Want more? Vaporisor's summer tracks for the Gymkhana #9 Focus!

Good day all!

I have made comment to these in other sections, but feel this is a better way to share with you all! The Gymkhana 9 is a more specialty car and am sure others would like to make more use of it. So I would like to share my custom routes for the gymkhana #9 focus!

Both tracks have start points near by eachother, so can be done relatively quickly with track times in under five minutes. Both tracks were made to make use of the Gymkhana 9 and the testing was done with the stock unmodified and default tuning so they are more than able to be used in an as is fashion. Feel free and please post any feedback you have or questions. I always have an ear open. If anybody is looking to get into route creation and would like advice or is wondering ways to improve their routes/having drivertar issues, be sure to ask. My ear and inbox is always open. I may not respond right away, but if I see it, I will certainly try to help!

Event number 1:

The first track I recommend is “Block around the Rock” which starts in the Quarry Cross Country Circuit, found in the quarry.

The concept of this track is to bring the showmanship of Gymkhana and hooniganism with a race. The Quarry layout gives a good mix of quick acceleration and deceleleration without lots of wobbling in the layout. This allows for more flicking and sliding for the turns. The night time staging of the event offers racers a unique view of the quarry with all the sodium lights light up and good shots of the cliff face, finishing with the longer straight down the mid level path past the lit up cut.

Event number 2:

“Just a Block in the Woods” starting in Derwent Reservoir Trail. North of the dam, west side of the river

This one is about bringing out the S1 rally side of the Focus. It opens with a midly wet course and winds its way through the forest. As it works its way out, it eventually opens up through the fields and ending when it reaches flat farmland. Notable visual of this track is the gradual transition out of the woodlands. It isn’t immediate, but just progresses as you go along the course. This keeps it visually fresh as well as providing a slow transition from sliding and tail flicking muddy corners into higher speed dry gravel without upsetting your rhythm.

Bonus event!

“Fighting the Urban Sprawl” starting Greendale Super Sprint. Road course north of the main road in Edinburgh

Bonus track. This one was made to capture Hooniganism, but was not quite right for the #9 Gymkhana due to it’s default rally tune. However, it is make for those that like to slide and leave smoke. The custom car selection as such is open to all the drift and hoonigan cars. Just swap out them dirt tires for a bit of grip. One notable feature is making use of one of Edinburgh’s X intersections. At first glance on the map, it might seem as though their is route interference or it could be a crossover, however they are both turns through the turn with intuitive lines that will keep you heading the right direction. Careful when it is tight, enjoy when it is wide and let er slide!

If people are enjoying these, let me know. I can put together and share a library of my existing routes and continue sharing!

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Nice little track you’ve got there. Pretty evil as well, took me 4 runs to actually beat AI on it (yeah, yeah, I’m not very good at it).

Also a pleasure to see user-made track which is difficult but AI still manages to pass checkpoints flawlessly and consistently over multiple runs. I don’t think any of the winners I played as part of seasonal can claim that, so kudos! I really enjoyed my runs.

Now, to a bit of critique (eh, not much of critique really, just observations):

You made this track for a route contest, which assumes that if you win thousands over thousands of players will be racing on it. And most of us are not really good racers (doh, sorry for the obvious) so it might be just a bit too difficult, you know? It’s a really short track but it’s full of surprises. I think I only managed to take the first hairpin without running a mile wide on third lap, and on first I just slid down the slope so far, that it took me almost a lap to catch up with AI. Then just once you catch your breath from it, on the way down there’s a treacherous column that’s soooo easy to hit heads on if you are a bit optimistic about your speed (or just go sliding wider then needed). And if you manage to avoid it, taking the bump before the last turn at full throttle sends you straight past the checkpoint.

I can imaging a not-very-skilled player biting his controller in anger by lap 3. Or hitting rewind like 20 times during the race. Either of which is not really a desirable outcome.

I’m not saying these tracks must be too easy, but just a bit more forgiving might make it far more attractive to wider audiences.

And as a side note:

I’d recommend updating your first post with picture of the map location for the track. Really, a lot of people wouldn’t quite know how to locate Quarry Cross Country Circuit right away and won’t even bother trying. And add instructions on how to find this particular track from blueprints (which is either by your gamertag as author, or by searching for “Rock” in title.

This would help locating your stuff, which I guess wouldn’t hurt, would it?

I’ll have a look at Block in the Woods tomorrow probably.

Ah, nice track! Flows very well, turns are nice and not teeth grinding but won’t let you relax. All around pleasant race.

Good layout, nice scenery, high speed. And a lot of focus! :slight_smile:

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Wow! Love the screenshot!

Did you know that in the news and events there are contests for in game photography? Nice prizes too. You should check it out if you haven’t!

https://forums.forza.net/turn10_postst148494_Forza-Horizon-4-Photo-Contest---photocomp16--ALWAYS-NOTE-NEW-RULES-AND-PRIZES.aspx

Also, thanks for the idea with the thumbnails, Definitely will make things easier to find! Just glad that we have a search feature for blueprints.

