from the need-something-to-broadcast-to-get-advertising-$$$ dept.
[Ed. note: More and more people are staying home as a result of quarantines and social distancing. Car customization was the high-tech platform for many years. Then came computers where nerds had a different target for things to tweak and optimize. Car racing has perhaps even more followers today than ever before. Given the technical background and underpinnings, and realizing people may be looking for something to do this weekend, I thought to give this story a try. Are there any Soylentils who have any racing experience? --martyb]
Shortly after the US entry into World War 2, President Roosevelt requested that professional baseball continue to be played during the war because of its importance to maintain the morale of the nation. NBA commissioner Adam Silver expressed similar sentiment after the almost complete shutdown of professional sports due to the coronavirus outbreak. Formula 1 and NASCAR are already taking steps to resume, though with virtual races instead of cars physically on track.
Last weekend, iRacing and Podium organized the Replacements 100, which was streamed on multiple platforms including YouTube. The drivers included William Byron, whose success in iRacing helped him find the opportunity to drive real race cars, retired fan favorite Dale Earnhardt Jr., and current cup series drivers Bubba Wallace and Alex Bowman. The race was 100 laps at Atlanta Motor Speedway, which was set to host all three of NASCAR's national series last weekend before being postponed.
This weekend, NASCAR's national series were scheduled to race at Homestead-Miami Speedway, but these races have also been postponed. Instead, NASCAR has started the eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series, a series of virtual races using iRacing that will include current drivers from all three of the national series. This weekend, the race will be at Homestead and will be televised by FOX Sports 1. The race will include 35 drivers including current Cup Series champion Kyle Busch and many other drivers from NASCAR's top series. The race commentators will be Mike Joy, Jeff Gordon, and Larry McReynolds, all of whom are commentators for Fox's regular NASCAR Cup Series broadcasts.
Formula 1 will also be live streaming a virtual Bahrain Grand Prix this weekend with two drivers representing each of F1's ten teams. This race will be run using the F1 2019 game and the level of difficulty for each driver will be adjusted based on their skill in virtual racing in order to produce a competitive race. This is in lieu of the postponed Bahrain Grand Prix, originally scheduled for this weekend. Although many of the regular F1 drivers will not be competing in this race, Nicholas Latifi will drive for Williams and Nico Hulkenberg will be returning to F1.
None of these races are points races in their respective series. And professional esports races are not new at all. However, it is novel that they are being used as stand-in events in the absence of being able to have teams physically present at the tracks. However, the use of commentators from the regular broadcasts, the number of drivers from NASCAR's top series, and the expectation that each of F1's teams will select two drivers will certainly draw the interest of fans who might not otherwise want to watch esports. In particular, Dale Jr. has a large following among NASCAR fans and his participation will likely increase fan interest in these virtual races.
As a fan, if NASCAR races continue to be postponed for an extended period of time, I'd like to see North Wilkesboro Speedway return in virtual races. The North Carolina short track last hosted a Cup Series race in 1996 and is now in deteriorating condition, much to the chagrin of many of NASCAR's older fans. It was one of NASCAR's oldest tracks and a part of the schedule for many decades, with the unique feature of the track being on a small incline. With the backing of Dale Jr., the track was cleaned and scanned for its addition to iRacing. Hopefully this historic track will return to NASCAR's schedule, even if only virtually.
Related Stories
A few weeks ago, I submitted a story about NASCAR scheduling virtual races in iRacing to provide entertainment for fans during the pandemic. NASCAR's virtual racing series ends this weekend at North Wilkesboro Speedway, a track that hasn't hosted a Cup Series race since 1996 and any racing since 2011. North Wilkesboro was one of NASCAR's oldest and most unique tracks, a 0.625 mile short track built on an incline, with an uphill backstretch and downhill frontstretch. The historic track has sat largely abandoned in rural North Carolina since NASCAR left, falling into disrepair and decay. In December, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and many other volunteers cleaned the surface of the race track to allow it to be scanned into iRacing. This 15 minute video shows North Wilkesboro Speedway was cleaned up and describes the laser scanning process used to capture the track surface for iRacing, which is why the story may be of interest for SoylentNews readers. The first race at the virtual North Wilkesboro Speedway is at 3 PM EDT and will be televised on Fox and FS1. For those who cannot watch the race on TV, NASCAR generally streams races on YouTube within a few days of the race.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 22 2020, @07:58AM (3 children)
Real sports and video games aren't the same thing at all. Tom Brady is a mediocre Madden player at best. And the world champion Street Fighter player isn't winning any heavyweight titles any time soon.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Sunday March 22 2020, @10:40AM (1 child)
Most racing fans I know will happily watch a wide range of racing events, open wheel, closed wheel, even two wheel[*]. Why on earth would you not expect them to enjoy racing taking place on simulated wheels too?
