When were F1 simulators first used?

[kandy-london]

Doing an essay - can anyone help?
Would love to know when Mclaren fist introduced the use of simulators to help develop the car??
thanks!

[DaveKillens]

During his first year in Formula One (1996), Jacques Villeneuve used a racing simulator to assist him in learning and preparing for tracks he had never seen before. This was his own personal computer, and his own inititative.

[Sawtooth-spike]

I think if i Remember it was Grand prix 2 he was using.

[Jersey Tom]

Had to..

[flynfrog]

Had to..

=D>

[wrcsti]

What is currently the best one out for the public?
I use Rfactor with the FSOne 08 mod.

[Jersey Tom]

Best in terms of what

[wrcsti]

Best in terms of what

Driving realism, quality of tracks, visuals, etc.

[Giblet]

Had to..

Hehe.... yeah my avatar shows my love for that game when I was a kid. Don't play it now. kinda sucks

[Jon]

Doing an essay - can anyone help?
Would love to know when Mclaren fist introduced the use of simulators to help develop the car??
thanks!

I'm not really sure if you are asking specifically about McLaren or F1 in general...if you mean only McLaren, I think you should ask them.

I believe that the first use of computers to improve a F1 car was done by Tyrrell back in the early 80s. I'm guessing that the rest of the teams catched up pretty quickly, so by the mid 80s all would have computer systems in place, at least rudimentary tools to help. I don't think any of this would count as simulators, but those probably came into place in the mid 90s.

Again, probably better to ask them directly. Then you can quote them in your essay, instead of quoting a forumer...

[Scuderia_Russ]

Won't get into names but I've been told that one touring car driver does fifty days of simulator work for a certain team in Milton Keynes a year. Apparently the realism is incredible in a modern simulator. He said that obviously it's a simulator but you're still hanging on in the corners like it's the real deal. They can test new parts on it too apparently. Not sure how that works though.

[Scuderia_Russ]

Had to..

I was always a Paperboy fan myself.

[wrcsti]

Won't get into names but I've been told that one touring car driver does fifty days of simulator work for a certain team in Milton Keynes a year. Apparently the realism is incredible in a modern simulator. He said that obviously it's a simulator but you're still hanging on in the corners like it's the real deal. They can test new parts on it too apparently. Not sure how that works though.

Same way as doing simulator work on airplanes that haven't been built like the 787 and the A380 (before they built it). They use data acquired by wind tunel and other sources to effectively recreate scenarios.

[oj1983]

OT I know, but paperboy was king!

[DaveKillens]

Won't get into names but I've been told that one touring car driver does fifty days of simulator work for a certain team in Milton Keynes a year. Apparently the realism is incredible in a modern simulator. He said that obviously it's a simulator but you're still hanging on in the corners like it's the real deal. They can test new parts on it too apparently. Not sure how that works though.

In action
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2ryZY56EmI

http://www.force-dynamics.com/

That's the hardware. For software, I can easily find people very capable of modifying a car's behavior. It's done every day by people modding rFactor.

What I have displayed is a system that anyone with enough money can purchase and have up and running immediately, without any specialized support. Heck, if I won the lottery, I would have one in my house.
No doubt, Formula One teams have simulators even more impressive and amazing.