Highest Rated Blog Posts
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A day in the life of a cat her A day in the life of a cat herder....
- From: Steve Myers
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Description:
I am the Executive Vice President and Executive Producer at iRacing.com and I have been here since the company started. I was previously employed at Papyrus Racing games were I started in QA in 2000 and ended when the doors closed in 2004 as the Producer. I figure I will start this blog and put some thoughts I have in here from time to time for those that would like to read them.
I figure I will just ramble off some random memories I have from Papyrus that people may find interesting. I figure this stuff can come out now because it can’t hurt that company any longer!
I was driving Jeff Burton’s car on the box cover art screenshot for NASCAR 4 and current iRacing employees Jay Taylor, Greg Hill and Kevin Iannarelli are all also driving cars in the image. The NR2002 and 2003 box cover art was done by an artist. If you look very closely at the NR2003 cover you can see the Winston Cup Logo on the car which was mistakenly included by a mix-up in artwork by the marketing manager at VUG. There is also something else wrong with the car which I can’t remember right now.
We did in fact begin to port the PC code to the consoles and we planned on using this project to get GPL 2 made. I believe that we had settled on the 1972 year to base that product on before it got canned by the publisher. Greg Hill actually had the Nurburgring, Monza, Monoco, Zandvoort, Kyalami, Spa and Mexico converted and the code was running on the xbox before it was canceled. Our great Shawn Nash was the one that actually did all this work. That man is probably the smartest guy I know and has yet to be stumped by any project we have thrown at him.
I created all the Darrell Waltrip track tours in NR2002 along with the driving guides by Dave Kaemmer. This project took me 8 months to complete which required me listening to Waltrip and Dave for 8+ hours a day. I have a very difficult time listening to the Fox broadcasts of NASCAR and occasionally have to be restrained from going after Dave if he talks too long…..
When we created NR2003 we pretty much knew that it was going to be our last NASCAR product at Papyrus. My primary mission was to get Dave the tire data from Goodyear that he always wanted to have to implement into his models. We got very lucky that Mike Stackpole and Greg Stucker at Goodyear decided to help us out. We actually had to prove to Mike that we would not be wasting his time by going into great detail on how our model worked. Only after he knew that we had a proper model did he decide to give us data. I won’t name names, but he rejected another company looking for data for this exact reason.
When word came down that we had an opportunity to do one last patch for NR2003 I was able to convince the late Rich Reilly (Papyrus GM and one of the kindest and most genuine guys I have known in my life) to let me secretly sneak the additional three physics models into NR2003. Grant Reeve literally had a week to create these physics models with whatever data we could get our hands on. The PTA physics model is actually loosely based on the red GT1 Corvette which I have posted a picture of.
Rich also let me start the infamous Project Wildfire group as a final thank you to all our loyal customers. I started this group and had these physics models made because I wanted the community to have a legal way to create something for themselves to contribute to the community. This group was entirely on their own after I put them together and we told them how to find the physics models. I knew most of the guys as they had been former employees, contractors or testers for us. The two guys I did not know were John Hughes and Kevin Combs. I had seen their work on a truck mod they did for NASCAR Heat that was impressive so I emailed John and started a conversation with him. John told me he would only want to join the team if he could bring along Kevin. So basically, Kevin should be buying beers for John every time they get together because he along with Brian Simpson, Jay Taylor and John have been happily employed with iRacing for the past 4+ years!
My last little nugget of information is going to be out of left field. In the year after we released the final patch for NR2003 we started developing console design concepts and actual technology demos. One concept that actually went pretty far down the design road was a title called Black Ice. We had a pretty detailed design document created and it got far enough that I actually got to pitch it to the marketing people in Paris. We also had a cross platform technology demo for a Karting game that was actually a lot of fun. I am not talking about shifter carts, I am talking about a Crash Bandicoot and Simpsons arcade like karting game. The final demo ended up being a Simpsons version that had incredibly fun physics. Our goal with this demo was to show VUG that we could do other projects outside of pure simulations even though this is really what we wanted to do. We knew that we had to do both if we were going to survive but felt we could make a console game fun by making a decent physics model. The demo was presented to VUG who ultimately rejected it because they had another studio doing karting games at the time but they did admit our demo was more fun than the actual approved project. It was not long after this that the doors closed at Papyrus which ultimately proved to be a blessing in disguise.
