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Having Fun With 3D Vision Surround Racing Simulators – It’s Time To Race

August 8, 2011 By admin
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headshotBy Will Park Posted on Aug 7 2011 at 08:00:05 AM in Gaming
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NVIDIAns work hard, and we play even harder. When we race virtual racecars, for example, we use state-of-the-art tech – and we have pictures to prove it.

A Trinity Racing Concepts racecar simulator.

Trinity Racing Concepts – a local Silicon Valley specialist in designing and building custom simulators — recently hauled their sensory-blasting racing simulators to our headquarters. Employees were able to duke it out on a virtual race track. At stake: street cred and bragging rights.

Droves of eager NVIDIA racer wannabes clamored past desks and cubicles to a tucked-away corner of one of our buildings to get their race on. The crowd was mostly light-hearted, but the air was laced with barely suppressed competitive spirit. Suffice it to say, lesser racers’ egos were served healthy portions of reality-check pie, as skilled drivers earned their place among NVIDIA’s sim racing legends.

We also wanted to give pint-sized NVIDIAns a chance to join in the fun.  So, at our official Bring Your Children To Work Day, on July 27, we asked Trinity Racing to set up their racing simulators for the kids. Given their system’s realism, we weren’t surprised to see most kids abandon all hope of improving their lap times and instead resort to bashing their virtual racecars into walls and fellow racers.

The kids loved “driving” a racecar.

Fitted with NVIDIA 3D Vision Surround technology and packing NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 GPUs under the hood, Trinity’s racing simulators deliver an immersive, 3D racing experience that comes as close to the real thing as you could hope for while still in the safety and comfort of an office building. Each simulator sports three 3D Vision Ready monitors configured in 3D Vision Surround, wrapping around the driver to provide peripheral, three-dimensional vision.

In case you’re wondering, these are the kind of simulators that military pilots and real racecar drivers use to hone their skills. In other words, they’re a hoot.

The work we do at NVIDIA isn’t easy. Sometimes, it’s downright hard. But, it’s perks like our virtual race days that make it all worthwhile.

Make sure to check out our photo gallery below.

*A special thanks to Trinity Racing for giving NVIDIA’s kids and kids-at-heart a glimpse of what it’s like to be in the cockpit of a real racecar. Find out more about Trinity Racing at www.trinity-racing.com

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Filed Under: Nvidia GeForce 3D Vision, iRacing

NVIDIA 3D Vision Surround Reviewed InSideSimRacingTV

June 1, 2011 By admin

Filed Under: Nvidia GeForce 3D Vision, iRacing

Justin Wilson and Will Power – IZOD IndyCar Series Racing Driver

May 23, 2011 By admin

Justin Wilson Testing out Trinity Racing Concepts Simulator using Nvidia 3D technology at iRacing Headquarters in Boston while Simona de Silvestro, Will Power looks on.


Filed Under: Nvidia GeForce 3D Vision, iRacing

iRacing, McLaren Electronic Systems Partner in Online Racing Data Analysis

May 5, 2011 By admin


by Kevin Bobbitt on May 5th, 2011

iRacing.com, the world’s leading online motorsports simulation service, announced today it is partnering with McLaren Electronic Systems to incorporate the ATLAS Express data analysis software into its system.  As a result, iRacing’s more than 25,000 members will now have access to similar data acquisition and telemetry software used on every car competing in the FIA Formula One World Championship since 2008 and on NASCAR’s standard ECU (engine control unit) in 2012.

In addition to affording its members unprecedented opportunities to increase their understanding of their virtual race cars’ performance with ATLAS Express, iRacing is also releasing an upgraded application program interface (API) that will dramatically enhance the service’s compatibility with an array of external features including motion platforms and external displays.

“With the new iRacing telemetry capability, our members will be able to log detailed telemetry from their virtual race car to disk,” says Dave Kaemmer, iRacing’s chief executive and chief technical officer.  “Using McLaren Electronics’ Atlas Express data analysis application, members who wish to delve into the engineering details in order to improve their cars’ handling will be able to do so, using very similar tools as F1 and NASCAR teams.  In addition, with iRacing’s new real-time telemetry interface, multiple applications will be able to access telemetry simultaneously, allowing easier support for motion platforms, external gauges, and other add-ons from the sim-racing community.”

“Members who wish to delve into the engineering details in order to improve their cars’ handling will be able to do so, using very similar tools as F1 and NASCAR teams.” — Dave Kaemmer

ATLAS Express is derived from the ATLAS suite of software developed in the 1990s to support McLaren’s own Formula 1 team.  Continued growth and development of the system saw it introduced into a variety of motorsports environments including Le Mans and ALMS sports cars, the FIA World Rally Championship, the FIA Formula One World Championship, NASCAR and IndyCar.  The FIA awarded McLaren Electronics the contract to supply the powertrain control system to every team competing in the Formula 1 from the beginning of the 2008 race season and, in February this year, NASCAR named McLaren as the Official Engine Control Unit of NASCAR for the 2012 Sprint Cup series in support of its impending switch to fuel injected engines.

“Up to now, you had to be a race engineer in a top level race team to access these tools” says Mike Phillips, President of McLaren Electronic Systems’ US division, “and access to reliable real-time data has been a game-changer for car development and race strategy in recent times.  Our link with iRacing will now make this experience easily accessible to the current user community and hopefully new players intrigued by the possibilities this gives them.”

In its iRacing application, ATLAS Express will be primarily available as a tool for analyzing and developing the handling of the members’ virtual race cars.  Where iRacers have previously been able to monitor tire wear and temperature in the pits after completing a lap or laps, ATLAS Express will make available substantially more detailed information regarding performance such as the real time tire surface temperatures, along with critical data such as lateral acceleration, steering wheel angle and damper/spring deflection.

“Up until now, our members have only been able to work on their setups by ‘feel,’ tire wear and temperatures, and by gauging their performance on the stop watch,” says Kaemmer. “ATLAS Express will now allow iRacers to view driver and car performance in a given session to help them tune the car with actual data.”

Beyond powering the ATLAS Express software, the feature-rich API will dramatically increase the functionality of the iRacing service.  For example, broadcasts of online races will now be able to utilize screen overlays of real time on-board telemetry from individual cars, while members will be able enjoy the full benefits of plug-ins for a variety of external custom hardware including vibrating pedals, base shakers and motion platforms.

“The addition of ATLAS Express to the service figures to make everyone a little – or a lot — faster.” — Dave Kaemmer

iRacing is working with McLaren Electronic Systems to develop workbooks and documents specifically designed to help iRacing members take full advantage of the ATLAS Express applications to the iRacing service.  Together with the  ATLAS Express software, the documentation and workbooks are expected to be released before the end of May, 2011.

However, Kaemmer stressed the service will remain user-friendly for members who would rather race than crunch numbers.

