Computer games to teach motorsports drivers?
Discussion
Hi
For those who don't know, GT Academy is a competition that takes the gamers with the fastest times and then puts them in real race cars, the winner driving for Nissan Nismo. There has been one successful driver out of this Jan Mardenborough.
Just wondered if during the British Motorsport off-season whether any of you use computer games to hone your skills?
If yes, what game and are you using steering wheels and pedals?
I know Clarkson once showed that games weren't a great help, but then he hates technology.
Be interested to generally hear thoughts on using games to teach driver ability.
For those who don't know, GT Academy is a competition that takes the gamers with the fastest times and then puts them in real race cars, the winner driving for Nissan Nismo. There has been one successful driver out of this Jan Mardenborough.
Just wondered if during the British Motorsport off-season whether any of you use computer games to hone your skills?
If yes, what game and are you using steering wheels and pedals?
I know Clarkson once showed that games weren't a great help, but then he hates technology.
Be interested to generally hear thoughts on using games to teach driver ability.
I have a sim with Assetto Corsa and Rfactor2 on. With a decent car model and track map it's good for getting your eye in for braking points and lines before you go to a track.
For a track you don't know a few hours on the sim is worth the first 20-30 minutes of tooling round working out which way the track goes.
For a track you do know but haven't visited recently it's worth the first 5-10 minutes of a free practice session of going out and building up to 9/10ths speed and picking the right gears straight away. Doesn't sound much but invaluable to me as I will only get an hour or so's practice before having to Qualify, and being able to use that extra few minutes setting the car up is useful.
In terms of training up drivers, it's better than nothing as it teaches basic technique and skill but obviously not much in the way of feel, but then not every successful driver relies on that anyway IMHO, plenty of them are quick by driving through disciplined technique with experience and repetition. Not me, my technique is s
t and I drive with my arse 
For a track you don't know a few hours on the sim is worth the first 20-30 minutes of tooling round working out which way the track goes.
For a track you do know but haven't visited recently it's worth the first 5-10 minutes of a free practice session of going out and building up to 9/10ths speed and picking the right gears straight away. Doesn't sound much but invaluable to me as I will only get an hour or so's practice before having to Qualify, and being able to use that extra few minutes setting the car up is useful.
In terms of training up drivers, it's better than nothing as it teaches basic technique and skill but obviously not much in the way of feel, but then not every successful driver relies on that anyway IMHO, plenty of them are quick by driving through disciplined technique with experience and repetition. Not me, my technique is s
t and I drive with my arse There are a number of PC titles which are good, Assetto Corsa being one.
You can get pedals and steering wheels which feel just right - pedals with load cells so braking is based on pressure rather than pedal travel distance, and force feedback steering which gives you a real workout - not the kit you can get in Game or Currys/PC World.
If the car and track is modelled correctly it means you go into your Friday testing programme already in the rhythm of the circuit and you get to make more of your Friday testing, or if you go straight into qualifying on Saturday and have 15m to set a representative time.
You can get pedals and steering wheels which feel just right - pedals with load cells so braking is based on pressure rather than pedal travel distance, and force feedback steering which gives you a real workout - not the kit you can get in Game or Currys/PC World.
If the car and track is modelled correctly it means you go into your Friday testing programme already in the rhythm of the circuit and you get to make more of your Friday testing, or if you go straight into qualifying on Saturday and have 15m to set a representative time.
The Wookie said:
I have a sim with Assetto Corsa and Rfactor2 on. With a decent car model and track map it's good for getting your eye in for braking points and lines before you go to a track.
For a track you don't know a few hours on the sim is worth the first 20-30 minutes of tooling round working out which way the track goes.
For a track you do know but haven't visited recently it's worth the first 5-10 minutes of a free practice session of going out and building up to 9/10ths speed and picking the right gears straight away. Doesn't sound much but invaluable to me as I will only get an hour or so's practice before having to Qualify, and being able to use that extra few minutes setting the car up is useful.
In terms of training up drivers, it's better than nothing as it teaches basic technique and skill but obviously not much in the way of feel, but then not every successful driver relies on that anyway IMHO, plenty of them are quick by driving through disciplined technique with experience and repetition. Not me, my technique is st and I drive with my arse
ThanksFor a track you don't know a few hours on the sim is worth the first 20-30 minutes of tooling round working out which way the track goes.
For a track you do know but haven't visited recently it's worth the first 5-10 minutes of a free practice session of going out and building up to 9/10ths speed and picking the right gears straight away. Doesn't sound much but invaluable to me as I will only get an hour or so's practice before having to Qualify, and being able to use that extra few minutes setting the car up is useful.
In terms of training up drivers, it's better than nothing as it teaches basic technique and skill but obviously not much in the way of feel, but then not every successful driver relies on that anyway IMHO, plenty of them are quick by driving through disciplined technique with experience and repetition. Not me, my technique is s
t and I drive with my arse Do you have a steering wheel or just using a controller pad?
