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Real Racing In the Virtual World
zebadee writes "The BBC has a story about a company aiming to pit gamers against the professionals. iOpener Media has a patented system that sucks in real-time GPS data from racing events and pumps it out to compatible games consoles and PCs. This means you can race in real-time against the like of Lewis Hamilton, Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen. The company also claims to have an AI that solves the problem of overtaking and crashes." It would be great to see this applied to historical events and other game domains, too -- like trying to beat Amundsen to the South Pole, using best-known weather data.
The possibilities are interesting, but the most exciting idea you can think of is a game where you spend 3+ months riding behind sled dogs across the Antarctic tundra? Sounds like Penn & Teller's Desert Bus.
I mean, don't get me wrong, Roald Amundsen was an interesting guy with a great story, but that doesn't mean it would make a good videogame.
They claim to have some sort of adaptation AI there, but one would still have to keep the world in "sync" over longer periods of time... otherwise differences would just accumulate. So I suppose if some computer car needs to slow down because of you, it will just magically accelerate back to its current position or something... doesn't sound too realistic :)
I want to play Free Market with a drowning Libertarian.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=rkdWkAs9qmo
He points out that no matter how realistic a game is, it is just not a real-life experience:
"The one thing I've learned today... is that you can have the skill to get this car around here in 1:40, and it could do 1:40... [but] it's that part of your brain that makes you frightened."
Of course, games are essentially there to entertain, and I'm sure that a lot of people will enjoy racing against the professionals from the comfort of their own couch. But just because you can play Guitar Hero and have a blast of a time doing so, it doesn't necessarily mean you can play the guitar.
Aly =]
The real-world racers will not be reacting to the presence of the gamers. Hitting Speed Racist's car in a video game won't cause him to spin out in real life, though that would be a great WTF moment if it did. At best this will be like singing along with a pre-recorded tape, it'll look good but it won't be the same as actually performing with a real band who can improvise and react to your own performance.
Actually, this is making me think of the old Captain Power toys where you could wave the fighter at the screen while the show was on and your ship would "explode" (pop apart due to springs) if it got "hit" by an enemy robot. The funny thing is, those Captain Power toys would be entirely kick-ass today with our gaming systems and 3D controllers. The fighters were held by pistol grips with the part. For a modern version, make the pistol grip a detachable mount containing the electronics for a wireless controller for a system like Wii or the 360. The fighter part can be a stand-alone toy that can also be mounted atop the controller when playing the video game. From there, the fighter's attitude would control the action on the screen. The toy would respond to what's going on with appropriate vibration, lights, and sound effects. When sufficiently damaged, the whole thing can sproing apart just like Captain Planet's fighters did. And to really merchandise the situation, the game itself would have full storylines to go with each fighter and presumably the character that goes along with it. So you beat the game once with the blue fighter, that's nice, but the red fighter has a full story arc to play through as well. The game is included in the box with the fighter, essentially the same game each time but with different cinematics to go with the new character.
Something like this would be very successful.
Kwisatz Haderach
Sell the spice to CHOAM
This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
P.S. Lewis Hamilton, please stop crashing.
www.chessgames.com has been hosting matches against the opening moves of real historical chess matches.
You can play against chess champions of centuries past or the modern day. (you have to pay to play against historical players, you can replay historical chess matches for free).
I think this is an awesome idea for games.
Of course, the constraint is a limited number of games where this is applicable (for example, it wouldn't make any sense to play against the replayed opening moves of a Halo 3 match...)
-J_Tom_Moon_79
Being a racer myself, my uncle having held three world records, was one of the founders of ASRA, etc (as well as sitting here with a double compound fracture in my rt leg, broken hip and broken shoulder, all rt side), I can tell you this. It isn't fear, it's respect. My cousin was killed by his dad's car. In the garage, of all places. A malfunction on an electric switch activated the trans-brake and when they switched from alcohol to nitromethane, the car leaped forward and the wing of the dragster hit him in the head. He (my cousin)"acted" fearless, but at the same time, he rarely, if ever, had the throttle wide open on his quads, trucks or anything else he had. Before I learned the restraint that came with respect, I wrecked one of his quads, breaking my nose (simple wreck). Incidentally, my current accident was a mechanical failure.. Lucky to be alive, life-flight said. I won't be touching a bike again for a few years, I can tell you that much. Also, hope the paragraphs work this time. Last two posts where horrible with no line breaks. --Toll_Free
Have you ever raced? Because I have.
A racer interested in self preservation usually only reduces his speed by about 5%-10% of what is theoretically possible. Most motorcycle racers use lines that provide space to recover if they exceed traction limits, usually at the cost of position or lap times. Most racers use a delayed apex line that allows the driver to get on the throttle hard and early. If the vehicle does start to go out of control, there is usually plenty of room to recover.
Because exceeding the limits can be recovered, and because it usually reduces lap times, I highly doubt that being able to run near maximum speed would provide a significant advantage. After all, a casual gamer is just as likely as a racer to botch a corner and go off-line. If doing so hurts lap times badly enough, there is not a real advantage in getting so close to the edge.
The biggest advantage a simulated racer will have is that simulations tend to be a little watered down from reality, and are usually more predictable. Top gear had an excellent video on the matter, where Jeremy Clarkson attempted to beat his GT4 time in reality using the same car (Acura NSX) and course (Laguna Seca.) I'm sure you can find the video on YouTube.
I remember a company here in Dundee ran a website that had virtual horse racing. You could buy a virtual horse, train it, buy virtual food, race against other horses and get monery back for winning. They even had a full time employee whose role was purely to commentate on the races.
It was so successful that a totally separate company set up in the US just to buy virtual horses and race them and they made a profit.
That was at least 4 years ago.
In danger of being a little off topic, but kind of thought it was interesting.
America, Home of the Brave.
> What else would you suggest?
Any of the several PC racing sims: rFactor, Live for Speed, or anything by SimBin, such as GT Legends or one of the GTR or WTCC Race games.
"If everything seems under control, you're just not going fast enough."
-Mario Andretti Having tracked a car through HPDE Club circuits, I've been taught by racers to learn about the car's feedback via the steering wheel, grip, and general butt sensors. You just cannot substitute for this. Just like everyone has mentioned, there is no feedback from a video game. You cannot feel the lateral movement, the wheel spin, etc. With Forza 2 and other games you can tweak your suspension, but your only impression is extremely limited: a skidpad number or a simple visual cue that your car is pushing, loose, problems with toe/camber, etc.