Computer Car (TRACK) Simulators | FerrariChat

Computer Car (TRACK) Simulators

Discussion in 'Tracking & Driver Education' started by Rothbauer_Racing, Nov 20, 2012.

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

  1. Rothbauer_Racing

    Rothbauer_Racing Formula Junior

    Jan 11, 2007
    442
    Planet Earth
    Full Name:
    Röthbauer Racing GmbH
    Is there anyone who makes a race car simulator and or system where you can add local tracks like the Austin F1 track or TWS (Texas World Speedway), Laguna Seca, and also select the popular cars current cars we actually own, Porsche GT3, Ferrari 355, 360, 430, etc...

    Ciao,

    SRR
     
  2. GuyIncognito

    GuyIncognito Nine Time F1 World Champ
    Silver Subscribed

    Jun 30, 2007
    91,699
    rfactor is your best bet, however a lot of the "custom" content especially for cars is so bad it isn't really simulation at that point. you might be better off just buying a console game with road cars if you want to pretend you're driving your Ferrari/Porsche/etc on track.

    If you want proper simulation you can still use rfactor but need to be very selective on what content you use (and pay attention to who made that content).
     
  3. Bas

    Bas Four Time F1 World Champ

    Mar 24, 2008
    41,300
    ESP
    Full Name:
    Bas
    completely agree.

    For simulation I'll stay far far away from consoles.

    iRacing is also fantastic put impossible for me to play here.
     
  4. GuyIncognito

    GuyIncognito Nine Time F1 World Champ
    Silver Subscribed

    Jun 30, 2007
    91,699
    I assume internet connection/latency over there kills iracing for you.

    iracing is a great product but it's quality over quantity, and there's not a lot of content especially in terms of cars, especially at the club/DE level. which IMO is a major flaw in their business model.

    console games aren't simulators, it depends on what the OP wants to do. if he wants to pretend he's driving his Ferrari around Laguna Seca, it's great. if he wants to know how his Ferrari is going to handle around Thunderhill when he takes his car there, rfactor (or maybe Project Cars or Simraceway) is the way to go.
     
  5. Schatten

    Schatten F1 World Champ
    Owner

    Apr 3, 2001
    11,237
    Austin, TX
    Full Name:
    Randy
    Chas, in my new place, I'm setting up my fanatec/playseat rig in a guest room. I have a few monitors, and could get more for an easy set up cause they are relatively cheap, but what do you recommend for a gaming box just dedicated to this? Is it possible to build one up on the cheap? For the past several years, I've only been doing PS3/XBox sims because I got tired of maintaining desktop boxes with the latest and greatest of everything.

    Edit... nevermind, reading through the previous thread on sims!
     
  6. GuyIncognito

    GuyIncognito Nine Time F1 World Champ
    Silver Subscribed

    Jun 30, 2007
    91,699
    since you're pretty handy with computers you could build one for under $1k no problem, maybe even under $500.

    or if you're an off the shelf kind of guy...

    http://www.mainperformancepc.com/

    http://www.doghousesystems.com/
     
  7. ProCoach

    ProCoach F1 Veteran
    Owner

    Sep 15, 2004
    5,464
    VIR Raceway
    Full Name:
    Peter Krause
    I've bought half a dozen Gateway FX6820-UR20P's ($849 right now), upgraded the video card and the power supply and had trouble free boxes for several years.

    You don't have to upgrade to have very good performance, but with a HD6870 or HD6970 plus a 700W PSU, iRacing will draw EVERYTHING!

    And THAT is really important for my work... <grin>

    Tigerdirect.com
     
  8. bobzdar

    bobzdar F1 Veteran

    Sep 22, 2008
    6,367
    Richmond
    Full Name:
    Pete
    Gt5 on the ps3 is a very good Sim, better than many of the older pc Sims including rfactor. It has the car content but not as much in the way of tracks, though it does have laguna seca. The main problem is you have to spend a bunch of time getting the cars you want, I prefer the iracing model of just buying the content you want. That said, driving an f40 or ruf ctr around laguna is awesome in it once you have them.
     
  9. Far Out

    Far Out F1 Veteran

    Feb 18, 2007
    9,768
    Stuttgart, Germany
    Full Name:
    Florian
    If money is no object, the industry tools of choice are Car Maker (mostly popular in Europe, better simulation overall) and CarSim (Asia/US, older and thus a bit more widespread).

    We have a simulator running with CarMaker and the front half of a Mercedes C class.
     
  10. GuyIncognito

    GuyIncognito Nine Time F1 World Champ
    Silver Subscribed

    Jun 30, 2007
    91,699
    those are engineering/R&D sims not driving sims (i.e. the emphasis is on the engineering product and not the driver). cool stuff but not what the OP is looking for.

    out of curiosity what's the budget for a OEM sim like that? I assume $5-10mm?
     
  11. b-mak

    b-mak F1 Veteran

    It's darn near impossible to find an accurate car/track combo that resembles things that I drive in the real world. I generally stick to iRacing because most of the tracks I drive are there is laser-scanned goodness. I'll use a car that most closely resembles what I'll be driving.

    I use iRacing, Simraceway and rFactor on an Alienware M17X laptop. Obutto cockpit, Logitech wheel.
     
  12. b-mak

    b-mak F1 Veteran

    I know a partial answer to that question.
     
  13. GuyIncognito

    GuyIncognito Nine Time F1 World Champ
    Silver Subscribed

    Jun 30, 2007
    91,699
    do tell....
     
  14. Far Out

    Far Out F1 Veteran

    Feb 18, 2007
    9,768
    Stuttgart, Germany
    Full Name:
    Florian
    First and foremost they're extremely accurate vehicle simulators and as you say mainly for R&D, but if you remove the software driver and place a real one in the loop, they're excellent driving sims, too.

    Totally depends on the scale. If you discount the half car etc. Mercedes gave us because they didn't need it anymore, a setup like we have with decent real time hardware and the licenses costs roughly 30k. If you want a warehouse sized hexapod sytem, your numbers are more accurate :)
     
  15. b-mak

    b-mak F1 Veteran

    I'll tell you next week. It'll cost you some seat time, though.
     
  16. ProCoach

    ProCoach F1 Veteran
    Owner

    Sep 15, 2004
    5,464
    VIR Raceway
    Full Name:
    Peter Krause
    You going to PRI?
     
  17. b-mak

    b-mak F1 Veteran

    I have to be on the other coast. Looking for a good source for PRI news - do you know who's covering it?
     
  18. Bas

    Bas Four Time F1 World Champ

    Mar 24, 2008
    41,300
    ESP
    Full Name:
    Bas
    Yup, my internet/ping completely sucks here. I pay around USD800 a month for a 250kbps connection. I'm moving to south africa next year where internet is more promising...

    Agree about the content for iRacing, especially the amount of ovals (all are unused by me) but when I was able to play iRacing I was very impressed with how the cars feel and the tracks.

    Rfactor is still my default racing game. Sometimes when a mod feels **** but I like the content I try and make it more realistic by f'in around with their physics model (obviously, no online for me here :( ).

    I enjoyed Live For Speed a lot, they have a licensed Sauber F1 car and a Formula BMW, but tracks that don't exist. I had a lot of great online battles with the FBMW, wheel to wheel action for the duration of the race. I love their tire model, something which Rfactor 2 will have as well :).
     

Share This Page