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The World's Most Dangerous Driving Simulator

Posted by Soulskill on from the welcome-to-the-carbon-monoxide-simulator-X-2 dept.

agent elevator writes: Lawrence Ulrich at IEEE Spectrum has an interview with the maker of a simulator for professional racers. The Motion Pro II from CXC Simulations costs racers $54,000 and up. It conveys amazingly fine sensations, including the feel of the car's tires wearing out or the car lightening as its fuel dwindles. It also has the kick to make you really feel a crash: "If you hit the wall in an Indy Car and don't take your hands off the wheel, you'll break your wrists. Our wheel is a one-to-one replication of that, but we don't turn it up that high. It's the first time we've been able to replicate racing forces so high that it introduces liability questions."

19 of 83 comments (clear)

  1. A rich kids' toy, nothing more. by rodrigoandrade · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Sure, it's a damn fine simulator, but nothing that a top F1 team haven't used before.

    And $54,000? That's pocket change for someone disputing a FIA world championship.

  2. Holy crap ... by gstoddart · · Score: 4, Funny

    The test pilot blender is almost complete, I see.

    This is like disabling the safety protocols on the holodeck.

    --
    Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    1. Re: Holy crap ... by bylund · · Score: 5, Funny

      Cake, and grief counseling, will be available at the conclusion of the test.

    2. Re: Holy crap ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      A sexdoll combined with siri and a 3d printer to give space faring people the possibility to have their spouses at home and still fuck a virtual recreation of them. Of course, in those united federation of planets propaganda material you'll hear that its used for adventures and such, but in fact its just used as a huge whorehouse and for cosplay sex parties.

    3. Re:Holy crap ... by Obfuscant · · Score: 2

      A "holodeck" is when you take a deck of cards and mix in a large number of blank index cards. Then pull a few "cards" at random, mix them up with more blank index cards. Do that a few times until there may only be one of the original cards in the deck and you have a "holodeck". Oh, wait, that would be a "homeodeck". I always gets those two confused. Nevermind.

  3. Awesome by flopsquad · · Score: 2

    It's the first time we've been able to replicate racing forces so high that it introduces liability questions.

    As a nerd-attorney, I think it's rad as hell they have a racing simulator so accurate they could get sued for hurting you with it.

    --
    Nothing posted to /. has ever been legal advice, including this.
  4. Wasn't there an Apache helicopter simulator... by swb · · Score: 3, Interesting

    ...they had to turn down from 11 because trainees were actually getting hurt when it crashed? For some reason I remember broken teeth being part of the experience.

    I'm not sure why a simulator would ever want to bash people that hard. You'd think it'd be almost more jarring to have the simulation just stop completely -- lights go on, screen dark.

    1. Re:Wasn't there an Apache helicopter simulator... by TWX · · Score: 2

      Well, there is the whole angle that if the person isn't good enough to even operate the simulator, perhaps they should consider a career change and not try to operate the machine that the simulator is training them to operate.

      There's also the perspective that negative reinforcement (ie, getting hurt) is a good motivator to avoid doing some things, and if getting hurt but still having to complete the task is a very realistic possibility with a given situation, then being injured but having to continue operating the simulator isn't a whole lot different than military live-fire exercises where the warrior isn't in complete danger, but if they totally screw up they could be injured.

      I wouldn't want to lose my teeth or break my wrists or arms, but if I'm expected to operate a machine post-damage where I too might be damaged, I need ot know how to function after being hurt. Not a fun prospect, learning that, but in a few very select circumstances could be important.

      --
      Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
    2. Re:Wasn't there an Apache helicopter simulator... by OzPeter · · Score: 2

      I'm not sure why a simulator would ever want to bash people that hard. You'd think it'd be almost more jarring to have the simulation just stop completely -- lights go on, screen dark.

      Sometimes the bashing part IS the reason for the simulation HUET Train to Survive (although in this case there is no actually bashing .. but you get the idea)

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      I am Slashdot. Are you Slashdot as well?
    3. Re:Wasn't there an Apache helicopter simulator... by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 2

      It depends on what is being simulated; but if the user is expected to do something useful under dire conditions(trigger ejection seat or the like), it may not be possible to usefully 'simulate' without beating on them a bit. A simulator that produces people who can calmly press the correct button when presented with the appropriate visual and audio stimuli; but panics, or flinches and jars the controls, when exposed to the shocks of a real mechanical system really failing might well get some users killed.

