Back to the topic, the ferrari is a balls up. It's slow, ugly and driven by Felipe Massa. All 3 of these things are bad. (I like Felipe but he really should have been replaced)
You say 150 years time, but have you seen Nissan's GT Academy? To quickly summarise, everyone in the world (with a PS3 and GT5) has the opportunity to set lap times with a predetermined car and circuit, they take the quickest 20 from each 'territory', and pit them against each other in an online race. The top 2 from each territory are then invited to a week long 'Race Camp' at Silverstone, and the best driver from that is then entered into multiple national-level races driving a Nissan in order to obtain a race license, and then they become part of the team driving the Nissan 370Z GT4 car in the Dubai 24 Hrs. The program has had impressive results. Lucas Ordoñez, the first winner, entered Le Mans last year and his team finished second, and an 'all-gamer' car entered by Nissan into the Dubai 24hrs earlier this year finished third. Initially Nissan were unsure whether virtual driving talent could be translated into the real world, it seems it does to an extent!
Good post Canary. Yes, I am aware of Sony's ground-breaking concept and had the courtesy of meeting Ordoñez a couple of years ago at Silverstone. I was impressed; very impressed: although it was his first GT4 race, he scored a podium that day⦠However, this is not quite the same as making F1 testing redundant through simulation.
True, but I still find it interesting that driving skills translate remarkably well. Kovalainen was interviewed on the Autosport live-text from testing today, and was asked about the latest iterations of Codemasters F1 game. He said that it was the first time they'd begun to get the physics close to real life, eventually they'll get there, but I think computing power will limit realism in racing games for a while yet. I can't remember where I read it (may have even been here!), but the issue with CFD and other aero modelling, is that the further away from the nose the air gets, the harder it gets to model, and the greater the margin for error, which is why there is no substitute for testing. The wind tunnel can only do so much, I wonder how much longer until an F1 team feels the need to install on a full size wind tunnel, complete with a rolling tarmacked road, to better simulate real-world conditions.
Simulators are ok, but no substitue for the real thing, it feels a bit weird, especially when braking, as they always feel like they're about to understeer horrendously, it took me a few laps to stop automatically reacting to it, although the 'basic' skills are the same. You're right about the wind-tunnel DH, but even a full size model in a windtunnel with a tarmac 'running road is gonna be flawed from the outset (in at least 2 ways that I can foresee at least).
Does anyone understand why the Red team from a southern European country have suddenly found some pace, despite previously publicly announcing disapointment with their 2012 creation and clearly are the quickest of the generally considered front running teams. Or does the Ferrari simulator and wind tunnel combination work for them.
I agree, any fast times except, Mercedes and their blown diffusers, are due to a quick run to put on a show.
