What is car racing simulator?

This is not an ordinary racing game as most people think.
Simulation racing first appeared in the 1980s.
But at that time, due to the inability of hardware to keep up, the graphics, physics engine, and the degree of restoration of the vehicle track were very low. In addition, there were no professional control devices. It was basically operated by handles and joysticks. Except for the simulation mode, it can be said that it is not helpful for actual driving at all. It is just a simple game.

History of car racing simulator

The early works that were somewhat close to simulation driving were the Indianapolis 500 in 1989, the F1 Grand Prix, etc.
In 1994, the emergence of Sony PlayStation consoles and the powerful console performance made the GT racing of PD Kazunori Yamauchi’s production team successfully born in 1997.
BT Racing pioneered the driver’s license mode. In this mode, you need to use all kinds of real racing knowledge to drive to win the gold medal. This mode has continued to this day. Many real drivers used to learn racing skills by themselves through this mode.

GT Racing was sold off the PS console until it was discontinued. A total of 10.85 million copies were sold worldwide. It can be said that from g t racing, simulation racing became popular all over the world for the first time. The good quality of the works in hand also laid the foundation for GT racing to be the most popular simulation racing work in the world until now. In 1998, with the upgrade of graphics cards, the image quality of simulation racing on the PC platform has also been improved. For example, GPL is still being updated today. But at that time, Magic Racing had no professional peripheral support and only had a sense of mileage in the physical engine. It was not until 2002 that the release of Logitech MOMO Cube Gray Steering Wheel pushed Magic Racing to a new height. This The steering wheel is also the first model that most simulation players in China come into contact with. However, although this steering wheel has a good feedback effect and can make you feel the dynamics of the car body, it is a pity that the steering angle is only 240 degrees, which is far from being able to restore the driving of a real car.

In 2004, the era of PS2 GT Racing 4, in addition to the progress in the physical engine of simulation racing, also ushered in the world’s first 900-degree simulation racing steering wheel GTFP produced by professional peripheral manufacturer Logitech. This steering wheel is my first simulation racing steering wheel model and also the hardware that enlightened my car racing simulator. It was from the first 900-degree steering wheel that simulation racing became a true simulation. Not only was the driving physics and graphics real, but the driving operation was also real.

How is car racing simulator performance now?

Later, the car racing simulator industry also made rapid progress with the advancement of technology. The force feedback effect of car racing simulator was getting closer and closer to that of real cars. The continuous upgrade of graphics cards and CPUs also allowed simulation racing software to have more realistic graphics and more accurate physical calculations. Any operation of the driver would affect the changes in the vehicle suspension and tires and be fed back through physical calculations. This is something that racing games cannot do. The track restoration of simulation racing was also upgraded from the original copy modeling to laser scanning restoration, like the mainstream Assetto Corsa, RFactor2, Irace, Race Mainstream racing simulation software such as Racing has gradually been recognized by professional racing teams and even F1 racing teams, becoming one of the pre-race training items for drivers. In addition, the development of civilian and racing vehicles also requires simulators. Of course, they use professional versions, and the consumer version gives us the opportunity to practice driving at a low cost. The physical calculations will be reduced, but it is also very close to reality. So after reading this, everyone should understand what simulated racing is. In the next issue, I will tell you why we play simulated racing and why F1 drivers are now starting to use car racing simulators.