AI-based Virtual Race Engineer incl. Pitstop Handling

The main focus of todays release is quality for the most part. Many fixes and small improvements, especially we found the AMS2 session startup issue, that has been around for some time now. Beside that, there are several improvements for the Race Engineer, which now can give you many information like remaining fuel or tyre temperatures with much improved actuality and accuracy.

The list of changes in the Release Notes is long. please take a look...

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Download: https://github.com/SeriousOldMan/Simulator-Controller#latest-release-build
Release Notes: https://github.com/SeriousOldMan/Simulator-Controller/wiki/Release-Notes
Update Notes: https://github.com/SeriousOldMan/Simulator-Controller/wiki/Update-Notes#release-615
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Once again many fixes and small additions this time. But there are also some cool new features included:

- You can now supply the names of corners when defining the sections of a track. These names will be used in various places throughout Simulator Controller then, most notably for the Driving Coach, who will reference upcoming corner by name rather than by number, when giving you driving instructions.
- deepseek-r1 can now be used in thinking mode without problems.
- The Race Engineer now prevent preparing a pitstop while you are already in the pitlane, thereby reducing the risk to release the pitlimiter in some simulators.

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Download: https://github.com/SeriousOldMan/Simulator-Controller#latest-release-build
Release Notes: https://github.com/SeriousOldMan/Simulator-Controller/wiki/Release-Notes
Update Notes: https://github.com/SeriousOldMan/Simulator-Controller/wiki/Update-Notes#release-616
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Release 6.2 is a major step forward for voice recognition. I have integrated Whisper, an open source neural network based voice recognition engine, which fully runs locally on your GPU. Whisper is capable to recognize free speech in high quality, which is necessary to interact with the Driving Coach. If you can spare some memory and processing power on your GPU, there is no need for using Azure or Google cloud based voice recognition anymore, something which was a typical hurdle to overcome for beginners.

And we have a new download mirror provided by @Caleidosttk (thank you so much), so that update problems seen lately should be fixed now.

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Download: https://github.com/SeriousOldMan/Simulator-Controller#latest-release-build
Release Notes: https://github.com/SeriousOldMan/Simulator-Controller/wiki/Release-Notes
Update Notes: https://github.com/SeriousOldMan/Simulator-Controller/wiki/Update-Notes#release-620
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We had a tough last week, because suddenly several AV programs were reporting false positives for some of the Simulator Controller executables. With todays release, most of the problems should be a thing of the past, since I changed the code patterns a bit in the compilation process. But if you still encounter problems, let me know in our Discord. It still might be necessary to declare folder exceptions in some of the more picky AV programs.

Of course, this release also comes with some interesting new stuff.

- iRacing IBT files can now be imported into the session database.
- New settings in the "Session Database" allow you to handle private practice and qualifying sessions in a way that ghosted cars will not be mentioned by the Spotter.
- The new DLC cars of Le Mans Ultimate have been added to the "Setup Workbench" of course.
- An all new News system will bring you important information and updates from time to time.
- The "Basic" configuration is now much better integrated in "Simulator Setup".

And many other changes. Give the Release Notes some love.

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Download: https://github.com/SeriousOldMan/Simulator-Controller#latest-release-build
Release Notes: https://github.com/SeriousOldMan/Simulator-Controller/wiki/Release-Notes
Update Notes: https://github.com/SeriousOldMan/Simulator-Controller/wiki/Update-Notes#release-621
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Many fixes this time, but also important functional additions:

- The Rephrasing booster is now capable to generate even more variations in the speech of the Assistants.
- A new Chat mode controlled by your Button Box or Stream Deck is available for rFactor 2 and Le Mans Ultimate, similar to what was available for Assetto Corsa Competizione.
- The 3rd party application "Second Monitor" from @winzarten can be used as real time telemetry data provider.
- Most important, thanks to our community member @Hudson Alves we are starting with translation for Portuguese.

Detailed information can be found in the Release Notes.

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Download: https://github.com/SeriousOldMan/Simulator-Controller#latest-release-build
Release Notes: https://github.com/SeriousOldMan/Simulator-Controller/wiki/Release-Notes
Update Notes: https://github.com/SeriousOldMan/Simulator-Controller/wiki/Update-Notes#release-622
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Release 6.2.3

The layouting of telemetry graphs now allows you to configure groups of channels, which are displayed together, making for a nice and cheerful presentation.



Engine water and oil temperatures have been added in all applications, incl. the "Setup Workbench", where also related issues and setup settings are now supported. The Engineer is also aware of the temperatures and can give you related information.

Finally, since there has been several updates to the telemetry system, I recorded a new coaching video for all this stuff.



Additionally, there are several fixes and smaller additions as usual. Detailed information can be found in the Release Notes.

