Camino Viejo de Montserrat
The rugged mountain east of Barcelona known as Montserrat (meaning "jagged mountain" in Catalan, the language of the Catalonia region) is achingly beautiful. The smooth forms of the weathered, exposed rock make this area, the site of a famed Benedictine abbey, a popular tourist attraction. In the world of Forza, however, Camino Viejo de Montserrat is the setting for an epic road course spanning the mountain, comprised of a series of old alpine access roads converted into a multi-purpose track environment, inspired by the real-life location.
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Bernese Alps
Whether it's the tight turns or the breathtaking scenery, mountain passes and fast cars seem to play well together. In that spirit, the Bernese Alps distills the ultimate high-altitude driving experience into a state-of-the-art road course the equal of the world's greatest circuits. This track was inspired by the mystique and challenge of the passes nestled among the highest mountain range in Europe, threading the course along old mountain access roads, through tunnels cut into living rock, under craggy glacier-studded summits, past a luxury ski resort, and down to a quintessentially Swiss mountain town.
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Fujimi Kaido
Legendary among Forza players as one of the best places in-game to link powerslides, Fujimi Kaido provides the ultimate technical driving experience in a gorgeous setting. Winding skyward to a 2,800 foot summit amid the wooded mountains of the Kita-Kantou region of Japan near Mt. Fuji, whose singular presence towers over much of the track, Fujimi has more than 100 turns to encourage drivers of all types to explore extreme angles of attack.
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Hockenheimring
One of Germany's premiere racing venues and alternating host to the German Grand Prix, this historic track is located in the scenic Rhine valley in southwestern Germany. The Hockenheimring opened in 1932 as a motorcycle racetrack, where such famous motorcycle brands as DKW and NSU battled for supremacy. The early course was packed-dirt, suitable for the rather wild world of two-wheeled racing, but all of that changed in the mid-1930s when a new circuit debuted. Wider throughout and vaguely oval in shape, the track kept this form until 2001. By then, F1 officials asked for a redesigned course, and the result is shorter by 1.25 miles, removing the forest section straights in favor of more numerous tight turns.
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Iberian International Circuit
In the shadows of the rocky peaks of Monserrat, Iberian International Circuit is 1.49 miles of grand prix style racing that requires a fluid style to successfully navigate the fast and flowing course. Located on a high plain in the mountains, Iberian is studded with large bare rock formations that influence the layout of the track.
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Indianapolis Motor Speedway
When your racecourse has been operating continuously for more than a century, it's invariably going to be something special. But Indianapolis Motor Speedway isn't just special, it's an irreplaceable part of the "Triple Crown" of motorsports, after Monaco and Le Mans. That puts it in prestigious company, and is a tribute to Indy's status as the most important American racing venue and the site of the greatest American auto race: the Indianapolis 500. Indy's nickname, "the Brickyard," comes from the original brick paving that is now preserved only in a one-yard strip that serves as the start-finish line.
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Infineon Raceway
Born out of the ideas hatched in a Mexican restaurant in Northern California in the late 1960s, Infineon Raceway has grown from a quaint regional track to one of the largest and most respected motorsports destinations in North America. Close to the heart of California's Sonoma wine country, Infineon Raceway enjoys beautiful weather year-round, making it an ideal spot for the wide variety of racing that occurs on its varied ribbon-in fact, it's one of the most utilized courses in the world, with events being held nearly 340 days each year.
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Ladera Test Track
Part of the massive racing complex inspired by the mountains near Barcelona, Spain, Ladera Test Track is specifically engineered to push cars to the limits. Ladera is intended to be a location where drivers can explore their car's tune, testing for weaknesses and looking for the subtle improvements that will give them the edge in close racing.
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Maple Valley Raceway
One of the most beautiful and enduring circuits in the Forza franchise, Maple Valley is a deceptively challenging course that has something to offer for racers, photographers, and drifters of every level. Set in the fictional woods of Maple Valley in New England, the course is a showcase of natural beauty and history-don't miss the brand-new covered bridge, sure to become a hotspot for photographers looking to capture the perfect images of their Forza rides.
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Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca
There are many tracks in the world, but there's only one Corkscrew. Set among the golden hills of California near the city of Monterrey, Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca's most famous feature is a steep downhill S-curve that drops five and a half stories in just 450 feet.
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Mugello Autodromo Internazionale
With the green, lush Tuscan hills north of Florence as the backdrop, Mugello is one of Italy's most beautiful tracks. Like many other closed courses around the world, Mugello was constructed because racing on public roads in the region, held on and off since 1914, had become too dangerous to continue. In 1974, Mugello opened to become a safe and modern course for local events.
