Why Do Sim Racers Love Spa Francorchamps? | FHES
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- čas přidán 26. 08. 2024
- If you asked 10 sim racers to name their favourite circuit in the world, 7 of them would probably name Spa Francorchamps.
You can catch the next round of the Ferrari Hublot Esports Series Pro Championship from Spa this Sunday. I'll be doing my best to keep the Ferrari 488 Challenge Evo on the Assetto Corsa grey stuff whilst hanging on to some of the fastest drivers in sim racing.
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Everyone goes on and on about Spar, but I always preferred the Co Op
Magic!
That's a good one mate :)
a good one indeed
I´m more of a Konsum guy myself ... Spar is way too pricey :P
Jk off/
Sairr ! With all due respect, Spa sucks .
I´d rather go Brands Hatch .
na m8 Tesco is the best innit
btw I get the joke I’m not being serious
Short answer: because it’s a good flowing track
Fun fact: the bus stop used to be an actual bus stop. First time I visited the track (somewhere in the mid 90’s) was on a school trip and our bus stopped right there.
The more you know
Obviously. Why wouldnt it
Spa is a bit of everything - great for both hotlapping and endurance, aero-dependent high speed curves and tight turns, flat areas and Eau Rouge/Raidillion climb, slipstreaming-aided overtakes and wheel-to-wheel action in the second sector - all surrounded by enough run-off area to encourage brave driving.
For sure. Though they're taking a lot of that run-off away this year, so it'll be interesting to see how that impacts the racing.
@@ChrisHaye Yes, they going to replace lot's of the run off with gravel to host MotoGP in 2022 I think...
Fun for everyone
Chris Haye: "Nordschleife sounds like it's made up."
**Jimmy_Broadbent has joined the chat**
Its challenging and relaxing at the same time. Same goes for LeMans in endurance events. The straights are great to have a sip or just relax for a few seconds. And then u have Porsche curves for example for the fun and challenging part.
Yeah, that's a good shout.
The le mans circuit could use some flow tho. Those straights are straighter than a straight guy. And I hate that there's no elevation change, elevation change can change the flow a lot
Also a big overtaking oportunity on the straight.
Sarthe is a bit boring. At least Spa offers some corners. I do understand the appeal.
I'd say that Spa is the perfect mix between ridiculously fast and techical as well. I use Spa as a "benchmark circuit" (I know it's a weird word) to sharpen my understanding of the car to elevation changes and general behaviour of the car.
It's definitely the circuit that best exposes when something's not quite right with the aero setup (usually ride height and stiffness). Unfortunately it exposes this by catapulting you into the barrier at Radilon!
@@ChrisHaye 100% Agreed!
I use spa as well as monza for setups and checking stability
Honestly, I feel like Bathurst is soooo underrated. It’s such a good track with super challenging sections (the dipper, the entry to the chase, etc), along with some great overtaking opportunities as well (the chase, on the exit of hell’s corner, etc). Too bad it doesn’t get as much love and attention as it should.
I agree - like Spa, it has elevation changes, which for me are what make circuits interesting.
At least in acc the love from most ppl for Bathurst is massive. Maybe it’s because since it’s introduction it’s the first punishing Track with walls instead of run off areas in the game and people compensate for the lack of nordschleife and Macau with Bathurst.
I also love the mountain part and the rest is also fine but not as good as a whole flow like spa
Throw Suzuka in there too. Absolutely mega track.
@@oliverb92 Bathurst has lots of runoff areas though - only the top of the mountain part has walls.
@@darthaustralis6129 I think Suzuka is OK. Objectively, it's got some great features, but I don't enjoy driving it nearly as much as Spa or Bathurst.
It has what that modern tracks hasn't:
ELEVATION CHANGING
Except Portimao. God I love Portimao
@@dani02_mmd Indeed I love it too! I was just refearing to Tilke copy-and-paste circuits and at the general tendence for the quite illusive sake of safety that we only littlerally "flat" and boring tracks nowadays.
Did you like the f1 race?
@@RodrigoroRex good race imo. Maybe didn’t have the chaos to make it incredible, but the overtaking is there. I just love the track because of the elevations though, I don’t mind boring races if the track is really special. IMO Monaco should stay on the calendar forever
@@dani02_mmd You're like me
Haven’t watched the video yet and it already wants to make me drive GT3’s at spa online on Assetto
I mean, that's a pretty rare combination XD
“Every game has a version of spa”
*Project Cars 3 had entered the chat
We don't speak about Project Cars 3
That game (PCARS 3) is a blight upon racers.