The problem areas you mention for the circuit were ones I was wondering about as well. I was juggling the visual impact vs the needing to memorize. The decision to leave in that point was that the drivertars seemed to take it consistently. The pass along the cliff wall as well as the drive through the ruins where the focal points I wanted to build the course around. I wasn’t really satisfied with the other potential options I was finding to combine the two while keeping it a short circuit gymkhana course vibe.

However, it is interesting you bring up difficulty of the track and it is a good point for consideration during route creation. Before I ever place a checkpoint, the challenge of the track is one thing I that does have to be considered. What target am I going for? A casual fun race, or something more intermediate/advanced? Perhaps want to do a high technical challenge autocross type circuit around the terrain?

This is just as important to me for making an entertaining race as the cars and the theme that I am going for. A track that is fun and exciting on one might be tedious with another car. The wrong class might break the AI as the route they read vs the cars they drive simply are not compatible. X class hypercars racing on the Titan in a winter blizzard for example! That is a bit extreme, but it is humorous to watch the Drivertars. A more serious example is say a dirt race on some of the tertiary grid roads through the woodlands. Class B cars and such can make use of the narrow roads without being frustrating, but extreme offroads or pickups like the Rams might start to feel claustrophobic just to to the massiveness of the trucks. S2 supercars in Ambleside Village Circuit might be novel, but does that offer anything fun vs say track toys of modern sports cars? Does it capture what that car is about?

In this case, it was requested specifically for S1 tracks in summer for the #9 Focus. These cars by default are pretty extreme with loud stylings and loud engines, geared for just that low speed grunt. This makes them a bit tricky for novices to handle and people that want to be showy tend to be also more comfortable and familiar with racing games. That led me to the decision to make tracks with a bit of complexity to them since that would fit the car more. Of note, the default gearing on the car. It will run out of gear long before it runs out of power, so in that respect it also isnt suited to smoother, high speed tracks. With these considerations, I decided the best direction for tracks using this car would be the combination of hairpins and sweeping turns with wider checkpoints to allow run out space. It is also why while I did ponder the problem spots you mentioned, I felt that when combined with the target group for the cars that the bit of learning curve wouldn’t detract from their experience.

Now I didn’t actually look close at the car, I just assumed it was a generic hooning car for drifting, etc. So I set about a track that could capture the S1 and hooning. The bonus track was actually the first of the three I made. So I made the route and then I discovered that it was a rally car XD! So the car in it’s default theme wasnt captured in the race and would need tuning to be competitive. The quarry one had about three versions and is a good example of the testing and observation. I will run a couple races slow so I can be behind the drivertars and see what they are doing. The first was rejected because what I felt was a good route was actually unable to be ran at race speeds. The checkpoint and routing is done at slower speeds so what might seem fine during route placement is just not possible to predict without memorization and causes overshot. Second rejected because I noticed that there were checkpoints after the hill that were being overshot by the drivertars due to taking air. Third version wasn’t just the third version. While I was comfortable with the route, checkpoints that were difficult to read or would improperly guide through a turn meant it was redone multiple times.

The autumn courses has one that is much more forgiving. With C class rally cars, it give opportunity to make routes that the other vehicles or more tuned ones cannot use. There are all sorts of side roads in the map that a person just would never drive on with fast cars and following the auto routing. So these make for fun beginner routes with forgiving cars and seemingly technical tracks, but forgiving that missing the line will not lose the game. The difficulty set more by whatever difficulty the drivertar is at. But it also can then make use of complex routes to create an autocross style race. So for that season, I got one that is a fun drive through country roads, and another that is a challenging technical. Exact same cars, but very different experiences.

So I will have two nice beginner tracks that I will post over next couple weeks. One is that country rally. I really love it and the drivertars are just visually fantastic. They run nice and close at a solid pace. My favorite is when not in the lead and watching as their suspensions unload over hills or just momentarily taking air! The other beginner one will be a winter buggies course. It is able to meet performance ranged from the bottom of C where I tested, up through A. Higher than A will be too much for it.

Yeah, I do, I just don’t feel I’m on the level with competition there :slight_smile:

I’ll stick with liveries for time being, same livery style as on screenshot (on a different car though) has just won one :stuck_out_tongue:

Now, that’s obviously for the creator to decide. But, what I picked up while running it, is it’s short (so very intense) and doesn’t leave you time to catch a breath. Track only has 11 turns with 3 being seriously challenging, over a course of a minute. Might be a bit too dense for “mass market”? 2 challenging areas for perfection?

But that’s really a fine (very fine) tuning, track is very nice. The fact you’re testing them that thoroughly tells a lot.

Really? That’s my go-to car for freeroam. It racks up skill points like crazy, with 7x multiplier and its sideways nature. I’m pretty sure I used it more than any other car in the game overall (I don’t usually race in it though).