If more Papyrus memories come to me I will post them or if anyone has any question about those days I will try and answer them. I also have some interesting ideas for some posts in the future.
Steve
- Blog post
- 2 years ago
- Views: 2271
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A day in the life of a cat her A day in the life of a cat herder....#3
- From: Steve Myers
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Description:
As I alluded to in my last blog post I will touch on the content creation process in this week’s blog. I am going to be going over this at a fairly high level as I would have to write a novel to explain exactly how it all works. We are also in the last stage of readying what will hopefully be a release candidate build for final testing so things are hopping around here.
I think the best place to start on how we create content is how we license it. We have signed many agreements with a wide range of partners through the years and I can tell you that is a time consuming and often frustrating task. Some agreements happen in a matter of weeks and some take years. Our wonderful Divina Galica (who I need to convince to start a blog to talk about all the incredible experiences she has had in her life) does most of the heavy work on acquiring our partners and I will tell you that she is focusing her energy on international properties right now (cough, cough, Spa). Tony Gardner and I also have a few other projects that we are working on domestically that will have a significant impact on our service if we can make them happen. Nothing surprises me anymore with this whole process and the bottom line is literally nothing happens with content until the bottom line is signed.
Once we have a signed agreement in hand we evaluate what is in the content development pipeline already and where this particular partner may fit in our racing schedule. The issue that takes the most precedence right now is trying to fill out our racing ladder to keep pace with the license level progression of our customers. I know that some of you are frustrated by us announcing the signing of wonderful partners that you still have not seen in our service, but our content takes a significant amount of time to create and we need to fill out the license ladders first. I think it’s probably fair to say that once an agreement is signed it will generally take three to six months before it actually starts its path down the development pipeline.
The development pipeline is constituted by many different steps. The first step is obviously the laser scanning process done by a team which is headed by Dave Moulthrop and includes our scanner operators Reed Rundell and Kevin Iannarelli. Scanning cars is pretty straight forward as they can generally be done in a day. It really is only a matter of finding a car and an owner who does not mind it smelling like baby powder for a few days. Yes that’s right, baby powder. We use the baby powder on the cars to dull the finish as it is too reflective for the scanner. Scanning a track is a much different animal and is often an extreme undertaking. We generally try and book scan trips to do three or four tracks at a time so the guys may be on the road for a month or more straight. They often work at night as this is the only time that the tracks are not rented for racing events or testing and cannot work in the rain. These guys are the unsung heroes of this company and the next time you take a lap around the Jefferson circuit you can thank this terrific team for dealing with a night of cows getting loose and making “deposits” on the track to bring this circuit to your PC.
Once the track scanning is complete the data makes its way to Greg Hill. Greg is our VP of Art and Production and is responsible for managing the car and track content creation process. Three specialized teams contribute towards making an iRacing racetrack. The track geometry itself (the area you can drive on) is created by a member of the production staff who builds the racing surface from the laser scanned data with our proprietary tools. The objects that surround the racetrack, such as the buildings, flag stands, and grandstands are created by one our object art teams. The textures that cover the track, such as the grasses, asphalts, dirt, and concretes are worked on by yet another art team who specialize in these types of materials. At any given time we are usually working on four to five tracks.