I like the straight bits, and I like the corners!
Hard to disagree! ;)
I love the circuit but I am NOT a fan on that last piff-paff bus stop chicane to finish the lap, ruins the flow of the lap. Though I must admit it is good for overtaking :D
agreed. plus, the exit is an absolute pain, no matter the car
True. They could add 2 180 turns, curvy ones. Would keep the spa flow and it's still a heavy breaking zone
The old Bus Stop complex was much better.
"The jurassic system" lol
I bought the original F1 on the PS1, early 1997, popped the disc in the machine and fired the game up. The first track I put on was Spa on time trial. Since then it's become a ritual. I do this with every racing game I've ever bought that has Spa included in the track list.
It's the best track. I do miss the old bus-stop, though.
My favourite track always used to be spa but it has been dethroned by Imola, love that circuit
My two go to tracks for car testing are Imola and the Nordschleife.
Hey. My name is will, I loved spa the most first, and then it was dethroned by imola as well. Must be common
@@corlettw what can i say must be good taste
It's the elevation changes that make it such a good and challenging circuit. The same goes for the Nordschleife and Bathurst. It's why no-one gets misty-eyed over a Tilke-drome. If you can include some notable elevation changes, you are halfway there to a top race track.
The track doesn’t feel very long, there are no corners that I actively dislike, the track has great elevation changes, and it is a picturesque location.
It also has a special place personally because my great-grandfather fought with the Allies mere miles away. I love this track. And I can’t see my future life without competing there at least once.
It's the history and the mystique of 24 hours of spa. Also, eau rouge and radillon make us cry tears of happiness.
If you want some more data, in 2020 Season 3 for iRacing, Spa is the most popular road track with 138,556 unique drivers racing there. Watkins Glen is second at 111,821, and Road America just shy at third at 111,452.
Some food for thought.
Spa is just simply the best track ever. It is aesthetically beautiful, fast in parts, technical in others, rewarding when you get it right, and punishing when you get it wrong.
6:07 Idk man, Silverstone might give Spa a run for its money...
Great video as always
Silverstone wins easy. Spa “only” has Spa. Silverstone has 3-5 lay-outs on most games that have the track. Love Spa beter do! For me it’s 1. Spa 2. Suzuka 3. Zandvoort. Suzuka and Zandvoort have nee designed by the same man. And all 3 of them follow nature and the natural flow.
@@nocompromesso Zandvoort is phenomenal, I've put a lot of time into the new 2020 version in rF2 and it's soooo fun
Random note, not sure how much work it was to fade out/overlap the exhaust audio as you started talking at 6:33 but I really like and appreciate that attention to detail. Please keep up the hard work!
Those uphill sweeping corners are too fun!
I will equate your story telling to Spa itself. You know exactly what you're getting yourself into, but it's still awesome every time. Great share, Chris. Thanks!
Haha, thanks Ed. I thought you were going to say 'long and meandering' :D
@@ChrisHaye LOLz.... I wish I had thought of that. ;)
This was a risky video. I’m glad it worked out! A lot of people could’ve disagreed but man you did it.
Spa is Europe's Laguna Seca, both of which are my favorite tracks for the exact same reasons you listed; flow, elevation and history..
Something which somes it up well when the Grand Prix was here the atmosphere was so good I forgot there wasn’t fans
I'm knew to sim racing so the reason I gravitate towards it is everyone races on it and it seems to have all the challenges of a goods track but not as hard to memorize and the random weather makes you feel like a real driver plus spa 24 is this weekend and how infamous is that. And when elevation changes are done right it makes it more immersive for plaay
Yeah, can't wait for the Spa 24. I got to attend in person last year, a real highlight!
@@ChrisHaye Brave with that heatwave and torrential rain, I was planning to go but I was like “No thanks!”
Spa is such a good track it's possible to do the same number of laps in practice without getting tired or bored as you would any other track despite the fact that each lap is quite a big chunk longer, maybe partly because its a bit of a novelty having a significantly longer than average track; while avoiding becoming monstrously large like the Nordschliefe, even in slower cars it can be fun.
Btw nice one on the audio, bass was overpowering on the last vid of yours I watched but it's perfect again now. I guess it was just setup niggles from the office move ^_^
It flows great, feature high speed corners, aero dependent parts, technical corners that don't feel like they are afterthought, nice mid speed flowing curves, track itself is wide, there is lot of run off and even after restrictin it a lot in near future it will still not feel "claustrophobic". Spa and Algavre/Portimao are my favourite circuits in simracing as they allow great racing for both fastest cars in the worlld and old shitboxes.