[* Heck, there's nothing wrong with 8- or even 12-wheel racing either, in particular when done on a figure-of-8 track: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGQq5FOJNY4 , I'm not trying to be exclusionary.]
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 22 2020, @02:39PM
This is hilarious because you repeat *exactly my point* a few posts later. "Yeah! Right on! But I'm going to be an asshole anyway!"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 22 2020, @03:42PM
Those super expensive golf simulators are pretty close to real thing tho and F1 drivers use pretty crazy simulators.
(Score: 0, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 22 2020, @08:04AM (12 children)
Continue baseball?! This ain't no war, this is a god damn plague. Stay the fuck home, cocksuckers.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 22 2020, @08:18AM (1 child)
No, you. Stay home and suck a cock.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 22 2020, @08:32AM
Cocksucker says what?
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 22 2020, @08:48AM (3 children)
No one is suggesting that baseball should continue right now. MLB commissioner Rob Manfred has indicated that Opening Day wouldn't happen until mid-May at the earliest. It will probably be later than that. Pretty much all sports in the US and most of the world are shut down right now because of the need for social distancing. FDR's request that baseball continue during WW2 provides a historical context for why something like baseball that might seem frivolous during a crisis like world war or a pandemic actually has value.
NASCAR and F1 are trying to provide entertainment for people who might be quarantined, ordered to shelter in place, or are just panicky about the pandemic. Although there's probably very little risk that drivers could spread the coronavirus to other drivers while in their cars, officials and pit crews would be at much greater risk. The original impetus for F1 postponing the Australian Grand Prix was that one of the McLaren team members tested positive and the team withdrew from the race. Virtual racing doesn't involve pit crews and officials going to the tracks and being in close proximity to other people. The drivers can race from home. Virtual racing is a safe way to provide entertainment for fans who are looking for something to do during this time. The simulations won't replicate the feel of a real race car and many of the drivers won't really be familiar with the simulations they'll be using. The quality of racing won't be as good as actually having cars on real tracks or professional esports racers competing virtually. It's just something to entertain fans while maintaining social distancing.
If you want something to be angry about, you should be far more concerned about why entire NBA teams have been tested for the coronavirus regardless of whether their players have symptoms or not, but the general public has difficulty getting tested even with symptoms (Sources: 1 [washingtonpost.com], 2 [nytimes.com], 3 [latimes.com]). It seems that if you have enough money, you can jump to the front of the line and be tested, whether you're actually ill or not. Meanwhile, people who really need to be tested, can't get tested. If you want to be angry about something, that's what it should be. Nobody is actually suggesting baseball or other sports can or will resume anytime soon.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 22 2020, @09:02AM (2 children)
You are pissing me off, man. Shut the fuck up and stay the fuck home.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 22 2020, @09:35AM (1 child)
Take your trolling somewhere else. I made it very clear that the purpose of these esports competitions is so people are staying at home. And if people are watching esports on their TVs and computers at home, that means they're not violating quarantines and stay at home orders. It's also good for their mental health during this crisis, if they have entertainment to keep their morale up. No one is suggesting that baseball or other sports should continue in person right now. No one at all. Go troll somewhere else.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Sunday March 22 2020, @10:26AM
The need of entertainment to keep one's morale up... I find this terrible depressing. (grin)
On a serious note, simply sewing face masks [forbes.com] for healthcare workers or to distribute to homeless people would result in a better social outcome.
But, yeah, entertainment be the king - let's have a laugh, may be our last one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 5, Insightful) by FatPhil on Sunday March 22 2020, @09:15AM (5 children)
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Sunday March 22 2020, @10:16AM (4 children)
What's worse, they believe they can win those "wars" (any war for the matter). Otherwise I can't explain how they maintain the appetite for declaring new "wars".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 22 2020, @10:22AM (1 child)
Generally, when a government starts spewing "war against ...." blah blah, the shit is already fucked up and has been for a while.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by c0lo on Sunday March 22 2020, @10:31AM
Generally, mofo clowns spewing non-sense should never get in government.
Of course the shit is already fucked up since a long time ago if they actually do get in govt.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Sunday March 22 2020, @10:25AM (1 child)
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Sunday March 22 2020, @10:34AM
Nah, just sell 'em enough rope, made in Wuhan preferably
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by xorsyst on Sunday March 22 2020, @08:52AM (1 child)
We don't need virtual formula one when we already have marbula one! #hazeamaze
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Sunday March 22 2020, @09:11AM
However, I am prepared to cheer for Balls of Chaos if Marbula 1 is all that's on.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Sunday March 22 2020, @11:03AM (7 children)
They use the rFactor *simulator*, unlike this copycat e-F1 which is using a bloody *game* instead. rFactor is the base for the simulators actually used by F1 teams. So the FIA are slower off the mark, and delivering a shittier product, sounds about par for the course.
They even had wunderkind Max Verstappen in the first race, yet he was suspiciously absent from yesterday's. (Not suspicious at all, I'm 100% sure he's been slapped with a literal no-compete order by the FIA, so I don't expect to see him again.)
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by inertnet on Sunday March 22 2020, @11:52AM (5 children)
Max said that he didn't want to compete using a system that he's unfamiliar with. He didn't want to step right in without any training because he knew he'd be beaten by lesser drivers that are familiar with that system. He is one of the best in virtual racing when using his well-known system, he usually wins those by a large margin. He said that he won't compete in anything unless he has a fair chance of winning.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 22 2020, @06:12PM (2 children)
So ego then. They're not "lesser drivers" if he can't beat them, they are "better drivers." Perhaps he is a "better driver" on the system he is familiar with, but it is supreme arrogance to claim you are the best at everything, but you'll only prove it on the things you are good at.
I kick ass on my local miniature golf course, having won shotgun tournaments, but I don't play on the PGA Tour because I don't want to be beat by a lesser golfer simply because I am not familiar with those really big courses where you have to use clubs other than the putter.
(Score: 2) by inertnet on Sunday March 22 2020, @07:21PM (1 child)
Sure, he has a big ego, but one probably couldn't get where he is without a big ego.
(Score: 2) by gawdonblue on Sunday March 22 2020, @09:06PM
Max certainly has the biggest, bestest ego of all the current F1 drivers. And it's kept exceedingly well-fed by his father.
And it never allow him to make mistakes - it's all those other drivers he keeps crashing into that are at fault.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Tuesday March 24 2020, @10:21AM (1 child)
Rosenqvist certainly seems to be picking up the consumer sim pretty quickly, there's no reason Max shouldn't.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by inertnet on Tuesday March 24 2020, @01:11PM
It's this video [youtube.com], but it's in Dutch. It may have auto translated subtitles.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 22 2020, @12:01PM
Max Verstappen refuses to participate in the official series because he doesn't actually play the official games, since he finds them too arcade-y. He, like quite a few other racing drivers from various series, do run rFactor 2 and iRacing.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 22 2020, @02:14PM (6 children)
> Are there any Soylentils who have any racing experience? --martyb]
Behind the scenes there is a lot of engineering in NASCAR, I've worked there off-and-on since the mid-80s. It's interesting to compare to F1 where the engineering is front & center (we've done small projects with F1 teams too). In some ways the engineering is the same, cars all have four wheels and everyone is looking for more "grip" (F=Ma, more F gives higher a, higher acceleration means lower lap time) -- through many different approaches.
In other respects the two series are very different due to different constraints provided by the sanctioning body. Often, it feels like engineering with one (or both) hands tied behind the back. Rules that are intended to "save money" usually result in creative engineering end-runs. The long way around the problem winds up costing more.
Like a lot of things that look simple from the outside, when you get into the details there is a lot of complexity. Much of my experience has been humbling, the simple mental models I start with fall apart in the face of test data...when the teams are even allowed to test. NASCAR bans many kinds of testing and there is a general testing ban on now for the duration of the virus crisis. But analysis of past data continues at all the top teams. If you want to get ahead, by definition copying can't work, you have to do your own thinking.
I'll be watching the virtual NASCAR event on FS1 this afternoon--to see how my customers do in a different arena.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 22 2020, @03:19PM (2 children)
Gran Turismo has realistic physics for both the tracks and the cars. A Porsche handles like a real Porsche in corners when you step on the gas and the rear end squats down and digs in to the road. A Tesla handles like an overpowered 1968 Ford station wagon, going straight into a barrier instead of turning. A Fiat Abarth handles like a clown car, doing reverse wheelies when you step on the brakes too hard or going onto 2 wheels when you drift a corner. About 20 years ago GT players were banned from real racing in England because they had faster (real) lap times than the pro racers.
(Score: 2) by shortscreen on Sunday March 22 2020, @03:33PM (1 child)
I read a magazine article years ago (probably Car and Driver) where they had a pro driver face off against a pro gamer in GT. I was expecting the gamer to come out ahead but the driver actually won overall, suggesting that his skills behind the wheel transferred to skills behind the screen.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 22 2020, @04:54PM
> skills behind the wheel transferred to skills behind the screen.
GP here again. I've seen this too. It seems to depend a lot on the person. For example, as the sim gets more immersive (larger screen, etc), some people are fine and others get motion sickness. I did a lot of test driving for an early game with a reasonable physics model, and was always fine (with a small screen). My driving skills transferred to the game fairly well (even in very early stage development) as did another tester who did a lot of autocross driving irl.
A number of pro drivers have turned to sims to keep current during the off season, or to learn a new track. And a few sim racers have tested (and gotten rides) in real cars.
The full-on racing simulators in F1 (and more recently NASCAR) are at least an order of magnitude more detailed than any game in terms of the description of the car and physics details. Maybe two orders of magnitude. Usually there are several engineers full time involved in the care and feeding of the simulator, and often a "simulator coach" as well. The coach's job is to help the race driver separate things that are "common to sim and real car", from things that are "artifacts of the sim". The idea is to ignore the latter...not always so easy to do.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 22 2020, @10:01PM (1 child)
The constraints on engineering cut costs with the goal of allowing smaller teams with less resources to be more competitive. NASCAR and F1 both have a few large well-funded teams and a number of smaller teams. Even the larger teams have finite budgets, so if they have to spend more to achieve the same result, they might have less of an advantage than without any restrictions at all. F1 is starting to implement spending caps to impose more restrictions on the advantage for larger teams, especially Ferrari, Mercedes, and Red Bull.
Another solution is technical alliances. Go Fas Racing has a technical alliance with Stewart-Haas Racing. Leavine Family Racing has a similar alliance with Joe Gibbs Racing. Furniture Row Racing also had an alliance with Gibbs before that team went under. That certainly helps the competitive balance and gives smaller teams a better chance, sometimes with the agreement that the smaller team lets a junior driver for the larger team use one of their cars. That's why Christopher Bell drive for Gibbs in the Xfinity series but is now with Leavine Family Racing this year.
F1 rules allow for similar arrangements between teams. The new teams around a decade ago like Caterham and Marussia weren't financially viable and folded, partly because they tried to develop their cars mostly in-house. They spent large sums of money but never managed to be particularly competitive, which would have allowed them to secure better sponsorship deals. Haas F1 has an extensive technical alliance with Ferrari, which allows Haas to reduce development costs. Haas was pretty competitive during the first couple of years in F1 for that reason. The agreement with Ferrari also resulted in Haas giving a spot to one of Ferrari's young drivers, Esteban Gutierrez. Haas has been more financially viable and the alliance stayed within the letter of F1 rules, but other teams and drivers objected loudly anyway.
You're considerably more familiar with the engineering operations in NASCAR than I am. I know that for the Daytona and Talladega races, the three manufactuers (Ford, Chevy, and Toyota) request their drivers work together in larger groups than each of the teams. Would it be feasible to institute larger technical alliances, like between all of the Ford teams, all of the Chevy teams, and all of the Toyota teams, and then allow each of the manufacturers a bit more flexibility to be creative in the development of their cars? It would shift some of the development costs away from the teams while somewhat increasing competitive balance. And if Ford, Toyota, and Chevy take different approaches to developing their cars, it might also address the complaint about gen 5 and 6 cars that they look almost the same. Don't place significant limitations on Ford, Chevy, and Toyota on their development expenses, but place greater limits on what individual teams are able to do. Would this model be viable in NASCAR?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 22 2020, @11:17PM
> The constraints on engineering cut costs with the goal of allowing smaller teams with less resources to be more competitive.
Yes and no. Sometimes this works, but coil binding is an example from a few years back where it didn't. NASCAR mandated a fairly high ride height for tech inspection, but the teams slowly worked out how to get the cars lower, for better aero (drag and/or downforce). The easy way to do this is with soft springs and rubber bump stops to keep the car from crashing metal to metal (or car-to-track). Most other kinds of racing allow rubber bump stops. However, NASCAR didn't allow rubber, and also required constant rate springs (constant spacing between coils). I believe NASCAR saw this as an area for development that would be difficult for smaller teams--it does require some knowledge of rubber properties (which are not stable like steel springs) and a fair bit of testing to get the car settled correctly on the stiff rubber "springs".
The top teams still knew they wanted soft springs that would let the downforce (aero and banking) pull the car down close to the track. They also knew that when the coil springs bound (all the coils touch) this near-instant change to a *much* higher spring rate really upsets the car. So they invented springs that had constant coil spacing and were bent, like a banana (top and bottom ends of the coil not parallel). As the coils closed they touched on one side first, then there was a short distance of very steeply rising spring rate before the final coil binding. To make this work required springs made out of very fancy steel, like valve spring material, and the springs didn't last very long. The whole exercise (across the top teams) must have wasted millions of bucks.
Eventually NASCAR found out that the springs were so expensive, so they changed the rules and allowed bump stops. Since it's a dumb way to make a variable rate spring I don't think anyone sells these "banana" springs anymore.
> Would it be feasible to institute larger technical alliances,
I can't speak for the different manufacturers, but one basic problem with this is that the low bucks teams only have a few engineers. If they were given all the tools and data used by the big teams with 25-50 engineers (or maybe more, I haven't kept up) they would be drinking from a firehose. I think it's more common for the manufacturers to work closely with a couple of big teams and then pass along the most important stuff to the smaller teams.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 22 2020, @11:38PM
> I'll be watching the virtual NASCAR event on FS1 this afternoon--to see how my customers do in a different arena.
Well, I watched the FS1 cable channel coverage of the virtual Homestead NASCAR race (iRacing). It was fun and the broadcast crew was clearly having a fun time too. Some of the driver comments were also interesting. Since the cars were all equal (no tuning except brake balance) some of the drivers that are normally at the back could shine--proving that they are good, just don't have the best car irl. Race report if anyone is interested:
https://www.jayski.com/2020/03/22/denny-hamlin-passes-dale-jr-for-victory-in-enascar-iracing-pro-invitational-series-opener/ [jayski.com]
Then I switched to Fox where they had a replay of the Richmond 400 from 1986 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1986_Miller_High_Life_400 [wikipedia.org] . Short tracks make for a good race! Earnhardt led a lot of it until Darrell Waltrip unlapped himself and finally caught up. Nose-to-tail for lap after lap, Waltrip finally got by...and then Earnhardt turned down on him--both wrecked. Young Kyle Petty snuck through the mess for his first 'Cup win. None of this overtime stuff, they raced to the end.
(Score: 2) by Rich on Sunday March 22 2020, @05:28PM
Now is the time that motorsport utensil of bygone times might come in handy again, and not virtual at all. (If you haven't heard of those, give the title a picture search).