Let’s face it: how many of you browsing youtube, have seen some videos of some professional motorsport team, showing their simulator, and under the video, you have read dozens of comments criticizing the graphics?
“It looks like play station 2”, “90s graphics”, “with all the money they have they could aim for something better” etc etc
Unfortunately, the internet has given anyone the opportunity to open their mouths, or in this case to comment, without having the slightest knowledge of the facts. The slightest knowledge of what he is talking about. Or worse still thinks he has it.
I wonder: according to these people, an F1 team that has a stratospheric budget really couldn’t afford super fancy graphics for their simulator? Or maybe it’s a matter of physics and not of graphics?
Dear guys, before putting your hands on your keyboard, count to 10. Breathe, find out, reflect, read up, think, if you are interested in the subject. Apart from the fact that even today a title like rFactor (2005) has quite acceptable graphics. If you have a good PC and a good graphics card, you can enjoy it to the fullest and I guarantee you that it is quite good.
It won’t be super detailed as we are used to seeing in the latest generation video games, sure, but so what exactly do we want? What do you want? Admiring the graphic details, or having the feeling of driving a car on a track?
Because when a driver is sitting in a professional simulator, he is not looking at the shop windows along the track. And even if he does notice them, he won’t need them. Neither to him nor especially to his engineers, who are working on how to find a good ideal starting setup, so as to arrive on Friday with a car at a good starting point on which to work and optimize during the various sessions. The driver must immediately rediscover the sensations he has when he is in the real car.
It must feel the steering wheel as it does on the track. The brakes. He must feel and know how much the car can dare, push, to the limit, with the difference that in the simulator if it crashes nobody gets hurt and the car does not suffer damage. Also because during the sessions the damage is turned OFF naturally. Here I seem to already read the comments of the great experts: “oh but if you put the damage off, then it’s not realistic!” “In reality, if you go off the track and crash, the car breaks down”
Okay sure, guys, but time is precious, and during the simulator sessions the driver pushes so hard, that he doesn’t have to worry about going out. If he crashes, he must immediately regain control and continue spinning. It is not important that he stops in the pits to have his car repaired. Is this point clear to you, and why? There is no time to lose!
Another very important thing you need to know is LATENCY. These simulators and I’m not referring to the software, but all the components that make up the simulator together must have 0 latency. The software for example has to sacrifice super TOP graphics to maintain performance and feedback with 0 latency. The driver immersed in his session must not suffer delays while driving, and the same goes for the steering wheel. I do not mention the pedals as they are set, but the steering wheel must be a direct drive steering wheel and must reproduce in real-time all the feedback from the car, tires, and asphalt to the driver and engineers.
One last thing: with this I am not saying that graphics are not important, or that admiring the details is not an added value. I just tried to explain to you, that in the scale of importance the graphics come a little later, taking into account that we are now at such a good level that even those a little less detailed are absolutely convincing and acceptable.
So next time you watch one of these videos, think about it before writing that the graphics look old or are ugly. If you really don’t like it, switch off, switch on the play station and play your game with super graphics. Maybe simulating driving is not for you.