Absolute Can-Am by the Absolute Modding Team

an old school awesome racing series brought back to life  

below is but a sample of the cars included...
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"Come and Feel the Thunder" That's what the radio adverts used to say for the original Can-Am series when the series came to Mosport which wasn't too far from where I grew up in Toronto. What I have done is to re-work Antonio7772's Can-Am Revelations mod from a few years back into a bit of a monster mod that went from the original size of 243mb to now, without the tracks I am authorized to include being nearly 1gb. With the tracks it's around 2gb. What I have done was to expand the mod based on the info I found within the ,car files of the original mod that I then verified through google searches and found roughly 80+% to be legit. I then took that info and set about making the existing cars have their real weights and engine power curve and redlines. As an example, the Lola T70s were originally 5 cars with identical specs. Based on the .car files I was able to turn that into 2 Chevy powered cars that were identical; 1 Chevy of different engine and weight and 2 Fords that were identical meaning there were now 3 variations instead of 5 the same. When it was all said and done, there were now 43 different versions of the cars where the original had just 2 different split into 60's and 70's cars. There are still a couple more different cars that with the help of PhilRob and I were able to add in 2 more cars that had the series not been folded 1974 halfway through would have appeared to battle the 2 917/30 panzers that dominated the field in 1973. Those are the McLaren M20 Turbo and the Shadow DN4 Turbo cars bringing the total different cars to 45. The other addition to this mod is the inclusion of the McLaren M1B again that I was able to split into the 2 variations saw in the real series.

What I have also done to try to recreate the series is that I have created the years from 1966 through 1973 and in lieu of the 1974 season I have made a finale season of sorts and named it appropriately given the main reason for 74 being cut short. This was mostly due to the forming of OPEC and them shutting off the oil supply creating a fuel shortage felt around the world. Thus, I named the finale season "Fuck OPEC"! lol So within each season I created defaulted for gearing, track specific hdc files for each car at each track for each year the cars competed so that the ai are getting roughly 90% of the cars' performance. This turned out to be over 1000 hdc files I created for this to work. Now you must keep in mind I only had the cars from the original car models and so there are many models from those years that are not included as they don't yet exist for GTR2. As for the models that do exist, my dear friend PhilRob tackled the original SCGT low poly models and went about improving them to the point they are now roughly 5 times the poly count they were originally and are fantastic looking by comparison to how they had looked. Where the original mod altogether was 243mb, just the graphic files alone now are 243mb!

PhilRob also set about recreating period correct tracks from many of his own versions along with a few from already existing in current period that he took back to the 60's and 70's as well. This means there are tracks included and only available with this mod that have never before been seen in GTR2 as well as one layout of a track that has never existed in GTR2! Along with these tracks, BillBro lent a hand to not only further enhance some of the tracks visually but to correct a number of the aiw files so that the ai could handle and drive the cars quite well on the tracks. All original readme files are included. That said, I had to make a number of the default settings for the cars very much wrong for a human driver as using a good set up had the ai crashing and spinning out frequently in spite of BillBro's works. This means that you will definitely NOT want to use the default set ups for anything beyond gearing at each track.

I have created an extensive "how to" readme so as to make use of the Seasons folders and have the correct hdc files loaded. It may seem a bit confusing initially but really isn't once you've gone through the steps a few times. It's not like you'll get a ctd if you don't use the correct hdc files, it just means that you'll have to find the correct gearing on your own and if you're running the season championships (also included) the ai driven cars will either be screaming pinned to redline in top gear on the fastest straights or crawling around on the slower turns.

As for the "Thunder" the radio adverts spoke of, I considered the sounds of the cars to be of utmost importance as much as making them drive good. There are now 23 different sounds used for the cars and where the same sounds were used, I used a sound tool from ARfactor to alter the pitch and timing/blending so as to make them somewhat different from each other. I also more or less, mashed many altogether too with some aud files using original sounds from as many as 5 different original sounds. I had taken to referring to myself as PhrankenPhil because of this lol. Also, I take nor want any credit for the sounds as they come from various authors that made them happen to begin with. All I am is something of a dj at best. I have created a Sounds and Track credits file as detailed as possible and if you see anything wrongly credited or know the author where I have them as unknown, please do tell so as I may make the correction(s) please.