(In relation to the most recent video) This kind of thing is my favorite CZcams video. Video essays on interesting topics just tickle my fancy in a way no other genre of CZcams video do.
Love your videos Chris, consistently killing it!!
It flows well, it doesn't try to be technical for the sake of being technical, fits well into it's enviroment, has forest sections, is fast, the geography makes weather interesting and has corners were having ballocks counts............
......do you need more reasons?😉😋
Heh, I think you TL:DRd the video there :D
@@ChrisHaye 😁 Great minds do think alike......or maybe we're just equally bonkers about racing. 😉
As David Hobbs used to say, "you feel like you're goin' somewhere."
Spa Francorchamps is a fantastic track. Similar to Monza it is a very fast track and not as difficult as most on the GP circuit.
It's got a nice mix of elevation changes, technical bits, sections where you're pushing both the engine and driver to their limits. That's what sorely lacking in modern day "Tilkedrome" populated racing series.
Because it's a beautiful track in a beautiful location. It's good to see you're still at it. I've seen a few sim racing content creators get burned out. I myself stopped racing due to Frustration and disappointment but I'm slowly getting back into it. Anyway I hope all is well with you and the family and keep up the great content.
More subs than gamer muscle already 🤣
He makes a better cuppa though!
🤣
Not just Spa. It has to be specifically GT3@Spa. Some say all other classes are banned from driving there in sim racing.
It's a reasonably long track, it has good elevation change and corners, and its in a forested area,
If a race track is in a forested and hilly location it nearly automatically makes it great
I LOVE Spa. I also love Brands Hatch, Silverstone and Laguna Seca
I love the 1966 Spa! Hopefully we'll have a spanking new one for rF2 soon. Thanks Chris, great video.
My all-time favs:
1. Nordschleife
2. Spa
3. Laguna Seca
Spar is such a good high speed flowing track. Shame I'm really bad on high speed flowing tracks
3:11 Petition to replace the Imperial system with the Jurassic system
Nice video, now I am going to race SPA in ACC :).
I like the elevation changes
Spa is one of my favs (very good for pure racing, such a good racing flow) but when it comes to crazy shenanigans the Nordschleife will always be my number 1😅😎
Yes, it flows great, etc. etc., but for me the main reason is simply that it is beautiful. The Eau Rouge/Radillon combo has no competition in the world of racing.
I think i may adopt the Jurassic scale in my life....
Nice video as always. Note, the overhead shots seem to skip quit a bit... ?? Spa is a favorite but it ranks among Mugello, Silverstone, Laguna and Imola. Those are more or less tied :)
Drivers love it too. As for me I love tracks that have a long enough straight for me to be able to reach over and have a decent sized swig of beer.
simple answer: its fun
my fav nurburgring (f1 config) and spa
Because RAIDILLION shenanigans!
Always full throttle onto a wall!
Oh lord, now I'm awfully tempted to send this to some of my mates 🤣.
They absolutely hate Spa (mainly because they got punted off to Narnia many times, during a 24 hour event on Iracing)
im new to sim racing and i dont know what most of this video said nor most of the comments are talking about, but spa for me was a nice track to learn how to drive a sim racing car and start doing hotlaps 🙂
My love for Spa (track and 24h) started with the GTR 2 trailer.
Love ur videos und ur crispy clear audio keep it up bro
the most beautiful circuit imo
The atmosphere at Spa in real life is something else no other place like it.
In the sims its mega too..got such a great flow. Shame about the bus stop chicane I wish it was a bit faster.
Every time someone mentions spa I think that overtake from 2000 where Häkkinen took the lead from Schumacher
Screw it. I’ll take one for the team and do one about the Nordschleife 😅
Can't wait for Spa on AMS2...
Spa is definitely in the top 10 but the Ring will always be my number one. If a sim does not have the Green Hell, it does not get my money.
I only remember Spa from a mobile racing game (💀) which was Real Racing 3. I think one of the best parts was Raidillon.
Cinematography is good in this one 👍
Also:
_If you asked 10 sim racers to name their favourite circuit in the world, 7 of them would probably name Spa Francorchamps._
Sounds like you need to do a poll.
Definitely not my favorite track, but it is pretty incredible how much rest I can get in between the corners, and that's pretty awesome.
Love Spa ánd Nordschleife, Zandvoort... and..and... oh nevermind, i just love simracing. It's made so easy to jump from one track on this side of the world, to the complete other side of the world, do a few laps and be back in time for supper. Since nobody invented the teleporter yet, i guess simracing is the closest way we can get our kicks.
