Nestled in the heart of Emilia Romagna – the beautiful, undulating Imola Circuit, or to give it its full name, Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari. The Italian favourite will be the latest circuit to be included in Le Mans Ultimate – the official game of the FIA World Endurance Championship and 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Imola made its FIA WEC debut in April this year with a large, sizeable crowd of 70,000 spectators across the race weekend, were welcomed to the circuit 40 kilometres east of Bologna. 19 corners and 4.9km in length, this short circuit packs in plenty of challenges including Variante Tamburello and Variante Villeneuve, Tosa and Rivazza – just some of the iconic corners to master on this anticlockwise circuit.
The circuit conjures up many emotions for so many, and the Studio 397 developers didn’t have to look too far in the track team for willing volunteers to bring the emotion to life. We managed to grab some time with Le Mans Ultimate Environment Artist Enrico Nencini who has an underlying passion for game development and in particular circuit design and construction.
Enrico was part of the team that built Monza, and as a proud Italian, jumped at the chance to bring Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari to life.
“I was very excited when I learnt that I would be getting to work on Imola,” grinned Enrico. “Four years ago, I got to build Monza which was a great experience, visiting it for three or four days taking in all the information. We learnt a lot and it was nice to be able to continue the Italian motorsport history with Imola. This time around, we wanted to get the track into the game as soon as possible after the real event in April.”
How did the process start?
“With modern day technology, there is so much that you can use to help you when building. We started off with the overview of the area and geography from Google as a base – but you cannot rely upon it completely as things change from one year to another. Our main focus was to capture as much from the circuit as possible, and I was tasked with making sure we did that. Three of us walked the track on foot, one person walking clockwise and the others anticlockwise and then met in the middle to talk through our notes – taking as many references photos as possible but also studying things for reference which you cannot see from photos. We then had a company from Germany which came with a car loaded with the latest scanning technology, onboard cameras and a 360 camera on the roof to give us all the data and imagery to begin to fully map and detail the circuit.
“On the technical side, the 3D mapping is of a very good quality and together with the point cloud enabled us to really get an accurate mesh for us to build off. We had three months from track visit to the testing, quality assurance (QA) phase I and can’t wait for people to drive it for themselves.”
Imola is very special to so many and isn’t all about the track – there are other things to get right?
“All the data gathering went very well to help us build the track, but it was missing the race day feel and details so I went back for the FIA WEC race in April to see it during a race weekend. This was particularly useful to see how rubber built up as well as details such as the correct sponsor logos around the circuit. After the race we had all the race and onboard footage to further help us with the race day feel and reference material to go through quite quickly when building the circuit. It was also nice to meet people from the Studio in the car team, who were there taking reference pictures of the new cars as well as the marketing and event team who were running the simulator experience – and it was nice to see different people try the game.
“We started with the main track and the asphalt, and this is then followed by the infield and outer terrain. I was in charge of modelling the outfield terrain which is what your eyes can see that makes ‘the world’ around the track itself.
“Imola is just as important to get right away from the asphalt. I enjoyed making the foliage and on my track visit – I wanted to make sure we got the right trees and plant species correct to make it as realistic as possible. There are so many at Imola as there is a public park on the inside, houses, sports field, tennis courts and all the access roads so it was fairly complex. We have to balance between making it a beautiful looking circuit with incredible detail – but also make sure it is optimised for performance and load times etc as there was so much we wanted to put in – but we had to be realistic with what the majority of people will see.”
What was your favourite part of the build?
“We spent a lot of time on the pit lane, as this in important part of the circuit away from the asphalt. We always spend a lot of time on the curbs as all of these have different characteristics this was quite fun playing with different things to get those correct.
“Everyone in the team has their own specialities – and everyone has put the love and passion into it. I spent a lot of time on the pit wall and all the little details, so I know the ins and outs! I hope I don’t spend too much time in there during races!
“But to give one part of the track, it’s hard to give a favourite – because it is so, so special as a circuit. There is so much variation – some parts you get to see the city, other parts the country. Every turn has history of its own. The last few corners feels like you are going into a town with all the buildings.
“The tower at the end of the pit building is also quite special. When we went to do the scan, we had the opportunity to meet and speak to the team who paint and maintain the circuit and they helped give us a little more access – getting a higher perspective of the track and the full scenery so I would say that too.”
Imola – on its way to the community very soon!
The picturesque Imola Circuit will be available to players on Tuesday 23rd July inside the first DLC pack, along with the Lamborghini SC63 and Peugeot 9X8 2024 Hypercars or as part of the 2024 Season Pass – which includes four 2024 Hypercars, seven GT3 cars and three other circuits. Priced at just £9.99 / €11.99 / $12.99, players are now able to wishlist the pack ahead of release next week – https://bit.ly/LeMansUltimateOnSteam
Those not yet on the grid can take advantage of the introductory Early Access game price of £24.99/ €29.99 / $32.99. The game features all of the Hypercars and circuits from the 2023 Centenary season as well as the classic LMP2 and GTE cars. Those already clocking the hours can also download the 2024 BMW M Hybrid V8 Hypercar for free via Steam today.
For further news, teases and updates, be sure to follow the Le Mans Ultimate social media accounts.