I am using Project Cars and ThrustMaster wheel on my son's PS4 to learn Spa for the 12hr in October.
I generally knew where the circuit went, but am using it more for lines and braking points.
Obviously it will be slightly different once I get in the car, but hopefully it will have given me a head start.
I generally knew where the circuit went, but am using it more for lines and braking points.
Obviously it will be slightly different once I get in the car, but hopefully it will have given me a head start.
indigorallye said:
I am using Project Cars and ThrustMaster wheel on my son's PS4 to learn Spa for the 12hr in October.
I generally knew where the circuit went, but am using it more for lines and braking points.
Obviously it will be slightly different once I get in the car, but hopefully it will have given me a head start.
Thanks I generally knew where the circuit went, but am using it more for lines and braking points.
Obviously it will be slightly different once I get in the car, but hopefully it will have given me a head start.
Ive just purchased an Xbox, Thrustmaster TX racing wheel and Project Cars.
Let's see how it goes.
The Wookie said:
rossyl said:
Thanks
Ive just purchased an Xbox, Thrustmaster TX racing wheel and Project Cars.
Let's see how it goes.
Sorry didn't spot your response, I've got a Thrustmaster wheel, pedals and gearshift too, I have it fitted to an RSeat N1Ive just purchased an Xbox, Thrustmaster TX racing wheel and Project Cars.
Let's see how it goes.
The Wookie said:
I don't have project cars unfortunately but I do generally play about with it until I find a weighting and feedback that I like
I've had a fiddle with the settings but to be honest I have no idea what they all do! I haven't had much luck with using the various recommendations on gaming forums either. Live for Speed was good, but the absence of real tracks and real cars meant it was limited. It was useful for learning to race with other real people, especially in the private servers rather than the more public servers, where the quality of driving was often found lacking.
Assetto Corsa is pretty good, that has quite a number of accurately modelled tracks and cars. Its expandable, so you can download new tracks and new cars - but the quality varies. Some tracks are pretty good, some are poor. Some cars behave pretty realistically, others may look great, but don't behave anything like they should.
rFactor / iRacing / Project cars all have their fans. Again 3rd party add-ons have hugely variable quality.
The hardest aspect that most get wrong to a greater or lesser extent is tyre modelling, simulating tyre compounds, how they grip, how they behave once they start to loose grip, how they warm up and so on .
If you are using these as training tools, the thing is to make the sim behave like the car as much as possible, and to drive it like the car. The sim racing kids will blitz your laptimes, because they're taking liberties that you couldn't do in real life, and taking advantages of the flaws in the sim.
Assetto Corsa is pretty good, that has quite a number of accurately modelled tracks and cars. Its expandable, so you can download new tracks and new cars - but the quality varies. Some tracks are pretty good, some are poor. Some cars behave pretty realistically, others may look great, but don't behave anything like they should.
rFactor / iRacing / Project cars all have their fans. Again 3rd party add-ons have hugely variable quality.
The hardest aspect that most get wrong to a greater or lesser extent is tyre modelling, simulating tyre compounds, how they grip, how they behave once they start to loose grip, how they warm up and so on .
If you are using these as training tools, the thing is to make the sim behave like the car as much as possible, and to drive it like the car. The sim racing kids will blitz your laptimes, because they're taking liberties that you couldn't do in real life, and taking advantages of the flaws in the sim.
gavsdavs said:
I thought live for speed (https://www.lfs.net/) was suitably hard (feedback steering wheel and pedals really help)
LFS was the king of physics.Iracing's suitably harder too, where as AC and Rfactor are easier on the limit, iracing can be a pain. But with direct drive wheel, load cells and VR it can be immersive!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQnSthSxgJE
I asked this question a few years ago when my daughter was looking to get her race license, (not UK so different equipment's) I bought a playstation 3 with ( if I remember properly0a G4 wheel, and F1 2011, cheap and cheerful, as said no braking force etc so not realistic but it was great for learning the track and the effect of placing the car wrong in bends was very realistic, i.e you crashed in the same place as you did in real life, worked for us my daughter got a National C circuit license 8 weeks after her 15 birthday, I use it sometimes a the start of the season as warm up.
Certainly reduced the amount of track time my daughter needed.
Certainly reduced the amount of track time my daughter needed.
I Sprint at club level, so nowhere near the level of Ash Sutton & The Wookie, however I do believe the my time spent on a DIY sim has helped.
I built a Racebase simulator from MDF using plans bought online, I've then got a Logitech G27 wheel and pedals (with the Nixim spring mod). For a screen I used an Oculus Rift (until I sold it) as it's more compact than triple monitors.
I use Assetto Corsa, Project Cars & iRacing
I built a Racebase simulator from MDF using plans bought online, I've then got a Logitech G27 wheel and pedals (with the Nixim spring mod). For a screen I used an Oculus Rift (until I sold it) as it's more compact than triple monitors.
I use Assetto Corsa, Project Cars & iRacing
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