this is not entirely correct. Some bumps in the surface, even if the driver is in the ideal path according to tangency turns, could put the car out of the track. So if the modder doesnt have laser scanned data he could miss this particularity of some circuits. Top of my head, there is a bump in one turn (cannot remember the name) of monte carlo that drivers in the past just take ideal line ignoring this bump, they could end in the guard rail. To mimic in a sim what a driver should do at that point, the bump should be perfectly matching the real world. To not me exagerated or to not be atenuated. The result of how sim racer take this point, if he will crash or not, do not depend of a motion rig but the line he takes. This could happen in many tracks with minor bumps that only real race drivers could be aware or a simracer in a laser scanned track or a really good modder that knows what he is modding very well (probably with real life experience on the track). I will try to find some video of what im talking to better understanding edit: It is Mirabeu. Here is Anthony Davidson talking about http://www.skysports.com/f1/news/24098/9855244/anthony-davidsons-lap-of-monaco
@Louis The thing is, the fact that you know about that bump means you don't need a laser scan to find it.
yes, because this one is too obvious. Not all bumps that affect driving is so exposed like that edit: What im trying to say is not related to only the feeling of the road that laser scan could be useful but also mimic how real drivers manage some paths to get better times. i
That is an extreme bump which is mainly elevation change there as well which drivers avoid. bumps of that magnitude don't need to be laser scanned its obvious. F1 Challenge modeled this bump and their tracks worth rubbish... The Fact that you most likely have never driven their IRL yet you know about it? how? video? research etc? these "characteristic" which are mentioned even in the article don't require to be laser scanned simple research is enough to know about these. again if a track is done right its not require. the exception of course would be circuits like Nords which are just too big too much happening, this perhaps is where u can see the need for it. but again, you chase realism in a sim, there is always a trade off somewhere. imo, this level of detail doesn't mean much to sim races who simply do not have the tools, wheels. rigs, where any of this matters enough. remember there is always a trade off in some area to whats worth modelling or not.
Its obvious to us watching the race. And much more obvious to drivers. what im trying to say pointing this huge bump (or could called like you said as an elevation) is they affect the way you drive and feeling. laser scanned could inform a lot of bumps of tracks that are not so obvious like this one i said and many modders dont have sufficient info to reproduce. Only a laser scan can provide
I do not remember if it was last year or two years ago, in the F1 Grand Prix in Malaysia. There was a storm, with the track very wet and almost passing through the finish line, several cars suffered a spin in a straight line. The TV commentator (Pedro de la Rosa) explained that there was a small bump right at that point that had no effect in dry, but in water, it was enough for the cars to spin if they did not raise their foot off the accelerator go through there. Once the session was over, I put the circuit of Malaysia in rF2 and went to check if the bump was there and to my surprise ... there it was, in exactly the same place.
It's clear that some bumps are difficult to make in the mesh of a circuit, but looking videos, listening the pilots, reading documents, etc, a lot of them are documented. And many of them disapppear because of re-asphalting. I thing that the worst problem for a modder that doesn't have scanned data, are the elevations and the camber of the track. I think that this is the biggest difference between a moding track and a profesional track. And there are different methods to get accurate data related to camber and elevations. Furthermore, there are different methods of scanning a track.
Imagine a talented modder using the time he spent for doing this research being used to improve other details of the track like fps performance, better visuals details (road and surrounds)... I think even for vehicles modders it would help. Ex: Zonta and Villineauve taking Eau Rouge without lifting gas pedal in 1999 If you have laser scanned data of this turn, the vehicle modder can work with precious information that making this turn flat out with Bar 1999 should be extremely difficult (if not impossible if you are in qualifying setup making the sector at similar time) knowing entry speed. In my (not technically supported) opinion. Well, I think I've wandered too far... The video of this classic moment to compensate:
You sure? 9 months after "cars already in game" still nothing. I am not a modder that's why I am asking does it usually take so long?
There is a GT1 mod by Outl@w that has a MC12. Look in f1classic rF2 forums. Don't expect the latest tire/rain updates but the physics seem pretty good to me. I think it's a pretty good mod overall.
