Games & Sims: iRacing.com's new R/T Simulator - Team Juicy Racing's Racing School and Race Series Forums

Roscoe · #1 11-17-2006

CHeck this out. Just announced today. TIme to get a new PC!
http://www.iracing.com/index.htm

gman · #2 11-17-2006

Cool - looking forward to getting this started. I played a couple of the racing games online and they are ok, but this should be great - and we all know the cars. It'll be great to learn new tracks.

dalyduo · #3 11-17-2006

Impressive detail.

It would be interesting to see how the sim car would respond to the identical steering inputs Chris Wheldon uses in his real R/T. The sim car is on a very smooth lap (Perhaps Divi's handy work...) and even gets away with putting a wheel in the grass at the apex at the bottom of the uphill. (Could you get away with that in the real car?... I don't think so...)

Still, it is impressive with accurate detail of the track itself and the R/T 2000.

This all still seems to be in the tease phase. The web site has lots of information but no hard dates for anything. And what are MAC users supposed to do? This is all PC based but many people I know are MAC addicts and aren't going to go out and buy a dedicated PC for sims racing.

It all looks promising, if they ever get it to market.

LimeRockRacer · #4 11-17-2006

Video sample would not even run on my mac. Sound only.

AZRCD · #5 11-18-2006

Sucks to be a Mac weenie (huh, Sy?)

rf360m · #6 11-18-2006

It looks interesting. This is from the guy who created Grand Prix Legends back in the late 90s, which was the best sim I have ever played. It actually had a very poor reception because it was too realistic and too difficult to play. It took about 6 months to be competitve!

My one complain with all current games is that they look too clean. They need to dirty up the track and especially the car, and make it all darker.

The car did look very smooth on it's lap as oppsed to Chris' car which was much more bumpy looking.

As for computers I hope they write the code to take full advantage of dual core processors, and think they should also wait until Vista and Direct X 10 comes out in February next year before releasing anything. Direct X 10 will give them far better image quality than what they are getting now.

As for Macs, well most games are made for PCs, Mac's just aren't a good gaming platform in my opinion. Any anyway if you are okay with the price increases that SB does each year, then spending $2500 on a PC to practice as often as you like without any threat of crash damage should not pose a problem!

rf360m · #7 11-18-2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by dalyduo

Impressive detail.

It all looks promising, if they ever get it to market.

I agree with that statement. They've been around for two years now and this is the first thing we've seen. I was actually not that impressed with the detail. It looked very good but nothing amazing. If you look closely at the car and track the curves are still a series of quite long straifght lines. Hopefully they'll improve upon that before it is released.

PT Cruiser · #8 11-18-2006

We'll know that the racing sim guys having taken things one step too far when the on-line version of the Skip Barber Race Series includes a virtual Sid Brenner, hitting people up for donations to the mechanics fund . . . . .

Seriously, I do look forwards to seeing what David Kaemmer and his team come up with next. Grand Prix legends was quite impressive in its realism, and from conversations I've had with David during his occasional appearances at race series events, he is shooting for a significant increase in realism with his latest project. I was particularly impressed when comparing the real versus simulated videos of a lap at Lime Rock how at the entrance to the downhill, both cars had similar front suspension movement due to bumps on the track. For all its realism, I never felt that the tracks in the old grand prix legends captured any of the nuances (bumps, surfaces changes, camber variations, etc.) of the real world circuits they were trying to model. I know iRacing.com has tried to make their track databases significantly more detailed; it will interesting to see how much this aspect of the simulations has improved.

The key issue, in my mind, however, is whether the available controlers (i.e. wheel/pedal devices) do a better job of transmitting information back to the driver. The best force feedback wheels (such as the logitech "old red") were better than nothing in terms of getting a "feel" for whether the car was sliding or not, but the experience was still far removed from the reality of driving a real car. And I've never used a sim racing brake pedal that felt remotely like the pedal of a real race car. Unless the new simulations manage to address some of these issues, the experience will still be a good bit removed from the real thing.

