HSS Monthly Update - February 2023 (Patreon)

Hello everyone! Lots of exciting things are in the works, so this is going to be a long update post, enjoy!

PATREON SUPPORT CHANGES:
Hello! Perhaps you saw that there is a new $5 tier... well, we decided to combine the $4 and $8 tiers into one $5 tier. This new $5 Champion tier will include:

• Exclusive Progress Updates
• Early Access to HSS' Historic Car Mods (every month)
• Exclusive Voting Power
• Access to HSS' Historic Track Mods (every 3-6 months)
• Access to the HSS Online Racing Server, including Championship Events
• Access to the HSS Discord Community

The $2 Driver tier will continue to include:

• Exclusive Progress Updates
• Early Access to HSS' Historic Car Mods (every month)

We are getting rid of the % discounts on the paid mods for all tiers, as we don't want the pressure to rush paid mods and compromise their quality. We want to deliver paid mods that match or exceed the quality of the 1970s RSS Formula mod.

Don't worry, your current subscribed tier isn't going anywhere, and you will not be automatically moved to the $5 tier, however, I recommend switching over so you can maintain your discord access and get the next track mod when it releases, which will be a 1972 version of the Milwaukee Mile. The discord access for the $4 and $8 tiers will also expire on March 1, 2022.

In order to be fair with everyone, we are sending 50% discount codes out, which can be used once the 1916 American Champions pack and/or the Blitzen Beasts pack is released. For those Champion patrons, we will be sending out the following additional codes too:

All $8 tier holders who have been supporting for 3 months or more will also get a code to get the Blitzen Beasts pack for free (and still 50% off the 1916 American Champions pack). All $8 tier holders who have been supporting for 6 months or more will get a code to get the 1916 American Champion's pack for free (and still 50% off the Blitzen Beasts). All $8 tier holders who have been supporting for 9 months or more will get a code to get both the Blitzen Beasts and the 1916 American Champion's pack for free.

For all three $12 tier holders the above applies, but you may also get a gift code for the store if you are close to earning a merch item, in the amount to get a replacement off of our storefront.

You will receive the following (and it may take a few weeks as I have to check your payment history, create your unique code, and then message each one of you one-by-one. But don't worry, I'll get to all of you before the end of March (hopefully sooner).

Here is an example of the message you will receive:

"Here is your unique discount code, which is to be used for both packs. It will expire 6 months after the release of whichever is the last of the two packs to be posted on our website. Please don't go sharing the code, as your unique code has a limited number of uses before it runs out. However, if you do run into any issues (I'll probably see it anyways on the back end) feel free to message me and I can get you a new code!

XXXXXXXXXXXX - CHECK YOUR PATREON MESSAGES FOR YOUR UNIQUE CODE."

If you are a $8 or $12 tier patreon who supported for more then 3 months you will also get a second message. Which will likely not come right after the first, so don't be surprised if you get the first, and then get the second message a couple of weeks later.

Current Patreon Projects:
1. The 1932 Studebaker Indycar is going to be released on March 1, 2023. This car is going to include some new features we have yet to include with any of our mods thus far. It is also going to be very polished for an early access release. Overall, it could be the very best project we have produced to date.
2. We are also working on a 1932 Miller Custom, which will use the same frame from the Studebaker and suspension, but will be modified multiple ways visually and will include a Miller Inline-4 engine. We didn't want to take the time to completely design another 1932 Indycar, but we also wanted a companion to the 1932 Studebaker. So the Miller Custom was the solution. With this project we have learned how to carry over work from other models, which we hope to apply to future projects and variations of cars. For example, a 1935 Auto Union Type B.
3. 1934 Auto Union Type A. We have also been hard at work on this project the last several weeks. As you can see in the photos, the car has just been imported into Assetto Corsa and we are fine tuning the details in preparation for the big update we plan to release next month. We are also going to release some smaller updates for the 1934 Alfa Romeo P3 and the Bugatti T59.
4. 1935 Auto Union Type B (and the rest of the 1935 season). We are going to be making a 1935 Auto Union Type B following much of what we are learning how to do with the Miller Custom we have been working on. Additionally, we will be updating the physics for the rest of the 1934 cars to match the performance for the 1935 season. This will allow for awesome racing seasons and events across the 1934 and 1935 Grand Prix seasons.
5. 1902 Ford 999 is currently being imported into Assetto Corsa. This car will be available for voting soon. Another project for the Pre-WW1 era is always exciting, and this will be the earliest car we have made and it was the first car capable of traveling faster then 90mph (144kph).
6. 1924 Delage 2LCV's 3d model has been finished and we will begin importing it shortly. This project is going to give a third car to the 1924 set of cars we are producing. Additionally, the 1924 Bugatti will be getting it's racing paint schemes soon too.
6. 1972 McLaren M16B has been completely imported into Assetto Corsa and will be available for everyone to vote on next month.
7. Three 1972 Indycar tracks are in development currently. Milwaukee, Michigan, and Pocono. These three tracks will be based upon 13x's modern tracks, but with modifications to the track and especially trackside details to match the correct historical era. 13x has given us permission to modify his tracks, and we plan to continue to update many of his tracks with historical versions. Anyone interested in a 1970s or 80s version of Portland International?

