First of all, let me start by saying if you're not a seasoned professional racer, you may want to forego downloading this track. There - that part is done. Now
we can move on.
Unfortunately race track production is down to an all-time low. Conversely, there seems to be a heavy dose of stadium tracks being built, and that's just fine if that's your thing. I happen to prefer race tracks - circuits and rallys, and even though they're hard to come by these days, when I find a nice one, I make it a point to comment on it...and this is one hell of a nice track!!
Shoe made his track making debut with HotShoe's Trail, which is an outstanding race track. What amazed me most is how well the track flowed, the layout of it and how he intermixed speed with areas requiring accelerator control and finesse. You don't normally find such characteristics on tracks whereby the author is making his/her debut.
He followed it up with Crater Lake - which is 90% paved, and yet another example of this guy's knack for putting out high quality, top-notch tracks. The vast differences between the two indicated that he's capable of variety without sacrificing style, visual aesthetics, and a number of other qualities racers love in a track.
The Grade is definitely not for the faint of heart, but it's definitely capable of being mastered, which to me makes it fun, and I'm very much looking forward to getting good on it! The road texture is very well suited for racing, and although there are a few very narrow passages, there's plenty of room/opportunities for passing. I've seen a lot of tracks in my 2+ years playing this game, but I don't recall anyone ever using what appears to be actual photographs of forest trees and landscaping the way he did in this track. It's extremely impressive.
Hehe--I could go on and on, but overall I think what impresses me most of all about Shoe's work is his attention to detail - getting all the little subtleties right, and his knack for coming up with a variety of very nice track layouts.
Shoe, excellent job, bud...excellent!! SLO already has HotShoe's Trail on it's Always Podded List, and we run Crater Lake on our Alternate Pod List (exclusive list for SLO's racers), and I'll tell you right now - this one gets my vote when we begin choosing tracks for our next Always Podded List!
Thanks for allowing me to preview this one - it's always a pleasure working with someone like yourself, bud. Keep crankin em out!!
[This message has been edited by SLO_COPE (edited 21-12-2001).]