Our car creation process is a little different than tracks because there is quite a bit more data collection required and obviously engineering support needed. We still have multiple art teams that will take the scan and sometimes CAD data and begin the process of building and texturing the models. The difficult part of creating the cars is getting access to all the data we need to build the actual physics models. When we are working with a major manufacturer we generally can get everything we can dream of for data. Unfortunately this is often not the case and we have to send Ian Berwick who is our Vehicle Dynamics Engineer to the race shop that houses the car and he goes through an extensive process of weighing and measuring everything he can get his hands on. He also works with the manufacturers or teams to get tire and aero data if they have it but we also gather data ourselves by going to Calspan and the tire manufacturers which has given us a ton of data that we have barely scratched the surface on to begin implementing. One of the last steps we do in creating a car is to take it to a dyno or track to record the engine sound. We use the Aussie Greg Hill (we have two Greg Hill’s) at Soundwave Concepts to do the actual processing of the sound data and he really does a wonderful job of giving us terrific samples to plug into our sound engine. Generally, cars take us about three months to create but this is entirely dependent on how long it takes us to collect the data we need. For instance, we have had three data collection trips canceled or abruptly ended for the Daytona Prototype car because the car we planned on using was destroyed in testing or a race. We actually had our equipment on a car once when it was wrecked…
Again, I just described an incredibly detailed and difficult process in 5 paragraphs which is really not doing any of the topics much justice. Maybe down the road I can talk some of the people who actually do some of these tasks into writing their own blog on what they do.
Steve
- Blog post
- 2 years ago
- Views: 2148
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Houston, We Have a Problem... Houston, We Have a Problem...
- From: John Hughes
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Description:
Hi,
I guess I will take this time to introduce myself and maybe share a little inside info into my past and present work. During the day I work as an artist with iRacing primarily doing the modeling of cars and track side objects. At night I transform into somewhat of a super hero where I continue to work on modeling cars and track side objects. This blog will probably be of little use to you mortals, but I’m required to do what I can to make iRacing World a better place to be. It’s a tough job, but someone has to do it.
My humble beginning starts somewhere around 1999 when I started making some skins for NASCAR RACING 3. The sim painting community was much smaller then it is today with only a few sites braving the 100+ colors we could use to paint those cars, but with much lower resolution skins, the standards weren’t near as high as they are today. You were lucky to be able to read the contingencies so we were able to cheat quite a bit. (Ah, the good ole days)
Next for me came NASCAR HEAT by MGI. I would say this is where my story made its first big turn. By this time I had my own website called HCMotorsports.com I contacted Ed Martin who was the producer of that game and was able to do some beta testing as well as set up a good working relationship with both him and Dan McJilton. Soon after release of the game I began looking for others to help with my site. While doing so I came across another site which had some good work on it and I thought I would ask this person if he wanted to join forces in the fight for truth, justice and the American way. This was when I met Kevin Combs. He soon joined with me and we began producing more and more work for NASCAR HEAT. With some encouragement from Kevin, I approached Ed Martin and was able to secure tools in order to start "modding" NASCAR HEAT with the intent that we release them with tutorials and such for the community to be able to use. HCMotorsports became quite popular and we had more members join and help us with mods and tracks. Many of these people have since been hired by game developers such as EA and Microsoft.
Well, Kevin soon tired (lost his mind) and left to work on mods for some train simulator. While he did his thing, I started learning to do some 3d modeling myself as it was time for me to step up and be what I was always destined to be. (Sadly, I’m still trying to figure out just what that is)
In 2003, shortly after NASCAR SIM RACING 2003 was released, I was contacted by Steve Myers from Papyrus. He had seen some of the work that we had done at HCMotorsports and was wondering if I would be interested in doing some mod work on that sim. This was surprising to say the least as Papyrus sims had always been pretty much locked. Well, it didn’t take much thought on my part (thankfully) and I eagerly agreed to do it on the condition that they let me bring Kevin along. (Batman needs Robin) They agreed and soon ProjectWildfire was born. Not only did I get to work with Kevin on some new projects, but I got to meet a lot of other great people and work with one of the best mod teams I’ve ever had the privilege to be part of.
During this time, my paying job was in construction and had been for 18 years. I did drywall, metal stud framing and pretty much everything it took to build McDonalds all across the south. Thankfully, Dave Kaemmer and John Henry saw something in our little team and I was offered a job at what is now known as iRacing. I can never thank them enough for letting me be a part of this awesome team.