Current Contract Projects:
Right now we are starting to wind down some of our contract projects, and we only have two left. #1 is a confidential project for a major AC Pro client which has/will provide funding for HSS to continue through July. This project is in the final stages and should be totally completed by the end of the month. #2 is our work on three Formula Junior cars for F3 Classic Tracks. As the #1 contract winds down, the contract team will be returning their focus to the Formula Junior cars, and I hope to have the first two FJ cars completely finished by the end of next month. The third FJ should be finished by the end of April at the latest. Then they should be available sometime shortly after that via the F3 Classic Tracks website. I have really enjoyed working with Sergio, and we both have plans to continue to collaborate together moving forward. However, we will be limiting all other contracts to one at a time for the rest of 2023 so that we can prioritize completing the HSS paid packs.

HSS' Paid Packs:
We postponed the projects as we felt we could improve the quality, and because getting accurate sounds has proved to be quite a long, laborious, and expensive process:
1. Blitzen Beasts (1911 Blitz and 1911 Beast land speed cars) $5 - ETA April 2023 (I feel very good about this timeline).
2. 1916 American Champions Pack (1916 Indiana, Sheepshead, and Chicago tracks along with the 1916 Premier, Sunbeam, Duesenberg, and Maxwell cars) $15 - ETA... sometime in 2023 (this project is massive and as I am prioritizing the Blitzen Beasts, so it could be later in the year before we are finished at the quality I want).
3. 1973 Targa Florio (1973 Gigi P2, Lola T290, AMS 273, Chevron B21) $10 - ETA Early 2024 (I feel good about this timeline as we don't have any tracks included, and I have some major sim racing creators who want to contribute and help us out with this pack).
4. 1911 American Champions Pack (1911 Marmon Wasp and Mercer) $5 - ETA Summer 2024

Projected Timeline:
March 1, 2023 - 1932 Studebaker Indycar will release into early acccess.
March 1, 2023 - Historic Sim Studios YouTube channel will begin.
March 1, 2023 - Historic Sim Studios Facebook page will launch.
March 4, 2023 - Upgraded HSS server will be released.
March 11, 2023 - First HSS Online Competition/Championship (with prizes)
March 2023 - Update to the 1934 Bugatti T59 and 1934 Alfa Romeo P3
March 2023 - Auto Union Type A with it's new 3d model and additional updates
Late-March/April 2023 - 1906 Renault AK GP car will receive its 1.0 release and be posted on the www.historicsimstudios.com website.
Late-March/April 2023 - 1972 Milwaukee Mile will be released for all $5 Champion Patrons
April 2023 - Blitzen Beasts (1911 Blitz and 1911 Beast land speed cars) $5 paid pack
June/July 2023 - 1972 Michigan will be released for all $5 Champion Patrons
October/November 2023 - 1972 Pocono will be released for all $5 Champion Patrons

Final Request:
As you can see March is going to be a massive month for HSS. Please spread the word and encourage people to join and sign up. As I discussed above we have dropped prices to $5 a month to be a top tier/full fledged supporter/member of Historic Sim Studios. I believe for $5 we will offer the most value and quality of any other sim racing Patreon out there. With that in mind, Historic Sim Studios needs to continue to grow, there are 23 of us on the HSS team now, including myself, and I would love to be able to not depend on contract projects to support the team and development of projects. Thus, I would like to propose a goal for March. Let's try and get the HSS patron to 500 Patrons (currently we are at 183). I know that is ambitious, but we will be funding an advertising push, and if we could get many of you to share the trailers that will be posted on our new YouTube channel next month, I believe we can reach that number. Thanks for all the support, you guys are awesome!

If you aren't following us on Instagram, we post frequently on there and you can see awesome photos of the cars in progress:
https://www.instagram.com/historicsimstudios/