“Although engineering a race car is an interesting challenge, iRacing will continue to provide ‘Arrive and Drive’ racing series with fixed car setups for those who prefer turning a steering wheel to turning a wrench.  As has always been the case, members will be free to share their set-ups with other iRacers, so the addition of ATLAS Express to the service figures to make everyone a little – or a lot — faster.”

Filed Under: iRacing

iRacing.com Announces iRacing 2.0

April 25, 2011 By admin

April 20th, 2011

iRacing.com Announces iRacing 2.0

World’s Premier Online, Multiplayer Racing Game to Release Revolutionary Updates over the Summer Months

BEDFORD, MA (April 20, 2011) – iRacing.com today formally announced its most dramatic software release to date – Version 2.0. Coming in the summer of 2011, iRacing 2.0 will feature enhancements across the board for the popular online, multi-player racing title.

In contrast to gaming software brands that typically release a new title once every few years, the online racing game takes advantage of digital distribution to provide regular updates of its service to the more than 25,000 iRacing members four times per year.

“iRacing is now to sim racing what NASCAR is to stock car racing.”  -  John Henry

“By summer’s end, we will have clearly ‘launched’ a truly amazing step forward in sim racing. It is incredible how far we have come in just three years. I am thrilled to see our vision come to fruition with thousands of people racing online everyday in our service. iRacing is now to sim racing what NASCAR is to stock car racing,” said iRacing co-founder John Henry.

New Tire Model is the Core of iRacing 2.0

At the core of the 2.0 release is the highly anticipated new tire model, which will revolutionize the way iRacing members race online, providing unparalleled realism and the most accurate racing experience ever produced for a PC. The introduction of the new tire model will be rolled-out over the course of the summer, along with many of the additional enhancements, beginning in May.

iRacing’s CEO and legendary sim racing developer, Dave Kaemmer and his team have been researching tire properties and working on his newest tire model for over three years. “I have dedicated my professional life, over 20 years, to working on racing simulations and physics models,” said Kaemmer. “This new tire model is our best work ever. It was incredibly challenging and time consuming to develop an understanding, mathematically speaking, of a racing tire at the limit and under all sorts of conditions – and that was just phase one. To then translate that into a working model within the simulation was incredibly taxing – but it was truly a labor of love. The tires are clearly the hardest thing to simulate for any racing title, but I think we’ve nailed it! I believe it is going to bring simulated racing to a whole new level of enjoyment and realism.”

“The tires are clearly the hardest thing to simulate for any racing title, but I think we’ve nailed it!” – Dave Kaemmer

“iRacing 2.0 isn’t a new disc that needs to be purchased. Members will download the updates from our easy to use website, all for free”, said iRacing.com president Tony Gardner. “We  have improved our product so much in the last three years that, along with adding such an incredible list of new features this summer, we feel it’s fitting to celebrate the next generation of iRacing. We will be releasing some of these features in early May and some in August, but frankly we will continue improving the product long after that.”

The company initially launched its service in the summer of 2008 and 400 people joined that first month. Now three years and over 25,000 customers later, the company still provides updates and improvements to the service like clockwork every three months.

“Although we have moved well beyond our initial vision, we are working harder than ever and the features coming out this summer prove it”, added Gardner. “When we first launched we had only a few cars running on about a dozen U.S.-based tracks. Now we have over 30 official series running on over 60 laser scanned tracks from around the world – over 1,500 official races going-off each week, 24 hours per day, not to mention the hundreds of member-run leagues that take advantage of our hosted racing features each week.”

“I want to thank our tremendous real-world partners involved in this including: NASCAR, INDYCAR and GRAND-AM, who officially sanction series on iRacing.com. I also want to thank all of the tracks, car manufactures and racing teams who have worked so hard with us to get everything simulated as realistically as possible. It sure does make it more fun for our members, ” Kaemmer added. “Lastly, and most importantly, I want to thank our members for their continued support and passion for race gaming and sim racing. Without them we could never have gotten to iRacing 2.0. It is incredible to think how far technology has come, especially in the last few years, and what could be in the future. We look forward to that journey with our members and many more great years of sim racing.”

Highlights of iRacing 2.0

May 2011

  • Early preview of Dave Kaemmer’s new tire model available on the new NASCAR Nationwide car.
  • Launch of in-game awards program – over 50 different participation awards members can earn.
  • Night racing on road courses using headlights beginning with Sebring International Raceway and the V8 Supercar, Mazda MX5 Cup & Roadster, Corvette C6.R, Riley Daytona Prototype, Pontiac Solstice, VW Jetta TDI Cup and Mustang Challenge race cars.
  • New NASCAR “Nationwide” stock car – race the car you watch on Saturdays.
  • Okayama International Circuit  (Japan) – the first of several tracks from the island nation.
  • New telemetry output for the data hungry racers.
  • Private league racing enhancements including: reduced pricing, advanced scheduling, new race session options and additional grid spots to virtually every track.
  • Graphic and shader upgrades in-game for more lifelike visuals.
  • Complete graphical overhaul of the Skip Barber FSB2000 race car – updating our first car to current standards.
  • Opening practice sessions to all license levels (excluding Pro Series).
  • Enhanced pitting and damage repair for all cars.
  • Preferred/custom car numbers.
  • Improved accuracy of the modeled physical track surface to match the laser scanned data better than ever before.

August 2011

  • New Tire Model for all cars.
  • Enhanced aero model for improved drafting and more realistic downforce characteristics.
  • Heat/Tournament racing for private leagues/sessions.
  • Driver aids available for private leagues and Rookie series (ABS brakes, traction control, driving line, steering aids, etc.).
  • Enhancements of new sound system.
  • Endurance racing and driver swaps.
  • Suzuka Circuit  (Japan).
  • Iowa Speedway (USA).
  • Ford GT race car
  • Honda LMP ARX-01C race car
  • Live pop-up chat on member site.

Current highlights of iRacing.com

  • Inexpensive – Standard one-year membership is less than $9 per month. Try it for one month for $5 to learn more first hand. Use Promo code PR-FIVEDOLLAR when joining.
  • The most accurate, realistic and feature rich simulation in the world.
  • Centralized member website with ease of use being the cornerstone; Regular automatic updates free with membership.
  • Live stats, tracking and scoring for every race.
  • Robust and passionate community including forums and live chat.
  • State-of-the-art graphics.
  • Head-to-head racing with same field size as real world racing – some tracks capable of racing up to 60 cars.
  • Fully integrated and professionally developed iRacing driving school.
  • Over 60 officially licensed and laser scanned tracks.
  • Over 25 officially licensed and authentically reproduced cars.
  • Over 100 private leagues using iRacing.
  • Unlimited racing 24/7: over 1,500 official race each week, unlimited open practice, unlimited time trialing, unlimited testing on track.
  • Ability to race any car at any track, anytime you want, utilizing the hosted racing feature.
  • Dozens of special events each year: iRacing Indy 500, iRacing Daytona 500, Club style competition, World Cup of iRacing.
  • Most prestigious Pro Series in sim racing sanctioned by NASCAR, INDY CAR and GRAND-AM, with thousands of dollars in cash prizes, full press coverage and live broadcasts.
  • Fully integrated real-world and sim racing news site (inRacingnews.com) and webcast show (iRacingTV) covering the racing action.
  • Mixed class racing, open setup racing, fixed setup racing, night racing on ovals.
  • License and division system automatically categorizes each member into the level that they are interested in: from casual race gamer looking to just have some fun to serious competitors looking for the best competition sim racing has to offer.
  • World class, live customer service and support.