Would be VERY interested to hear the reaction of anyone who actually tried the simulator that iRacing.com took to the Skip event at Road Atlanta this weekend as part of the hype surrounding the announcement of the SBRS/iRacing.com joint venture.

rf360m · #9 11-18-2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by PT Cruiser

The key issue, in my mind, however, is whether the available controlers (i.e. wheel/pedal devices) do a better job of transmitting information back to the driver. The best force feedback wheels (such as the logitech "old red") were better than nothing in terms of getting a "feel" for whether the car was sliding or not, but the experience was still far removed from the reality of driving a real car. And I've never used a sim racing brake pedal that felt remotely like the pedal of a real race car. Unless the new simulations manage to address some of these issues, the experience will still be a good bit removed from the real thing.

I have never felt that the force feedback steering wheels did anything but add a gimmick to the game. I have always used a wheel from Thomas Enterprises, which was a real Momo wheel and pedals, including a clutch. They felt pretty good. I'd love to have the pedals use some sort of hydraulic system to give a better feel, especially on the brake. As for force feedback, I don't think it will ever be that great unless you have a full motion actuated seat, and then you still won't feel the g forces. I find that you use the sound of the tyres much more than anything else in a sim to go fast.

My hope for this is to be able to have something which is accurate so that I can practice laps before I get to the circuit. So that way I won't have to spend an extra day of lapping to get up to speed.

chsutherland · #10 11-19-2006

Having just started racing this year, i had spent lots of time prior to skip barber playing race car video games. During my 3day at LRP i can remember thinking the first time in my car, this is nothing like a video game. That feeling was backed up the first time i went through the "kink" at RA in an actual car. Being 26 makes me part of the video game generation, all though games have made progress in leaps and bounds, it just isn't the same, and it really isn't close either. I would say that Forza for the XBOX is probably the best simulator out there. The demo worked on my mac, and my mac never crashes so i have no crash damage prone PC

Willy P · #11 11-19-2006

I have heard of Iracing.com simulator for a few months and I was able to play it at VIR. It was very realistic racing around VIR.

rf360m · #12 11-19-2006

I've never seen an xbox games that was in the least bit realistic. Grand Prix Legends was, for its day, very good. You could steer the car using the throttle and brakes, and it gave excellent feedback, for a sim, about what the car was doing.

However, one thing that I don't think a sim will ever be able to replicate is fear. When driving a sim you have absolutely no fear of taking a corner flat. What's the worse that can happen? You press shift-R (or whatever) and restart the game.

I'd be hoping that this sim will allow me to get a basic idea of gears and speeds for each turn before I show up at a track.

beracing · #13 11-19-2006

this looks really cool... but does anyone have any idea about when they will actually release the simulator for subscription??

sydude · #14 11-19-2006

I spoke to David Kaemmer (the programmer behind GPL and iRacing) yesterday and he said that it was going to be a little while before they release it. He hasn't been online here for a while, but if someone wants to try to get a hold of him to come and talk about it, that might be a good thing for all.

gman · #15 11-20-2006

are we going to have to pit if we go 4 off?

dalyduo · #16 11-20-2006

Love the animated helmet visor Bobby, but you need a face under it when it pops up that you could change to reflect your mood. The possibilities are endless.

sydude · #17 11-20-2006

Skippy posted a news story about their new alliance:

http://www.skipbarber.com/news/artic...articleID=1679

Please discuss it here.

beracing · #18 11-20-2006

I know, i was actually considering that

I will try and create something and have it up for all to see in a little while

rf360m · #19 11-20-2006

Now I wish I had been at Atlanta to try out this sim! Oh well.

I hope they support multiple views on multiple monitors. That way if you have two or three monitors you would be able to put the forward view on the center one and the left and right views on the other monitors, in a similar fashion to what Microsoft does with their flight simulator.

BayouRat · #20 11-20-2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by rf360m

Now I wish I had been at Atlanta to try out this sim! Oh well.