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Download: https://github.com/SeriousOldMan/Simulator-Controller#latest-release-build
Release Notes: https://github.com/SeriousOldMan/Simulator-Controller/wiki/Release-Notes
Update Notes: https://github.com/SeriousOldMan/Simulator-Controller/wiki/Update-Notes#release-623
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Release 6.2.4



Thanks to @Hudson Alves we now have full support for the Portuguese language incl. interaction with the Assistants. Additionally, driver categories are now supported throughout all applications for Le Mans Ultimate and a new voice command lets you ask the Engineer for information about the current engine temperatures.

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Download: https://github.com/SeriousOldMan/Simulator-Controller#latest-release-build
Release Notes: https://github.com/SeriousOldMan/Simulator-Controller/wiki/Release-Notes
Update Notes: https://github.com/SeriousOldMan/Simulator-Controller/wiki/Update-Notes#release-624
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Release 6.2.6

Todays release introduces a new important core setting to move the Temp and the Programs folder to a different location. This helps users with One Drive and alike, which otherwise will interfere with the operation of Simulator Controller.

And we can welcome Lua as a new scripting language for the Assistants. This release comes with initial support, but there is more to come in the next releases.



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Download: https://github.com/SeriousOldMan/Simulator-Controller#latest-release-build
Release Notes: https://github.com/SeriousOldMan/Simulator-Controller/wiki/Release-Notes
Update Notes: https://github.com/SeriousOldMan/Simulator-Controller/wiki/Update-Notes#release-626
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Release 6.2.7

This release is packed with exciting new stuff.

1. The "Strategy Workbench" can now handle tyre compound specific tyre life, i.e. the number of usable laps of a given compound.
2. A new type of booster has been integrated which lets you customize the behavior of an Assistant without an LLM.
3. Time + 1 lap races are now supported in all applications and Assistants.
4. The integration of the Lua scripting language has been extended. It is now possible to call scripts from the rule engine and vice versa.



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Download: https://github.com/SeriousOldMan/Simulator-Controller#latest-release-build
Release Notes: https://github.com/SeriousOldMan/Simulator-Controller/wiki/Release-Notes
Update Notes: https://github.com/SeriousOldMan/Simulator-Controller/wiki/Update-Notes#release-627
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Release 6.2.9

This release contains many additions for the integrated scripting engine. Loadable modules are now supprted and support for Lua coroutines has been added. We are heading in the direction of a development environment for AI Assistants. And this is the precondition for activation of LAMs (aka large action models).

Another big change (under the hood) is the full rewrite of the data interface for the simulators. This was necessary to make the data interface also accessible from Lua scripts.

IMPORTANT: The new data interface has passed all my tests, but tests do not always cover the reality in each simulator. Therefore, if you see some unexpected behavior, let me know immediately.

And don't miss the coaching session for the integrated scripting engine on the next Monday.

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Download: https://github.com/SeriousOldMan/Simulator-Controller#latest-release-build
Release Notes: https://github.com/SeriousOldMan/Simulator-Controller/wiki/Release-Notes
Update Notes: https://github.com/SeriousOldMan/Simulator-Controller/wiki/Update-Notes#release-629
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Release 6.3.0

Most important addition this time is the support for Google Gemini large language models. Especially the "Gemini 2 Flash Lite" model is a blast when it comes to rephrasing. Looks like it has been trained on real life box communications. And it is free to use.

There are many other minor changes, additions and fixes, which all are well documented in the Release Notes.

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Download: https://github.com/SeriousOldMan/Simulator-Controller#latest-release-build
Release Notes: https://github.com/SeriousOldMan/Simulator-Controller/wiki/Release-Notes
Update Notes: https://github.com/SeriousOldMan/Simulator-Controller/wiki/Update-Notes#release-630
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Release 6.3.2

Today we introduce support for handling different tyre compounds on individual wheels, as long as the simulator supports this. So, you may decide to swap the front tyres for a hard compound to fight against tyre wear or you may decide to swap only single tyres at the next pitstop.




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Download: https://github.com/SeriousOldMan/Simulator-Controller#latest-release-build
Release Notes: https://github.com/SeriousOldMan/Simulator-Controller/wiki/Release-Notes
Update Notes: https://github.com/SeriousOldMan/Simulator-Controller/wiki/Update-Notes#release-632
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Release 6.3.3

Next step in the support for individual tyre compounds for each wheel. When running team races using the "Team Center" it is now possible to remote-control the tyre compound for each wheel individually for the next pitstop, as long as the simulator supports this.


Additionally, we have an updated version of the local runtime for large language models.

