Track Design Notes

• Track Width

...making the road wider will make corners easier as it creates a more obtuse angle for the clipping points and also provides some forgiveness in the track design.

...each lane should be 1.6 car widths wide, allowing three cars to be side by side in two lanes with a very minimal distance separating them... This makes the player take a risk by taking this strategically powerful position -- especially around corners where the lateral force will be trying to pull the vehicle's mass against the player's will. Having a wider section of track used for a corner will allow for more margin for error. Wider corners also give experienced players more ability to apply longitudinal force as the race line can become far more smooth.

• Camber

...on-camber turns allow for impossible corner entry and exit speeds, designed to empower and reward [players] for little input.
...off-camber corners ultimately require more from the player in terms of practice and hence is not suited to an arcade environment.
Ideally, all corners will be on-camber, as this allows for some bold and empowering cornering.

• Height Variation

...a purely emotional component of both track design and level design in general. Limited line of sight will result in the player being anxious, as they are less able to plan ahead. When the player has increased line of sight, they feel empowered, as they are able to easily plan their moves several steps in advance.

From an emotional perspective, height variation makes tracks interesting.

• Needle Threading

...a needle threading corner is one which provides a very wide corner entry point, an ideal clipping point (just one) and then the perception of a very narrow corner exit.

Needle threading corners have significant emotional value, and often give the perception of mastery for the players who are able to achieve them. Just like anything in game design, it is all about making the player look better than they actually are.

In Figure 21, you can see how the corner exit becomes noticeably wider than the entry, meaning that the ideal clipping point can be much earlier in the corner designs. The addition of the barricade is the illusion that the player needs to embellish their actions and make them feel empowered.

...creating an empowering experience with a set of design heuristics, based on the five metrics of track design:

• The use of straightaways needs to be implemented in such a way that the player is never able to significantly overshoot the ideal corner entry speed.
• Corners need to be progressively tighter to ensure that players are able to have close to ideal corner entries.
• The standard deviation in speed should be quite narrow, ideally within a plus or minus 30 percent region.
• track markings are essential to creating a sense of speed.
• Needle threading corners should be used to provide a sense of awe for the player and embellish their skills.
• All corners should be on-camber.
• Height variations should always be used in track design to create emotional diversity. Rapid changes in height should be avoided though.
• Use straights to create "punctuation" for the player. Separate corners using landmarks or iconic features to aid this.

McMillan, L. (2011) A Rational Approach To Racing Game Track Design. [Online] Gamasutra: Available at:
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/134845/a_rational_approach_to_racing_game_.php
(Accessed 28/02/12)