Filed Under: iRacing

iRacing allows fans and drivers to hone their skills

April 6, 2011 By admin

Earnhardt worked on development of game long before it was available to public

By Joe Menzer, NASCAR.COM
July 06, 2011 1:51 PM, EDT

The month of May was fast approaching when Marcus Smith, track president at Charlotte Motor Speedway, decided he wanted to do something special to commemorate the long-awaited public unveiling of the largest high-definition television screen in the world at his facility.

Why not ask the most popular driver in NASCAR to come out and play a video game on the huge TV? A couple phone calls were made, and soon enough Dale Earnhardt Jr. was on board with the idea and quite enthusiastic about it.

“

It’s fun, and I think it keeps me sharp.

”
– DALE EARNHARDT JR.

This wasn’t just your normal video screen, of course, and nor was it your normal video game. Earnhardt has always been passionate about the iRacing game that he got to play that day in May.

In fact, Earnhardt helped develop it — and credits playing it regularly to keeping him sharp in his day job, which is driving stock cars at ridiculously high speeds on the Sprint Cup Series circuit.

“It’s fun,” Earnhardt said. “And I think it keeps me sharp.”

Earnhardt said it has helped him this season as he has enjoyed a resurgence in the Sprint Cup point standings. Heading into this Saturday’s race at Kentucky Speedway, he’s seventh.

Carl Edwards, who is currently second in points, said when he thought he was going to run the Nationwide Series race recently at Road America — a track with which he was unfamiliar — he spent a solid two hours on iRacing to prepare for it. Edwards thought he was going to have to fly from Sprint Cup practice in Sonoma, Calif., and jump into his Nationwide car at Road America in Elkwart, Wis., and qualify without practicing. (He ended up changing his mind at the last minute and didn’t run the Nationwide event).

“I spent time on Road America where they had an open practice. It was really cool,” Edwards said. “There were about 60 guys and it was just like a real practice session. One of the guys sent a set-up over digitally and we put that in and talked to him a little bit and followed him around the track. It really helps, I think. … I am relying on that iRacing stuff to get me up to speed in a situation like that.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr. shows off his iRacing skills while helping to launch Charlotte Motor Speedway's HDTV screen in May. CMS

CMS

Dale Earnhardt Jr. shows off his iRacing skills while helping to launch Charlotte Motor Speedway’s HDTV screen in May.

The other side

Not all NASCAR drivers agree with Earnhardt, Edwards and other enthusiastic backers of iRacing and other forms of simulation driving in terms of how it can help them prepare for actual races. Others, including Kasey Kahne and Elliott Sadler, insist that they get nothing of professional value out of iRacing or other simulated racing games and therefore rarely, if ever, pursue them.

“I’ve never done it and don’t really know anything about it,” Sadler said. “I don’t think you can learn anything off it, either, but hey, different strokes for different folks. I guess it’s a tool that some people can use to help them, but it doesn’t work for me. I’m such an outdoors guy. I play a lot of golf; I play a lot of softball; I play flag football. I’m just outdoors, training or doing something all the time; I don’t like to sit inside doing that.

“

Just because you’re a good iRacer doesn’t mean you’re suddenly going to go to Charlotte Motor Speedway and be able to qualify first for an actual race.

”
– KASEY KAHNE

“I understand where we’re always looking for something to give you that extra edge and if other guys can use that to their advantage, more power to ‘em. My plan is if I’m outside all summer long in the heat, no matter when or where I get in the race car it’s not going to bother me.”

Kahne added that he’d rather look over an unfamiliar track in person or on video before going to it, rather than trying to drive it on iRacing.

“Some of it is so realistic as far as the tracks,” Kahne said. “You can really see it before you go to it, and I guess that has to help. All I ever did was watch it on TV, or go to the track and watch it there before I raced it. I just never did iRacing. I never did video games. I’ve never been good at it.

“To me it can easily help you understand how it looks going into a corner. But you can get that off TV, too, or just going to a track and paying attention that way. Don’t get me wrong. I think it’s awesome. But just because you’re a good iRacer doesn’t mean you’re suddenly going to go to Charlotte Motor Speedway and be able to qualify first for an actual race.”

To that line of thinking, Earnhardt shakes his head with a hint of disbelief. It’s pretty obvious he will soon be attempting to change Kahne’s mind once Kahne becomes a Hendrick Motorsports teammate beginning next season.

“I’m open-minded about it. I’m not as critical of the simulation as some people. I don’t sit down there and ask myself, ‘Am I really getting anything on the professional side out of this experience?’ But I believe anytime you play a video game or any kind of simulation like that, I think it helps with your reaction time,” he said. “There are just some very simple things that it helps you with mentally — and iRacing is the most realistic simulation of the actual racing atmosphere, so how can it not? How can it not help you somehow?”

The background

To understand why Earnhardt is so bullish on iRacing, a little background is required. Earnhardt worked on development of the game for years before it became available to the general public.

He helped test the product for four years before the online racing service was opened to the public in August of 2008. NASCAR and iRacing.com Motorsports Simulations partnered in May of 2009 to create a NASCAR-sanctioned online racing series that is licensed by NASCAR and organized and hosted by iRacing.

NASCAR iRacing

The World Championship Series season includes 18 races in 39 weeks and races take place every other week at 9 p.m. ET Tuesday.

Schedule
Standings
History

“They’ve been developing it since ’02 and I got in on the beta testing around ’04,” Earnhardt said.

The iRacing.com company was founded in September of 2004 by Dave Kaemmer and John Henry. Kaemmer was co-founder of Papyrus Design Group, developers of some early-on racing simulation games that included the highly popular NASCAR: 2003 Season. Henry is principal owner of the Boston Red Sox in Major League Baseball and Fenway Sports Group — the co-owner of NASCAR’s Roush Fenway Racing organization. Henry also happens to be an avid simulation racer himself who has long said he’s pleased with how iRacing has brought realistic racing simulation to average fans at prices they can afford.

“This is one form of racing that is affordable to the average racing fan,” Henry said when iRacing first partnered with NASCAR. “We provide our members with the opportunity to develop the same driving skills they see their favorite NASCAR stars using every weekend, for a fraction of the cost of their monthly phone bill.”