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Download: https://github.com/SeriousOldMan/Simulator-Controller#latest-release-build
Release Notes: https://github.com/SeriousOldMan/Simulator-Controller/wiki/Release-Notes
Update Notes: https://github.com/SeriousOldMan/Simulator-Controller/wiki/Update-Notes#release-633
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Release 6.3.4

With this release, all tools and also all Assistants of Simulator Controller got a full understanding of multiple different tyre compounds on the car. This also includes the strategy system. But when it comes to the next pitstop, both the Engineer and also the strategy system will always decide on one single tyre compound and will always decide to change all four tyres. This will be implemented in the future, but needs some more research.

Additionally, information about tyre wear is now available for Le Mans Ultimate and many other small additions. Please see the Release Notes for details.

As I a bonus, I have a weel-made and very entertaining video of one of our users about his experiences with Simulator Controller:



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Download: https://github.com/SeriousOldMan/Simulator-Controller#latest-release-build
Release Notes: https://github.com/SeriousOldMan/Simulator-Controller/wiki/Release-Notes
Update Notes: https://github.com/SeriousOldMan/Simulator-Controller/wiki/Update-Notes#release-634
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Become a Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/simulatorcontroller
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Release 6.3.5

New stuff this week:

1. A new script engine for "Setup Workbench" to support complex and non-linear setup settings.

2. Initial support for wheel specific tyre wear in the database and all applications.

3. You can now give consent to share your session data for GPT model training.

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Download: https://github.com/SeriousOldMan/Simulator-Controller#latest-release-build
Release Notes: https://github.com/SeriousOldMan/Simulator-Controller/wiki/Release-Notes
Update Notes: https://github.com/SeriousOldMan/Simulator-Controller/wiki/Update-Notes#release-635
Discord Server: https://discord.gg/5N8JrNr48H
Become a Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/simulatorcontroller
Support the project: https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=7GV86ZPS95SL6

 

Release 6.3.6

The list of changes and updates is veeery long this time.

Updates for the latest API changes of LMU.,
Two new GT3 cars for LMU included.,
Brake wear is now recorded for LMU.,
The Engineer now observes tyre wear and brake wear and calls you to the pit, if necessary.,
And, most important, the number of driven laps on each tyre are now collected individually into the data stored in the session database.,

Beside that, dozens of fixes. See the Release Notes fo more details.

Lastly, I want to share a short success story of one of our community members, who used the Driving Coach to prepare for his first ever real world race on a track, he had never driven before. See, how it went:



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Download: https://github.com/SeriousOldMan/Simulator-Controller#latest-release-build
Release Notes: https://github.com/SeriousOldMan/Simulator-Controller/wiki/Release-Notes
Update Notes: https://github.com/SeriousOldMan/Simulator-Controller/wiki/Update-Notes#release-636
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Release 6.3.7

This release includes driver swap management for Le Mans Ultimate, but for obvious reasons there was no way to test it, so take it with a grain of salt.

The more interesting addition is the capability of the Engineer to change brake pads at the next pitstop after a high brake pad wear had been detected beforehand. This is supported for Assetto Corsa Competizione and Le Mans Ultimate.

Als included are several critical bug fixes, so take a look at the Release Notes.

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Download: https://github.com/SeriousOldMan/Simulator-Controller#latest-release-build
Release Notes: https://github.com/SeriousOldMan/Simulator-Controller/wiki/Release-Notes
Update Notes: https://github.com/SeriousOldMan/Simulator-Controller/wiki/Update-Notes#release-637
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Release 6.3.8

The Engineer now observes virtual energy consumption in addition to fuel consumption when running le Mans Ultimate, and will warn you, if the available virtual energy will be depleted soon. Also, the virtual energy consumption rate as well as the remaining amount is now displayed in the "System Monitor" and is passed to an LLM for processing, if any AI booster is configured.

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Download: https://github.com/SeriousOldMan/Simulator-Controller#latest-release-build
Release Notes: https://github.com/SeriousOldMan/Simulator-Controller/wiki/Release-Notes
Update Notes: https://github.com/SeriousOldMan/Simulator-Controller/wiki/Update-Notes#release-638
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Release 6.4.3

We missed several releases due to this forum being unavailable. In the meantime we had added support for Chinese and Japanese translations to the system.

Most interesting addition this week is a new type of voice command, which lets you activate an Assistant and issue the first command in one sentence. Simply precede the command by the name of the Assistant before issuing the command like in:

Jona, can you plan the pitstop?

Please note, that this will only work with neural based voice recognition engines like Azure, Google or Whisper.

Beside that, there are many important fixes and smaller additions, as usual. See the Release Notes for details.

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Download: https://github.com/SeriousOldMan/Simulator-Controller#latest-release-build
Release Notes: https://github.com/SeriousOldMan/Simulator-Controller/wiki/Release-Notes
Update Notes: https://github.com/SeriousOldMan/Simulator-Controller/wiki/Update-Notes#release-643
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The amount of quality work you are doing is incredible.