Mid-Field Raceway is a medium-length tarmac racetrack that first appeared in Gran Turismo 2 and has featured in every subsequent mainline version until Gran Turismo PSP. It has returned to the series as part of the 1.16 update of Gran Turismo 6.
Mid-Field Raceway is one of only a few circuits in Gran Turismo to feature a 'Figure 8' style layout, with the 180 degree turn 4 passing over the main straight. Other circuits in this category are Suzuka Circuit, Autumn Ring, Special Stage Route 5 and Top Gear Test Track.
The circuit consists of a very long straight, combined with several mid-to-high speed corners and one hairpin turn. The numerous heavy braking areas, notably into turns 1 and 8 can provide great overtaking points between well-matched cars.
The first corner which, in Gran Turismo 2 and Gran Turismo 3, was a parabolic style corner was slightly modified in GT4 to make it sharper and shorter. Turns 2 and 3 (the first chicane) were also slightly adjusted to compensate for the alterations to turn 1.
Overview
Mid-Field Raceway is a 14-turn, figure 8 style road course always raced during the day. It is based in a somewhat populated grassland. There are many high-speed corners, with the road being rather wide, and many major turns being banked. This allows you to go through corners very quickly, even the hairpin turn 12. Mid-Field Raceway, along with other tracks currently missing from the Gran Turismo series, and unlike Apricot Hill Raceway, did not return for uncertain reasons until 1.16 update for Gran Turismo 6.
Lap Guide
Layout
Mid-Field Raceway consists of 14 turns, many of them high to mid-speed turns. The track crosses over itself, making it a figure-8 figuration, the overpass can be seen as the driver come around turn 14. Many of the turns are loose and mild in nature, many of them able to be taken in 3rd gear in most cars. Even though from Gran Turismo 4 onward the first two turns were made sharper and more technical, a high amount of speed carry is still possible if a well-calculated line is taken. It should be of note that Gran Turismo 2's Mid-Field has 4 sectors instead of 3 in later games as overviewed below.
Sector 1
Sector 1 goes from the start/finish line halfway through the main straight to either the end of turn 3 (Gran Turismo 2) or after turn 5 (Gran Turismo 3 onward). Even so, each game has different versions of this sector.
GT2
In Gran Turismo 2, sector 1 on Mid-Field starts on the later half of the start/finish straight after the respective line where the lap time starts. The driver has likely already gained a lot of speed here as they begin to approach the first and second corners. The driver will brake somewhat harshly into turn one, the wide road, high banking and curb space, which is wider on the outside than inside, making taking the corner a somewhat lenient experience. The parts after turn one never stop curving to the right as it melds almost seamlessly into turn two, which is a similar turn to the previous one only less angled. Most cars will not have to brake for turn two, if not only lifting the throttle.
With the driver carrying all this speed down the shorter straight into turn 3: a soft curve to the right, GT2's physics allows quite a lot of cars to take this corner flat-out with light steering. The banking isn't present for this turn or any of them following directly afterward, but the curb space is very wide here, the driver able to fit the car over the curb entirely. Before transitioning into turn four, the sector ends.
GT3
Aside from visual changes, Sector 1 is largely unchanged from that of Gran Turismo 2's Mid-Field Raceway, the only major change being the rearrangement of the sectors. In Gran Turismo 3's case, Mid-Field's sector 1 is moved to just after turn 5 at the beginning of the following straight.
In such case, the driver racing on this version of Mid-Field will start off in the same spot at the start/finish line in the middle of the main straight as before. They will brake somewhat hard to negotiate turns 1 and 2, which are the same as those in the previous game. The curb space has been adjusted to be equal on both sides of the corners, now equally wide inside and out. That said, it's a slight reduction from the former. The driver will now carry their speed into the following straight before turns 3, 4, and 5, turn 3 being the same soft right it was before, but now having to go through turn 4: a soft left following up turn 3, and turn 5: a very slight right kink before the driver ends the sector gunning down the following straight.
GT4 and GTPSP
Going through more visual changes yet, Gran Turismo 4's (And Gran Turismo PSP's) Mid-Field is perhaps the most unique of the other Mid-Field layout changes at that time. The sector begins and ends in exactly the same place as Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec. This time around however, Mid-Field Raceway has alterations to turns 1 and 2, now being much sharper than before, and the curb space even narrower yet. This makes going through these corners more of a complex manuever, though most drivers shouldn't have too many problems here. While only very slight adjustments for this sector were made to compensate for this, the rest of the sector: the straight after turn 2, and turns 3, 4, and 5 are very much the same as before.
GT6
The track has undergone major changes in favor of high definition, though all the sectors remains unchanged from GT4.
Sector 2
Sector 2 encompasses either from turn 4 to before turn 8 (Gran Turismo 2), or from after turn 4 to the mid-point of the straight coming off of turn 9 (Gran Turismo 3 onward). From this point forward, the course is practically identical, sector placement aside.
GT2
Gran Turismo 2's sector two of Mid-Field Raceway starts off finishing turns 4 and 5, where Sector 1 from Gran Turismo 3 onward would have normally came to conclude. Once going down the following straight of a moderate length, the driver will brake once more for turns 6 and 7: right-hand corners which are melded together in the same fashion as turns 1 and 2. Turn 6 is softer than turn 7, which are both the overpass corners on the track, crossing over the yet-to-come turn 14. A single, uniform line can be take through these two corners, usually with some drivers opting to go a little bit wide on the first corner to take the second one close, easy on this version, for the curbs are very wide throught the rest of the course. Turn 7 leads into a very small tunnel covering about 2/3 of the straight following the corner, which is not very long. The sector 2 in Gran Turismo 2 ends on the later half of this straight before turn 8 comes.
