Nestled within the woods of Norway, a hidden gem named Vålerbanen lies slightly dormant. Although mostly hosting trackdays, driving safety lessons, kart racing and off-road experiences, there is a racing layout. A racing layout which can be raced in RaceRoom Racing Experience.
A Lap Around Vålerbanen
Luckily, I’ve recently recorded a tracc.lap in a rather peculiar car for the circuit. However, take a look for yourself.
The circuit is rather simple. Deceptively so, maybe. 10 corners, all of them forming a rather unique, but not very interesting looking layout. At just 2.35km long, the layout looks like two rectangles, conveniently connected with one another.
As you can see below, in the image from racingcircuits.info, the main racing layout surrounds a driving test center. A few roads outside the layout provide extended driving test and racing opportunities. The outside esses are used for regular racing events as well, mostly for Toyota GR86 races that companies can rent.
The circuit feels fast and exciting. No straights are too long, so there is no time to rest either. It feels like a perfect little circuit for touring cars.
Vålerbanen in Sim Racing
The only modern representation in an official capacity is Vålerbanen in RaceRoom Racing Experience. You can buy the circuit in the RaceRoom store. The digital representation has the one layout pictured above.
Sad to say, the circuit doesn’t nearly get as much usage as it should. It is a very niche pick, not seen in ranked races as well as most league races. I find this a terrible shame, however one that can easily be reconciled. RaceRoom does feature some impressive AI, that has an adjustable strength rating. What’s more, the so-called “adaptive AI” automatically chooses a fitting AI level after doing 10 or more laps in the respective race weekend. So, enjoying this circuit in RaceRoom is mostly down to singleplayer events.
Going back to a more classic game, Vålerbanen also features in Race 07 via the STCC: The Game DLC. There is just one slight change in the layout, the starting grid featues on the back straight instead of what is the front stretch in RaceRoom.
Final Words
Before anyone cries out, yes I know I had written about Vålerbanen before, I just like the circuit and want to give it a bit more publicity. Also, you got more sim racing info now!