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Nürburgring Grand Prix Circuit
Racing and danger once went hand-in-hand, and tragedy was thought of as par for the course. Thankfully, attitudes began to change, and it was realized that racing could be exciting and also safe. When car performance simply outstripped the ability to race safely on Nürburgring's Nordschliefe circuit, track owners constructed a new course called "GP-Strecke," or "Grand Prix Course." The inaugural race was an exhibition event, with superstar racers including Jack Brabham, Niki Lauda, Alain Prost, and Ayrton Senna competing against each other in identically-prepared Mercedes-Benz 190E 2.3-16s (Senna ended up winning, by the way). While no course could approximate Nordschleife's challenges without the danger, the GP course stands on its own as a fast course that provides incredible racing thrills, particularly with the 2002 revisions that increased overtaking opportunities.
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Nürburgring Nordschleife
It is almost difficult to believe that the intensely demanding Nürburgring was constructed in 1927 as a purpose-built safer alternative to the older races through the Eifel Mountains' treacherous roads. However, in the spirit of the older races, the northern loop ("Nordschleife") is a public toll road, open to anyone for a "touristenfahrten" session for a fee. It's plethora of turns (by one count 73) include hairpins, banked carousels, and the infamous "flugplatz" ("airport") bump where fast-moving cars often go airborne. The tortuous circuit gained its famous nickname, "die Grüne Hölle" ("the Green Hell"), due to the majority of the course twisting through a dense forest. The Nordschleife is considered by many manufacturers to be the ultimate test of their high-performance offerings, and the crown for fastest transit around the ‘Ring passes from car to car as the companies compete for the title.
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Rally di Positano
Few settings are as beautiful a venue for heart-pounding racing excitement as Rally di Positano, a track inspired by the breathtaking scenery of the Amalfi Coast near the city of Positano, overlooking the blue Tyrrhenian Sea in southern Italy. In the heat of a race, however, you won't have a lot of time to appreciate the gorgeous architecture of the town or the rocky landscape, because you'll be navigating a challenging variety of hairpin turns that cut through the hilly coastline.
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Road America
One of the oldest and most distinguished of all the tracks in North America is Road America, a road course situated near Elkhart Lake in the scenic woodlands of Wisconsin. Much like Laguna Seca, Road America was conceived during a time when racing on public roads was becoming too dangerous to justify. Pressure from race organizers and government officials led to the abandonment of racing on the roads near Elkhart Lake, and ultimately to the construction of Road America in the span of just five months. The course opened in 1955, and the first race was won by legendary driver Phil Hill in a Ferrari Monza, after a hair-raising final lap that was a duel of nerves with fellow racer Sherwood Johnston's Jaguar D-type-an auspicious sign of the exciting racing that would unfold over the years at the track. Unlike virtually every course of its age, Road America has managed to maintain its original four mile, 14-turn layout (except for the addition of a chicane during modern AMA races)-despite a major renovation of the track facilities in 1992, all of the elevation changes and sharp turns have been preserved, making Road America a course that must be carefully studied to master.
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Road Atlanta
Georgia's Road Atlanta course, owned by local automaker and racing team Panoz Motorsports, is most famous as home to the crowning race of the ALMS season, Petit Le Mans. The 1,000 mile endurance race was one of the original events in the ALMS season, and the winner of the race in each class automatically qualifies for the 24 Hour of Le Mans race the following year. Some may remember Road Atlanta as the scene of two of the most spectacular crashes in history, when a Porsche 911 GT1 did a complete backflip in 1998, followed in 2000 by a BMW V12 LMR-less a fault of the track and more an issue with insufficient aerodynamic development on the cars. Constructed in 1969 out of a farmer's field in an area better known for oval-track racing, Road Atlanta has attracted some of the best North American race series to roar around a road course, including Can-Am, Trans Am, Formula 5000, and AMA motorcycle racing. Revived from a period of disuse in the mid-1990s by Don Panoz, changes included the addition of a chicane (Turns 10a and 10b) to bring the track up to international race standards-but on the long straight leading up to that chicane, the best LMP1 cars, properly tuned, can exceed 200 mph.
