Team NLC will be releasing their VLN 2005 mod for rFactor very soon, presenting one of the biggest rFactor projects ever made. Simulating the German VLN series, the mod consists of over 180 cars, ranging from the smallest tin tops to powerful DTM & GT machinery.

I´ve decided that it’s a good idea to publish a detailed review  of  this mod because, unlike other mods, this one can’t simply be tried by everyone. Since Simbin material has been the base for many cars in this mod, Team NLC decided to include a GTR Evolution check for proper credit to the Swedish developer.

VLN 2005 includes material from several Simbin titles such as GTR 2 and RACE 07. Since GTR Evolution includes most of that content and Simbin allows  „forward conversions“ from one of their titles to another, the GTR Evolution check was a logical choice. The mod comes with an installer that can check both DVD or Steam installations, confirming any form of GTR Evolution ownership. And those who don’t own it yet should seriously consider getting it…but more on that later on.

The Series

Started in 1977, the VLN is a mixed touring car & GT series for all kinds of  production-based cars. Even though the prestigious event is not part of the series’ schedule, the Nürburgring 24 Hour race is run to the same regulations as the VLN and has raised international awareness for Nürburgring Nordschleife racing.

A VLN season consists of ten rounds, all hosted on the famous Nordschleife. All but one round are four hours in length, only the season-highlight Ruhr Pokal race ends after six hours of racing. All on-track activities are limited to Saturday only, making the VLN a great choice for privateer drivers with limited spare-time.

A typical round is started by more than 200 cars grouped in several classes.  Cars are grouped by engine type & displacement, allowing close competition in each class. The battle for the overall win sees powerful GT machinery go head to head, cars at the sharp end of the grid have up to 600hp and are entered by professional teams and being driven by professional, often international acclaimed, race drivers.

While the big bangers battle for overall glory, the fight for the championship crown is fought in the smaller classes. The VLN points system has been designed to favor those who face many competitors. The more cars are racing in your class, the more points can be won. Since the smaller cars  clearly outnumber the  spectacular front-running cars,  the top cars usually are in no condition to fight for the title.

Content

VLN 2005 features over 180 cars that competed during the 2005 season. Since creating that many cars  completely from scratch is almost an impossible task even for bigger teams, the cars in the mod come from a variety of sources.

While many of the top cars are based on Simbin work, plenty of other modders have pitched in to fill the grid. From Team GSMF comes the Porsche 997 GT3-Cup and the Opel Astra DTM Coupe, OPM has pitched in his Honda Civic and many other cars from several F1 Challenge and rFactor mods have been used.

Unlike other series, VLN teams are given lots of freedom in terms of developing their cars.  This leads to most of these cars being unique in terms of aeroparts and details, even though they´re based on the same production class model.

For example, the mod contains a lot of BMW M3 E46 race cars which differ heavily from each other as not just the paint job is different. Team NLC has spent lots of time on getting all these details right, equipping these cars with correct rear wings, rims and other parts to match their real-life counterparts.

The included cars offer a lot of variety as almost everyone will find a car suited to their taste. From 600hp GTs to small Peugeot 206s, from four cylinder engines to big V10s from Diesel to Turbo: Almost every aspect of modern motorsport can be found within the field.

The mod also includes the Nürburgring Nordschleife in ten variations for all ten rounds of the 2005 season. These variations come with brand new textures to reflect the conditions during each run. While the first round comes with lots of snow, the final rounds of the season are held in autumn atmosphere.

Just to clearify: Even though this mod has been optimised for the Nürburgring Nordschleife, it does work very well on all other tracks too.

Graphics

Given the different sources of car models, the graphical quality of the mod is somewhat patchy. While some car models like the Simbin-based examples and GSMF’s Porsche 997 GT3-Cup are still top of the crop, others like the BMW E36 and the Honda Civic clearly show their age. The same goes for cockpits which range from outright beautiful to just practical.

Many of these models have been altered by adding new 3d parts such as bodywork and wings, all of these changes blend in nicely with the original material. All cars have been carefully painted to match the real cars, VLN fans will find lots of familiar details. Furthermore, all cars are sporting new cubemaps which help making most of the excellent paint jobs.

The ten sets of textures for the Nordschleife 2.2a will make the rFactor version of the green hell look better than ever before, each set will transform the atmosphere and give you the sensation of racing during spring, summer and fall.

Sounds

While the graphic quality somewhat inconsistent, the sounds are a definite strong point of this mod. This is a little surprising as some mods even with just one or two car models fail to provide convincing sounds.

