Trackname: Charlotte 2013 SDT Night
Version: v 3.0
Date of creation: 22nd May 2013
Racing sim: NASCAR Racing 2003 Season
Author(s): Ian Smythe

Type: Real

AI: Yes

Physics support: CUP, GNS, CTS

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

[1a] FEATURES v3
[1b] FEATURES v2
[1c] FEATURES v1
[2]  IMPORTANT IMFORMATION
[3]  KNOWN ISSUES
[4]  TROUBLE REPORTING
[5]  CREDITS
[6]  AGREEMENT OF USE

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[1] FEATURES OF v3

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Converted to Day.
Extended Safer Barrier on exit of turn 4.
Made small adjustments to A.I.
Updated trioval logo's to match Allstar Race (move contents of Coke600 mips folder to main track folder to update track look to Coke 600 decals).

The rotating Scoring Tower and Videoscreen will now respect the "Animated Objects" setting in options and will either not display (scoring tower), or display static images (screen) if unticked, the videoscreen will as normal only work fully during the Race and will display a static image at all other times.

GNS AI changes:
The GNS Physics AI have been tuned to run with the Smiffsden Pickup Truck Racing UK (GNS) default carset at between 95 and 97%.

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[1] FEATURES OF v2

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The 2012 V1 track has been updated to include the Bank of America 500 grass logos and race length.
Other updates include small modifications to some graphics (some billboards have been updated
but not all), the pink start/finish logos have been added, video screen position adjusted
and the missing scoring tower installed.

There are several other small updates including geometry and AI modifications, but as usual a
lot of the updates are small but subtle and the details of which are long forgotten about.

If needed you can disable the big video screen and rotating scoring tower by copying the files
from the fps_saving folder to the track folder.

There is also an alternative but unused AI lp file for the AI racing, by renaming the file
minrace_ian.lp to minrace.lp you will find the "racing groove" for the AI is slightly wider
thus allowing for more 3 wide and crazy stuff, to uninstall, rename back to minrace_ian.lp

IMPORTANT IMFORMATION REGARDING THE A.I.: 
The A.I. have been modified slightly to avoid checkups into the corners and to merge into
the pits later, although our own personal carsets run fine at 97%, each carset is different
so we have also tested a selection of third party carsets to establish baseline recommendations:


2012 NWS Daytona Carset (for SimRacingDesign.com NWS11 mod using GNS physics) - 93% Opponent Strength.
http://www.simracingdesign.com/downloads/carsets/129/2012-nws-daytona-carset-2572/

2012 NNS Cup Schemes Carset (Cup cars on NWS11 models) - 95-98% Opponent Strength.
http://www.simracingdesign.com/downloads/carsets/129/2012-nns-cup-scheme-car-set-2521/
http://www.simracingdesign.com/downloads/carsets/129/2012-nns-cup-scheme-vol-2-expansion-2890/

2011 Whelen Southern Modified Tour Carset - 97-100% Opponent Strength.
http://bnr2k3tracks.runboard.com/t204

2012 N.C. Education Lottery 200 CWTS Carset - 100-102% Opponent Strength.
http://www.adeptmotorsports.com/index.php/camping-world-trucks/2012-n-c-education-lottery-200/

The above "Opponent Strength" values are recommended values based on the fact that you have not modified the ratings of the cars in the carset, i.e. download the carset, install it, race at recommended strength.
If you alter the car ratings, the results may be different to those desired.

Non rated carsets: see this page on how we rate our carsets.
http://www.smiffsden.com/nratings


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[1] FEATURES OF v1

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For 2012 we made some small but significant updates to our Charlotte_2011 track to
bring it as close to 2012 specifications as possible.  In addition, we have the
added  the legendary AI from J.R. Franklin. You'll have no problems getting into
this track and reliving the Sprint All-Star race or the Coca-Cola 600.  

The following is a list of updates since our Charlotte 2011:

    * Updated wall textures.
    * Updated infield logos.
    * Adjusted lighting and track shading.
    * Adjusted grooves to balance times closer.
    * Updated Backstretch Video Screen with action footage.
    * Adjusted PTA Physics AI for use with Indycar Racing mod.
    * Updated track banking geometry to better match the real track.

