Simulator technology

[Javert]

As Pierce89 said in the other thread, it's 60 giga not 60 mega, typographic error by journalist

http://www.gizmag.com/ferraris-f1-simulator/13666/

Now the situation seems better

[Pierce89]

The Ferrari simulator uses ten linked computers and 60 GB of RAM not 60MB. I linked an article in the f150 thread. So, it's alot less crappy than implied in this thread .

[raymondu999]

There you go. rFactor pro then?

While we're on the subject of simulators. How do they key in upgrades into the sim? And their drag etc figures? Is it somehow keyed in through their CFD etc?

[elf341]

It must be a typo. 60mb of RAM is an incredibly tiny amount for even simple computation work. The amount of working memory required for CFD modelling to come even slightly close to reality in *real-time* needs to be at least in the gigabytes. 60Gb clusters were available at prices accessible by Ferrari at least 10-15 years ago. These days I would expect anyone serious about building a reliable simulator with the required speed of computation wouldn't think of anything less than 500Gb-1Tb of working memory.

[wesley123]

There you go. rFactor pro then?

While we're on the subject of simulators. How do they key in upgrades into the sim? And their drag etc figures? Is it somehow keyed in through their CFD etc?

I wish I knew that, that is so interresting.

My guess is that it is just a plugin, latest CFD data is just imported and you can test with that, possibly even with CAD data.

What interests me is the way all these things are done, for example the rF we have at home doesnt incorporate yaw fully and pressure too, a lot of things you would require in a simulator arent available in rF itself. If im correct rF Pro allows teams to just write their own additions, they get a base, possibly with source code and there they can add their parameters on.

[Jersey Tom]

I highly doubt they use rF Pro.

[wesley123]

I highly doubt they use rF Pro.

Agreed, but the idea is the same i guess?

[Lurk]

why not? RBR uses rF Pro.

[HampusA]

No they don´t.

They use it for the PR stuff etc but the real one i can be quite sure in saying they have either bought the software from another team or they have developed their own.
the days of RfPro is gone. Only thing that might be good to have there is the LIDAR scanned F1 tracks.

RfPro was also sort of a base where teams could implement their own simulations.

Williams F1 created their own software long before Rfactor existed.
This is from a Williams worker that works in the simulation area.

[raymondu999]

Why not RF Pro though? I still don't get it. rFactor Pro is supposedly one of the better ones out there; It's a completely different product from it's non-pro brother.

[HampusA]

It´s just a platform, nothing more.
And it´s pretty old.

My guess would be all of the longer running teams have their own developed software.
Not RfactorPro.

[raymondu999]

It's possible; but rFactor could also very well have developed their simulation package

[Jersey Tom]

I highly doubt that. If someone wants an off-the-shelf solution, there are much more well-established vehicle simulation packages out there used by a broad range of professionals.

Depending on what you're after, these may not always meet your requirements. Entirely likely many of the big teams just do all their own stuff in-house. Then it does what you need it to and you're confident in what you're getting (or at least aware of all the shortcomings).

[Tim.Wright]

Agreed, why would you go for a game when there are proper engineering tools already out there for realtime simulation. With propper tyre models and physics. For example, Carmaker, vedyna, chassissim, VI-grade, Adams realtime, Aerolap, Carsim(realtime?).

The only thing you could use from a game is the graphics engine.

Tim

[raymondu999]

Eh? rFactor Pro isn't a game. That's rFactor; which, confusingly enough, bears no relationship to rFactor Pro in terms of product lineage. They're entirely separate products