To what extent PS2/3, XBOX etc. car racing/simulation games mimic driving dynamics of actual cars?
Many studies claim that they are very similar to real cars.
But I have driven super cars only in those games and not in real life so can't really comment on accuracy.
On thing I noticed on twisty roads, the cars (Ferrari, R8, Aston Martin etc.) are quite difficult to control over 70 MPH.
I also found AWD (eg. Audi R8) cars were easier to control on bends compared to FWD or RWD cars (eg Ferrari).
Another problem I noticed with all such games that if I set transmission to auto, cars upshift only on redlines - where as automatic cars in real life shifts in far lower RPM. The cars become much easier to control in lower RPM (of course the games try to get max acceleration but there should a mode for economy as well :o)
More often that not, I actually drive the cars to observe scenery on different parts of the world. I found manual mode is more relaxing for cruising.
Last edited by: movilogo on Mon 30 Aug 10 at 16:36
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Judging from the number of youngsters that put their cars off the road and drive like the roads are a video game the simulation is rubbish.
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Consumer level stuff, i.e. games you can buy for a home computer / console system, are entertainment quality not simulation quality (even if they claim different on the box).
Can't remember what game it was, maybe one of the Gran Turismo's, but even with a fairly decent steering wheel / pedals combo, the clutch operation was binary and cars idled at 0 revs (not stalled, just not moving if the clutch pedal (button!) was released without throttle).
Still brilliant fun all the same.
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there is one the GP teams use, cant remember its name - its got a yellow logo.
You can programe in the car settings to simulate the handling changes, and learn the tracks. It wont provide you with the 10 tenths on the limit feel tho.
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Audi went about it in a slightly different way back in 2007 with their copycat A8:
www.autoexpress.co.uk/news/autoexpressnews/209190/we_drive_copycat_a8.html
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Some games can have very good dynamics. A colleague wrote the dynamics for one game - he went on to work in the dynamics section of an F1 team.
At the time, [late 1990's], the limitations of the computer in the games console were a serious hindrance - what should have been floating point calculations with a decent range of possible numeric values were truncated into a very limited integer number range.
Collision detection and realistic collision response was a difficult part of the algorithm to write.
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Some games make a better fist of it than others.
I agree with Zero that the lack of feel is the biggest problem. A friend who has done quite a bit of club level rallying in his time, and has by far the best post-limit car control of anyone I know reckons it's harder to drive a "virtual" car on the limit, than a real one, because the feel just isn't there.
Like many gamers, I am eagerly awaiting Gran Turismo 5 on the PS3 later this year. One of the reasons given for its ongoing delay is that the developers have been tweaking every single car in the game so that its dynamics are just so. Can't wait to find out.
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Anyone else remember the Grandad of them all ? Revs 1984 F3 simulator which craftily hid some of the code on the screen behind the sky as the machine only had 32k. Modern programmers have no imagination of what can and can't be used.
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One of the worst (or maybe it was the best / most accurate given it was based on american cars) in recent times was Grand Theft Auto IV.
Jeezo, if you didn't 'jack a sports car (for the much stiffer suspension) you'd be as well steering a waterbed round the streets.
Still, the waterbeds look kinda cool when you stop abruptly and the car body rocks on the springs.
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One of the F1 Race Team's simulator is available for download & customisation (it's open sourced) -->
www.racer.nl/
From -->
www.racecar-engineering.com/articles/f1/495544/digital-reality-f1-simulators-revealed.html
Seems the leading software is called "rFactor - PRO", allegedly used by approx half of the F1 teams.
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Racer makes reference to the right source books - Gillespie, Milliken & Milliken, Dixon, Pacejka among others - so, there's a good chance that the vehicle dynamics have been properly dealt with.
I'm a bit concerned that there is only 1 degree of freedom for each wheel - I would expect to also see at least camber and steer included.
I'm a fan of good physics based car simulations because many with dull minds can't appreciate that cars simply obey Newton's laws of motion - that physics based simulations are so good proves them wrong.
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Anybody remember Big Red Racing? c1996? It's the only car game I've played...
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Car dynamics in video games - Old Navy