The company’s subscription numbers bear out Henry’s contention. Even in a down economy, they’ve more than doubled since August of 2009 to more than 25,000 members worldwide today. Fans — and NASCAR drivers themselves — can sign up for as little as $7.46 per month for a two-year membership. They also can sign up for memberships shorter in length if they’re just test-driving the product, such as $12 for one month or $10 per month for a three-month commitment.

The company also has been aggressive in negotiating rights with International Speedway Corp., Speedway Motorsports Inc., and other racing-related organizations to “build” new virtual tracks. One of the latest to be added to the NASCAR-sanctioned mix was Iowa Speedway. There currently are 19 tracks where Sprint Cup events are held where iRacers can compete, as well as the aforementioned Road America where a Nationwide race is held. The total number of all tracks available — including other types — is up to 46 from 12 just two years ago.

The first race of the season started out clean, but it didn't take long for the cautions to fly. Florida's Ray Alfalla eventually took the checkers and is currently first in the standings. iracing.com

iracing.com

The first race of the season started out clean, but it didn’t take long for the cautions to fly. Florida’s Ray Alfalla eventually took the checkers and is currently first in the standings.

Stepping it up

The increased involvement with NASCAR has had a trickle-down effect, allowing iRacing.com to stage five different online racing series officially sanctioned by NASCAR: NASCAR iRacing.com Series World Championship (NiSWC), NASCAR iRacing.com Pro Series and NASCAR iRacing.com Class A, Class B and Class C Series. NASCAR.com regularly covers NiSWC races and the series champion receives a cash prize of $10,500, along with an expense-paid trip to the Sprint Cup season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway where they are honored during the pre-race ceremonies.

So while the iRacing company is more about making some money and promoting the sport by getting the average fan involved — rather than providing simulation that a driver can actually use to his or her advantage on the race track — having someone with a high profile such as Earnhardt endorse it obviously doesn’t hurt the bottom line. Earnhardt not only was involved in development of its NASCAR-based products but also in hopefully affecting future improvements as a member of iRacing’s competition committee.

Dale Jr. and Marcus Smith show off their iRacing skills at CMS in May.

Dale Jr. and Marcus Smith show off their iRacing skills at CMS in May.
“

I hope they get a kick out of it. But not all of ‘em will. Just like up in the grandstands, you’ve got some people who pull for you and some people who hate you.

”
– DALE EARNHARDT JR.

Earnhardt also won the inaugural iRacing.com Series World Championship race in February of 2010 and has raced occasionally in the past with series regulars on Tuesday nights at 9 p.m. when the official events are held. But he’s more likely just to join in a non-official event when he feels like it, or get in some practice runs on the next track he’ll be visiting.

But he said he does enjoy iRacing against fans.

“It’s fun, and I don’t feel pressure to beat ‘em every time,” Earnhardt said. “I hope they get a kick out of it. But not all of ‘em will. Just like up in the grandstands, you’ve got some people who pull for you and some people who hate you. It’s the same way in the iRacing community. There is a forum and there’s a lot of communication going on there. Half of ‘em are telling you you’re doing a good job and half of ‘em are telling you you’re overrated.

“So it just goes with the territory. You just try to move around and blend in and have fun. But most of the time, when I do get the opportunity to sit down and really go at it, those guys are fun to race and they can whip your tail. That’s just the way it goes sometimes. You join a race and whoever you’re paired up with is who you race. Normally they try to pair you up with guys who are of your skill level, but you don’t have a choice in the matter as to who you’re running against.”

Blake Davidson, NASCAR managing director of licensed products, helped negotiate the deal between the governing body and iRacing. He said developing an online racing series was the vision of the late Bill France Jr.

“Bill France Jr. had the original vision for this series more than 10 years ago,” Davidson said when the partnership was formed in 2009. “He foresaw a day when NASCAR fans could experience NASCAR’s side-by-side racing from the comfort of their own homes. That day has now come.

“The iRacing product is so realistic that a number of our drivers are iRacing members. … From the beginning, these drivers have raved about the incredible accuracy of the cars and the tracks that iRacing has produced. Their involvement makes the experience even more authentic.”

Among the drivers who were quick to sign up for iRacing, in addition to Earnhardt, were Brad Keselowski, A.J. Allmendinger, Marcos Ambrose, Michael McDowell and Colin Braun. Keselowski, who later drove an Earnhardt-owned car in the Nationwide Series, said he first started getting to know Earnhardt through racing with him online and credited his third-place finish at Darlington Raceway earlier this season in large part to getting to know the place on iRacing. Earnhardt said it benefits younger drivers greatly, noting that as a Nationwide Series team owner, he is pleased when he sees his drivers such as Josh Wise attempting to gain experience on iRacing — especially now that there is less and less testing.

“I don’t encourage him to do it. I leave it up to him,” Earnhardt said of Wise. “But he’s on there quite a bit.”

Not only is less testing at actual tracks in real vehicles available to younger drivers desperately seeking seat time, but what testing is available is far more expensive to owners than having their drivers sit down in front of a computer and go iRacing. Those are factors to be considered as well, Earnhardt said.

“If I had never raced at Milwaukee and I was going to go race there in a Nationwide car or a Star Mazda car or something like that, that would be the perfect way to get acclimated with the track,” Earnhardt said. “It would help you understand what the corner entrances look like, and where the apexes are, just getting on and off the track — where pit road is, what the entrance to pit road looks like and things like that. It can be very tricky at some race tracks, and this gives you kind of a heads up.”

But it’s not just for young drivers. When Jimmie Johnson thought iRacing might help him improve on road courses last year, Earnhardt actually went to Johnson’s house to help him set up the system that Johnson later credited, at least in part, with helping him win the first road-course race of his career at Infineon Raceway. Earnhardt said he wanted it “done right.”

No “fartin’ around”

Earnhardt chuckles when he’s asked what it means to be a member of the iRacing’s competition committee.

“That just means they get together and hold conference calls about the future of the company and the direction they want to go, and new things they’re working on,” he said. “I just try to give them the customer’s point of view, and try to help them a little bit with just general racing knowledge.”

As far as those in racing who use it both for fun and for serious preparation to hone their skills, everyone does it differently. Edwards said he has “a hot seat and my PC is set up and everything. I have worked a lot on that. I haven’t done that lately because there is a certain limit to how much it can help you here, but it can definitely help you with braking points and where the speed is on a road course, for sure.”

Marcos Ambrose gets some iRacing seat time. (iRacing.com)

Marcos Ambrose gets some iRacing seat time. (iRacing.com)
“

The simulation is exactly like the real thing, so you can go out there and run the line and you can understand how to get around the race track.

”
– DALE EARNHARDT JR.

Earnhardt keeps his set-up simple. He does have a three-paneled arrangement of computer monitors so he sees not only in front of him but also out the sides just like he would in a real car. But it’s not like he pulls on a firesuit or has to strap himself in before getting after it.

