Circuit de la Sarthe

Circuit de la Sarthe
Country	France
Circuit Length	8.625 miles (13.881 km) (2005) 8.410 miles (13.535 km) (2005 (No Chicanes)) 8.489 miles (13.662 km) (2009) 8.43 miles (13.57 km) (2009 (No Chicanes))
Turns (Left/Right)	21 (Layout I) 19 (Layout II)
Track Type	Real World Circuit
Road Type	Tarmac
Appears in	Gran Turismo 4 Gran Turismo (PSP) Gran Turismo 5 Gran Turismo 6 Gran Turismo Sport (Update)
Fastest Lap (real)	3:17.297 (Mike Conway, Toyota TS050)
Selected Others	3:33.483 (Tom Kristensen, Audi R8) 3:35.529 (Mark Blundell, Bentley Speed 8) 3:21.27 (Alain Ferté, Jaguar XJR9)

The Circuit de la Sarthe is a real world circuit in Gran Turismo 4, Gran Turismo PSP, Gran Turismo 5 and Gran Turismo 6. It is an exact replica of the Circuit des 24 Heures in France, the home of the 24 Heures du Mans motor race.

The circuit is available in 5 layouts/variants, with the 2013 variant featured in GT6. The circuit has gone through several layout changes in its 95-year history, the most notable of which was when chicanes were added to the 6-kilometre long Mulsanne Straight in 1990, when speeds of then-current race cars such as the Peugeot P88 and Sauber C9 started to exceed 400 km/h (250 mph).

The circuit is based on a closed section of the track just south of the town of Le Mans in northern France.

The track is also available in Gran Turismo Sport. It initially appeared only through the game's Scapes section. However, the track returned in playable form as part of Update 1.19, released on May 30, 2018.

Circuit Layouts

Circuit I (2005)

Circuit de la Sarthe I (in red) superimposed onto the full course.

Circuit de la Sarthe I (labeled as Circuit de la Sarthe 2005 in Gran Turismo 5) is a recreation of the Le Mans Circuit from between 2002 and 2005. The 13.88 km course featured, among its 21 corners, the newly added L'Arche Chicane and Le Florandiere Chicane on the Mulsanne Straight. These chicanes were designed to slow the cars from the 400 km/h+ speeds that were acheived on the old straight section. It also features a slightly modified infield section and flattened Mulsanne Kink at the third section of the mulsanne where Peter Dumbreck, among Mark Webber on the same weekend, managed to flip his Mercedes CLR on the bumpy track. it has appeared in a Demo in the Tokyo Game Show 2010.

Circuit II (2005 No Chicane)

Circuit de la Sarthe II (in blue) superimposed onto the full course.

Circuit de la Sarthe II (labeled as Circuit de la Sarthe 2005 (No Chicane) in Gran Turismo 5) is a replica of the Le Mans Circuit from 2002-2005 but without the roadblocks on the Mulsanne straight. The 13.53 km circuit features a flat-out 6 km section commonly known as the 'Mulsanne Straight' (Ligne Droite des Hunaudieres) where race speeds can reach in excess of 400 km/h. A few select players would use the hidden chicanes here just to take their time racing in this high speed course, especially when they're in the lead.

Circuit de la Sarthe 2009 + No Chicane (GT5)

This layout is featured in Gran Turismo 5. It is the 2009 version of Sarthe.

The lap record is 3:18:513 set by Stéphane Sarrazin in 2009 while driving a Peugeot 908 HDi FAP.

Circuit de la Sarthe 2013 (GT6)

This track layout appears in Gran Turismo 6, and to date is the newest version of Sarthe playable in Gran Turismo.

As of 2017, the lap record for this version of the track is 3:14:791 set by Kobayashi for Toyota Motorsport.

Events

Gran Turismo 4

• Circuit de la Sarthe 24h I
• Pan-Euro Championship
• Tous France Championnat
• Gran Turismo All Stars
• Polyphony Digital Cup
• Formula Gran Turismo World Championship
• World Circuit Tours
• Saleen S7 Club
• Gran Turismo World Championship

Gran Turismo Sport

GT League

• Vision Gran Turismo Trophy +; Race 5 - 6 laps
• Gr.1 Prototype Endurance Series; Race 2 - 60 minutes
• Porsche Cup; Race 3 - 60 minutes
• X2014 Nations Cup; Race 5 - 3 laps
• Group 1 Cup; Race 4 - 5 laps
• Lamborghini Cup; Race 8 - 2 laps

Events - No Chicane

Gran Turismo 4

• Circuit de la Sarthe 24h II
• 1000 Miles!
• Dream Car Championship

Gran Turismo Sport

• Nostalgic 1979; Race 2 - 2 laps

Layout and Sectors

Sectors 1 & 2

The home straight.