Well, for now that’s going to have to do. In future blogs I hope to be able to give you guys an inside look into how a model can go from the laser scan to the finished product you see on the screen. In the mean time, I will try and work on my grammar. I’ve been called a lot of things, but an english scholar isn’t one of them.
John Hughes
- Blog post
- 2 years ago
- Views: 758
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A day in the life of a cat her A day in the life of a cat herder....#7
- From: Steve Myers
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Description:
In my last blog entry I had talked about how I’m not too fond of the cold weather. To prove to all of you that I’m a man of my word, I was on a beach in the Pacific for the last 10 days. At least this is what I told my boss as the reason I had to be gone last week, but let’s keep that between you and me… I’ve been thinking about blogging this week on why it is acceptable to have a beer at any hour when on vacation, but I was reminded that I had also promised to give you an update on development, which, because I am a man of my word, I will do instead. As a silent protest, I will be consuming an adult beverage as I write this…
We have made a lot of progress on the spotter and the testing on this has gone extremely well so far. I have not heard any complaints at all about listening to the Aussie Greg Hill as the spotter and crew chief, but as I mentioned in my previous blog you will be able to create your own samples to use instead. We will eventually have a more elegant way to change between spotter and crew chief packages, but for now this is how it will work...
First, your files need to be saved in the following format: PCM, Mono, 5.512Khz, 8 bits per sample. Second, there is a specific list of files that the sim looks for; you can replace some or all of these, but you cannot (yet) add additional files. Once you have placed your new samples in the directory the sim will use your samples instead of the ones we supply. Don’t worry; we will have a well documented process on how to do this when the new build is released.
I can also confirm that the open practice functionality will be done for the start of next season. It’s really slick and I hope it will become the place that people “hang out” now instead of on the forums or in chat. This is basically how it will work…
Each open practice session has a limit of how many drivers can be on track at the same time. When the track is full, nobody else will be able to join the session until someone else withdraws. Also, each open practice session’s entry list is currently limited to a total of 64 unique drivers. Once the entry list has become full, only drivers who were previously in the session, and therefore already in the entry list, can re-join it.
Whenever a new driver enters the session, your computer will generate the several textures and helmet images that make up that driver’s paint selections. When this new entry comes out on track you might see him for several seconds in a white car or with gray helmet images in the user interface. Once your system finishes creating their textures and helmet images, their proper paint schemes should appear.One very cool feature the web team has developed for the open practice servers is a new popup window that shows the current drivers that are registered for the selected open practice session. The popup can be seen on the home page’s new “What's Hot” open practice widget as well as on the session selection page and it is deployed by mousing over a helmet icon that is displayed to the right of each open practice session.
I mentioned that we will have a new “What’s Hot” for the open practice sessions but we will also have a new design for the “What’s Hot” section that will now be a widget that includes more useful information such as the starting time, the track, and the type of session.
Grant has made a lot of progress on race control since my last blog, but as always, I will neither confirm nor deny that this work will be done in fear of suffering the wrath of the mostly evil Mr. Reeve.
I will tell you that as of right now local yellows AND blue flags are in limited testing. I am sure this will be a hotly debated topic in the forums but the blue flags are informational only. In qualifying if you are on your out lap and someone who has finished their out lap is close behind you, a blue flag will appear in the top left corner of the screen. In a race session if anyone who is about to lap you or is multiple laps up on you is close behind you, you will see the blue flag.
We have made terrific progress on the replay system and this will definitely be in our next rollout. The web site is used to filter, sort and otherwise navigate the saved replays, as well as to play them. Replays are saved within your My Documents\iRacing\replay folder. You may create subdirectories within there either from within the sim, or from Windows itself, and save/load replays from those directories as well.