“It’s nothing special. I just have a computer desk and monitors and a steering wheel — because at the same computer, I play Call of Duty and surf the Internet and talk to my friends,” he said. “So it’s not like I have a racing pod or anything like that. Some guys do. I do other things at the computer, too, so I don’t need to be laying in a race car to be able to sim race, you know?”

He added that he gets perhaps the most value out of iRacing when he knows his Sprint Cup team is going to a non-sanctioned NASCAR track to test, and he can first run some laps at that track on iRacing.com. He said Virginia International Raceway is a perfect example.

“When we go to Virginia to test at the road course, I can sit here and tell you that I know the race track and that I know how to get around it — because I’ve been there. But I only go there once a year, if that. And we go there for one day. And if I didn’t have iRacing, I would spend the first hour of that day farting around, just trying to get up to speed,” Earnhardt said. “We wouldn’t learn nothin’, because we couldn’t use the telemetry — because I’m fartin’ around, trying to figure out how to get fast.

“If I go on iRacing and run that track — because they have that configuration — I probably can cut that down to 10 or 15 minutes of farting around. Those are the little things where I think it really helps. Because I’ve done that before, and it’s helped me a lot. Normally when we go test at a place like that, I’m not a road racer so when I go test at a place like that it takes me some time to get up to speed. And then I’ll go tell the crew chief, ‘I don’t know what we’re learning here, because I’m not up to speed yet.’ When I do iRacing and then we go to Virginia, as soon as we hit the track for that first run, I’m like, ‘All right, man. I’m at my target speed. I’m at my limit. We can start using this data and understand what the car is doing, and start working on the car.’ ”

Earnhardt said he can’t stress it enough how much he believes it helps him. And for young drivers seeking seat time, he said it beats every other alternative short of finding a real car to run on a real track.

“I think there is definitely some mental sharpness that comes with doing the iRacing. At least for me, it does,” Earnhardt said. “And for the young guys, it helps you if you’ve never been to that race track before, or if you haven’t run there a lot. The simulation is exactly like the real thing, so you can go out there and run the line and you can understand how to get around the race track. It’s a help.

“The other drivers who might try out iRacing and don’t believe that it can help them are pretty narrow-minded. I wish them all the luck in the world. It’s a tool to help you stay sharp, especially for young drivers.”

Filed Under: iRacing

Week 13 is Back Again

July 29, 2010 By admin

Week 13 is nearly upon us. Time for a break from those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer; time to stash the lawn mower in the deepest recesses of the garage, give the golf clubs and tennis racket a rest . . . and get your iRacing game on.

The week of July 27 through August 2 is a last chance to work on upgrading your license for Season 3. Or maybe it’s a chance for some carefree racing, with no worries about points, safety or iRatings. Or maybe it’s both. In short, Week 13 has something for every iRacer.

On the serious side, there’s the iRacing SpecRacer Ford Challenge and the iRacing Legends Cup, the latter including iRacing’s latest and greatest short track, Thompson International Speedway. Both are official series, so Safety Ratings and iRatings count, giving you a last chance to boost your ratings prior to the official license promotions for Season 3. Similarly, rookies have one final opportunity to complete the category-specific minimum participation requirements necessary for graduation (two official races or four time trials in each category).

Week 13 also features the European Regionals of the Intel GP Series, the first of three one week regional series (Americas/Canada and Asia/Australia being the others) to qualify for the initial Regional Final Event (August 22) leading to the World Finals in March, 2011. There will be one 20 lap race hourly beginning at :15 past the hour in Star Mazdas at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, with 3 drop days. All iRacing members are invited to participate, with the Top 10 in final points from Europe qualifying for the Regional Finals. The Top 3 from each Regional Finals will be invited to race in the World Finals in March, 2011. Total prize money for the Finals event is $23,000.

The carefree side of Week 13 features three series: Mixed Class Martial Arts, Interlope with the Antelope and the IZOD IndyCar Series. This time around, the “Mix” in Mixed Class Martial Arts means mixing it up with the Pontiac Solstice, the Mustang FR500S and the Ford Falcon V8 at Road Atlanta, long known for its gentle and forgiving nature! The Antelope (aka the Impala SS Class B) will be interloping at Charlotte and Chicagoland, while the IZOD IndyCars will also be racing at Chicagoland as well as their home ground at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Serious, carefree – or a little (or a lot) – of each, Week 13 is the perfect chance for a vacation from your summer vacation.

sim racing equipment
motion platform design

Filed Under: iRacing Tagged With:

iRacing 2010 Season 3 build New Build News

July 29, 2010 By admin


The 2010 Season 3 build is among the most dynamic in the history of iRacing.com and promises to significantly enhance the service for new and veteran members alike.

Where to begin? How about Richmond International Raceway . . . at night. That’s right, night racing comes to iRacing.com thanks to our development team who have worked night and night creating accurate renderings of the .75 mile oval under the virtual lights. Although all official races at RIR in Season 3 will be run at night, hosted races and test sessions have the option of running day or night.

Season 3 will also see the debut of fixed setup racing in the Impala Class B and Corvette Class B cars, each of which will feature separate series and championships for fixed and open setup competition. What’s more, hosted sessions will offer the option of running different fixed setups for qualifying and racing.

Speaking of hosted sessions, another exciting new feature will give session administrators more control over their events. Hosts will now be able to black flag and even disqualify competitors, throw full course yellows at their discretion, enable lapped cars to regain the lead lap . . . in other words, do virtually anything “real world” race officials do.

We’re including some “user-friendly” features, like a simplified process of registering for races and sessions. There is also a new spectator mode enabling members to join races and sessions in which their friends are participating and watch from any of the normal replay perspectives, be it from the cockpit of any of car in the event, trackside or even from the sky cam. Spectators will also be able to chat with other spectators – but not with the drivers! Additionally the online status of your myRacers can be tracked on a redesigned myRacers page, as well as through a new myRacers dropdown at the top of the page.

In addition to improving the physics model on a variety of cars, we’re also introducing new transmission models for each car that more authentically replicate the feel and performance of their real world counterparts. Similarly, the crash damage model has been significantly enhanced. Bodywork damage will now affect a car’s aerodynamics, and the mechanical effects of car-to-car and car-to-wall contact will also be represented by, for example, climbing water temperatures in the case of damaged radiators or blown engines in the case of damaged oil lines.

All in all, it’s one of the most significant builds in iRacing.com history. For all the details on the new build, check-out the full release notes posted in the announcement section of the forums.
Misc/Uncategorized

- The pace car has been switched to a Mustang. The Solstice pace car is still there for older replays.

- Allow SoftTH 2.0 DLL (pre-release version) to load without causing a loading error.

- More cars can be transmitted to clients due to improved compression techniques.

