Joe DiPino's blog
I Must Laugh
03:05 PM on Dec 20, 2007

OrlandoSentinel.com
COMMENTARY
Right on track: Stunning detail sets iRacing apart
Steven Cole Smith

AUTOMOTIVE

December 15, 2007

The last video game I mastered was Pong, which should give you an idea of
how sophisticated and cutting-edge I am when it comes to that world. That
said, there was an exhibit at the Performance Racing Industry trade show,
held last weekend at the Orange County Convention Center, that may require
some personal investment.

First, to set the stage: The Performance Racing Industry show is open only
to the trade, drawing 45,000 attendees from around the world. As you would
suspect, the vast majority of equipment on display was for hard-core
racers -- engines, tires, wheels, suspension components, bodies . You could
easily have built a complete race car by touring the show with a very large
shopping cart.

One smallish exhibit seemed to be drawing more than its share of attention,
and it featured software, not hardware. The company is called iRacing, and
it develops stunningly realistic electronic re-creations of racetracks. The
company was founded by Dave Kaemmer, co-founder of Papyrus Design Group,
developers of NASCAR Racing computer games, and John Henry, principal owner
of the Boston Red Sox and a major investor in the Roush NASCAR teams.

Many of you know far better than I that lots of online racing games already
exist, allowing gamers to either "race" by themselves on their own computer,
or race in real time against others online. Where iRacing is different is in
the startling detail that goes into its simulations of racetracks, mapped
out by lasers at an expense of some $100,000 per track.

The idea is not so much that this is a computer game, but more of a
professional flight simulator for race car drivers -- it will allow them to
show up at an unfamiliar racetrack having already experienced it to a degree
existing racing simulators can't match. "If there's a bump coming out of
turn four," says Steve Potter, iRacing director of communications, "you'll
feel it, and the car will react to it." And iRacing will update the tracks
regularly -- should a bump appear on a track a year later, it will be added.
See, iRacing software is delivered online each time you race, not on a CD,
or stored in your computer's hard drive.

They had a couple of simulators set up, so I took a "drive" around USA
International Speedway in Lakeland, one of 60 racetracks the company has
mapped. I drove a V-8-powered late model -- you can choose a variety of race
cars. And you can customize those cars with a huge number of variables,
including stiffness of the shock absorbers, tire pressure, weight balance,
you name it. Add a couple of pounds of air in the right-side tires, and the
iRacing program will show you how the car should react.

Indeed, the realism is remarkable, from the slightly darker "groove" around
the asphalt track, to the accurate billboards in the turns. During the
weekend, a number of professional race drivers stopped by the booth and
tried it out: I went immediately after Eric Curran, who drives a Chevrolet
Corvette in the Speed World Challenge GT series. He said the realism is
"amazing. This would definitely help before visiting a new track."

Not yet, though, as iRacing remains in the testing stage, with a probable
spring debut. The price has not been set, but expect an online subscription
to cost less than $500 a year. Of course, you can spend anywhere from $300
to $30,000 on the simulator itself -- some are enclosed in realistic race
car cockpits, and the seat moves as you tear around the track.

While I was testing the system, I had another thought: How valuable
something this sensitive, accurate and realistic -- not to mention fun --
would be in teaching driver education.

Yeah, I may have to join the 20th century. Or whatever century this is. Pong
has lost its appeal.

Sentinel Automotive Editor Steven Cole Smith can be reached at
scsmith@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5699 .

Copyright © 2007, Orlando Sentinel

Oh yeah, they have the next big thing in mind for sim racers who are NOT Cup owners or MLB owners. Less than $500 a year? Usually mean $499.99. Anyone else want to support them suing people for socalled "infringement" of defunct N2k3?




Posted by William Mize at 04:21 PM on Dec 20, 2007
 Comment #1

Oh my god, that is insane.

Posted by Scott Michaels at 06:23 PM on Dec 20, 2007
 Comment #3

I wouldn't call it laughable, but $500 a year seems a bit extreme... how could laser mapping a track cost $10,000 a time?!?

Posted by John Dixon at 06:27 PM on Dec 20, 2007
 Comment #4

I dont understand this product at all. It's obviously not aimed that likes of us, not at that price anyway.

