Fidgrove: data analysis tool, w/ team-shareable real-time telemetry, community records,...

Fidgrove is a cloud-based data management and data analysis platform. It’s being developed to be user-friendly to the user and minimizing configurations. Fidgrove aims to help you improve driving performance, get to optimized setups quickly, and support you and your team through racing events.

All telemetry data is streamed to the cloud through our DataLogger app (to be installed), using an efficient data flow process with minimum local compute, and taking advantage of real-time scalable computing. Although you can share lap times with Fidgrove community members and telemetry / data with your team, data logged with Fidgrove is private by default. You need to specifically join a community or team for data to be shared with others.

Fidgrove Engineering Station
The Engineering Station is accessible through a web browser. This is where you can navigate through through all your data. Here are a few features:

• Effortless data management (e.g., setups automatically stored and linked to sessions)
• Easy navigation / search through list of sessions, accessing detailed pages for sessions and laps, with dozens of performance variables previously calculated
• Personal track records with innovative navigation through all car-track combos (e.g., hot lap vs 10 laps race pace, dry vs wet laps)
• Session analysis tool with ~30 automated run charts to analyze and compare trends and correlations (i.e., if driving offline, correlation charts include aux inputs such as avg fuel mix value, DRS use, P2P time in lap, avg ABS, etc)
• Electric cars performance analysis automatically available for this type of cars - e.g., energy performance plot showing energy used per lap vs lap time
• Share and compare lap times with Fidgrove’s community members, including hot lap vs 10 laps race pace performance, and dry vs wet conditions

By creating and/or joining teams you have access to these additional team features:

• Management of team events (car-track + date), enabling automated sharing of telemetry from teammates into Event Data Pool
• Event workflow - Lap analysis: navigate through all laps, analyze 2-variables correlation chart (over 20 variables available for now), download excel file with data pool info for your own analysis off-Fidgrove (80 variables per lap!)
• Event workflow - Stint Analysis: navigate through all stints, analyze charts for stint performance/tires/fuel/op. window variables
• Event workflow - Multi-Stint Strategy: plan stint strategy with support from machine learning based on your practice data, manage different strategy scenarios and versions between teammates, analyze relevant stint forecast charts for fuel and tires
• Event workflow - Setup Optimization: easily navigate through setups used, manage setups names and favorites, compare different setups, download specific setup you want to re-use
• Data Filters: Filter out specific data from the Event Data Pool so it doesn’t show in any analysis (e.g., take data from all cars but one as you select a specific car for the class race)
• Data Highlights: tag data points in specific context to make complex analysis simple (e.g., tag laps with driver X, lap time < Y, track temp > Z, rear wing = XX, to easily spot the performance of such laps in the overall data pattern for any chart available in the event workflow framework)

Fidgrove Trackside Station
Trackside Station is where you can see all real-time data, accessible through a web browser. A streaming icon will pulse red in the Engineering Station, when real-time data is available to access. It can be used for a teammate or Race Engineer to analyze the telemetry while another user is driving. Here are the current features available:

• Cockpit Data: a dashboard of main driving related variables (e.g., driver inputs, lap performance, fuel, tires, aux inputs being used when offline (e.g., ABS mode, Fuel Mix, DRS, etc), engine temps when offline, etc)
• Time Tables: ongoing list of laps with performance indicators (time or speed related)
• Leaderboard: leaderboard with live event info, circle map with cars positions (left sidebar), pace and gap analysis charts (right sidebar)
• Real-Time Telemetry (alpha): shows main telemetry channels in real-time, enabling comparison with other laps in the session

How to use Fidgrove?

1. Register a user at https://station.fidgrove.com/register
2. Once logged in, download and install Fidgrove DataLogger in your sim computer
3. Drive in rFactor 2
4. Check recorded data and insights in the platform

The DataLogger automatically checks for updates on start, makes sure the associated plugin is turned on in rFactor 2, and includes itself in the start-up scripts so that you don’t forget to use it.