- Added in a ticker bar when spectating with the UI hidden (you can hide the UI with the space bar). You can enable the tickers in the app.ini [Overlay] EnableTicker=1

- Throttle should no longer cause motor to rev up unexpectedly if you haven’t moved any controls yet like sometimes happens with Logitech wheels/pedals.

- Splits/delta key is now a mappable control in the Options screen, default behavior is the TAB key.

Graphical Updates

- Added support for night lighting at Richmond.

- Improved illumination levels at most of the tracks. The main difference is that the dark sides of objects are darker with shadows disabled.

Cameras/Replays

- Force TV cameras to set damping and ‘aim at group’ to on.

- Added in control to FF/RW to next incident in a race with ctrl-NUMPAD1 and ctrl-NUMPAD3.

- New hot key ‘/<num><enter>’ focuses cameras based on running order, similar to the ‘*<num><enter>’ hot key, so /1<enter> focuses on the car in first place.

In-sim Text Chat

- Pressing ‘r’ from either the driving screen or the session screen responds to the last person who private messaged you.

- Improved driver name matching for chat private message targets: /<driver> message.
- <driver> can be: <name>, or #<car number>, or just <car number>
- Name represents the beginning portion of a name so bob matches on bob or bobby.
- You can string together multiple names using ‘.’ to replace spaces so b.brown could match ‘bob brown’.
- Names must be specified sufficiently to give a unique result.
- If two names conflict but one is an exact match than that name is used. This is so bob.brown and bobby.brown can be differentiated.
- The # symbol is optional to help make things faster.

- New chat target: /rc <message> sends a message to the admins of current event. (/rc is short for race control)

- New chat target for admins: /all <message> sends a chat message to all drivers even if chat is disabled.

- Spectators can text chat with each other but not with drivers. This includes spectators that are administrators. In order for an administrative spectator to chat with the drivers they must use either the /<driver> or /rc or /all commands. Or an administrator can allow spectators to chat with drivers using the !spchat command.

- Added in support for administrative race control chat commands, type !help for a complete list of commands. (You must be an iRacing official or the owner of a hosted session)

Administrative Chat Commands

- Some commands may be shortened, the bolded part of the commands are the shortest form acceptable.
- <> means a required parameter.
- [] means an optional parameter.
- <driver> is the name or number of a driver, same as described above.
- [message] is an optional message to be appended to any admin command.
eg: the command ‘!remove #32 Banning for reckless driving.’ would send out the notification:
‘#32 was removed from the system. Banning for reckless driving.’ to all drivers.

!help [command]
!? [command]
- Print list of commands available, or list additional information about individual commands.
- So ‘!help admin’ would output detailed help about the admin command.

!admin <driver> [message]
- Give other drivers admin privileges.

!nadmin <driver> [message]
- Remove admin privileges from driver.

!remove <driver> [message]
- Permanently remove a driver from the race, can remove spectators as well.

!yellow [message]
- Throw a yellow if not already active, issue during 1 to go, to extend the caution.

!waveby <driver> [message]
- Move car up to next lap and send to the end of the pace line.

!advance [message]
- Advance to next session (qualify to grid, etc).

!chat [driver]
- Enable chat for all drivers.
- If driver is specified, re-enable chat for that driver.

!nchat [driver]
- Disable voice/text chat for all drivers except administrators.
- If driver is specified, disable chat for that specific driver only.

!spchat [message]
- Allow spectators to chat with drivers.

!nspchat [message]
- Disable spectator to driver chat.

!black <driver> [time] or [L(laps)]
- Give a driver the black flag.
- Default is a stop and go, optionally specify time or laps to hold.

!dq <driver> [message]
- Disqualify a driver from the race, but do not remove them from the server.

!eol <driver> [message]
- Move driver backwards to end of pace line.

!clear <driver> [message]
- Clear all pending or active black flags, dq’s or eol’s for a driver.

Telemetry API

- Extended external telemetry API to output data on current status of the race.

- New sample program to demonstrate updated API.

- Added a new forum for downloading API files and discussion: Technical & Help Forums > iRacing API’s and Development Discussions

All Cars

- Vehicle body damage affects aerodynamic drag, downforce and balance, and can affect engine cooling on some cars.

- Heavy impacts can now cause engine damage and failure, and coolant, oil and fuel leaks. (The leaks just reduce the levels of liquid in your car, and are not visible and do not affect any surrounding cars or the track.)

- Reduced pitstop time variability.

- Oval opponent car now display appropriate wheel camber for road courses versus ovals.

- Many cars have had visual improvements to their tires and other bits and pieces.

Impala A

- Tire performance, temperature and wear modified for all tracks.

- Updated front end suspension geometry.

- Increased front anti-roll bar options.

- Aero map coordinate transform improvement.

- Drafting and traffic aero adjustments.

- Point mass repositioned with graphical origin.

- Gauge accuracy improved.

- New default setups. ** Not all the default setups have been finished yet, but the first couple of events have been updated. The rest will be updated soon.

Impala B

- Tire performance, temperature and wear modified for all tracks.

- Aero map coordinate transform improvement.

- Drafting and traffic aero adjustments.

- Point mass repositioned with graphical origin.

- Gauge accuracy improved.

- New default setups. ** Not all the default setups have been finished yet, but the first couple of events have been updated. The rest will be updated soon.

- The fixed setups to be used for this season are included in the iRacing Setups in the garage. ** Not all of the setups have been finished yet, but fixed setups for the first couple of events are in there. The rest will be updated soon.

Silverado

- Shift light comes on 500 rpm before rev limiter chip.

- Gauge accuracy improved.

- New default setups.

Late Model

- Fixed shock ‘weight jacking.’

- Larger nose weight adjustment increment.

- Additional setup variables available in garage.

- Point mass repositioned with graphical origin.

- Swaybar display now only shows clearance and removes offset.

- New default setups.

SK Modified

- Massaged rear suspension damper rates to improve handling.

- New default setups.

Tour Modified

- Improved tire model and increased rev limit from newly available data.

- New default setups.

Dallara

- Tire performance curves modified for all tracks.

- Increase tire stagger at ovals as per latest information.

- Front and rear wings adjustable during pitstops.

- Centripetal Circuit loads the road course chassis.

- Increased braking capacity.

- Point mass repositioned with graphical origin.

Corvette C6R

- Increased steering force feedback to improve feel.

- The fixed setups to be used for this season are included in the iRacing Setups in the garage.

- Increased grip fall-off with tire wear.

Radical SR8

- Point mass repositioned with graphical origin.

- Slightly increased shock damping.

- Aerodynamic forces slightly improved while adding the aero damage.

Ford Falcon V8SC

- A small tweak to tire feel.

Mustang FR500s

- Corner weights now displayed in garage screen.

- Increased oil and water cooling.

Lotus 79

- Rev limiter is removed.

