Simulator technology

[marcush.]

The more you look into it the more you realise it is nothing more than a gimmick and not much worth to a team .There are strong simualtion tools around to predict car behaviour and I´d think this is really enough ...getting the driver into the loop is a nice idea but it would only be a help if it was replicating everything realistic which is just way too elaborate.
Thinking again with the currrent steeringwheels and DRS ,KERS and what have you it might be useful to memorize the routines so you don´t have to divert your attention to things like DRS in a hot lap and just release kers in the perfect moment...but that´s it really.

As a quick handcalculation reveals .high sustained cornering gs and breaking are not going to be felt in simulators as the effort is remarkable...

[HampusA]

I think you guys fail to realise just how far and advanced sims have gotten. especially F1 in house sims..

Sure the G forces isn´t there but the rest is all there.

[mep]

Have you played one?

the gap between reality and virtual world is getting narrower as we speak.

As far as we talk about the ones everybody can buy in a store I must say at the moment they rather do a big step bag. This F1 2010 from Codemasters is the biggest BS I have seen so far.

[HampusA]

Yea that isn´t even a "sim" it doesn´t simulate anything...

try iracing and the FW31. Developed together with Williams with their test drivers being very impressed. New mathematical tire model is coming in August aswell. Nothing like this has ever been done before. Maybe not even in F1.

[beelsebob]

Yea that isn´t even a "sim" it doesn´t simulate anything...

try iracing and the FW31. Developed together with Williams with their test drivers being very impressed. New mathematical tire model is coming in August aswell. Nothing like this has ever been done before. Maybe not even in F1.

Not simulating technical aspects of a car is not the same as not simulating anything.

[mep]

I googled iracing and found out it costs between 156 - 500$ a year not including a steering wheel. For that money you can go carting a couple times and get the best simulation you can expect.
The F1 2002, F1 challenge, Rfactor series was very good IMO and had a realistic price.

[HampusA]

Yea that isn´t even a "sim" it doesn´t simulate anything...

try iracing and the FW31. Developed together with Williams with their test drivers being very impressed. New mathematical tire model is coming in August aswell. Nothing like this has ever been done before. Maybe not even in F1.

Not simulating technical aspects of a car is not the same as not simulating anything.

What they do is simulating feel, not even that. tweaking numbers to make it feel somewhat "ok"...

iRacing, if they can, weigh every part of the car, laserscan it etc. Totally different business.

[HampusA]

I googled iracing and found out it costs between 156 - 500$ a year not including a steering wheel. For that money you can go carting a couple times and get the best simulation you can expect.
The F1 2002, F1 challenge, Rfactor series was very good IMO and had a realistic price.

iracing.com Check that instead.

You can get away with it real cheap and it´s no other sim available, Rfactor, F1 Challenge, F1 2002 is a complete joke compared to iRacing..

[Shrieker]

The whole idea behind this is to simulate g forces involved in driving a real racecar.

I'll stand by the idea that the likes of rfactor, lfs and F1 challenge can't even hold a candle to iracing. But since I'm no real life racing driver, can't really comment on it's realism accuracy. Many real life racing drivers do though. One of them was Scott Speed and I raced against him in iracing Mazda MX 5 cup.

[HampusA]

Problem nr1 with iRacing and it´s competitors is laser-scanned tracks. Every little bump you feel in real life, you feel in the game. It´s esentially a carbon copy of the real thing.

Graphics blows the competition away etc.

As far as these type of simulators go, they only work one way. try to take beckets in one of these at 4G-5G left/right. It would snap the arm in half if the power was there.

[Jersey Tom]

I think you guys fail to realise just how far and advanced sims have gotten. especially F1 in house sims..

Sure the G forces isn´t there but the rest is all there.

Nah I'm fairly certain I know very well how 'advanced' the sims are. Think this sort of thing is a waste of time.

[HampusA]

Really? then i assume you have played iRacing for instance or any F1 in-house simulator?
If not then you know --- mate.

"fairly certain"... strong word there m8.

[Jersey Tom]

I've used iRacing, I am very familiar with a variety of driver-in-the-loop and motion simulators, and I am employed doing vehicle dynamics simulation and performance modeling at a top level of pro motorsport.

IMO having to rely on an actual person to drive a simulator for you is terribly inefficient. I've written lap sims that take 2-3 seconds to do a ~3-ish minute lap. In the time it takes a driver to do one flying lap of a circuit, you can have 50+ simulations done of any setup changes you like.

Just doesn't seem like an effective development tool.

[godlameroso]

IOW you're saying that having a person drive a simulator is not an efficient means of development. The main reason being that in the time it takes a driver to do 50 simulated laps you can simulate 500,000 and have time to make setup changes and get a snack.

[HampusA]

i think you missunderstand the point of sims. it's not for setups. it's for the driver.
if a driver does 500 laps of cataluyna for example, he is much more prepared and can go full blast in FP1.
with the new tire model it will move towards a real driving tool. you can actually learn how to drive a racecar by doing sims in the future.