Going back to the camera fed display, I know I'm looking way into the future here... but it comes round quicker than most of us anticipate.
Once the technology can deliver a driver a full visual experience remotely, the only reson for being in the car is the other 4 senses.
As anyone who has driven a sim racer knows touch, or really feel, is easily the most important of the remainders. Sound can be replicated pretty effectivly, I don't think taste or smell are going to get you another 1/10th so a simulation rig which can go some way to replicating the seat of the pants driving feel (non-existent at the moment, as far as I'm aware) could be fashioned and tested alongside the direct feed cars. i.e. most drivers will be in the cars, possibly a midfield or backmarker, or a rosta of rotating teams could be used to develop the rig driven cars, within the same rules as the others at first.
By backing off some of the G-forces a driver experiences, tuning out distracting inputs etc, you may even get the drivers to go faster, they would certainly be able to maintain peak concentration for longer.
Also, rather exitingly, you remove the physical limitations of the human body from the vehicle allowing things like stiffer suspension, you remove a lot of weight, and of course you remove the risk to human life.
This opens the door to some truly epic speeds and potentially a greater spectacle, raising the bar for driver reaction times. It suggests the posility that wild cards might be drawn, or at least evaluated from the sim racing world, simultaneously lowering the fitness threshold (A bit, temporarily) allowing the chance for less well financilly backed competitors a chance to shine (the elusive 'real talent'). I should point out here I'm NOT a sim racer. I don't currently own any sim software or even any driving games or console (not looking for sympathy here
).
Also there's the possibility that computer programs might be more readily tested and improved in a like for like scenario against human competitors.
If all this seems just a bit far fetched remember the state of Nevada has just granted a license for google's autonomous car.
On of the weathiest companies in the world is putting quite a few golden eggs in this basket. They aren't doing it entirely as an exercise to show what can be done, they are doing it because they beleive they
may make a very large amount of money out of it. For that to happen that they will need to sell a lot of autonomous cars, and less of us will need to drive for that to happen.
I'm kind of suggesting the sport will eventually eat itself in it's quest to develop and stay relevant, some might say it already has. I think I'd prefer to see that than watch it fall completely from relevance and wither away, at least it provides better talking points. Maybe it might find a way to make another leap and stay alive.
I'm very jealous for the glory days of F1, although I wasn't there, The Silverstone Classic and Goodwood are two of my best days out, todays racing is pretty good too but POSSIBLY suggesting a car have a driver in it, might one day soon be like suggesting the engine should be in the front, or wings are unnecesary, crossply tyres can't be bettered, or it's safer to have no seatbelt as you'll be thrown clear in a big accident.
I Also agree that the distortion from a canopy that otherwise protects the driver shouldn't be a deal breaker, it can't be that bad. If it really makes it undriveable then what about fibre optic strands to redirect the light into it's undistorted form? Could they be layered in carbon fibre somehow?
