Orbital Loop is a fictional location on the Moon.
Asphalt 8: Airborne[]
Overview[]
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In-game advertisement |
Added in the Sixth Anniversary Update, Orbital Loop has 4 track variants:
Satellite Rush | |
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Lunar Liftoff | |
Asteroid Chase | |
Escape Velocity |
Based primarily on the Moon, Orbital Loop is home to mining and excavation operations on the lunar surface, as well as within a nearby asteroid field. There are bases on the Moon, many of which are adorned with an assortment of satellite arrays, observatories, solar panels, generators, lunar vehicles and launching pads.
As one of the longest and more challenging tracks in the game, the majority of the different track configurations have the Start Line in or around the orbiting space stations as well as on the Moon itself. These are linked by a series of tunnels, tubes and numerous winding pathways.
Within the space station and orbital satellites, there are storage areas, long well-lit corridors, docking bays and an indoor greenhouse. Outside of the space station, there are rockets and command modules that are either flying past, or tethered to the docking bays.
There is also a track section composed of solar panels that can be driven on, and the viewing angles can rotate up to 90°, so caution is highly recommended here.
Reminiscent of French Guiana, there is a section where one of the longest corridors bifurcates, and a rocket can be seen launching off into space. Vehicles with high speeds driven by unwary players, or with poor handling and drifting capabilities can easily wreck at the base of the launching pad, as both of the turns are very narrow.
Some of these winding pathways have electrified sections that create electro-magnetic effects around the wheels of vehicles that drive through them, and a platforming section that causes the viewing angles to rotate 180° (this can catch unsuspecting players off-guard and cause them to wreck).
On the Moon itself, there is a quarry zone where drilling operations take place, and this is home to a wide half-arc turn that is very accommodating to wider drifting, but has a giant strip-mining machine that invades the track on every lap and can pose a huge hazard to the player's vehicle.
Within the asteroid field, the track goes through some of the asteroids which have been mined hollow, and are rich with various minerals and crystals, predominantly shards of gold. Cranes and other mining machines can be seen at work here. There is also a helix-spiral turn much like those seen on Sector 8 and Munich Subway.
When racing on the Moon's surface and through the asteroids, the player is occasionally rewarded with stunning views of the Earth and space itself, as well as the Sun if one looks closely while traveling through the asteroids.
- Recommendations
- Vehicles that have excellent handling and/or drift radius are recommended for the spiral crystal cave, split greenhouse/solar panel path, U-bend quarry and space station complex.
- Vehicles that have excellent nitro efficiencies are recommended as the track is scarce on stunt ramps and nitro pickups.
- Caution is recommended for using the barrel ramp in the tunnel between the quarry and split path as it may give partial barrel rolls or no barrel rolls at all.
- For Lunar Liftoff and Satellite Rush, if the player's vehicle is fast enough, it can get enough air time at the crest of the shortcut jump in the mining section and miss the ramp, which might result in a wreck or going out of bounds.
The following vehicles have their banners depicted in Orbital Loop:
- Renault ZOE e-Sport Concept
- Nissan Leaf NISMO RC
- Arrinera e-Hussarya
- Chevrolet Corvette ZR1
- Lamborghini Terzo Millennio
- Mazzanti Evantra Millecavalli
- TORINO DESIGN Super Sport
- Aspark Owl
- Vision 1789
- Rimac C_Two
- Ferrari FXX K
- Bugatti Chiron Super Sport 300+
Trivia[]
- The electromagnetic effect for motorcycles appears as solid hexagons and always appears when above a certain speed, regardless of the surface it is on.
- It is the first track to be located outside Earth.
- When a vehicle is wrecked/knocked down, it will float instead of landing immediately, due to the reduced gravity.
- The "speed boost" that occurs when a vehicle reaches any of the two straight tunnels only pulls the camera further back and plays a sound effect.
- The sound effect is the same one used for the portals of Sector 8.
- The track depicts a section of the Asteroid Belt, including the one that can be driven through, as intersecting the Moon's orbit of the Earth while remaining firmly in place, and the space station being semi-attached to the base on the Moon itself. In reality, the Asteroid Belt does not cut through the Moon's orbit and is situated about 225 to 270 million kilometers (140 to 168 million miles) from Earth at its closest point.
- Alternatively, these asteroids can be interpreted as Near-Earth Objects due to their close proximity to the Earth.
Gallery[]
Original tracks | Nevada • Iceland • Tokyo • French Guiana • London • Barcelona • Alps • Venice • Azure Coast |
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Time-released tracks | The Great Wall1 • Dubai2 • San Diego Harbor3 • Sector 84 • Tenerife5 • Area 516 • Rio de Janeiro7 • Patagonia8 • Munich Subway9 • Transylvania10 • Orbital Loop11 • Terra 912 |
1. The Great Wall Update, 2. Dubai Update, 3. San Diego Harbor Update, 4. Winter Update, 5. Tenerife Update, 6. Santa's Gift Update, 7. Rio de Janeiro Update, 8. Lunar New Year 2017 Update, 9. Munich Update, 10. Holiday Update, 11. Sixth Anniversary Update, 12. Seventh Anniversary Update |