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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.
I'm pretty sure the Rocket Racing league is planning something similar.
According to the Wikipedia, they are planning a game which will allow people to compete virtually along with actual racers.
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Feed the GPS data from cars stuck on the 405 in LA into the on-car computers during the Indy 500.
This would make The Oregon Trail new again!!
Or how about, Poll Chasing With the Best: On the Trail With Barak and Hillary.
Or Across the Ocean With Thor Heyerdahl: The Rowing Game.
Maybe from historical data we can recreate the spreading pattern of the black plague. Across Europe: A Flea's Tale.
The potential is limitless.
Qxe4
You could actually go to the cantina and see that Han Solo actually did shoot first.
Undetectable Steganography? Yep, there's an app fo
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.
Sadly... you fail.
You can't really call it a race when the gamer sees and reacts to the real drivers, but the real drivers don't see or react to the gamers, can you?
The virtual world racers have no such risks.
Engineering is the art of compromise.
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As a fairly new but hardcore motor racing simulation fanatic (F1 challenge, rFactor, GTR2, GPL) this article is just a load of hogwash. First, simply pumping the GPS data from real racecars into an online track is useless. Why?
Because you cannot replicate exactly
1) the track itself, the bumps, kerbs, asphalt, track layout
2) track conditions at the time the gps data for the "real" racers cars, ambient temp, track temp, rubber laid down by previous sessions, debris etc.
3) car setup (good luck getting real time telemtry of all the parameters of the car from the real F1 teams), this would reveal too much information to competitors
These 3 factors combine to change grip and ultimately laptimes.
As anyone who has raced competitively online will tell you - lap times in the virtual world is incomparable to real world runs with the same cars, same track. As a small example, some of the best line sim race drivers in the world are doing = 1.17 laptimes on the '02 version of silverstone in F1C. While the fastest lap in the real world was a 1:18.9.
Almost 2s difference. Which is huge. This is one example of many. The only way this situation can be rectified is by making a hyper realisitc simulation that has never been seen before or, start fudging grip, engine power and other statistics. Which by the way the article says it won't do because "it defeats the point". Yeah right.
Maybe. Just like force-feedback controllers, you could put a cooling unit in the controller so your hands get very cold.
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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
"like trying to beat Amundsen to the South Pole, using best-known weather data." I've always wanted to play a game where after twelve hours of doing the exact same thing in a region that looks exactly the same no matter where you are, you still haven't gotten very far! The left arrow key will make you step with your left foot, and the right arrow key will make you step with your right. Careful not to hit one twice in a row - you will trip! Don't trip too much, or you might lose! Also, don't forget to rest and eat. Repeat this a few dozen times!
You are now manually breathing.
He's a bigot on wheels, he's a bigot
and he's gonna be hatin' on someone.
He's a racist so don't let him meet your friends,
If you do they might not talk to you again,
And when people are the wrong color
Or come from the wrong place,
You bet your life Speed Racist
will get all red-faced,
Go Speed Racist
Go Speed Racist
Go Speed Racist, Go!
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
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
...can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkdWkAs9qmo
Who is General Failure and why is he reading my hard disk?