Between Antonio7772 Dark Side and myself, we created a pre release readme of sorts detailing the original series and includes many links to articles written back in the day along with links to various YT videos of the cars in action. Here is the link for it

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Now, I bring you Absolute Can-Am by the Absolute Modding Team

I have made 3 different dl links for the mod. 1 including all 18 tracks I was authorized to include here

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1 without the tracks included here

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and a third one with just the 18 tracks without the mod here

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I did this so as to give an option of 2 smaller files instead of just 1 big file

Now for what is missing from the mod. There are still a few tracks needed to run the seasons such as Mid-Ohio, Texas Speedway RC and a couple others that are very much available through some of the public forums like nogrip and perhaps f1c as well. If you're having any problems finding them, pm me and I'll help you out. There is only 1 track needed that has never been created for GTR2 nor Arfactor and that is the Michigan International Speedway road course. In lieu of this, racerm was kind enough to allow me to use the Indianapolis RC track in it's place.

There is only one sound missing (McLaren M6A) and given the size of the mod and the idea of adding the missing sounds to it and re-uping...well, f*ck that! lol So I made it a separate dl on it's own here

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There are also issues with some of the mirrors either missing outright along with the cockpit or they are backwards showing the wrong side and such. There are now only 10(?) cars missing a cockpit but the majority do have a proper working cockpit with driver and tachometer and water/oil heat gauges I calibrated to match the XD tool and GTR2 rpm counter. The cockpits are generic save for the Chaparrals but do work properly. Hopefully someone else will pick up the ball and add cockpits to the remaining cars as well as making the mirror corrections. Should this happen, I will post the updated files here.

As for the overall realism, I gave the tyr files too much grip simply because of the fact we are all missing, no matter how good our racing rigs may be, the seat of the pants or as I call it, the butt pucker we'd have driving for real. This typically results in the cars spinning out or locking up the tyres and plowing wide off the tracks unless we simply putt around to avoid this. I have always found this frustrating as it means you don't dare push the cars to realize their potential performance. So by raising the grip somewhat, it gives you a chance to react before losing control as that butt pucker would do in real life. That said, the cars are hardly on rails and can still easily spin out or lock up the brakes. Just not so easily anymore meaning you can really drive the cars quite hard just as the racers did in the real cars.

Another thing I had to do as stipulated by Antonio was that I make each season's cars be competitive with each other so I have made each seasons' cars typically qualify within 1 second from 1st to last but I also made it so as the cars expected to qualify 1st \do so and so on down the field. The only exception for this is the 1973 season where the 2 917/30s are roughly 2+ seconds faster than the 3rd place car. On that note, given the lack of a 1974 season, I added the Shadow dn4 to the 1973 season. This means that you can use a lesser/slower car and still challenge for the lead depending on your experience level of course. If anyone needs any assistance with the car set up, pm me here and I'll help you out so you can get the most of the cars. Don't forget though...THE DEFAULT SET UP SUCKS! hehehe

I'm probably forgetting to mention other aspects but I'll come back and edit the post should they come to me. For now, hope you have as  much fun wring out these monsters as I did creating this monster of a mod. If you need any help to better get the hang of how to utilize the seasons folders, pm here and I'll help you get the hang of it.


Phil (humpmedumpme)

Corrected main mod .gdb file and .car class lines found here and straight overwrite is all that's needed.

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So-Cal-Racing was kind enough to point out that there was a much better version of Willow Springs here

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as well as a period correct version of the Ontario Motor Speedway RC track in lieu of the INDY RC track which was already a substitute for a missing from GTR2 track to begin with. That link is here

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I went ahead and made the required changes to the 2 Championship gdb files where those 2 tracks are involved along with some minor corrections to a handful of the cars regarding seating position as well as the inside sound for the Lola T260_496 car. The sound in the cockpit was terrible before! thumbs

NEW LINK
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Missing cockpit sounds for the McLaren M1B_Olds fix found here

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Thanks again Terry!!    

here is the link to the Complete Car List by Season as well as the Complete Track List by Season and [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

missing McLaren M20 and M20 Turbo sounds and corrected M20.aud available here

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Still gasping out of words, all i can say is a huge "Thank you guys" as this shows the community alive and well in all good possible aspects.

And WoooooW about the size of the file, this is a top job without a shadow of a doubt

lol I was kidding when I told you about how far I had gone with this project when we talked about it a while ago was I? hehehe

Now I get to have a proper look at all the mods I have dl'd over the past 2 years and drive something besides a Can-Am car

Absolute Modding Team is on its way to world domination and Absolute Can-Am is an Important milestone on its way

 MWAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAAHAA    

what a gift for XMas!!! thxs a lot man!!!

You're most welcome mate It was a few days late cause Santa said he couldn't fit it in with all the other toys but did say he'd be back shortly so he kept his word at least

This is soooooo awesome!!! Thanks a lot guys!!

Wow. First we had the amazing Part 1 of the Absolute LM mod. Then all of those famtastic little add-ons by Antonio. And now we get this. Never before have I been so spoilt to see a racing period and series that just simply never sees the light of day in any racing game. Now, however, that has been rectified. Huge thanks to the guys at the Absolute team. There appears to be nothing that you guys can't recreate.

