Heya all track builders! In my spare time this winter break I decided to learn how to build tracks for Automation. This is my first attempt and I’m looking for some constructive criticism and feedback.
One thing in particular I’m not too happy about is how the car breaks suddenly on the corners that tighten (see red circles below). It is just unrealistically abrupt. How do I get around this and make corners that progressively get tighter and retain a realistic feel of the car? Do I just make more and progressively tighter segments to smooth it out?
Here are the actual segments:
Cake1.zip (916.8 KB)
Thanks all for any and all feedback/critique! 
7 Likes
Got to say, your first track is looking awesome. It looks like it has a bit of everything; shades of Shanghai in the first and last complexes, a bit of Silverstone in there too, and what looks like the silhouette of Laguna Seca in the top right.
There doesn’t seem to be any elevation change though, and it’s an unusually short run at 3.1km, but that’s compared to tracks that host Formula 1 races (before 2020 anyway, looking at you Bahrain outer track), so unless that is your aim I think it should be fine the length it is.
In regards to the unusual lines the AI takes, I think I’ve got an idea.
I looked at your track in TrackEdit, and your diagram of the position of the oddities line up with the divider lines that define each segment. This leads me to believe that the track AI calculates the ideal path for each segment as opposed to the track as a whole, leading to sub-optimal performance as a whole on tracks with variable-radius corners. You may need to subdivide those problem corners into more detailed segments to iron out the AI’s behaviour when faced with non-fixed radius corners. I’m not an expert though, so take that with a pinch of salt.
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Thanks for the kind words!
It is a bit short indeed, but that can be changed easily. I wasn’t really going for an F1 circuit though, just some local tarmac for open track days. The layout is just me doodling and fiddling in CorelDraw, so I appreciate that you like it. I wanted to keep it simple for my first try and didn’t add elevations or cambered corners, but I might still add those to this track.
Your thoughts are the same as mine regarding those tightening turns. For my next attempt I’ll break up complex corners into more segments and hope that the AI adjust speed more gradually, rather than slam on the breaks mid-corner :).
EDIT: Just had a small chat with @Der_Bayer on Discord. His response:
You are defining the driving line, not the track center line, so you need to model gradually decreasing radii to smoothen it out.
The driver only does a little bit of smoothing
what software did you use to create it? Especially the background and such. Track edit?
Nope, the track was made in Corel Draw. First I made the track itself with lines and arcs, then calculated the lengths/radiuses/angles from there and made the LUA manually. When I was satisfied that it all worked, I went back to Corel Draw and made it look pretty.
2 Likes
Oh, manually?
I made the background for one of my tracks with inkscape and then made the segments with track edit. It was some guesstimating and trial and error, but it worked out in the end. In track edit you can split segments, so that should help you smooth the corners out. I also put the track line in as a racing line, i.e. not always in the center of the track.
But the layout looks interesting 
Maybe another, longer straight could add another overtaking opportunity except for T1
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Maybe another, longer straight could add another overtaking opportunity except for T1