After clearing turn 1 using the full width of the road, get on the right side, and enter the chicane connecting to the Dunlop Chicane. The first left is especially sharp, so you will need to drop your speed adequately to turn tightly around the curve. For the next right hand corner, go through it in a straight line to gain exit speed.

Dunlop Chicane

Once past the Dunlop bridge, the surface becomes a descending slope into the S de la foret. Stick to the inside on the first left. On the following blind right hand corner, set your apex far into the corner and exit on the right side. Brake in the short straight, and keep to the inside with partial throttle on the next left. Give it full throttle for the final right corner, meanwhile be careful not to creep out onto the gravel on the left side.

Dunlop Bridge

Sectors 3-5

Tertre Rouge

Tertre Rouge is an important high speed corner leading up to the Les Hunaudières straight. Decelerate momentarily, and make sure to hit the out-in-out line. Les Hunaudières is a long straight with two chicanes in between. For the L'Arche Chicane, braking is started from around the break in the guardrails. Approach the first right while decelerating, take a straight line towards the apex of the next left corner. Be wary of losing exit speed by breaking the car's balance while switching back for the final right corner.

L'Arche Chicane

For the Le Floradiere Chicane, start braking using the blue 100m marker sign as your cue. Entering the short left corner while decelerating, keep to the inside for a while. Switching to the right, set your apex using the green pole on the inside, and gradually open the throttle. Exit in a straight line towards the start of the kerbstones on the left side.

Mulsanne exit

Once past the long Les Hunaudières, you come upon the tight 90 degree Mulsanne Corner. This corner is followed by a long straight, requiring high exit speed. Where the centerline ends, brake while slightly getting on the left. Make sure to hit the apex, and exit quickly.

Sectors 6-8

Arnage exit.

After accelerating to top speed again on the loose right, a series of low speed corners awaits. Let off of the throttle prior to the high speed right turn, and apply full brakes to enter the Indianapolis Corner. Apply partial throttle, and get on the bank on the inside to clear. Ahead of the short straight is the slowest point on this track, Arnage. Drop your speed adequately just before the blue 50m marker sign.

Porsche Curves

Porsche Corner is the first in a series of high speed corners. Brake slightly at the entry, and exit on a central line. Take the following left corner at full throttle, and prepare to decelerate for the Virage du Pont.

Sectors 9 & 10

Virage du Pont

Brake at around the mid-point between the two corners and keep to the inside at partial throttle. Let off of the throttle to switch back and clear the final left corner. Passing through Maison Blanche at full throttle, the next corner is the Ford Chicane. Ford the first chicane, start braking using the pit entry to the right as your mark. Exiting the corner with a central line, brake and enter the slower second chicane. Make sure you do not ride up on top of the high kerbstones and lose traction.

Ford Chicane

Replay Demo

Circuit de la Sarthe 1 Lap Attack

Easter Eggs

• In GT4, at the start during replay (when your car crosses the start/finish line at the start of the race), you can see three jet fighter planes on the top left corner spewing colored smoke forming the colors of the French flag (the left plane spews blue smoke, the middle spews white, while the right spews red).

Trivia

• In Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, if the player goes into the Special Settings menu and set Course Limit to Off (On by default), then an incomplete version of this course will appear at the Track Select screen for both Arcade and 2-Player modes. The course is most-likely present in the game data due to the ongoing development of Gran Turismo 5 at the time, with the course presumably being worked on during development at the time of release of GT5 Prologue. Attempting to enter this course in any game mode will result in the game attempting to load the track indefinitely, thus requiring the player to quit and restart the game.
• The ferris wheel that used to be present from Gran Turismo 4 to Gran Turismo 6 has been omitted from Gran Turismo Sport.
• The track, along with other French tracks, did not appear in Tourist Trophy.
• This track has 24 Heures Du Mans logos in the pit road and just before starting line in Gran Turismo 5. However, these logos do not appear on any Le Mans car for unknown reasons.