You will be able to add saved replays from other users to this folder, and the web site will see display them and allow you to play them. You must own and be up-to-date on all of the content used by a replay file in order to watch that replay. For example, if a replay contains a Radical being driven at Sebring, you must own and have up-to-date versions of the Radical and Sebring.We have done some physics work and have a lot more we would like to get wrapped up for the final build. The Silverado's suspension has been markedly improved, but this means old setups are only marginally useful now. The main difference is the perch heights--they are all always 0" or negative. If you load an old setup, be sure to change the 4 perch offsets or you won't be able to leave the garage. The motion ratios are a bit different as well, so spring and bar rates will have to change. Coil bind setups can be made (and they work!) The ride height minimums have been raised to 5", as that is more in keeping with real-life rules (and it helps keep the truck off the ground).
We have also started testing the Impala SS which we are getting a lot of positive feedback on. I put up a 200 lap race at Vegas for the guys to test the other night and our lead testing coordinator Chris Weidner told me it was the best race he has ever participated in and many other of the guys said the same thing. As always what we have complete when it’s time to ship this car will never be a finished product. Dave is already thinking about a significant update to his tire model that should be a dramatic improvement on what is already a great model.
Dave and Ian have also done quite a bit of work improving the Late Model (and eventually the Silverado and Impala) for use on the road courses. The Late Model now has an option to attach the left side of the sway bar which makes it possible to create a roadable setup. No ballast changes are implemented yet, however, so it is still fairly spooky turning to the right.
For what may be a cruel tease on the licensing side of things, we are getting very close to being able to announce a handful of SIGNIFICANT deals we are working on that I think will be incredible for all of us. For those who have been asking for more tin-tops, I will tell you that I expect to be signing one of those significant contracts that will put at least three in the development queue.
One contract that we have signed on the technical side of things that we plan on implementing this year is the Akamai IP Acceleration technology. Akamai is a very big partner with us in that they handle all of our data distribution which is why our content is delivered very efficiently whenever you download a new build or package from us. We have used Akamai from day one for this, but the new piece of technology we are going to incorporate should make everyone’s connections to our race servers even better than they are now. The general idea is that Akamai is going to figure out what the optimum path through the internet for you to connect to our race servers is so you will always have the best connection possible. We hope this will especially help improve all of our international customer’s online experiences. Chris Page is going to do a blog post on this in the next few weeks that will go into more detail on how it will work.
Okay, my adult beverage is empty and my hands are cramping… I think I have written enough for this blog. As always, we will be doing everything we can to add as much as we can into the next build. I expect that we will be releasing this build during the 13th week of the current season which is the last week of January.
Good luck to everyone in the final weeks of your championship battles.
Steve
- Blog post
- 1 year ago
- Views: 5226
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iRacing US Spring Tour 2009 iRacing US Spring Tour 2009
- From: Sean Siff
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Description:
Hello iRacers!
My name is Sean Siff and I work for iRacing as the iRacing US Spring Tour event manager. The entire department at iRacing have heard your requests for a major marketing project and we are officially kicking off our iRacing US Spring Tour 2009 in Sebring FL at the ALMS Mobile 1 12 Hours of Sebring. It is time we share this simulator software with the world and our plan is to bring it to you, one racing event at a time.
To warm up for our first big event at Sebring, we set up our display at the Speedway Expo, located near our Boston head quarters in Springfield MA. The Expo was a really fun event for all of us as we debuted the Hot Seat iRacing Cup challenge. We gave drivers and fans the opportunity to qualify for the Hot Seat iRacing Cup by driving the SK Modified at Stafford Speedway. The fastest drivers were narrowed down into three finalists who competed against a slew of actual pro drivers from all different professional Motorsports disciplines.Our pro drivers included F1 driver Justin Wilson, truck series driver Willie Allen, drag racer Ron Capps, Koni Challenge driver Barry Waddell, and SCCA World Challenge driver Eric Curran.
Other guest appearances made the event a lot of fun. Former Winston Cup driver Ricky Craven stopped by our simulator as well as Truck Series driver Steve Park, along with SK Mod driver Renee Dupuis, who helped out as a guest driver coach. Whelen Modified driver Ted Christopher, Koni Challenge driver Nick Leverone, and Formula Drift champion Von Gitten Jr each tried our software for the first time.
