"t_s" (t_s)
03/24/2014 at 05:37 • Filed to: Racing, Gran Turismo, Mini
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"t_s" (t_s)
03/24/2014 at 05:37 • Filed to: Racing, Gran Turismo, Mini | 1
| 9 |
"I've never raced at this track before, but I've spent a whole lot of time on it with my Playstation." A phrase often heard when rookie racers arrive at a track they don't know. So surely there's some value in the whole videogame racing story. Well it would appear so, just ask !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .
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What about us mere mortals? Can we learn how to race on a few hundred dollars' worth of console? Well I can't and here's why:
- I fire up GT6 and play like what the youth of today would call a 'noob,' traction control on high, automatic transmission, ABS. It's a bloody game, I just want a giggle.
- The racing I am about to engage in takes place on closed roads, which despite GT6's much touted but hitherto not present 'map your road with our app and then drive it' add on, don't exist in pixelated form.
What to do? Simple! Drive the damn road! On May 11th I will be racing at the Scarperia-Giogo hillclimb in this.
Slight problem, my daily driver has about 150bhp more and drives the wrong wheels, so it won't be a very accurate simulation. The solution? Ladies and gentlemen, I present you with €183's worth of 1991 Rover Mini Mayfair.
Oh yes, a whole, live, functioning (one lady owner!) automobile for about half what I paid for my PS3 when I got it. My plan is foolproof, affix a camera to the windscreen and take the car up the road ad nauseam until I've got it nailed!
Good plan right? Beats a Playstation huh?
Well yes and no. Unfortunately a couple of problems arise. Chiefly when you arrive at that second gear hairpin flat in fourth because you thought it was just a slight left kink real life unfortunately doesn't have the infinitely handy 'press pause and select restart race' function (some poo may or may not have come out, but I made it around). Also, God. As you may have surmised from the above images, the weather yesterday was more than moderately crap, unfortunately I can't set it to dry from the pre-drive menu. However despite these slight shortcomings I have come away from yesterday with an understanding of where the road I will be racing goes, where the biggest camber, surface and grip changes are (try that on a PS3) and with a new found respect for low-cost motoring.
The star of the day has got to be my cheaper than a three course meal Mini. Paying that amount for an entire automobile generally paves the way for wailing, gnashing of teeth and a general sense of unease. However this little thing is a gem, a perfect simulator for my future racing. And why? Well, simply because it isn't a simulator, it's an actual car, with an engine, two doors and brakes (actually scrap that, the brakes are awful).
For most mortals I still think that actually getting behind the wheel and driving is better preparation that a video game will ever be. I think Gran Turismo offered people like Mardenborough the chance to get into racing, but there's a lot of natural talent in there, in my opinion it merely allowed it to come to the surface. But for people who can't drive for peanuts (like my good self), actually getting behind the wheel is still the best thing you can do.
Have I succeeded? I don't know, we'll have to wait until May to find out. In the meantime I know that next week I'm going to go back and run some more *ahem* simulations (all at legal speeds, officer) and that my daily driver hasn't even been touched since the Mini arrived, it's just too much bloody fun.
duurtlang
> t_s
03/24/2014 at 06:28 |
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At this moment I'm sitting in an office where you can hear the roaring engines at the Assen circuit if the wind is in the right direction (and the office windows are open). I wish I could just drive that track with my car.
After reading this, one question did pop up: Where does one source a perfectly fine not overly rusty Mini for a mere €183 and can I go there?
Pitchblende
> t_s
03/24/2014 at 07:15 |
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Well, I wouldn't say a video game was a perfect learning tool, but it is much better at teaching the sequences of corners and the lines than looking at the circuit diagram. But, as any racing driver might tell you, a video game is not going to prepare you for the little bumps and cracks in the road that seem insignificant but make the difference when you are on the limit, and also the feeling of the surroundings rushing towards you with the intent of smashing you to bits.
It takes proper racing driver balls to go out onto a circuit you have never actually driving before and immediately go flat out.
BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires
> t_s
03/24/2014 at 07:25 |
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Kickass :) I wouldn't worry so much about the wet. There's no telling whether it'll be a dry race on the day, so it's all valuable practice.
Also, what an absolute steal on that little Mini. It looks really rather nice from the pictures, and €183 is a pittance.
Bakkster, touring car driver
> Pitchblende
03/24/2014 at 08:08 |
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Depends on the fidelity of the track recreation, and whether the track has changed since the data was captured.
That's why so many real world racers use iRacing , the laser scanned tracks do capture all the little bumps and dips. Nothing will ever prepare you for how the car will react, but using a high quality track means the first practice session is spent confirming what they already remembered from the digital track, instead of learning from scratch.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVBDUt…
This is why we're starting to see everyone move to laser scanning as well. Assetto Corsa, Forza, and Gran Turismo. It's taking the tracks from replicas to the real thing.
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Pitchblende
> Bakkster, touring car driver
03/24/2014 at 08:22 |
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I had forgotten how far digital surveying techniques had come along (and had mainly stuck to arcadey racers). I'd imagine the new wave of VR headsets are going to make things more realistic. Still, taking the leap from simulation to real life is a skill in itself.
Jobjoris
> t_s
03/24/2014 at 08:23 |
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Great article but, as Duurtlang and Biturbo already mentioned: That mini for just 183€ is a real bargain! So: Make an article about that. And tell me where (in Italy?) I can find another proper one for that amount of cash. Or an A112. Or an Innocenti.
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Bakkster, touring car driver
> Pitchblende
03/24/2014 at 08:46 |
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Absolutely, but if you're confident in the car in race conditions, a few hours practice in a sim with a good laser scanned track is plenty to have you fully up to speed when you go there for real.
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t_s
> Jobjoris
03/24/2014 at 09:37 |
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The Mini was quite a stroke of luck. It belonged to an old lady who unfortunately passed away last year. Her son was looking to scrap it and asked me for help to trailer it to the local yard. When I saw it I told him it was a shame and he just gave it to me! The €183 weren't even spent on the car, they're the cost of getting it registered in my name. So when I think about it, the car itself was actually free!
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Jobjoris
> t_s
03/24/2014 at 13:37 |
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Great story, again: enough ammo for another article on Oppo!