Gaming Technology Driving Formula One


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It is obvious where Mercedes have invested heavily in the last decade leaving the sport trailing in it's wake. They not only have the best engineers, but also tapped into the best brains in the gaming industry.

Mercedes have never raced at the Mugello track in Tuscany before and it was interesting to hear how they plan ahead of time. A team would never risk arriving blindly as there is too much left to chance with little time to get things right.

Firstly photographs will be taken of the tarmac as the textures do vary from track to track. Combine this with the track layout and the team will have a good idea on tyre degradation rates. This work will be done months in advance and most likely the week this track was announced when it was added to the racing calendar.

The next step is to compile a racing file with the help of the racing simulator. Using the computer program it will work out the car going around the track calculating corner speeds. This information then helps plot racing lines on the track allowing the engineers to calculate the wing levels required to generate enough down force.


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Lidar scanning transforms the simulation into reality so that the drivers feel the difference in height even when hitting the curbs. No detail is left out replicating the track exactly.

That is the first initial stages done and now they opt for a Lidar scan which is laser imaging adding the exact detail. The exact height of the curbs, the entire track surface including run off areas including details such as the barriers and scenery. This all gets loaded onto a simulator which is then handed over to the drivers taking them into a virtual world as close to reality as possible.

What I didn't know is they are closely working with gaming companies to help assist with details like braking points. The engineers will be running thousands of simulations testing everything from ride heights ,tyre pressure aero dynamic wing levels which will give them as close to optimum set up levels for racing as they can get without physically testing the car.

Mugello doesn't really have any slow corners with the slowest one being in the 140 km range. What the drivers have to get used to is the extra G forces on this track as some corners are over 5.5 G's. Nothing cam prepare you for the real thing but you can be in a good place before you arrive.
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Reading between the lines Mercedes has a set up others are desperately trying to replicate and why they are falling so far behind.

Teams rely heavily on their simulators and this is what has changed the sport in the last decade more than anything else. You do start to wonder how some of the teams can get things so wrong when you have this type of technology being used. Is it the technology that some teams don't have that is making the huge time differences?

Looking at some of the performances lately like the difference between Mercedes and Williams which have the same engine but at different ends of the spectrum when it comes to results. Surely they should know the make up of the car is a lemon and be able to rectify it with this technology. The same could be said for Ferrari as why have they just gone backwards each year unless they don't have all of these things in place.

What I think is interesting is certain teams going as far as joining forces with certain gaming companies which must benefit both of them especially with Mercedes using the Lidar scanning. Mercedes just seem to be that far ahead on the tech side which frees up their engineers to work on the car and their race needs.

I think today proved a point for a team that has never tested this car at Mugello yet today they were the fastest car on the track finishing first and second respectively. They just seem like a team that has everything covered and everything in place. Reducing budgets won't hold them back as they have all of this in place already and will only hamper the smaller teams who obviously don't have all of the toys Mercedes has.



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