Quote from mikey_G :

at rscnet someone is trying to make such a simulator that pulls your head into certain directions. Might prove a little bit dangerous with lfs' collision physics

Remember those guys who jump off the BL3 roof to make convertible XRT's?

They wont be around much longer with that


How much is one of those you think? Or am I better off cutting up an old Ford Escort myself?

Quote from VTiRoj :

Remember those guys who jump off the BL3 roof to make convertible XRT's?

They wont be around much longer with that


How much is one of those you think? Or am I better off cutting up an old Ford Escort myself?

http://www.armaroli.com/videos/v10.wmv

http://www.armaroli.com/videos/granja_viana_2004.wmv

Check them out

German article on the McLaren simulator: http://www.motorsport-total.co ... or_so_super_07061620.html

some points:
-They use it mainly for setup and parts testing.
-Hakkinen almost broke his wrist because he didn't let go of the wheel when he crashed.
-PDLR says it is very real because he wouldn't use it before races if it wouldn't help him.

I like this quote by Alonso:

"Compared to the McLaren-Simulator the one of Renault is a 'PlayStation'"

rfactor ftl

Quote from DejaVu :

rfactor ftl

I doubt Renault is using rfactor, though .

Another interesting quote by de la Rosa which sort of sums up this discussion:

"You should be fast in the simulator, but that doesn't mean that those who are fast in the simulator are also fast in a race car. Those are completely different scenarios. But if you're not fast in a simulator, you surely won't be fast in a race car."

I think another way that can be put is this:

If you are fast in a simulator, you have the skill and potential to be fast IRL. This doesn't include how well you will cope with the fear factor and physical demands.

If you are slow in a simulator, you won't have the talent / skill to be fast IRL.

Quote from Nathan_French_14 :

looked very realistic. they had one of the commentators who was an ex-formula one driver (martin blundell) and he was going around silverstone. He was sat inside the cockpit part of an F1 car with a huge projector in front of him showing the image from the simulator. The FFB seemed to be very impressive, martin blundell seems like quite a strong bloke, and yet even he was fighting against the ffb, it was jolting about when he hit the curbs, and it was responding to every little crack in the tarmac. At the end of the simulator run, his face was as red as a tomato

The graphics seemed pretty good too, they did'nt have no sponsors on the billboards or nothing like that, but the track, grass, car and all that stuff looked pretty detailed.

Bump up... this quote is from here. Apparently in ITV pre quali coverage, Mark Blundell / Martin Brundle tested a simulator build by Williams (?).

Anyone else managed to see that?

Still somehow hard to believe that F1 teams could have managed to do something more advanced and more realistic than any sim game so far. Even that they have possibly more data, knowledge and experience etc. available than any game devs, manufacturing virtual simulators is not their primary business.

Just curious that what in those simulators could be so advanced compared to sim games. I mean you can get out of sims enough data to build hydraulic motion platform cockpit and FFB you can throw to the trash can and replace it with any "home-made" centering spring system. Basicly those simulators could be just that and nothing fancier... except maybe a lot more detailed what comes to engine, electronics and specs in general to make possible accurate setup testing. Maybe McLaren is intentionally creating hype over their "secret weapon" simulator. Or what else there could be? Live connection to the windtunnel facility?

Or maybe we're just afraid that our beloved sims could look like toys compared to those and we just don't want to see that?


...
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Quote from deggis :

Somehow hard to believe that F1 teams could have managed to do something more advanced and more realistic than any sim game so far. Even that they have possibly more data, knowledge and experience etc. available than any game devs, manufacturing virtual simulators is not their primary business.

It can be. They just need to employ a group of people (mathematicians, physicists, engineers, computer scientists) whose sole purpose is to create a simulator and throw more resources at them than any game devs (usually non-engineers) can ever hope for. I think thats' whats going on in F1.

not to mention the fact that consumer sims are made for x86 single core pcs whereas a f1 team could easily afford something a tad more poweful

Quote from Shotglass :

not to mention the fact that consumer sims are made for x86 single core pcs whereas a f1 team could easily afford something a tad more poweful

Week ago there was some pre-coverage in news about BMW's windtunnel, I remembered some employee saying that they had the most powerful supercomputer in Europe... was wondering that but managed to dig out this link and I remember right, only fastest in industrial use though (I guess it still beats my 1.8 GHz).

I think its very naive to compare a F1 SIMULATOR with a Game, even it that game is as superb as LFS is. Money and resources put into these projects are nothing compared with game developing.
In a simulator there are more things than just the software, most of the Automotive Research centers use the same Carsim software.