Is it free to use?
Currently all Fidgrove features are free to use. To be transparent, we intend to have a premium membership enabling users to join multiple teams and events (currently only one team and one active event is possible), access to additional team strategy-related features, and real-time telemetry analysis.

Currently, alpha versions of multi-stint race strategy planner and real-time telemetry feature are available to all. They will be integrated in the premium membership mentioned above.

Where can you learn more about the project and reach out?
Well, you can use this thread . We also have a website here, where you can see an explanation of the platform. It’s work in progress, and we intend to keep it updated with new features developed. Alternatively, you can join our Discord server, and engaging in a discussion about the platform, ask questions, or give any feedback you may have (appreciated!). Finally, we have an account on X, which you can follow here.

Additional notes
This initial thread post has been re-written on 21st September 2023, in order to make it easier for people to grasp what we’re doing. I’ll adjust this in the future to reflect current features, and I’ll keep adding a new post to detail them when we make updates.

 

Here's additional information regarding setups: the platform stores them automatically in all different situations, so you don't have to. This means that setups are automatically saved when going out of the garage to the track, but also when you do a quick pit stop (e.g., to change tires).

You can then see the setup used for a specific stint/lap you did, see the list of all setups used for a particular vehicle, or see all the sessions ever done with that setup. It's also easy to download any setup you used.

I'm attaching a couple of pictures to better visualize this.

 

We're introducing Run Charts to Fidgrove's Engineering Station, with over 30 customized charts!

For any session you do, you can now easily access Run Charts and correlation charts from the respective Session Details page. Run Charts allow you to see performance trends evolving lap by lap or session time, with 1 data point per lap (e.g., maximum/minimum value in lap, average throughout the lap, etc). We've grouped charts in 4 different sections with similar data: General, Tires & Fuel, Operating Window, and Track State & Weather:


There are a lot of auto-generated charts, so I won't name them all here, but these include chart types such as:

• Variables evolution with lap number or session time (e.g., lap time evo., avg understeer angle per lap, % max throttle per lap)
• Frequency lap times bar chart (e.g., to see lap times distribution in a session aggregated by time slots)
• Correlation charts for different variables (e.g., avg fuel mix vs lap time or fuel used per lap, core tire temps vs max g-forces in lap)

Here are 3 examples:






To see the charts, you don't have to do anything other than drive with our DataLogger installed and check the Engineering Station for the results. No need to select/upload files manually nor adjust configurations. The DataLogger is optimized so no computing on the data is done locally, in order to not affect the sim computer performance while driving.

We also did several other improvements in the platform. I will keep a changelog in the first post of this thread for easy reference, but here's what we've updated in addition to the charts:

• Added info to session details (Stint Drive time, Session Best Sectors Lap Time)
• Added info to lap details (Tires Wear in Lap, Tire Age)
• Opened access to additional vehicles (Alpine A110 Cup, Alpine A110 GT4, ASMG ByKolles LMP1)
• Opened access to additional tracks from Engineering Consult GmbH (Adria international raceway, Hampton Downs Motorsport Park, Highlands Motorsport Park, Manfeild Circuit Chris Amon, Pukekohe Park Raceway, Teretonga park)
• Fixed issue saving session notes
• Tweaked miscellaneous UI/UX items

As you can see above, we are now storing tire age! This means that if you go to the pits and do a quick stop to change the setup (without going to rF2's garage menu), Fidgrove's plugin will recognize if you changed tires or not and record that information for the new stint. I'd also like to highlight that we're recording aux driving inputs, which allows you to see correlation charts with average fuel mix.

It would be great to have feedback as we continue to aim at building something special for the rFactor 2 community. We also look forward to have more users joining our public "Fidgrove Friends" community within the platform, for some friendly hot laps competition

We remain focused on bringing innovative features that are easy to use to help simracers improve their driving skills and optimize their setups (although it's still a long journey ahead), and we are quite excited on the feature we'll now dedicate most of our attention to.

Thank you

 

Thanks Ricardo for your hard work. I appreciate it.

 

Thank you for the kind words, although we're a team developing the platform

Happy to have you onboard!

