Earlier today I noticed our friends over at the Sim Racing For Life Facebook page announced an update to the Norisring V1.1 on rFactor 2. The screenshots they shared made it look great so I was eager to try it out!

Norisring is a street circuit in Germany. Opening in 1947 it’s wider than most street circuits, fast and has a hairpin at either end. This allows for drivers to get in the draft in a couple of places, especially on the run from the final turn up to the hard breaking point in to turn one. Turn one also offers plenty of run off, so should you mess up your breaking point, there isn’t the wall inches from the side of the circuit.

Onwards to my testing. First of all, I’m assuming that this is a conversion. I don’t know where from and I’m not interested in this post. This is just an impressions post.

Visually it looks good. Some nice texturing is there and the Real Road is present and correct. There is some Z-Fighting on an advertising board in the final corner and on a building near T1 but I would imagine these tiny issues could be looked in to and resolved in future revisions. Everything seems to have that authentic look which the rFactor 2 graphics engine provides so well. I especially liked the look of the pit complex as I was driving by.

I was testing using the URD T5 mod to test given that this circuit is used for real life DTM, this made sense. After a few setup tweaks, I was on my way against the AI. On the subject of AI I was racing against 26 of them. They we’re fun to race against and very capable and believable. I certainly had a good couple of battles in my 20 minute race with them defending and I’m sad to admit, passing me back a couple of times.

The circuit surface itself feels great, generally. I say generally because in a couple of places it feels slightly low poly. Of course I have never driven the real circuit, just my impression. Some places feel authentically, street circuit bumpy. Other parts are really harsh in an over the top sort of way. This isn’t in any way intended to belittle the achievements of the people involved, simply constructive criticism. As I say, I’ve never driven the real thing so could easily be wrong.

Thanks to Digga and the guys over at SRT. Great work here, generally. I enjoyed lapping on it, that’s for sure. I’d also happily use it in a league environment if it fit the cars I were using.

Head over to the Sim Racing Team forums and get the download link by clicking here!

Purchase rFactor 2 by Clicking here

Purchase the URD T5 mod for €4.40 by clicking here.