This track is intended to be used in SIM (SIMULATION) mode, it has not been tested
in ARCADE mode.

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[2] IMPORTANT IMFORMATION REGARDING THE A.I.:        

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The A.I. for this track were constructed using a default papy_ai.ini, the default
fast setups for each physics (CUP, GNS and CTS) and the opponent strength set at
97%. Ratings for the car sets used in testing and in developing the A.I. for this
track are from the NRatings program using the MasGrafx Full Season V3.1 formulas. We
went to great efforts to make the AI and racing as realistic as possible. At the
same time, we also took some liberties with the A.I. tools available in the
track.ini to enhance the "fun" factor. We're confident that you'll enjoy the offline
racing experience against the AI the way we have set them up for you. 

We also made an effort to get the A.I. to have an occasional random wreck that would
bring out some cautions to further enhance the realism.  In trying to achieve this,
we first went through the entire track and made sure that the proper surface
designations were in place to allow for cautions when wrecks and spinouts occur.  In
addition, we had to "push the envelope" a bit with the settings in the track.ini.
This required getting the A.I. to race a little tighter, change lanes and be a
little more aggressive.  As a result, the end user may experience an early wreck or
2 between the A.I. at the beginning of a race. This is because at the start of a
race, the pack is at its largest and tightest. Testing revealed that once a couple
of early wrecks occurred, then the A.I. seemed to settle down and spread out. 
However, once another random wreck occurred, the restart would re-tighten the pack
and as the saying goes....."Cautions can breed more cautions".  Kind of like real
life racing!

To enjoy the best results, we recommend that you use the default fast setups
provided with the track and car/truck sets containing ratings as described above.
Your results and A.I. behavior, however, may vary depending on the type of mod used,
the ratings of your specific car set, different setups used, driving style, skill
level and countless other variables that make it practically impossible to predict
the results that you will achieve while racing on this track.

We hope that you enjoy the racing experience!

J.R. Franklin

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[3] KNOWN ISSUES

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BIG SCREEN:
The big screen will only run during races. All other times it will only show a
static grey screen.

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[4] TROUBLE REPORTING

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Problems? Report to Smiffsden facebook page.

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[5] CREDITS

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CREDITS:
Track Development:
Ian Smythe

A.I. Development:
J.R. Franklin

Beta Testing:
J.R. Franklin
Ian Smythe
Ruben Hornacek

Contributions:
J.R. Franklin - A.I. & beta testing
Freddy (Wheatland) - trioval grass logos
Shane (http://www.revampedreloaded.net/revamped/) - Billboards & Textures
BOWTIE (http://ewracing.com/ewracing/n2k3_3d_objects.htm) - 3D Crowd mip.

Setups: 
Wayne Faircloth - Expert.cup, Fast_62.gns, Expert.cts
Danny Coral - Fast_DC.cup, Fast.gns
Sam Lincoln - Fast.cup
FLM - Fast.cts
EOD - Fast_EOD.cts
Intimidator - Expert.gns
Volker Hackman - VH_Charlotte_Race.cup
(Special thanks to the guys listed above who make this track fun and easy to race on
"Right Out of the Box!")


If you appreciate our work, please consider a small donation to help with the costs
of keeping the Smiffsden server running, thank you.

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[6] AGREEMENT OF USE

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Storage or Use of this track by installation into a racing simulator constitutes
agreement with this and the following statements:

1) This track may not be sold or distributed for commercial purposes, or money
exchanged for this track or any part thereof.

2) This track may not be redistributed or hosted on a server without written consent
of the original author.

3) This track cannot be modifed without written consent of the original author.

4) Pieces of this track (not including the .ptf file) may be extracted and used for
other tracks, but cannot be used in projects for commercial purposes, and credit to
the original author should appear in a readme that is distributed with the new
project.

5) This track must always maintain an unmodified copy of this readme in whatever
form itis distributed.

6) This track is covered by implied intellectual property laws, in that it is the
property of the author.

7) This track is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY
WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A
PARTICULAR PURPOSE. 

Copyright 2012 Ian D Smythe.