About Spa: The only thing i despise, is the last chicane of Spa. I mean, it's doable, but to me it seems to break my flow. I loved the old versionof the busstop, especially splicing through the last chicane as you poot your foot down coming out of busstop, but somehow that busstop being in reverse, or the overexaggerating of that previous last chicane into this monstrocity still feels off.
Anyways.. Last week you had a question of where to improve, i couldn't see many points as the car is quite heavy. But how about setting your car up to drive and practice with full fuel first. Alot of people keep forgetting how a car is with full fuel, they concentrate so much on qualifying, whereas the race is at least twice as long usually where you have to manage your tires, it will take them about 5 laps to get the feel for full fuel, so if you've already practiced this ALOT, you know the car better and that's where you can claw your way up the field a bit more. A qualypace is indeed important, but getting your racepace upto spec sooner than the others is half the battle. After that consistancy is the key to racing, staying out of trouble is always the hardest thing when driving near the limit. A few fake overtakes will make your opponent want to brake later, thus scraping his tires a bit more and a few laps later he'll probably have burned them up in trying to stay infront of you.
Spa is still on my bucketlist irl... i've clocked 8 hrs on Zandvoort and 10 laps on Nordschleife and loved it quite alot. But there's that financial matter that keeps acting up, especially when upgrading ones simrig and such. (Looking forwards to receiving the Obutto Revolution in a couple of weeks time)
Love yer reviews, keep 'm coming!
Bathurst is uppy downy in person too.
It's all about the elevation changes - that's what makes Spa such a great circuit.
Because Spa is just FUCKING AWESOME!!!!!!
Bathurst for me
hehe funni hill go brrrr was at least a few peoples thoughts at spa
Great video can't agree with you more
Great track it has a great history 👍
ITS THE LAW
Wait, what's a meter? Oh brontosaurus's! Now I understand. Thanks for explaining meters to me by comparing it to something I actually understand. It's just what I needed.
If I could get a coin for each time I have rammed to wall at Raidillion on sim, when tuning aero...
spa is a template track to setup a car
Truly love when I qualify on front row in a open lobby of spa in AC and get immediately destroyed in T1. No different to the master piece of Monza T1
I guess I'm the exception as my favourite is Circuit de la Sarthe.
Think you should consider building a booth in your new echo chamber.
Will we see a full tour of your new office ? 🤩
So I prefer the old version of Spa but that's because I started with Grand Prix Legends. Suzuka is a better circuit for modern day stuff and the Nordschleife is far better if you can be arsed learning it.
I for some reason have never really learned to like Spa. It's in that awkward "eh, fine I guess" sort of grey area for me. It looks nice and it's not exactly bad, but for some reason I feel like I can never fully figure it out and push myself to the limit on it. I always find myself nervously holding back and hesitating, resulting in bad lap times (I consistently get low to mid 2.24's on ACC with GT3 cars on the baseline setup). Conversely, I usually find myself loving circuits that everyone else seems to hate or dislike and being moderately competitive on those. For example, Brands Hatch, Interlagos, Zolder and Hungaroring are some of my favorite circuits. Do I have bad taste, or do I just suck at driving?
LOL... Spa is my favorite! :)
it a very nice circuit , high speed , but i relly dont like the bus stop chicane, i would prefer it if it was like the cnada last corner chicane ,narrower and more fast it would be better for the flow of the circuit
Then you go to Spa 24h four in the morning and spend the day walking around the track and your'e in love. Sadly one of the tracks I am slowest at.
because people can feel fancy when saying "Eau rouge"
01:52 Ciao Ciao Ferrari
All the versions of Spa
Classical, The one from 2004 (after classical) and the current
It's not Spa if we haven't Raidillon-Eau Rouge
Dont like this track with GT3’s or something like those but i like it with high downforce cars
Because it's one of the best circuits in the world probably why.
7 out of 10 , not having that it's always 8 out 10 that's the format !
Hi I’m new and I love your video
It's a good track. But I'm sick to death of it being the only populated track outside Iracing!
Why? Hugenholtz - a man who knew how to design circuts. He understood increasing radius. as well as decreasing radius turns. All his tracks FLOW .
I mean it is just inferior to the (definitely not made up ;)) Nordschleife, but Spa has to be a solid second. Many many different kinds of races and cars have been and will be racing there, on a very iconic track layout. What's not to love?
My favourite circuit is the Nordschleife no doubt