Star Mazda

- New default setups.

Fixed Setup Events

- The ability to run fixed-setup races has been added in this build. Fixed-setup hosted sessions can be created. Some regular iRacing series also use fixed-setups, and will be so designated.

Fixed-setup iRacing series and Hosted Races must specify a race setup. This setup will be available for use during testing*, practice, time trial, and race sessions. A separate qualifying setup may also be specified. The qualifying setup will be available during testing*, practice and qualify sessions. If a separate qualifying setup is not specified, the race setup will be used during qualifying.

*When the sim is started using the “Test Car on Track” button on the Race panel for a fixed-setup series, the testing session will be fixed-setup, and will allow use of only the race setup and qualifying setup (if specified) for the current race week in the series.

The system will ensure that only the correct car setups (race and/or qualifying) are available during each session of an event. For example, during the practice session of a hosted race, both the race and qualifying setups will be available for use, but during the race session only the race setup will be available. If both the race and qualifying setups are available during a session, the race setup will be selected by default. The Garage screen can be used to select which setup (race or qualifying) to apply to the car. The car settings can also be viewed on the garage screen, exported, and saved locally for future use.

The car setups used in fixed-setup sessions must reside on iRacing’s servers so that the race servers can load them and distribute them to all of the drivers in a race. When setting up a hosted race, you will have the ability to upload the car setup(s) you wish to use. Once uploaded, those setups will be availble to you to use in any future hosted sessions you create. The car setups that iRacing distributes with the cars will be available on our servers so that you may use them in your hosted sessions.

When setting up a hosted race, you may designate that the race will be fixed-setup. For a fixed-setup hosted race, you must choose a race setup for each car that is allowed in the session. If the hosted race includes a qualifying session, you may, but are not required to, specify a qualifying setup for any of the cars allowed in the session.

- Steering ratio is adjustable in fixed setup events for cars that have this adjustment. Nothing else is adjustable in any way during a fixed setup event.

Race Panel

- The Race Panel now supports session selection across event types. So from the race panel you will be able to register for the next race, time trial, qualify or open practice directly from the race panel.

- There has been some confusion regarding the “Cannot Change Car” button/message on the race panel. This error message has been misleading because it would be displayed for multiple different error conditions. Examples being the session is full or the registration period has ended. The error reporting should now be accurate.

Test Panel

- The Test Panel has a “Night Lighting” option on Tracks for which this option is available.

Spectating Sessions

We have added the ability to join a race session as a spectator. You can select a race to watch from three places. There is a new page under Events – Spectator Events that presents a list of all currently active race, open practice and hosted sessions that are available for watching. You can also select a race to watch from the myRacing – myRacers page (more on that in the online status section below). Finally, you can use the new myRacers popup (more on this in the online status section below) that is available just to the left of your iRating in the top right section of the user interface in the members site.

There are a limited number of spectator slots for each race session. When you register as a spectator you will see a “Watch” button appear in the race panel where you would normally see the “Join” button. When you click the “Watch” button you will launch into the sim where you can watch the race and communicate with other spectators. You do not need to have your driving peripherals configured in order to watch a race.

Online Status

- We have added new functionality to help you to determine what your friends / studied / searched for drivers are doing on the service and to easily join their race session or join as a spectator.

This new information is available in two places. First of all we have completely reworked the myRacing – myRacers page. This page now displays a sortable table showing your friend / studied racers along with checkboxes to filter the display. There is an online/offline indicator. If the indicator is green it means that the member has been online within the last 2 hours. If the indicator is red we will display the time of their last login. If a member is currently registered for a session you will see details of their session. If the session is joinable for either racing or watching you can do so from this page.

In order to implement this feature with acceptable performance we now limit your number of friends and studied to be a maximum of 50 each.

- A new myRacers popup is always available just to the left of your iRating towards the top right of the members site UI. A label dynamically updates to display a total of how many of your friends + studied racers are currently online. Mousing over this label will display a list of your online drivers. An icon to the left of each driver’s helmet will indicate if you can join their session either as a driver or spectator.

- There is a new setting on the general tab of the settings panel that enables you to hide your online status from other members. At this time this is a simple toggle on/off. If you decide to hide your status, people who have you on their friends or studied list or search for your information will see “Member information is private” next to your name on the “My racers” page.

- There is a new label beneath the iRacing logo on the top left of the member’s site UI that dynamically updates to display the total number of unique iRacers who have been online in the last 2 hours.

Hosted Sessions

- In some cases we were removing hosted sessions from the page when the session was full rather than just showing a “Full” button. This was confusing to members because a session would disappear from the screen well before the registration period ended.

- When a hosted session was full we wouldn’t allow people to re-enter the session who already had a pit assigned. The problem case is as follows: Join a hosted session and withdraw, wait for the session to fill up completely, if you now tried to get back in it would fail because no pits are available. The correct behavior is to allow you back in because you already have a pit assigned to you. This should be working properly now.

Transmission and Shifting Model

We have replaced our model of a car’s transmission and how the driver causes the car to shift gears. Previously, clicking out of a gear or into another gear would instantly do just that – regardless of whether or not such a gear change was actually physically possible.

Now, your shifting inputs tell the sim what you’re trying to do, and the sim tries to do what you ask – the sim no longer instantly just shifts. Think of your shifting inputs as telling the sim, “I am pushing/pulling on the shift lever.” You will often need to hold the shift control for little while as the shift goes through to completion before releasing, if you let go too early the sim will interpret that as you letting go of the shift before the shift completes, probably leaving you hanging in neutral. If you use an h-pattern shifter, then the shifter is automatically holding the next gear which makes it more comfortable.

This is likely to require some time to adjust to, so do not be afraid of turning on the auto-clutch and auto-blip shift aids when you need reliable shifting while you’re still learning to feel out shifting with lower levels of aids in practice and testing.

The currently engaged gear will not disengage unless the transmission is sufficiently unloaded:

- For upshifts, full throttle will definitely hold the current gear engaged. You will need to lift, use the clutch, or hit the rev limiter to unload the transmission enough for the current gear to disengage.

- For downshifts, engine braking when fully off-throttle especially at higher rpm may well be sufficient to prevent the current gear from releasing. You will likely need to use a little bit of throttle (which will happen anyway if you are blipping on downshifts), or use the clutch to disengage the current gear. If you are braking while holding down some throttle it will quite likely be too much throttle to allow the current gear to disengage, unless you use the clutch to unload the transmission.

If you are using an h-pattern shifter control to shift with, moving the stick into neutral will ask the sim to try to leave the current gear if it can. Selecting the next gear will tell the sim to attempt to engage that gear once it succeeds in getting into neutral.

If you are using sequential controls to shift with, holding down the shift button is equivalent to pushing on the shift lever to the next gear. If you let go of the button before the shift completes, you may not have even left the current gear yet, or may end up in a neutral between the two gears.