Ah, lookging forward to!

The easier it is to find something, the better.

For example, you have the list of these tracks in your signature, but it’s not a link so it’s kinda useless. Think of you average layman seeing that sig - what’s he’s gonna do with it? Remember the name of the track and go looking for it in game? Too many iterations in between.

I’d say create a thread here that will be a house of all your routes you want to share (including those that won in the first contest, bonus ones and so on). Then have a thread for individual sets like this one, and link to them in your main thread with preview snippet. And have a link to the gallery in your sig so that someone can click and see all if it together.

I say earlier that “Just a Block in the Woods” have few checkpoint placements that could be bit better (sidenote these are something that many may not notice and are really not big issue or maybe not issue at all just something that i notice in first run)
first, 57% mark by leaving track and driving between two trees get mutch better driving line in upcoming corner than sticking on the road.
Right after that at 60-62% mark those corners can drive almost full throttle over 200km/h, imo would be better if checkpoint placement makes you take those corner at slower.
And at the end i like more checkpoint placement that game orginal route have in that place (lakehurst forest trail) but other than that it’s awesome route that is really fun to drive.

Oooh, see what you mean. Now that I have seen, I cannot unsee!

Think that was the first point you mentioned. Absolutely right. That checkpoint right after would have worked better just moved back to these trees.

The second set? Aaah. Yeah. With the right line, you can. But it does take some serious nerves and a great level of skill. More of a reward for being a better driver than I! I kept messing it up trying to do it. Would take some practice I think for me to find the line you see and to do it consistently :x

Though that sort of pushing made me also find the flaws in the latter half on the dry gravel. Is a bit too open, can really fly off the course or wide turn without worry and does lower the attention to the technical driving aspect.

Block Around the Rock takes a few laps to learn, after that it’s plenty fun. Using the banking at the top of the ramp before in last sharp right is essential to a good lap.

Yeah in that first point checkpoint placement would be perfect if it be back of those trees, but also that is something that is really to go unnotice.

I made video abaout that second point, i didint nailed it very good but you can get to point of that line and there would be better if that last checkpoint would be little bit earlier (also my love in rivals mode is teach to me checkpoint flags are just something that need to hit only tiny bit :smiley: )

That quarry circuit is really nice circuit to get some skill points while racing, and i found little ken block inside of me while i drive that circuit

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This is the replay of 3 good laps, last one was the best I’ve managed. If you want to edit the circuit based on the lines I took to make it slower or faster… I think I optimized it as it is. TBH it confused the heck out of me the first time around, I barely made it into 1st place in the final lap. After refining my tune (40% drive bias is better than 60%) and some practice, I found the rhythm. Then I closed the game, opened it and hour later and couldn’t find it again. Typical.

Wow V12 SprungBoss, you are seriously good at finding lines! I try that cut your way, and I don’t know how you tuned or just really good with control, but I usually side out, miss a checkpoint or in general end up worse off than not trying ^.^

My runs were always similar to GreatFlea’s in terms of routing for the quarry, but is really cool that you both posted videos of that. I won’t be redoing the existing route at this time, but it definitely shows me areas of consideration for future routes. There is a way to save over the routes so will be able to update it in the future. The two big ones that are more visible now are that drop hairpin by the pit, and the uphill section. The uphill was one that gave me trouble, repositioning it a bit can help make it a bit less clunky.

That uphill drift SpringBoss? Was awesome. Really saw how I could do it a bit different from that view. Bring down the one on the slope a bit lower, than the one after the top could move a bit wider and earlier into the corner so people can ride the slope a bit more like GreatFlea did vs fighting the jump but still keep the different lines. It is the balance I am still trying to work with for frequency of checkpoints to still give a clear course without checkpoint overload.

I admit that cut is not easiest thing to do and it’s really easy to mess up, in very first run i cut there all ready but not nearly as mutch than that video.

Now when you say, i actually miss few times checkpoint in that downhill corner while drifting. because then would need use right stick to look where checkpoint is other wise it’s impossible to see (but isnt this racing game and not drift simulator?) Do you have yourself record when driving these, because that is one what can help to see track in different perspective than when making route or driving.

I record my hotlap also, it’s still far from perfect and i got 54,6 and i use almost same line than greatflea my driving just dont look so calm (or at least in my eyes it dont look so calm)

I see time in that lap too.

I wouldn’t call my driving calm. I’m constantly trying to exploit all 4 tires to the fullest possible effect and tuning to facilitate that. When I feel like I’m on the edge of ultimate possibility most of of the time, line included, I start to relax a little. My intuition doesn’t fit within Forza very well, otherwise I might be calm.

Forza has a thing about “seeming in control” that I detest; that feeling is what causes people to “lose control” IRL, often resulting in crashes. I’ve watched it happen too many times. Not to mention the offroad terrain is chaos incarnate–every car bounces and loses steering/grip over it for no obvious reason. I’ve never seen a racing game/sim fight itself at every turn like FH4.