In F1 teams simulators are very useful to test new devices using for example HIL Simulations

If you want to know what a simulator is look at this project developing a static simulator which has cost around a million pounds, dynamic simulators used to train pilots by British Airways cost five times more.

I may be wrong, but I think the key point is able to differentiate between professional and amateur. Unfortunately our G25-HOMEPC-LFS simulator is still an amateur simulator, but its as good as we can get without spending a fortune.
McLaren's is for sure a Professional simulator, having all the data available from the MP4/22 and all the system models its not difficult to produce a system (call it software simulator) producing the same output as the real thing. In fact this is a compulsory stage inside the design procedure to save time and money.

Quote from jamvib :

I think its very naive to compare a F1 SIMULATOR with a Game, even it that game is as superb as LFS is. Money and resources put into these projects are nothing compared with game developing.

Armies are well known to be kind of naive places but Steel Beasts tank sim is known to be used by many. I wouldn't be surprised if you'd find Falcon 4.0 under some army simulator platform. US Army and several others are also using Virtual Battlefield System, a game developed from Operation Flashpoint. But that's totally different thing, it's more about simulating different kind of situations than mechanical vehicles so... well how did this turn to armies and 3rd person shooters... offtopic but these shows that to some extent games can be more than just games.

Some nice links there. This > Force Dynamics, at least what comes to size... There's also a video here (first pic on the right), not from that thing though.

Found one link more... Jaguar's F1 simulator from few years back. From the article you get the idea that is is nearly completely designed to make the driver feel at home in the cockpit and train use of all the wheel functions and so on.

Also here are few quotes from media that was not yet mentioned here. I wonder how other F1 team personnel can know what kind of thing it is? It's not exactly a secret everyone knows about it but I doubt they arrange free vising days for rival team bosses.

.

If you can't find some motorsport related video from TBK Forums, it does not exist... so I found the Williams simulator clip captured from ITV and just uploaded to youtube.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=C3KUfd4v0Gg








One similarity with LFS - bee sound

I wonder if they did program their own simulator or used an existing engine (ISI, iRacing, the RBR one ?) and modified it.

Quote from GP4Flo :

I wonder if they did program their own simulator or used an existing engine (ISI, iRacing, the RBR one ?) and modified it.

their own engine... of course.

Damn we need to steal it.

Crappy graphics lol. The cylindrical screen would be sweet though.

i wonder how accurate the track surface is. it would absolutely love to try that out.

I wondered that part when he runs out on the grass, half of the car is on grass and it doesn't seem to upset the car or steering at all. You'd think the actual software simulation of that thing is the least advanced part.

But the steering wheel system looks amazing, I wonder could Ecci 3000 etc. "pro" wheels do the same strenght. He seems to be doing more "wheel sawing" than drivers do in real life onboard videos Very convincing.

That wasn't grass on the exit, but grasscrete, at least it is in real life. Although it would still give less grip ...

I actually don't think that those simulators are Substantially better than what we have today. Most people who test and talk about them don't play video games. So there gonna praise it for its realism even though it might not be significantly better. i would reserve judgment until i got the full specs of the their engine. i would love to see a comparison between Reality Commercial Sim and an F1 sim

Quote from deggis :

But the steering wheel system looks amazing, I wonder could Ecci 3000 etc. "pro" wheels do the same strenght. He seems to be doing more "wheel sawing" than drivers do in real life onboard videos Very convincing.

Look again particularly when he goes off to the grass, that's force feedback not steering movements. "damped steering was superior" my ass.

Quote from lalathegreat :

I actually don't think that those simulators are Substantially better than what we have today. Most people who test and talk about them don't play video games. So there gonna praise it for its realism even though it might not be significantly better. i would reserve judgment until i got the full specs of the their engine. i would love to see a comparison between Reality Commercial Sim and an F1 sim

If they feel they can do testing of any kind and bring the results to the real world, I'd hazard to say it's way more detailed and realistic than anything you can buy at Gamestop.

Hahah a recent funny quote(s) from Lewis Hamilton on F1Technical.net:

Quote :

Will you use the McLaren simulator to prepare for the race in Brazil?
"There are no plans to use it but can if I want to."

Why would you not use it?
"I only use it if I come into the McLaren Technology Centre for development work on the car. I don’t really gain an advantage physically or mentally from it. I’ve played Brazil many times on the Playstation. I play it with my brother and I’ve always won!"

maybe thats the real reason he went in the gravel trap, hes used to going round sharp corners without breaking xD