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NASCAR Coursebuilders, Drivers Consult Videogame Version
Thanks to the St.Petersburg Times for their article discussing how NASCAR videogames are giving the real-life drivers tips on a newly redesigned course. According to the piece, which discusses the "$10 million... redesign of Homestead-Miami Speedway", the drivers are checking out EA Sports' new NASCAR title for tips on the as yet undriven new layout: "'The boys playing the video game said Homestead's going to be real fast,' said Busch Series driver Scott Riggs in September... 'With that new banking in there, they could be pushing 180 (mph) in the straightaway'." The coursebuilders at the International Speedway Corporation also got their first look at racing conditions from the game, according to an EA spokesman: "The first time we went down and showed the game to the ISC people they were jumping around the office... [the redesign] was going to add roughly 30 mph to the top speed and shave five seconds off a lap."
Stuff like this makes me love technology.
Practical uses for our tech toys.
Pretty Pictures!
WAY back when Geoff Crammond's F1GP came out, there was a story like this. A rookie driver who'd never driven Spa-Francorchamps (in Belgium) was racing in a touring car race at the circuit. To get to know it, he played F1GP and did a load of laps in the game to get to know the circuit, went out next day and won the race.
I also remember hearing that Jacques Villeneuve, back when he came to F1, played F1 video games to get to know the circuits.
It's a great idea. If the tech is there, use it, and games are getting SO realistic these days that a lot of racers agree that the sims we play these days pretty much nail what it's really like.
Shave 5 seconds, thats not so much a shave as a slash. 5 seconds is a huge difference in laps times.
For Formula One, Jacques Villeneuve once said a few years ago he used Microprose's Grand Prix 2 to refresh his memory before the race. The fact that NASCAR drivers say they are doing so doesn't mean they haven't been doing it for years.
I guess the interesting bit is that they didn't have to develop it.
Q.
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I'm with you.
I mean, really, what kind of designer are you when you're trying to make new and better ovals?
WWJD? JWRTFM!!!
> I'm sorry, american car racing is
> the dumbest spectator "sport" ever.
> They just goaround in a big circle.
I have to agree... I don't see the point of NASCAR. It's like... hillbilly bumper cars.
From an economic point of view, its a lot cheaper to have your driver play a $300 video game (PS2 system, [insert game name here], and memory card) than it is to get some time on the race track.
- Football is basically a bunch of musclebound men running around on a grass field beating the hell out of each other chasing a brown oval-shaped "ball".
- Baseball is people running in circles on a grass and dirt field hitting and chasing a white ball with red stitches in it.
- Basketball is a bunch of people running back and forth on a wood floor chasing an orange ball.
- Soccer is a bunch of people running back and forth on a grass field chasing a white and black ball.
"Hillbilly bumpercars" is an outdated view. NASCAR is a bunch of teams spending at least $200,000 per week to put a car on the track. Then there's the seven crew members allowed over the wall on pit road, the crew chief that makes the decisions, the spotters trying to keep the drivers out of accidents, etc. And half the time if you hit someone you're dragged into the "Principal's Office," a trailer where the NASCAR brass dole out monetary and championship point penalties for the stupidest things (get pissed off and say "Fuck off!" or "That dirty son of a bitch!" on the radio? $5,000 fine.)Racing is a lot of work, and it's the fastest growing sport in the US. It's no more pointless or stupid than any of these other sports that people get so wrapped up in. So NASCAR drivers drive 500 miles and get nowhere. Players in other sports run around the whole game and never get anywhere. No real differences there. The biggest difference is with NASCAR you have 1 winner and 42 losers each race, but in other sports you have 1 winner and 1 loser each game
Just food for thought.
Actually, I remember reading there is evidence that flight was actually discovered in Australia. The Wright brothers nailed it a few years later. Have no idea how true that is.
DO NOT lump all American car racing into going in circles. NASCAR != American car racing. Check out any ALMS event. Infinitely more interesting. Same with Speed World Challenege.
NASCAR and IRL are the "roundy round" racing.
you get a gold star, sir.
Not only is racing silly, it's also dangerous as hell! Even more dangerous than american football.
Imagine.. humans.. zooming around in half-million dollar 200 km/hour vehicles made of metal! Absurd!
GoatPigSheep, the 3 most important food groups
> I'm told, back in the day, americans invented airplanes.
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Actually, they did not. The airplane was invented by a brazilian, Alberto Santos-Dumont, and first flew at Paris, France, in 1906. You might believe the Wright bros did it first, in 1903 - but theirs was not a real airplane. It could not take off by its own means, it needed a catapult; therefore, one can't say it was really an airplane.