Our display won top honors as 1st Place Best In Show. When we bring our sim on tour, we like to go all out and the judges noticed. Unfortunately, there was no podium to spray champagne from.
This, my fellow readers brings us to the 12 hours at Sebring; our first stop on our iRacing US Spring Tour. Please come introduce yourself and check out our display and put in a few laps behind the wheel.
After Sebring, we head to Martinsville VA for the Nascar Sprint Cup race. And from there we travel to Mazda Laguna Seca in Monterey CA and on down to the streets of Long Beach CA for the Indy and World Challenge Race. Next we head back across the country to VIRaceway for the Grand Am Rolex race and the NASCAR race in Richmond VA.
Thank you for checking out my blog and I hope you stay tuned for more info as I will be updating this post with more tour dates and a re-cap after each stop.
PS: Do you have an interesting mid-week racing related event happening near our weekend event stops? If so, please write me an email with your event and we could be stopping in your backyard... literally! We have set the majority of weekend events, but let us know what is going on near you!
- Blog post
- 1 year ago
- Views: 1185
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PHRIGGIN' FHYSICS PHRIGGIN' FHYSICS
- From: Chris Page
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Description:I don't like the physics. I'm pretty sure that there is no getting around it. We are going to have to live with the physics as is, but we can do some things to address the limitations.In this case, I'm not referring to the sim physics but instead, real physics. Still, you might be surprised to know that you should care. It has a real impact on your experience in the sim. I'm going to tell you how, and what we at iRacing.com are doing to improve the situation.Bear with me through this paragraph, but there happens to be a drop or two of geek blood in me. The second postulate of Einstein's special theory of relativity is that the speed of light is constant. The Lorentz transformation, which is key to quantifying Einstein's theory, breaks down when considering anything moving faster than the speed of light. The operating assumption is that nothing can move faster than the speed of light. This includes your vehicle, even downhill with the pedal to the metal. Although this is a sim... and I know that the Lorentz transformation, where spacetime warps as the speed approaches the speed of light, well, that is coming to the sim..."soon" - I can't say as much for v >= c. I actually have no idea if any of this paragraph is correct, but I think it is close. I hope it sounded good. I can watch educational TV with the best of them.The bottom line is that an electron, which is our medium for communication, isn't going to move faster than the speed of light. The speed of light is pretty fast, but even so, Michael Flatley could probably get in a few toe taps in the 130 milliseconds or so that an object would take to travel the circumference of the globe. Or put another way, it could circle the globe 7 times per second. Ever notice those time delays on TV when a question is asked over a satellite link and there is a measurable delay before the answer? That's the same issue. Stuff can move only so fast.Why do we care? What has to happen for a driver in New Zealand to race a driver in Finland? They've got to pack their things and jump on a plane to meet at an agreed upon track, and... or sign up for iRacing.com. But even with iRacing, for these two racers to share the same virtual track, the two client computers need regular updates about the position and status of the other driver. All racers interact with not a shared physical track, but instead a shared server. And sometimes that server and the other driver are on the other side of the globe. We want to minimize the time it takes for information to get to the server and back.The time delay between when that information is sent and when it is received is called latency. Latency is not our friend when we are talking about having a great racing experience. If everyone is at a LAN party in a conference room, then there are no problems, but what happens for those drivers that are far apart? We don't have the option of exchanging information as the crow flies. The latency you experience is probably more greatly impacted by your local Internet service provider than by the underlying physics. Luckily for us, the engineering team has experience dealing these issues and also with artificial intelligence (AI) to predict where vehicles will be in the absence of, or in gaps in, information. Not only is the information slow to get to where it is needed, but sometimes the information is sent, but never makes it. This is not a simple problem to address. The easiest answer is to shorten the distance that the information must travel, and to minimize data loss. My proposal to limit membership to those within 50 miles of the central servers didn't