That's a real Christmas gift. Thank you very much for this awesome mod.

Thanks guys that's something special !

Thanks guys you rocks!!!

Crimson764 wrote:Wow. First we had the amazing Part 1 of the Absolute LM mod. Then all of those famtastic little add-ons by Antonio. And now we get this. Never before have I been so spoilt to see a racing period and series that just simply never sees the light of day in any racing game. Now, however, that has been rectified. Huge thanks to the guys at the Absolute team. There appears to be nothing that you guys can't recreate.

and we do it with a smile on our faces

Crimson764 wrote:Wow. First we had the amazing Part 1 of the Absolute LM mod. Then all of those famtastic little add-ons by Antonio. And now we get this. Never before have I been so spoilt to see a racing period and series that just simply never sees the light of day in any racing game. Now, however, that has been rectified. Huge thanks to the guys at the Absolute team. There appears to be nothing that you guys can't recreate.

And you haven't seen the rest they're planning to release.

[quote="ChaosZero"]

Crimson764 wrote:]
And you haven't seen the rest they're planning to release.

mwah uh ahhh lol

OOPS!!! Just noticed I forgot to take out a line within the main mod gdb file and the accompanying class lines. As you may have noticed towards the bottom of the main gdb section, there's a tab called "Old vs New". This came from a little experiment I was doing with some other cars so as to make them appear but wasn't meant to be included when I released the mod The corrected gdb and class line fixes are posted to the op

Thank you for this incredible mod and the thorough amount of research and work!
Nothing like the classic car racing series! Can't wait to race!!

I'm sure many of the good folks here may not be interested due to having their own "love" of a particularly newer form of series but for me, nothing before or since has ever existed with such minimal rules. They ran according to the USAC rather than FIA and all that mattered regarding the rules for the cars was 2 seats and covered wheels. There may have been a bit more like maybe a seatbelt hehehe Not a word on engine capacity nor rubber width or limit on fuel! If the tire manufacturers could have made 48 or 60" or 152cm wide rear tires for them, they would only need to expand the body to cover them!

It doesn't matter that a width that big would be asinine, it's that they could! lol Then 2 things happened. Porsche decided to get really serious about the Can-Am series with the Interserie folded. At around the same time, OPEC was wreaking havoc around the world and reached the US and Canada about the same time as the 917/30. A fuel limit was introduced that killed the panzers from competing the next season along with a few other teams on the brink of having something to take on the 917/30. That's why those 2 fictional cars are in the FO season as they would have happened for sure had OPEC not gotten greedy and ruined every racing series at the time. Thus, the name I gave the finale season > OPEC

For the Record, Roger wanted to have two 917/30s for 1973 - one for champion Follmer and one for Donohue but the money were thin so he chose his ol' buddy Mark. Then in 1974, at Mid-O', the 917/30 re-emerged with Brian Redman doing the driving (probably wishing he had indeed retired to South-Africa at the end of '71) but they lost due to a misjudged strategy. Otherwise, they would've probably won ahead of the Shadows. Then, the Interserie did not fade away. It still existed and kept going into the 90s. In 1974, for example, Elford was rocking a 917/30 with either Jagermeister or Martini livery, albeit with 917/10 bodywork so it was alive.

Amazing, as always Mihai, great job the team did

Here's Ontario Motor Speedway Road Corse (instead of using Indianapolis)

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Plus here's a far better version of Willow Springs

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thanks! The reason I didn't use the Ontario Motor Speedway RC (I think it was that track) was due to the ai having some huge problems crashing out. I really liked that track aside from that. The Willow version I included had lots of work done by BillBro to the AIW so as the cars ran really well there. I have no idea about this version. How do you find the ai performing for you?

Your welcome

But I didn't know about the bad AI for Ontario hopefully some one can fix that

The AI seems to be OK for Willow Springs, this version is from NFSS and it looks a 100% better then the older version

So-Cal-Racing wrote:Your welcome

But I didn't know about the bad AI for Ontario hopefully some one can fix that

The AI seems to be OK for Willow Springs, this version is from NFSS and it looks a 100% better then the older version

Okay, I know what it was I was thinking of. I thought Ontario and California were one and the same track lol. I watched 1 lap and knew this was not so. The ai seemed pretty good save for a couple spots they brake a little bit too late creating near panic stops and if they're bunched up at the 2 (3?) of those turns they crash into each other a bit but nothing horrendous so far hehe.

That Willow version is way better looking and the ai seem okay too. So far at least. It's so much better looking that I almost didn't recognize it as being the same layout!. Not a bad thing, that's for sure!

Thanks even more mate! pm coming

Thank you for these cool tracks Terry

Thanks Terry!!