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Sebring International Raceway
Central Florida's Sebring International Raceway hasn't always been one of the premier endurance racing venues in the world-originally it was Hendricks Field, where young pilots learned to fly the B-17 Flying Fortress. A few years after the war, the first race was held at the old airfield, and soon after Sebring hosted the first event it would become world-famous for: the 12 Hours of Sebring, a demanding endurance race inspired by the 24 Hours of Le Mans. One of the reasons the race is considered so difficult is that part of the original concrete-slab runway-bumps, seams, and all-provides a brutish racing surface at Sunset Bend, a high-speed, large radius turn in between the Ullman Straight and the front straight where your suspension tuning will be severely tested. In its original configuration, it did not take long for Sebring to become the American venue of choice for European manufacturers to show off their latest creations-a tradition that continues to the present day, as top-flight prototype constructors like Audi and Peugeot often duel at Sebring to test their cars' mettle before competing at Le Mans.
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Silverstone Racing Circuit
Like many tracks in the British Isles, including old favorites and newer (but equally notable) additions like the TopGear Test Track at Dunsfold Aerodrome, Silverstone was once a Class A airfield used by the RAF. During the war, the No. 17 Operational Training Unit operated the Vickers Wellington bomber, famous for its unusually strong but complex geodesic structure. After the war, the idle airstrips were leased by the Royal Automobile Club, and soon afterwards a crude course was set up using the airstrips as parts of the course. In 1948 the inaugural RAC Grand Prix was held. While racing changed significantly over the next several decades, the basic Silverstone circuit remained relatively unchanged through 1974. Afterwards, a series of modifications helped slow the rapidly increasing speeds of the fastest cars-the old Woodcote bend after Farm Straight could be taken nearly flat-out in perfect conditions, sometimes at speeds nearing 160 mph. The addition of the Bridge Section, and eventually the Luffield complex, made the course significantly safer-as did the number of additional turns added over the years.
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Suzuka Circuit
Perhaps the most famous track in Japan, Suzuka is also one of the oldest. In the early 1960s, just a few years after producing their first automobile, Soichiro Honda wanted to race in F1, the highest level of racing in the world. And to do this, he wanted a track in his home country to demonstrate that Japan could compete with the West. A piece of land close to a Honda plant was chosen, and then Honda sent a brief and characteristic message to Dutch track designer John Hugenholtz, "I'm building a racetrack. Come to Japan. S. Honda." With that, Suzuka (originally to be called Motor Sportsland) was born, opening in 1962. Right off the bat, it proved useful for testing Honda's fastest motorcycles, and then as a venue for sportscar racing-the first 1000 km Suzuka endurance race in 1966 was won by a Toyota 2000GT. By 1976 it became the host of the Japanese Grand Prix, the first F1 race to be held in Japan. It's also unique as being one of few major racetracks anywhere that follows a figure-8 layout-the back straight passes over the front of the track. Suzuka is a challenging 3.6 mile course, with a final chicane in the Casino Triangle area that was the scene of a famous on-track flap (and off-track controversy) between Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost in 1988, and a dangerous pair of large-radius turns known as Spoon Curve and 130R (i.e., 130 meter radius).
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Top Gear Test Track
Some say it used to be a Canadian airfield during WWII, and that one corner is named after easy listening music-all we know is, it's called the TopGear test track, and it's fully rendered and available for play in several configurations, all based upon the Stig's real-life playground at Dunsfold Aerodrome and the setting for the show's "Star in a Reasonably Priced Car" segment.
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Tsukuba Circuit
Tsukuba Circuit is located in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan, near Tsukuba Science City, a planned city designed to promote scientific learning. The famous double peaks of Mt. Tsukuba loom over the city and the track, visible as you pass through under the Dunlop bridge at turn four. Incidentally, Tsukuba is one of just a handful of tracks (including Circuit de la Sarthe and Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca) that feature an iconic Dunlop footbridge. Opened in 1970, Tsukuba was intended to be a place to draw young people into the world of motorsports.
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Twin Ring Motegi
Located about 90 miles north of Tokyo and nestled in the foothills of the Hakko mountains, Twin Ring Motegi opened in 1997. The site, whose natural contours protect the surrounding area from the loud noises of racing, was constructed by Honda as a way to bring enthusiastic fans of all sorts of motorsports together at a site with a dual purpose-a venue for two kinds of racing. Honda executives visiting a NASCAR race in Charlotte, North Carolina were amazed by the huge and enthusiastic crowd, and the great sightlines that the oval circuit provided. Motegi's "Super Speedway" oval circuit resulted from this trip. In addition, Honda wanted to include a world-class road course. Thus, the "Twin Ring" concept was born. Construction of Twin Ring Motegi became the largest private construction project in Japan up to that point, although in typical Honda fashion environmental concerns were not ignored-many of the trees on the site were saved and a rare local species of dragonfly was successfully relocated to a new site. With two available circuit types, Motegi hosts a wide variety of racing.
Photo, Text Credit: Turn 10 Studios