      It's probably unhelpful to actually damage them; but the sensations of (sometimes violent) movement are a big part of operating some types of hardware and somebody who isn't experienced with them is arguably maltrained, or at least trained only to a very limited level.

    4. Re:Wasn't there an Apache helicopter simulator... by Nidi62 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      My (5 story) building houses several commercial aviation sims, everything from MD-88s to 777s, and supposedly (I have only been here about 3 months) if you take them into a stall or crash it can shake the entire building. In fact my coworker that sits across from me jsut today paused for a second and said that it sounded like someone crashed a sim, and they are 2 floors below us.

      --
      The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
    5. Re:Wasn't there an Apache helicopter simulator... by Guy+From+V · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Your post reminded me of the Comanche combat sim games, one of the first I remember that allowed players to actually "dogfight" head-to-head via it's own network. I got my first real CFS flight stick and weapons control setup just for them.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B...

    6. Re:Wasn't there an Apache helicopter simulator... by stephanruby · · Score: 2, Funny

      I'm not sure why a simulator would ever want to bash people that hard. You'd think it'd be almost more jarring to have the simulation just stop completely -- lights go on, screen dark.

      Please don't do that. Don't stop the simulation at the moment of the crash itself. I hate it when you guys do that !

      I want to know how many spectators I was able to take out (I mean avoid). I want to know if I was able to survive the ambulance ride and how many times they needed to use those paddles on me. I want to know if any of my bones are broken, if my brain is damaged, if I ever wake up, if I'll still be able to function in the bedroom, if I'll still be able to walk, and/or if I'll be able to pay my hospital bill (in case I'm over-billed and my insurance only covers a portion of it). And last but not least, if I happen to die, I want to be able to watch my funeral, and I want to know how much time my significant other grieves before she (or he) starts banging somebody else.

    7. Re:Wasn't there an Apache helicopter simulator... by tlhIngan · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I'm not sure why a simulator would ever want to bash people that hard. You'd think it'd be almost more jarring to have the simulation just stop completely -- lights go on, screen dark.

      Easy, to simulate the event. If you're supposed to do something just before crashing, it would help if you simulated enough of the action so you can prepare for that as well.

      Simulators are designed to train so that in emergencies, responses are practically reflex. If you're about to crash into the wall, you need to let go of the wheel or you risk getting sore thumbs from the simulator. Do that a few times and the driver will automatically let go even in a real crash (where thumbs may be severed instead of merely hurt).

      Likewise in the helicopter sim - if you're going to land hard, make sure your tongue isn't touching your teeth. And other preparations you may make. It probably won't hurt as bad, but a little of it means if you're in the situation, your reflexes will make sure your tongue isn't where it might get cut.

    8. Re:Wasn't there an Apache helicopter simulator... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      ...they had to turn down from 11 because trainees were actually getting hurt when it crashed? For some reason I remember broken teeth being part of the experience.

      I'm not sure why a simulator would ever want to bash people that hard. You'd think it'd be almost more jarring to have the simulation just stop completely -- lights go on, screen dark.

      Most likely the simulator is meant to simulate the range of non-crash behavior, and that requires strong enough actuators that when you put it into a crash state they can inflict dangerous amounts of force in an attempt to model the state of the vehicle.

  5. Re: Indy Car race? Idiots in a oval? by Ogive17 · · Score: 2, Informative

    Not as dumb as you, apparently. Indy car is a mix between oval and road courses.

    If you want to bash racing, why not bash F1 where the competition is so limited that only a handful of drivers actually have a shot at winning each week. At least with Indy, the cars are somewhat equal and there's much more variety and excitment to the finish.

    --
    "Action without philosophy is a lethal weapon; philosophy without action is worthless."
  6. Pole Position on Nintendo? by damn_registrars · · Score: 2
    From TFA:

    If your last experience of a racing game was the old Pole Position on Nintendo in the â80s

    I never heard of a NES port of Pole Position. I had it on my Atari 2600...

    --
    Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
  7. I disagree by Guy+From+V · · Score: 3, Informative

    I prefer the immersive, noetic intensity of Night Driver

  8. Bland by jerome · · Score: 2

    TFA sounds like an advertisement written by someone who has obviously no idea what driving simulators are nowadays.
    Never heard about http://force-dynamics.com/ ?
    Or http://www.gekosystems.com/ ?

    Even DIYers build racing wheels with forces around 15 Nm ( http://www.racingfr.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=46898 in France, probably on many english forums as well).