This gaming project turns Manila Bay into an FIA-grade street circuit

Motorsports fans will know that one way to get people to watch the races is to bring the races to them, hence the creation of street circuits within cities. Most famous of these are the Marina Bay street circuit (Singapore), Circuit de Monaco, Baku City Circuit, the Albert Park Circuit (Australia), and the Circuito da Guia (Macau), along with some new creations within the Middle East and the United States (Miami and Las Vegas).

Locally, we had some street circuits in the past, notably the Greenhills Grand Prix, and several legs of the Toyota Gazoo Racing Philippine Cup (formerly known as the Vios Cup) were held in cities like Alabang, Muntinlupa, Cebu, McKinley, Taguig, Pasay, Villar City, and, most recently, Riverpark, Cavite.

However, what would it be like if Manila Bay were to be transformed into an FIA-grade street circuit? That’s what the HyperDrive Cities project from the Legion of Racers undertook virtually, transforming sections of cities such as Singapore (Orchard Road and Sports Hub), Kuala Lumpur, and Jakarta, Indonesia, into street circuits that can be played virtually via Assetto Corsa.

For the Manila Bay Street Circuit, the track finds itself utilizing a lot of the long straights, tight corners, and roundabouts found within the premises of Aseana City. It looks to be a generally fast-paced track with lots of sweepers, several tight corners, including U-turns for potential overtaking points, and the track is mostly three lanes wide to allow for safe vehicle-to-vehicle combat.

Eagle-eyed readers may notice several familiar landmarks, such as Okada, Solaire, City of Dreams, bits of NAIAX, and Ayala Malls Manila Bay. You can watch a sample hot lap below:

FIA-grade street circuits cost a lot to construct and, in this case, require a lot of undertaking that may prove to be impossible without a total road closure, shutdown, and repaving of the area, especially with how notoriously bad the roads are in the actual vicinity of Aseana, not including the several huge jumps due to the multiple bridges.

However, should an eccentric billionaire want to invest in this to potentially attract any top-tier motorsports, they can utilize this as a case study. For now, you can check out their Patreon page to get access to the Manila Bay Street Circuit.

^{Screenshots from Hyperdrive Cities}