get too far. I feel another one of those headaches coming on.We've already done some things to address latency and network performance, but we are far from done. We have active projects in this area that extend beyond what is happening in the sim "netcode".One approach is to shorten the distance between the racer and the nearest race server. Yes, there are going to be more servers, and closer to your part of the world. How much closer is a great question. We're trying to maximize member coverage with each installation of a new farm of race servers. We have laptops literally being flown around the world from one data center to the next. With each stop we collect data that reflects not only the quality of the local infrastructure but also how locating a race farm in that data center would impact you - literally you, our existing member. When you race, we can characterize the network performance that you are experiencing between your computer and the race server. We also capture this information for between you and a data center under consideration. This is specific to each of you. We want to make sure that the experience gets better for our existing members as well as for future members.A second approach is to optmize the network traffic from your computer to the server. We currently leverage a network of computers that spans the globe. When you are accessing our content, you aren't necessarily accessing a computer in our primary data center. More likely, you are accessing data from a computer that is local to your region. This is why downloads can seem quite fast! All of these edge servers are connected and understand the different routes from one server to another and the associated realtime performance, which varies over time. The default Internet routing isn't always the smartest or more efficient. There are often better ways. What we are trying to do is to discard the default Internat routes that everyone is using and instead use routes for which recent performance data indicate are the best performing. Sending the information along these routes, while simultaneously directing duplicate traffic along one or two other high performing routes seems like a win. Not only will the fastest route always minimize latency, but if there is data loss along one route, the information will still make it via another.A third approach to shortening the distance is all about direction. Rather than traveling the circumference of the globe, we can take a more direct route. We can tunnel through the center of the earth. As each member will have his or her own direct route beginning directly under his or her computer, we'll have to plan to meet up at the center. However, if you end up at the Land of the Lost, we can bear no responsibility.In college, physics classes were always so brutal. I'd think, when am I am ever going to need this stuff? For my first job, I found myself creating simulated RADAR returns to test an air traffic control system, which of course, relied heavilly upon a knowledge of physics. Now, years later, my job is very different, but the physics remains. Some things never change.Next week, I hope to write about what happens when quantum entanglement meets the childhood game of telephone, and how it proves that garbage in equals garbage out, but at least I won't see it from my house. Or maybe I'll write more about the infrastructure instead.
- Blog post
- 2 years ago
- Views: 1455
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WAKING WITH A BUZZ WAKING WITH A BUZZ
- From: Chris Page
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Description:
A first blog entry is sometimes very different from those that follow. My plan is to use this format to communicate what the iRacing Technology group is doing and planning, as well as to answer some questions. Some, like this entry, might be a little too revealing - we'll see. In any case, here we go...I didn't wake with a buzz this morning and that felt unusual. I've been waking with a buzz, it seems, much too frequently. I've been able to keep the majority of iRacing management and employees here "in the dark" about this; some more than others. All of my colleagues know the story. I'm actually pleased about that. They've been helping me. I'm still coming to terms with all of this, and I know I can't handle this all by myself.Last night was quite a night and one that I'm sure to remember for a long while. I am a huge Red Sox fan, and last night they pulled off the second biggest comeback in MLB history in beating the Rays. I thought I was going to miss the game, because last night I also saw the Australian Pink Floyd show, which was amazing and unforgetable. I was still able to find the game in time to catch the comeback. Those were some of the best innings of baseball this season. It seems that lately having fun and getting buzzed go hand in hand so I was fully expecting to wake with a buzz. I'll admit that I was surprised that I woke up refreshed this morning.The previous