Team NLC has made an excellent job equipping all  these different cars with stunning sounds. From rasping Diesel engines to raw V8s and screaming V12s – The sounds are all spot on both inside and outside the car.

Some of these sounds are outright addictive, once you´ve  complete a lap in the Alzen Turbo Porsche and listen to the whistling turbo, you´ll realise how much great sounds can add to a good mod.

Sound-work is not limited to engine notes as the mod also includes new ambient and suspension sounds. You can even hear some of the cars bottom out in the banked Carousel, adding a lot to the typical Nordschleife atmosphere.

Physics

Much like a lot of time has been spent on getting the appearance of all cars right, the mod comes with carefully edited physics for all cars.  That makes trying all these cars a lot of fun as all cars have individual physics. Just because the mod includes lots of Porsche 996 GT3s, it does not mean they’ll handle the same but come with their own characteristics.

Most of the rear-wheel driven cars come with RealFeel-compatible physics, the smaller front wheel tin tops and four-wheel drive cars lack this feature though. Still, all of these cars have been equipped with realistic physics, based on real life data.

Every single car in the mod has been extensively tested to ensure realistic behaviour as plenty of laps have been completed in each car for realistic fuel consumption, tire wear, brake temperatures and more.

AI

Since this mod comes with a lot of cars and multi-class racing is all about traffic, a lot of effort has been put in getting the AI to handle it right. It’s somewhat of a sim racing myth that rFactor’s AI is no good and this can’t be helped.

That’s not true, the AI just needs an extra bit attention to work correctly. There are only a handful of mods out there that offer a really enjoyable experience racing against the computer and VLN 2005 can be added to this list.

Giving the crazy amount of cars on track, the AI does a perfect job of handling everything. If you enjoy multi-class racing, there’s nothing more annoying than AI cars crashing into each other or wasting half a lap to get by a slower car. In VLN 2005, the AI laps aggressively but safely as I haven’t seen any lapping-related accidents with AI cars at all.

This is in no way limited to racing on the Nordschleife as I had lots of good races with this mod on all types of tracks. To some extent, the AI will even use the traffic for an advantage when fighting you, something that is rarely seen in rFactor. The AI cars will even pit in the exact same laps as they do in real life, allowing a realistic simulation of these endurance races.

The mod comes with AI filters for all ten rounds of the 2005 season, letting you race all cars that competed in a particular round. Furthermore, you can select your opponents class by class to mix these cars as you wish.

Performance

Even though the mod comes with a lot of cars, Team NLC has done their best to make sure the mod will run good on less powerful systems too.  If you have a mid range system with 2Gbs of ram and a decent gfx card, you´ll be easily able to run a 50-60 car field with all details on full.

If you´re willing to sacrifice some details, you can even max out rFactor’s capabilities by running a little more than 100 cars.

Gameplay

I´m quite sure I don’t need to waste any time to explain why racing great race cars with challenging physics is fun, I want to point out some things that make this mod especially enjoyable though.

The mod’s selling point and most unique feature is certainly the multi-class racing. It’s hard to describe how much fun it is to drive a 600hp Porsche through a field full of moving chicanes while being chased by your opponents.

Driving this mod will certainly sharpen your skills in terms of traffic and timing when lapping as it is crucial for a successful VLN race. Your hardest driving won’t do you any good if you waste lots of time in traffic, or even worse, crash into the back-markers.

This leads to some very intense action as you´ll be having your hands full approaching corners two or three wide while battling for the lead. Driving the slower cars is no less intense as you´ll always have to pay a lot of attention to your rear-view mirrors to let the powerful cars by.

Conclusion

If you already own GTR Evolution, there’s nothing else to say. Try this mod, it’s a blast and very worth the download.

If you don’t, you´ll have to decide whether this is worth buying GTR Evolution or not. If you have any interest in GT or touring car racing, this mod will keep you entertained for months just with trying all the different cars. If you like multi-class racing, this mod will offer racing you won’t find anywhere else in rFactor – Period.

What you´ll get is a well crafted mod with carefully made physics, great AI and impressive sounds. Of course, this mod does not look as high polished  as some of rFactor’s top mods. But who worries about graphics when sharing a track with 80 other cars?

And if you´re wondering what GTR Evolution offers despite allowing you to use VLN 2005, check out the review here.

Finally, to help you pass by the little remaining time until the mod is out, you can find a new preview video as well as a screenshot gallery below – Enjoy!

Preview Video

Download High Resolution Version Here

Screenshots