I hope they support multiple views on multiple monitors. That way if you have two or three monitors you would be able to put the forward view on the center one and the left and right views on the other monitors, in a similar fashion to what Microsoft does with their flight simulator.

You can do that now with Papyrus' Nascar Racing 2003. That being said, the video card and/or cards are the key to whether 3 monitors can be used.

For those with Flight sim's if you haven't seen, tried, or heard about the Track-IR device from NaturalPoint, it's very handy; it allows to look over the side and down from the cockpit, behind you, virtually anywhere. For those with fighter sims, I'd think it's a must to have the ability to see who's shooting at you.

V/R

rf360m · #21 11-20-2006

I've heard about the track-ir deive, but have not used it. The one thing that seems odd to me about it is that if I turn my head to the left to imitate looking towards the left, my monitor is still in front of me so my eyes would actually have to look to the right.

Perhaps the head movements are so slight that this is not an issue. But if that is the case I wouldn't want the screen moving all over the place because of a small head movement.

I'd love to give one a try though without having to buy it first!

As for multi-monitor support the game would have to support SLI or Crossfire technology in order to take advantage of 3 or more monitors. That is what I hope they do take advantage of, as well as the new direct X 10 from MS.

I have no doubt that the physics will be top notch, but I also hope that the graphics are equally impressive when done.

BayouRat · #22 11-20-2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by rf360m

I've heard about the track-ir deive, but have not used it. The one thing that seems odd to me about it is that if I turn my head to the left to imitate looking towards the left, my monitor is still in front of me so my eyes would actually have to look to the right.

Perhaps the head movements are so slight that this is not an issue. But if that is the case I wouldn't want the screen moving all over the place because of a small head movement.

I'd love to give one a try though without having to buy it first!

As for multi-monitor support the game would have to support SLI or Crossfire technology in order to take advantage of 3 or more monitors. That is what I hope they do take advantage of, as well as the new direct X 10 from MS.

I have no doubt that the physics will be top notch, but I also hope that the graphics are equally impressive when done.

You can configure and calibrate the TrackIR to the smallest or largest amount of head movement you like.

They don't have a try and buy unfortunately.

Charlie25 · #23 11-20-2006

Seems like iRacing is being very agressive about protecting themselves and aren't making many friends in the simracing community...

http://forum.tmcarthur.net/viewtopic.php?t=52

Gerardo · #24 11-21-2006

Okay, I bit, and tried Charles' link. A long read. McAurthur seems like an unhappy person. I don't know him, but I do know David very well, and he's a great guy who flourished at Papyrus in the day. Not sure if the stuff written in that thread is real accurate.

Back to the iRacing simulator at Road Atlanta...

I did get to use it for a few sessions. They had a nice 50-inch display running 1920x1080 resolution. Their PC was very strong, running well over 120 to 140 fps (frames per second). The steering wheel and pedal assembly was not what you'll find at Best Buy. The pedals were industrial strength, with thick steel springs behind the pedals for more realistic feel. The sensitivity of the pedals was great. Figure a little over $1000 for their pedal setup, but sub $200 setups are probably fine for most users.

Yes, its impossible to feel g-forces, but listening to the tires works well. The graphics were very nice, much better than the online demo shows. The bumps on the track were very realistic, and far above any other sims I've tried recently. The grip was only slightly off a Skippy car, but they have more testing to do to get it right. It appears the software is highly configurable, and luckily, David Kaemmer has plenty of seat time in the R/T 2000.

I hear its not yet compatible with the Mac, but they are considering it due to the growing popularity of the Mac. Now that Mac's have Intel inside, cross development should be easier for Developers.

Multiple monitors is nice, but a large format screen works very well, as we discovered at Road Atlanta. Prices are dropping for the technology, so by the time iRacing is selling, I'm sure many who read this forum would be ready to give it a try, especially if we can all race each other once a week. Wouldn't that be a hoot?

cdh · #25 11-21-2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gerardo

Yes, its impossible to feel g-forces,....

well, not entirely, remember this thread? Watch this video, really funny