Cars that have a sequential transmission can no longer be shifted with an h-pattern shifter. If you have your h-pattern set as the preferred shifting method, the sim will give you a warning message when you first get into a sequential car to start driving advising you that you will have to use your configured sequential controls.

If you try to engage the next gear when the rpms are too mismatched, the gears will just grind and the next gear will not engage. So that means that smash-it-into-1st race starts don’t work any more, as trying to grab 1st at high rpm is not healthy for the gearbox and you will hear nasty grinding sounds. You’ll want to engage 1st gear while the motor is not revved up and the clutch is pushed in (the anti-stall clutch conveniently holds the clutch in for you if you are stopped and not revving the motor). Then you do a race start via revving up the motor with the clutch pushed in, and doing some kind of clutch drop. If you use the auto-clutch shift aid, it will hold the clutch in for you while you are revving in neutral, so selecting 1st gear for your launch is acceptable. The auto-clutch shift aid will release the clutch for you, but with a fractional delay.

For a dog-box transmission, the next gear can typically engage when the revs are within a few thousand rpm – a pretty broad rpm range. You don’t need to bother with the clutch, just appropriate throttle lifts or blips to disengage the previous gear are all it takes to shift. This also means that you can quite comfortably left foot brake with dog-box cars.

- Upshifts you want to do as fast as possible: press and hold your upshift a moment before you lift to preload the shifter, then do the fastest lift you can for a really quick shift. It is possible to use the rev limiter to unload the transmission and cause the upshift instead of lifting. If you are using sequential controls, remember to press and hold the upshift button until the gear change finishes. Some race cars have a built in throttle cut that engages when it detects pressure on the gear lever. For these cars you don’t need to lift at all, just clicking the button will trigger the throttle cut. But make sure not to release too rapidly, or the shift may not be fully completed as you release pressure from the shift lever.

- Downshifts can be done very quickly too. Press and hold your downshift a moment before you blip to preload the shifter, then tap the throttle for a blip of the motor to minimize upsetting the car’s balance as the next gear engages. In most cars there will be enough engine braking torque that the gear won’t disengage until you tap the throttle for the blip, and remember to press and hold the downshift button until the gear change finishes.

For the Solstice and other cars with synchromesh gears, the synchros do all the work when the revs are mismatched. You won’t hear a grind when you select the next gear while the synchros are doing their thing, so the neutral timing isn’t the same as a crash box. You don’t absolutely have to use a clutch for a synchro box – but the synchros are not even remotely close to being strong enough to overcome the entire motor when trying to rev match so you have to get the entire motor to match the correct rpms for the next gear yourself, but if you use a clutch pedal then the synchros can easily match the transmission input shaft for you and make shifting a much faster and reliable experience.

When shifting with a real synchromesh gearbox, you engage the next gear’s synchros by lightly pulling the stick against the next gear, until the gear clicks into place. Unfortunately, the sim has no ability to know that you’re trying to select the next gear until you actually select the next gear, and only then can the sim start working the simulated synchros. With sequential controls, the sim knows you are trying for the next gear up or down, so you just need to press and hold the shift button until the gear engages. With an h-pattern you need to actually click your next gear into place quite quickly so the sim can start pushing it’s simulated shifter against that gear’s synchro. The timing of the shifting process feels a little different to a real car. You’ll have to get used to the timing of your shift request but continuing to hold the clutch in until the gear finally engages before letting the clutch out, unlike in a real car where you can feel the shifter clicking into place as the gear finally engages.

- Upshifts you typically want to do as fast as possible, but it’s not as fast as a dog-box transmission can do it: press and hold your upshift a moment before you lift to preload the shifter, then lift the throttle while pushing in the clutch. As the next gear engages, you can push the throttle down again and release the clutch. You could also choose to not lift, and just push in the clutch pedal until the next gear engages. This method of power shifting will not make your clutch want to be friends with you for very long. Or you could not use the clutch at all, but you have to lift off the throttle and wait for what will feel like forever and ever until the engine drops enough rpm for the next gear to engage. Remember to hold the shift button until the gear shift completes.

- Downshifts you will also want to shift as quickly as you can, to start working the next gear’s synchro. Press and hold your downshift a moment before you blip to preload the shifter while braking with your right foot, then press the clutch pedal in with your left foot and roll your right foot somehow to blip the throttle while maintaining smooth brake pressure at the same time, and when the next gear catches, release the clutch pedal smoothly. This is called heel-toe downshifting, and it’s very hard to get a good feel for in the sim due to not being able to physically feel the response of the car and the shift lever. It is possible to left foot brake and not use the clutch on downshifts, but it’s hard work on the synchros and you must make sure to blip the engine rpm well enough to match revs or you’ll be stuck in neutral fishing for a gear. Remember to hold the shift button until the gear shift completes.

Sometimes if you mis-time your synchromesh gear shifts (particular if you don’t use a clutch) you can clear the synchro but still miss the gear engagement, and you will hear nasty grinding sounds from your gearbox.

Some of the higher end race cars with sequential gearboxes can have fully automated shifting. You just bang the shifter button and it does whatever it needs to do with the throttle to get the next gear for you in a very short amount of time.

Here is a list of the cars we currently have and the type of transmission they have so you know what style of shifting you will want to use with each:

Fully automated sequential:

- Dallara
- Jetta TDI

Dog-box sequential with throttle cut:

- Corvette C6R
- Ford V8SC
- Radical SR8
- Riley DP
- Star Mazda

Dog-box sequential:

- Legends Ford34C
- Skip Barber

Dog-box h-pattern:

- Impala A
- Impala B
- Latemodel
- Lotus 79
- Silver Crown
- Silverado
- SK Modified

Synchromesh h-pattern:

- Mustang FR500S
- Solstice
- Spec Racer Ford

Key points:

- If you are struggling to adapt to shifting with no shift aids, don’t be afraid to turn on the auto-clutch shift aid and perhaps even the auto-blip shift aid for important sessions where you need reliable shifting. Like any physical activity you may have been doing for a long time it can take a while to unlearn your old muscle memory habits and learn new ones.

- Sequential cars will not allow the use of h-pattern controls, like the Jetta has been doing for a while now.

- Remember to think “press and hold” for sequential shift buttons until the shift is complete, it’s not just “click”.

- Practice your timing so you press and hold the shift button before you blip on downshifts or lift on downshifts.

sim racing equipment
motion platform design

Filed Under: iRacing Tagged With:

Nvidia SLI 480 GTX triple screen resolution @ 5948 x 1080 pixels [HD]

June 25, 2010 By admin

Go to Facebook page for higher quality

sim racing equipment
motion platform design

Filed Under: Nvidia GeForce 3D Vision Tagged With:

Nvidia Quadro Daytona Prototype

June 17, 2010 By admin


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Filed Under: Nvidia GeForce 3D Vision, iRacing
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