Posted by Glen Van Winkle at 07:00 PM on Dec 20, 2007
 Comment #5

I thought the sim was aimed for the average person, but it sounds like they are going for the race teams and or people with money to burn. Oh well!

Posted by Joe DiPino at 07:52 PM on Dec 20, 2007
 Comment #6

December 07, 2007

New way to get feel for the track
By GODWIN KELLY
Motorsports Editor

ORLANDO -- One after another, young drivers from every imaginable racing series punched up their favorite racetracks and turned laps in the heart of the Orange County Convention Center.

No helmets or firesuits required for these races at the Performance Racing Industry trade show. The high-speed runs were on two advanced racing simulators set up by iRacing.com.

These are not video games but technically sophisticated computer equipment that are powered by state-of-the-art software.

Officials with the company compared this experience to airplane simulators used by professional and military pilots.

"These are absolutely accurate simulations," said Steve Potter, the company's director of communications. "If there's a crack in the pavement at certain part of the track, the driver will feel it."

Up until now, this kind of high-tech racing simulation has been restricted to big dollar Formula One teams, such as McLaren Racing and Ferrari.

Rookie Lewis Hamilton has credited part of his success during the 2007 F1 season to McLaren's simulator

While iRacing.com's software is not cheap, it is affordable compared to say hauling a stock car several hundred miles to test a rookie driver for a couple of days.

The company was co-founded in 2004 by programmer Dave Kaemmer and John Henry, who owns the Boston Red Sox. Henry bought half of Roush Racing this year. Roush Fenway Racing fields entries in NASCAR's three top touring series.

Henry is a long-time participate of Internet simulated racing, or "sim racing."

"He was a commissioner of his own league at one time," Potter said. "That's what led him to Kaemmer."

Kaemmer's company, Papyrus Design Group, is located in the Boston area. Papyrus developed the award winning game "NASCAR Racing: 2003."

"While people can master a video game in an afternoon, the racing simulator, no, not so much," Potter said. "It takes a lot of experience to correctly drive a simulator."

Now that the software has been perfected, iRacing.com is beginning the hard sell in the motorsports community. All levels of racing have been targeted, from Late Model racers all the way up to Sprint Cup.

Among those who tried their hand at the PRI simulator Friday was David Gilliland, who drives the No. 38 Yates Racing Ford.

The company is negotiating with several Cup level teams right now. Once accepted into stock car racing, iRacing.com hopes its software will become standard equipment at all NASCAR race shops.

"It will be a great tool for race teams," Potter said.

godwin.kelly@news-jrnl.com

Yeah, Scott, it is laughable. Funny isnt it how they sue average Tims all to market to Rick Hendrick? Honestly, I am laughing my ass off.

Posted by Greg Carrier at 10:17 PM on Dec 20, 2007
 Comment #7

The dark side, it is. Very dark. Careful you must be.....

Posted by Jon Weal at 07:09 AM on Dec 21, 2007
 Comment #8

More toys for the rich kids.... whoop-ee

Posted by Tim Robinson at 02:27 PM on Dec 21, 2007
 Comment #9

I obviously have some thoughts regarding this, but alas, must keep them to myself for the moment.

And you forgot a ZERO there Scott. It's allegedly $100K per track, which is even more incredulous given the technology.

DAMMIT!

tks,

Posted by Joco Gorenc at 09:18 AM on Jun 30, 2008
 Comment #10

Where those guys heard it costs half a grand I dunno...
Click

But after seeing some vids and reading the reactions of some people, I'm gonna have to at least give it a try...
Videos

Laughable? You can only guess why Huttu disappeared from all other sims ;) And no, I'm not saying GTR2/rF is crap, but iRacing seems to have taken up a gear. Or two.

Posted by Andrew Carson at 09:42 AM on Jun 30, 2008
 Comment #11

I guess I see where iRacing might be quite a simulator, but its not like its leagues above what we have here at race2play. The guys in these news stories act like there is no alternative solution to iRacing.

Doesn't the whole program even run from your web browser itself?

The physics might be up a level, but its not as promising as they make it sound.

Laser scanning definitely sounds good though. But at that price?....


CATEGORIZED IN: