Assetto Corsa

[Andy8421]

I always struggled with learning a circuit, I never raced enough to be able to remember where the bends were when I came to a circuit the following year. The 'Autosport circuit guide' was a huge help when it came out, as it gave a head start into figuring out the sequence of bends and possible lines to take, but didn't allow you to visualise the track. Then came the videos posted on Youtube - of which there are many allowing you to see the circuit from a drivers view and get a feel for a decent racing line. Good, but not interactive.

My son has just badgered me in to buying Assetto Corsa, a racing simulation game. I thought it would be a joke, but I am very impressed by the capabilities of the system. It isn't going to challenge Sir Lewis's simulator at Mercedes, but with a cheap (£300 ish for all 3) force feedback wheel, gearchange and pedalbox, it does a remarkably good job. It allows cars and circuits to be imported, many produced by 3rd parties at little cost.

Some kind gentleman has done a remarkable job of a 26R, and Goodwood has been scanned by LIDAR and looks very realistic. The 'physics' of the car are all adjustable, from tyre pressure, track temperature, brake balance, diff ratio and so on.

It is early days yet, but I will report back on how I get on.

https://youtu.be/263ymgypfXM?t=1971

[h20hamelan]

My dear father being a computer programmer from the early 60s, and was trading games over the internet from the early 70’s. I grew up with a few games. Though, for every minute of play, equal minute of programming was required. So quickly gaming stopped. When the first Grand Turismo came on the PlayStation, I went for it. Of course this didn’t last long as there were real cars to build. Around 2000 when my youngest was about 5, I was in a store which had a seat and steering wheel and you could try the PS 2 and GT 4. Decided it was time, after putting cars down for 10 years, to get a system (now with the wheel/pedals which is small and lives on a shelf in closet). There were many late nights after work and kids were asleep. I figured after my years of traveling the world that if I ever got the chance again, I would want to be good at some F1 circuits, also the Ring, I got so good at Nordschleife in many cars I started to dream it.
Reminds me, we got a PS3 and GT6 which I prefer, but nothing beats the feel of the 4.
We have a projector and 100” screen, purchased for movies as there are no theatres, works well for games. Which following my fathers logic, minute of play, for minute of work. We really only have simulators on the gaming computers. Some off the new Flight Simulators like the MS 2020 are great.

[nmauduit]

I always struggled with learning a circuit, I never raced enough to be able to remember where the bends were when I came to a circuit the following year.

I looked into AC as well a few years ago (2018?) for that reason, and also the playful side of it, but was not convinced by the physics of the elan model with respect of my experience of the car (way too twitchy, close to impossible to recover when the rear would reach the limit). Since I had also looked into an Etype model for a friend racing with one, I tried that and it was a lot more manageable.
I suspect the yaw inertia was set wrong, or possibly the tire friction curve / slip angle modelled with a discontinuity...

Initial idea was to train against each other off season on the tracks we would attend in season... but that has been left on the backburner for a while now. I would gladly revisit it if a better model for the elan was somehow available, will look into the lead you opened with interest in any case.

[h20hamelan]

Much has to do (in GT) with view position. You can react much faster in drivers view. Many simulators you can change tyre pressure, shock setting, day vs night driving, temperature and rain etc.
I have tried a few others over the years, not just PS. They all have their handicaps. For me, its all about learning the track.

[baileyman]

Is it everybody's son who gets them in to this?

Last fall I had mine order all the best basic bits we could find, pedals, wheel, game computer with the intention of having some fun without a half day travel and prep. We knit these things together with a wooden cockpit dimensioned like my Elan with Tillett seat. And it feels pretty darn close to the real thing. We cannot get the sensation of g-force or the valuable feedback from that, but much other feedback operates informatively. Hopefully this means better real-world driving next time out. And yes, he's a lot faster than I am!

It's really terrific to have a son interested in this, in part because how the heck could I have enough patience to make all the software connections, downloads, installs, and passwords. Golly, impenetrable passwords and jargon.

John

[h20hamelan]

Maybe the next thing for elan.net
Move over, armchair racers abound

Sure would be cool to race you all, similar cars. No damage or heart attacks etc

[Andy8421]

Thanks everyone for the feedback. After a great deal of effort, we have got it working. So much for plug and play, it was more plug, re-write half the code, install lots of drivers, fiddle around with a million parameters and play.

I looked into AC as well a few years ago (2018?) for that reason, and also the playful side of it, but was not convinced by the physics of the elan model with respect of my experience of the car (way too twitchy, close to impossible to recover when the rear would reach the limit).

I am currently suffering with exactly this problem. The last time I used my car was at Goodwood, and the car in the simulation is nothing like it. It breaks away at the back with the slightest provocation, and is impossible to catch. I think the problem could be the tyres which are currently set to 'period tyres'. There are a number of options, but no 175/60/13 ADVAN Yokohamas, so I need to investigate further.
My son did mention that it runs on 'Steam' - I thought he was joking, but apparently that is the case.

[h20hamelan]

We use Steam for Flight Sim
Dont need a huge computer, as much of the processing is not by my old junk. The cool thing I find on MS FS, is they use google maps. So, it gets updated often. It’s also sort of scary, as anyone on the planet can fly low and see what the area looks like. Makes a good case for drones and automation.
Steam allows group on-line play, so if you set up your cars. We could race!

[nmauduit]

I think the problem could be the tyres which are currently set to 'period tyres'. There are a number of options, but no 175/60/13 ADVAN Yokohamas, so I need to investigate further.

as for the sim, my modest experience of say street tires vs. modern grippy compound on the '68 S4se (granted, 100 kg heavier than hologation permits a 26R) would rather be that period tires would be more forgiving (smoother transition when losing grip, then since the lateral G are less the spinning would also be slower)...

[Ganzdachhaus]

It breaks away at the back with the slightest provocation, and is impossible to catch.

Turn your FFB setting down a bunch. This is exactly what clipping feels like - once the force feedback signal becomes oversaturated, any feeling in the wheel is gone & that's exactly how I would have described my first foray into simracing. I eventually learned what clipping was & that changed everything I thought about simracing.
Downside is that you'll have to live with fairly light steering effort, but that's the tradeoff on the less expensive bits of kit.

(btw, arrived here due to a search to see if there was an Elan mod for AC & how good it was... downloading it now, I'll report back in the next few days after I get a chance to try it out)

[Ganzdachhaus]

Only a few laps around Spa with the AC Legends Elan, but it's not bad car to drive. I've never driven an Elan, so just going by guesses on what it should be like, but it was OK. Steering initially felt very light, almost vague & floaty, which I was not expecting, but it felt better or maybe more natural after I got in a few laps. Definitely modeled up to be faster than reality as I was immediately turning sub 3minute lap times while still driving very poorly. It would have to be a great day for me to be able to hit 3min flat in real life.

I didn't really find it to be difficult to control as far as the back breaking loose, but I still haven't quite figured out how to get it to turn in very well - plowed my way though many corners with tons of understeer. I'm going with driver error there. It felt rather nice when I was able to get it to move around a bit though. Would be very rewarding car to drive I think.
Was not sufficient to kill off my desire to get one. Oh well.