Mike Beversluis

Monday, January 07, 2008

Way way cheaper

But apparently pretty close to the real thing: Games so real the best of drivers take them seriously

By PETER LYON
Special to The Japan Times

Advancing technology blurs the line between virtual and real-world driving as today's champions practice on television screens.

News photo
Creator Kazunori Yamauchi constantly refines his "Gran Turismo" racing video game. PETER LYON PHOTOS

When I suggested to Kazunori Yamauchi — creator of the "Gran Turismo" video game — that he codrive with me in his first ever "real world" race, a one-hour Mazda MX-5 endurance event at Tsukuba Circuit in Ibaraki Prefecture in 2006, he vacillated for a day or so. Despite being a very good driver, he said no one had ever invited him to join a real race before.

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posted by Mike Beversluis at Monday, January 07, 2008

3 Comments:

  • The article mentions G-forces as being the only difference between driving in the virtual world and the real, but that too has been addressed in some games.

    Sega's arcade game "Super GT" had a cabinet with a huge cockpit with would bank and swerve in reaction to your cornering in game.

    It wasn't an entirely realistic simulation, but that was 8 years ago, and it's not like it was designed to be more then an entertainment device anyway.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 08 January, 2008 11:36  

  • I have, on occasion, driven cars on race tracks -- Formula Ford at Silverstone in England, and a Porsche 911 at a couple tracks here in the states.

    Even for those brief periods, in a school environment without competition, it is exhausting.

    Beyond that, it is more than just G-forces. In order for a car to be truly responsive, it has to communicate with the driver. I don't see how any simulation can reproduce chassis dynamics at anything like a suitable level.

    And G-forces, while easier, are still tough. The cars I drove were cornering at around .9G. A half dozen laps of that, and my neck was killing me.

    Threshold braking also yields about .9G, which would require tipping the simulator on its nose.

    F1 cars hit about 4G in braking and cornering ...

    By Blogger Hey Skipper, at 09 January, 2008 02:20  

  • You're right about the G-forces. I was riding one of the big coasters, which supposedly hit 4G for a couple of loops, and my first thought was that there was no way I could ever be a fighter pilot.

    This reminds me of this Ferrari and Shell advertisement/movie. For the first car, driving around Rome, the speeds and motions are relatable. I can imagine driving my car that fast. Once you hit 1960, the cars are moving in ways I haven't really experienced, and would probably be shocked to do so. The modern F1 is probably unreal.

    That said, Gran Turismo 4 is an amazing bit of software. Besides the photorealism, they really do pitch the cars as you brake and steer and accelerate, and the response really does depend on how you transfer weight around. If find it unintuitive because I'm missing all the force cues, and the controler isn't a good analog for a wheel and pedals, but the simulation is accurate if you can learn to input it. I think this is why these drivers (in the article) can relate driving on a track in GT4 to driving the real track. Driving the Ring in GT4 is hard, and if you were going to go there to take a few laps, it would definitely be worth doing a few hundred simulated laps to learn the turns.

    I think my next non-holiday vacation is going to be a driving school.

    By Blogger Mike Beversluis, at 11 January, 2008 08:12  

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