GT3 onwards
Games after Gran Turismo 2 have sector 2 from the end of turn 5 to the mid-point of the straight after turn 9. As such, the driver starts already on the straight after turn 5. After negotiating turns 6 and 7, the driver now darts through the tunnel, upon coming out having to ready for turn 8 and 9. Both left-hand banked corners, turn eight is a wider corner that requires little braking. turn 9 is the tighter portion of this corner, which kinks as the player turns from turn 8. Some take an initially wide line to ease through turn 9, while others stay inside on turn 8 to use it to garner ideal understeer to better fetch the outside of the corner. The course now sprints down him onto another straight, halfway through which is the checkpoint that ends the sector.
Sector 3
Sector 3 covers either the start of turn 8 and 9 to the straight after the hairpin (turn 12: Gran Turismo 2), or covers the rest of the course, being the final sector (Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec onward).
GT2
Sector 3, finishing up the latter half of later game's sector 2, and covering halfway through their sector 3, Gran Turismo 2's sector 3 starts just before turn 8 and 9, being wide and lenient with nice banking to said speed. Turn 9 melding in with turn 8 makes the exit from this cornering duo tighter and sometimes difficult for cars suffering from understeer. With more lenient room at the exit, the driver can exit the corner more recklessly than in later games. The downhill straight where later game's sector would end follows turn 9 as they cruise down for bit. The driver then will have to maneuver turns 10 and 11, which are shorter-radius curves going from left-to-right, turn 10 softer than turn 11.
Braking or throttle lift for these turns is usually minimal, and a cutting line through the curbs makes going through here a near-straight path. After turn 11, a minuscule straight follows leading into the sharp, banked turn 12 hairpin. Turn 12 is by far the tightest corner of the course, once more, the wide curbing and road making the turn normally much faster than other hairpins of the sort. The straight after this hairpins ends the sector halfway through.
GT3 onwards
Sector 5 covers the rest of the course from the latter half of the straight following turn 9 to the start/finish line. After driving through the straight, turns 10 and 11 are encountered just as before, being shorter-radius curves. The curbing is shorter, so straighter lines are not as easy to accomplish as before. Hairpin turn 12 follows shortly after, tight and somewhat sharp as usual. After the straight where Gran Turismo 2's sector three would have ended, the drive now travels uphill into another tunnel, this one longer and lit unlike the one after the overpass. The driver now travels even more uphill for turns 13 and 14: two consecutive corners going uphill and leading the driver back onto the start/finish straight.
Turn 13 is a left turn starting the uphill climb. The turn is slightly banked, and tighter than turn 14, which transitions into a downhill slope gradually as the driver makes it back around. As mentioned earlier, the overpass can be seen over turn 14. For the rest of the sector, the play is driving full throttle to the finish line, now having some breathing room.
Sector 4
Sector 4 exists only in Gran Turismo 2, and resumes the rest of the course through turns 13 and 14 to the start/finish line. The driver has now cleared the hairpin, and is starting onto another straight for a short bit before having to corner around turns 13 and 14. The curbs are wide here as with the rest of the course, making a near-straight path possible through here at full throttle or close to it. As the driver exits off turn 14, they now speed down through the straight to reach the finish line halfway down the main straight.
Appearances in Games
Gran Turismo 2
- License Test S-4
- Japan Nationals
- Pacific League
- World League
- FF Challenge
- FR Challenge
- Grand Touring Car Trophy
- GT 300 Championship
Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec
Beginner League
- Sunday Cup
- 4WD Challenge
- Race of Turbo Sports (reverse)
- Altezza Race
- Evolution Meeting (reverse)
- Gran Turismo World Championship
Amateur League
- Gran Turismo World Championship (reverse)
- German Touring Car Championships
- Boxer Spirit (reverse)
- Gran Turismo All Stars
- All Japan GT Championship
- Evolution Meeting (reverse)
Professional League
- FR Challenge (reverse)
- MR Challenge (reverse)
- Race of Turbo Sports
- Gran Turismo All Stars (reverse)
- Dream Car Championship (reverse)
- Polyphony Digital Cup (reverse)
- Formula GT
License Tests
- License Test S-4
Gran Turismo 4
- FF Challenge (reverse)
- Race of Turbo Sports
- Supercar Festival (reverse)
- British GT Series (reverse)
- Deutsche Touring Car Meisterschaft (reverse)
- Audi A3 Cup
- Volkswagen GTi Cup (reverse)
- Honda Civic Race (reverse)
- Chevrolet Camaro Meeting
- Driving Mission 7
Gran Turismo 6
- Arcade Mode
- Online
- Seasonal Events
- Test Car (Garage)
Trivia
- After GT3, Mid-Field Raceway's Turns 1 and 2 were sharpened slightly.
- In GT3, Mid-Field Raceway II (Mid-Field in reverse) is raced with overcast rather than the usual partly cloudy day.
- In its debut game, the track has noticeably more trees near turns 2, 3, and 4. These were removed in favor of a more "Grassland" motif.
- At the earliest GT2 Beta Demo, air balloons were seen floating at the sky. This feature was removed at the final version.
- In License Test S-4 in Gran Turismo 2 and Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec, the PENNZOIL Nismo GT-R GT (JGTC, J) '99 is used as the test car.
- It is the second-most requested course to return to the series since the track was dropped in GT5 and GT6 before its return in GT6 v1.16.