 

Hello Ricardo. I am in the Fidgrove Community Friends. If I set the best time with a car in a track, my time will be registered in the Community Track Records?

 

Hi Gioel. Yes, your best times for any car-track combo will be shared with any community you've joined automatically, unless you turned on the "Mute" option on in the Communities tab.

I've just had a look, and you've set a new track record for "Silverstone -- International Layout", with the USF2000:


For clarity, the first page you see in the track records section has one line per track, with information on the quickest lap time, including the car used to do it as well as the user. You can click through the line to lock the track. Once this is done, you'll have a line per car. You can filter by class, to better compare cars and BoP performance. Here's an example for this community for "Adria International Raceway", for which you have a couple of track records for specific cars (not the absolute best lap time, as you could see on the previous image as well):

If you click through again, you'll lock the car as well, and you'll get one line per user. Here's an example of how it looks like:


You can still click through one last time, but it only works for the line with your user on it (e.g., the hint is the arrow you see in the line). If you do this, you'll go to the lap's details page, where an extensive list of indicators are visible.

The personal track records page, accessible through the Garage tab, has the same flow, although, after car-track combo locked, you'll get all your valid lap times instead of one line per user.

 

How do I add an unsupported track to the database?
I have a running server and have done laps but it does not show any data.

SS

 

Hi SS. We aim at supporting all officially licensed content. You can see a list of supported content here. This list is searchable and has a tabular format with additional relevant information (e.g., package update date, paid vs free content, main car class, etc), so hopefully it's useful for all rFactor 2 community members, either you use Fidgrove's platform or not. Here's a screenshot showing part of the table for cars:


We also aim to support all modified content based on officially licensed content. For now we're doing this on a case by case basis, but we'll do this automatically in the future. These mods are treated as just another version of the official content in our platform, and data is treated and aggregated accordingly. Example of these mods are cars with different BoP used in leagues. Let me know if you have derivative mods running a league you'd like to use with our platform, so that we open support for it.

Regards

 

Thank you Ricardo for the informations. I think the official content is perfect to set the best lap time. Certainly there are a lot of nice tracks and cars on the workshop but I wouldn't want it to get too distracting afterwards.

 

We've got 2 servers running ATM both have GT3s on them, only 1 is showing the data (Sao Paulo).
What I can see in the list is that you have all the official cars there, and some other payed cars. I don't see what tracks you have. Is there a way to add tracks or is that not possible?
I'm sure lots of Leagues will want other content in the list of tracks/cars.

SS

 

Track support works in a similar way to car support. This means we intend to support officially licensed content, paid (eg., Daytona layouts), or not (e.g., Hampton Downs Motorsport Park). Derivatives/mods of this content are supported on a case by case basis.

In the support page I shared above, there’s a toggle to see supported layouts instead of cars, so you should be able to see if the layouts being used are there or not. Feel free to mentioned them here specifically as well, if you prefer.

 

Quick update on a few fixes deployed today:

• Computing Engine: fixed database bug leading to service issues
• Eng. Station: fixed login issue, where credentials were always requested with specific browser configurations
• Eng. Station: fixed bug in Communities feature (i.e., members’ logos would overlap profile table)
• Eng. Station: fixed bug enabling access to run charts when session data was not available / enough
• DataLogger (v1.1.4): removed rFactor 2 plugin warning when DataLogger not running

I'll include this changelog in the first thread post as well, for future reference

 

Hello Ricardo. Looking back ... it would be nice to race for the best lap time with other circuits as well.

 

Noted!

To be clear, our concern regards the support to illegal content.

