only gripe is that it is kind of narrow in places, but that is expected with street courses.

 

[LeGeNd-1]

I don't wanna spread rumors, but there's always the possibility that Rome Night (or other missing tracks) could re-appear in GT5's seaonal events. If this happened, it would be a temporary thing, unfortunately. I don't program, so I don't know if this could even be possible. I don't see why not, though.

Wouldn't be possible unless the track itself is already in the game. And somehow I doubt it is. If they make one for DLC though, I'd definitely grab it!

I agree with the above comments that elevation changes are a must for an enjoyable track. From GTPSP, I found out that Costa di Amalfi has the highest elevation change of any track (save for Nurburgring). Something like 200 metres difference betwen highest and lower point. Pretty crazy if you ask me.

 

[karelpipa]

Rome Night was my favorite track, pitty that PD completely forgot it. classic Rome was better than the GT5 version, althought i would like both in one game cause the new is not that bad.

btw Prague is not flat at all, i think it would be very nice new city circuit

 

[Parnelli Bone]

Rome Night was my favorite track, pitty that PD completely forgot it. classic Rome was better than the GT5 version, althought i would like both in one game cause the new is not that bad.

The new Rome track in GT5 is "okay" in my opinion. It's fun to drive really really fast, and it has flow, but it's not as challenging as any of the earlier Rome tracks. Not as many cornering areas.

It would be really cool if PD somehow combined the old Rome track from GT2/3 with the new one in GT5. Both tracks literally lie side by side, so both sets of streets could theoretically be combined. But it'll never happen. And of course, it would be great of Rome Night showed up again at some point.

 

[karelpipa]

i think, the new Rome should be perfect as Rome Short. Rome Night and original Rome Circuit missing in GT5..

 

[AMCNUT]

Rome night, as I recall, was a ton of fun when it came up in the Alfa 155/156 races. I had the Touring Car version and the power and high revs combined with the all-wheel drive made it a 🤬 of a ride! 👍

I bet the Calibra Touring car could rock that place as well.

 

[Rockspeny]

Rome Night rocked! Maybe one day we can have it in hidef courtesy of the DLC available in Gt5. I used to like it with the Skyline R30 silhouette, or Saleen Widebody, or Jag XJ15. Was a good flowing circuit with a challenging end, you felt good getting a fast lap in with no errors.

 

[Ravicale]

I never found Rome Night to be very difficult, but it is a bloody JOY TO DRIVE ON.

 

[ChaosweaveR]

I can't believe I forgot about this track. I remember doing a lot of races in Arcade Mode on it, but not a whole lot of events in Simulation mode. Very challenging track, I need to give it a go for old time's sake.

 

[Parnelli Bone]

I never found Rome Night to be very difficult, but it is a bloody JOY TO DRIVE ON.

This. It's such a fun track. I know it's been years since GT2 came out, but I still remember all of its turns. I remember taking like 3 turns in a row making really huge racing line arcs thru several turns, one right after the other. It's also just a good-looking environment. Shame it wasn't featured in the actual game very often.

 

[Ravicale]

This. It's such a fun track. I know it's been years since GT2 came out, but I still remember all of its turns. I remember taking like 3 turns in a row making really huge racing line arcs thru several turns, one right after the other. It's also just a good-looking environment. Shame it wasn't featured in the actual game very often.

I wished that they'd have this version of Rome in gt5 (not a fan of the normal and short versions), And while the new one is fun and all, its just too mind-numbingly simple.

 

[Lexijag]

I stumbled across it in a BMW dealer race. I was driving a 323ci at the time and remember having a right giggle. You could carry some real speed through the corners and really push the car.
The track had that “feel” that only GT2 could evoke as well...

 

[MoLiEG]

I never found Rome Night to be very difficult, but it is a bloody JOY TO DRIVE ON.

This 👍

Rome Night was just glorious...

 

[Patruck GT2]

That's the track with the strangest atmosphere in GT2... you feel you're the only man in a deserted city, it seems a sort of movie which takes place in the near future.

 

[GTRACER1998]

I love driving on Rome Night with the Ford GT90, very fun.

 

[PletdeKoe]

I recently fired up GT2 again I have to say my memory of this tracks was a bit better than the real thing. I guess I have to spend some more time on it to fully enjoy it again.

Going back to Midfield however is really bringing tears to my eyes. Hello my long lost darling...