More info: [ http://www.rudnei.cunha.nom.br/FAB/eng/santos-dum
Circumcision is child abuse.
It's just that to the uninitiated, NASCAR seems a whole lot dumber than other sports. I mean, in the other sports, everyone know there are at least a certain set of rules, while in Nascar... I mean, apart for NEVER EVER MAKE A SHARP RIGHT TURN, and don't start the race before the others, and maybe some speed limit in the pit, there must not be many rules. Maybe a yellow and red flag like Formula one?
to add to that, although I don't watch NASCAR either, why are cars so different? We race horses in ovals, and dogs in ovals, and even people in ovals, so why not cars?
I like street courses, but frankly I prefer the cars to at least pretend like they're the same types of cars that we drive every day. Of course, a lot of that more or less stopped when they started using NASCAR to advertise front-wheel-drive sedans rather than muscle cars.
-PainKilleR-[CE]
I remember a few years ago they spent millions redesigning a track, only to discover the banking, while improving traction and increasing top speed, occasionally caused the drivers to 'grey out' -- that is, the same condition that affects pilots at their G limit. It wouldn't be too hard to calculate that into the game and have it register on screen as an alpha value. Of course, that might not get the track designers jumping around. or it might.
What's next? Pressurized drivers' suits to keep the blood in their heads?
The EA "NASCAR Thunder" series is not as popular among the drivers as the Papyrus n2k3 sim. Unfortunately, EA has acquired sole rights to the franchise, so this year's Papy version will be the last. There are a great deal of addons for it already--new tracks, Busch and Craftsman Truck Series mods, etc.
Quite a few of the drivers play the game, especially for practice on the non-oval road courses. They describe the physics as being pretty close to the real thing. Some race online, most notably Dale Earnhardt Jr who has participated in several league races.
Unfortunately, every NASCAR game I've ever played doesn't take many of these things into account because the computer controls the car for you when you're on pit road. Granted, it has been a while since I played any racing games, but I doubt that things have changed much aside from prettier graphics and better simulated physics.
I find it absolutely amazing, though, that the games are good enough now that drivers can use them to orient themselves with the tracks they'll be racing at ahead of time. But if it works, hey, go for it.
I'm sorry, american car racing is the dumbest spectator "sport" ever.
NASCAR and drag racing, for example, are primarily drivetrain and pit crew competitions. The driver is the figurehead of the team and does, well, the driving.
I hate to say this, but it's like ballet. I don't personally "get" either NASCAR or ballet, but there are obviously a lot of people who do. Those people develop an appreciation beyond the trivial aspects of driving in circles or jumping up and down like a monkey on a stage. At the least, it gives them a distraction from their everyday arbitrary lives. So, I suggest you be happy for them for finding something they enjoy, and, then, you should go off and find something that you enjoy. I'm open-minded, so if you enjoy barnyard masterbation or flatulence spectral analysis, then more power to you!
Healthcare article at Kuro5hin
> "Hillbilly bumpercars" is an outdated view.
Hey man -- where's there's smoke, there's fire.
And drafting really is the core of NASCAR. If Formula 1 is a explosion of automotive violence where drivers violently throw their cars around the turns and cut each other off - NASCAR is a slow burn.. a game of stealth with the drivers slowly stalking each other, using the position of others to their advantage and playing out their strategy to give them an advantage in the pack.
You must not have watched very many NASCAR races if you think drafting is the core. There are 34 races in a season, some "drafting" tracks, some short tracks, some road courses and each of these tracks has it's own unique features. Some tracks wear tires more than others, some having higher banking, the list goes on... Try watching a few different races, not just Daytona & Talledaga. I used to think that it was just a bunch of cars going in circles, until I actually took the time to try and understand it. Then try PitCommand and you'll be adicted.
Maybe it's because I follow F1, but does the top speed on the lap really say much about the course? I mean, shouldn't there be "driver challenge"? You can make a given course faster and faster, just by increasing the banking. Big deal. Is it more interesting to watch, or does it make for a better race for the drivers?
There are chiefly two differences:
1) Car racing glorifies pollution to no purpose. (not that other sports don't pollute, but its more a side effect than the main event)
2) The major part of car racing - the driving - is so easily simulatable, they might as well play it in a simulator.
(But I do agree, in general, that sports are a lot of running up and down a court for no purpose, and caring about shit that has nothing to do with your life)
I enjoy TROLLING! :)
Actually, NASCAR Racing (the old DOS version) hard-slowed you down, but if you layed on the gas, you could hit 56-57MPH in pit road and get blackflagged for going too fast.