 

Hey guys,

We've deployed a few new features and updates to Fidgrove's platform:

New race pace indicator feature for Track Records (loosely calling this for average time in 10 consecutive laps)

• Personal TR with new toggle: 1 lap vs 10 laps performance (historical data present)
• Community TR with new toggle: 1 lap vs 10 laps performance (data shared in communities from today onwards)

New Track Records filters for easier data navigation

• TR with dropdown menus to select content versions you want to see (e.g., show only data for car version x.xx)
• Community TR with new toggle for car-track combos you logged with (e.g., filtering out content you haven’t used)
• Community TR with new toggle for versions you’ve used, in car-track combos you logged with (e.g., filters out league specific versions, if you don’t use them)

Adjustment in List of Setups page to reflect new features

• Table now provides columns with both best race pace ("Best Avg") and best lap time, for the last track used in each setup
• There’s a new dropdown menu to filter the list of setups (and respective performance info), by car version

The Eng. Station, where you see all data logged, also had an additional fix deployed, for the invitation process for the Private Communities. The DataLogger was also updated to fix a potential conflict of content versions in the content validation process.

FYI, I'll reassess if it makes sense to keep the initial post with all change logs in the future, as I'm not sure if it's useful.

 

Hey there,

We are now logging all aux inputs with Fidgrove, including ABS, TC, P2P, DRS, fuel mix, engine braking, power mode, regeneration mode, track bar, and weight jackers/wedge. Updates throughout the platform are:

• Eng. Station: updated session details page to show additional inputs when hovering laps in stint tables
• Eng. Station: updated lap details page to show additional aux inputs information in inputs section
• Eng. Station: added new run charts card with scatter charts for aux inputs vs lap times in general tab
• Computing Engine: updated calculations to include metrics with aux inputs (e.g., lap avg, activations)
• DataLogger (v1.2.1): adjusted information to be shared for good recognition of aux inputs
• DataLogger (v1.2.1): updated logging of driver’s aux inputs with new rFactor 2 version released

Given how aux inputs are now recorded, only new sessions will have this information shown in Eng. Station. Note that the information shown is car dependent (e.g., Indycar run charts will show P2P vs lap time correlation chart, but not DRS vs lap time like the Formula Pro).

 

Hey all,

All mods based on licensed content are now automatically supported!

Yep, we’ve made significant improvements on the cars/tracks validation process! No more unsupported sessions just because you’re using a mod of licensed content! Yay for leagues

In short:

• Updated DataLogger (v2.0.0), Computing Engine, and Eng. Station, for new content validation process (licensed mods auto-support)
• New car “detailed version” concept: if car with same version has different specs/BoP/upgrades file, it will be considered a new detailed version (e.g., “1.24 1”, “1.24 2”, …)
• Non-licensed/ripped content will not be supported by the platform (good reference to search content: https://support.fidgrove.com/ )

 

Dear all,

Since last month, we've made a few updates (including today), that I'd like to share here:

• Eng. Station - Run Charts: overhauled page header for better usability and improved screen real estate
• Eng. Station - Run Charts: updated charts for better usability and better loading time
• Eng. Station - Run Charts: developed secondary session browsing/selection table with relevant info (e.g., tires, fuel, # laps, pace)
• Eng. Station - Run Charts: enabled sessions or stints comparison
• Eng. Station - Communities: created new “My Records” page, to easily see Communities lap time gaps with same car or class
• Eng. Station - Communities: tweaked several pages for better usability
  
• Eng. Station - Profile page: enabled avatar photos, and updated name & country change process
• Computing Engine: fixed edge case bug where session was not recorded
• DataLogger (v2.1.0): variables Oil Temp and Water Temp are now recorded (rF2 RC build only for now), other misc updates
• Supported Content Page: tweaked webpage with list of all rF2 licensed content (which Fidgrove supports), for better reading and usability (https://support.fidgrove.com/)

As always, the DataLogger updates itself automatically, so no need to do it manually. If you want to be more up to date on our platform or engage in a discussion on any of the developments we're doing, do jump into Fidgrove's discord server here

After this update, we will now focus on building the first steps towards a solution to prepare for race events. To that end, we’ll develop a specific workflow for this within Fidgrove’s Eng. Station, which will include the definition of teams as a new concept in it.

Except for minor updates we will deploy in the meantime, we do not expect to launch new features before September. We will, however, be enthusiastically building towards bringing a new set of innovative features to the space!

 

FYI, we've just updated the DataLogger (v2.1.2) for Oil and Water temps logging with non-beta rFactor2 builds