OK, so I know that since the year dot everybody has asked why we can't have 'Real' tracks for LFS, and the answer is always the same; Real tracks are protected by copyright laws, the devs would need licenses etc...
This I can understand: HOWEVER!!!
Just a thought, but are real towns/streets protected by the same rules? For instance, just say Scawen wanted to do a track based on the area around his home (South City anyone? )..would THAT be considered naughty?
Now to extrapolate this a bit...what if he wanted to do a track based on a town he may or may not have visited on holiday?
Who would allow/deny permission for him to use that?

To sum it all up...why not Monaco or some other track that is really REAL public roads that are 'closed' for racing? A certain track in Germany springs to mind as well

Quote from Bladerunner :

To sum it all up...why not Monaco or some other track that is really REAL public roads that are 'closed' for racing? A certain track in Germany springs to mind as well

Nurby there would be a problem with, as it's owned by Nurburgring GMBH or someone. But with Monaco, Birmingham (Superprix track), AVUS and so-on, it's totally legit AFAIK as it's bog standard public road. A fictional track around Milton Keynes springs to mind.

tbh, judging by rfactor, it seems to be pretty easy to dodge copyright by just changing the name of the track (silverstone = northamptonshire, daytona = Jacksonville). i suppose, because they arent actually selling the tracks, but releasing them on the site for free, they can get away with it.

Quote from DeKo :

tbh, judging by rfactor, it seems to be pretty easy to dodge copyright by just changing the name of the track (silverstone = northamptonshire, daytona = Jacksonville). i suppose, because they arent actually selling the tracks, but releasing them on the site for free, they can get away with it.

NASCARE's lawyers will bumrape them regarding 'Tona.

I Alwasy thought having Fictional tracks in LFS, would stop the argueing about the tracks inaccuracies etc (Which would happen)

I dunno I would rather they go the other way with this, Eric's tracks are great
IMO. In fact, If no one told me, I'd a thought them to BE real track models, but I would like to see something a little more cutting edge. Something that takes advantage of the full potential of a virtual environment.
Like Inverted sections and 90 degree banks on curves. Not EVERY track, just one.
I predict in the future, if we don't run out of gas or kill ourselves off, real track designers will incorporate those features to racing tracks. They'll have to if they're going to compete with the more extreme sports that have globalized and are rapidly gaining in popularity. So with LFS's realistic physics, why not get a head start?

I know that GT is rather fond of the "Cote d' Azur" name instead of Monaco even though we all recognize it as Monaco, and instead of F1 cars, they use Polyphony Formula GT or something like that. I still think that we should let Eric use his spectacular creative ability to make his tracks. On that thought, why do we need the Monaco track exactly (for example), why could we not have Eric custom design a track, with a Monaco sort of feel to the environment? Personally having the environment would be much more satisfying, because the environment around Monaco is the nicer part. Why not let Eric take the environment, but let him take his creativity to make a track of his own.

Quote from dawesdust_12 :

I know that GT is rather fond of the "Cote d' Azur" name instead of Monaco even though we all recognize it as Monaco, and instead of F1 cars, they use Polyphony Formula GT or something like that. I still think that we should let Eric use his spectacular creative ability to make his tracks. On that thought, why do we need the Monaco track exactly (for example), why could we not have Eric custom design a track, with a Monaco sort of feel to the environment?

Agreed. The fact LFS Uses fictional tracks gives it that feeling, its unique, just like the cars. Having no RL Counterparts in LFS (excluding MRT, RAC and BF1) doesnt give us a chance to compare the RL Counterpart to the LFS Counterpart. Rather giving decisions on how these fictional tracks hold up.

Overll, there great tracks, and i think hes creative skills should take him were he wants, not what other people want.

Just my 2 cents.

I personally love the tracks in LFS. They have all the things that make up good tracks, and I couldn't have asked for more variety. It's all there, thank you.

But... I'm basically a league admin. I started SCORE with the single purpose to run leagues which simulated what the real drivers do in real life. I've run several series on SCORE with the same tracks, on the same dates, with the same cars as they do in real life.
FIA-GT and ALMS, have done them both. ETCC, sure, it was a blast. Last year, we had a super huge series (22 races) with combined FIA-GT and ALMS schedules, plus the two classics, Daytona 24 and LeMans 24. You see, people like me (and there are a few) like the feeling of being "there".

So... While the track that ships with LFS are some of the best I've ever seen, they can never deliver the feeling of being there, which means I can not create a FIA-GT or WTCC series. And it all comes down to the tracks. The cars are not that important, since I've seen cars painted like everything from Renaault 5's to Aston Martin DBR 9's. Beautifully done, I might add.

So... Please, let modders do tracks at least. No way no one could argue with that if they are released for free by third party modders. And those who think that quality might suffer from this, well that's easy solved, really. No track gets released until the dev's have OK'd it. I see the community respect their wishes now, and I don't think that would change with tracks.

LOL Y'all REALLY want real tracks for LFS? Then what LFS would need is an attorney with experience in exploiting loopholes in copyright laws.
There are an awful lot of real tracks that I wouldn't mind seeing modeled in LFS, but I really don't think it would be worth the hassle in the long run.
Besides it would really suck to spend all that time and money on getting the rights to model a real track and spend all those hours making the intricate details of this real track, only to see on the servers 2 weeks after it was finished and put out that no one is using it and are racing GTRs on aston national instead.