morning was quite a different story. I starting getting buzzed early in the evening. Before long it was 3am, and there I was - buzzed, and couldn't sleep. I didn't get to sleep until close to 5am. There was no way I was going to make it into work and be productive. So I slept, and I slept late, but apparently not late enough. When I got in, people were talking and telling me that I wasn't myself. It was worth it though. Ask me today, and I'll still say that I'm up for getting buzzed at any hour of the day. People in my life understand. I must have a slight addiction to the excitement.I'm happy to say that I take responsibility for my actions that result in my getting buzzed oh so frequently. When we are at risk for losing data - I get buzzed. When the load is trending higher than expected - I get buzzed. When a server crashes - I get buzzed. Our whole team gets buzzed. We are responsible for iRacing site operations. We get buzzed, so that you can keep racing.Randy Cassidy, Scott Nash, and Hieu Tran were at the heart of the effort to built out the site infrastructure to deliver the service. The site and service have redundancy built-in. There have been failures had, and failures avoided. There will be more, and like the majority that have come before, I hope that our membership will have no idea. One of our first initiatives has been to improve the monitoring and alerting framework so that we can respond to problems in the making. When I get buzzed by our alerting service, it is the equivalent to the seeing the "bat signal" in the sky or the alarm sounding at the firehouse. It is our chance to solve a problem that hasn't yet happened. The whole team stops what they are doing and gets to the matter at hand. It is both inconvenient and rewarding. Most people, even here at iRacing, don't know how frequently this happens. I think that is a good thing because it means the problem was avoided.This service was not built overnight, nor is it running on a collection of servers in a garage or closet. It is well designed. Yet, we are far from perfect, and far from done. We've got Champagne dreams, but also the ability to pull them off. The people at iRacing set out to do things top-notch long before I arrived, and the commitment is still there. A good chunk of your subscription cost goes directly to delivering and managing the service. Part of our group's challenge is to keep these costs down and still deliver a high level of service, 24x7, to anywhere on globe; this is an expensive proposition. Each dollar saved is an additional dollar available to fund new features and enhancements. It is also an additonal dollar that we don't have to ask of our members. This is always on my mind.I've spent years in the technology industry, and as an employee and consultant, I have had the opportunity to work with the best. Take it from me, someone who goes through life getting, and waiting for my next buzz. What we have here at iRacing is special. It is already great fun, and we are just under way. I, along with newer additions Dean Marsh and John West, are working with Randy, Scott, and Hieu to build upon what has already been built. It is a solid foundation. We are going wider, taller, and deeper; and as a teaser for a future blog entry: further. We aren't doing it alone -- all of iRacing is involved, and we are partnering with some great organizations.If you have ideas, questions, or an interest about how we do things or where we are going, please step up and comment or send me an email. I won't always be able to share specifics, but I'll do my best. Or just say hi. If I'm looking a little weird or distracted, it is probably because I just got buzzed. If that is the case, I'm probably tnot be sticking around to chat. I hope you'll understand. There are people that need to be racing! - Blog post
- 2 years ago
- Views: 869
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Stat monkey, for the week star Stat monkey, for the week starting 5th October 2008
- From: Darren Marsh
-
Description:
Membership
Total 6421
124
Active 2168
67Club stats
Active members
West Europe Club 554 7
International Club 420 20
Mid-Atlantic US Club 220 24
Northeast US Club 199 33
Southeast US Club 158 7
West US Club 137 15
Midwest US Club 128 2
California Club 123
0
South US Club 120 13
Central US Club 109 2
Total race starts
West Europe Club 3243 35
International Club 2739 13
Mid-Atlantic US Club 1695 62
Southeast US Club 1269 90
Northeast US Club 1210 333
California Club 984 30
West US Club 919 1
South US Club 865 34
Midwest US Club 783 107
Central US Club 749 115
Average incidents per race
West Europe Club 4.07
0.14
South US Club 3.98 0.22
California Club 3.96
0.32
Southeast US Club 3.86 0.04
International Club 3.79 0.38
Mid-Atlantic US Club 3.67 0.22
West US Club 3.52 0.51
Midwest US Club 3.49 0.26
Central US Club 3.49 0.33
Northeast US Club 3.45 0.49
Average finish position
International Club 5.99 0.02
Central US Club 6.12 0.05
West Europe Club 6.23 0.05
Northeast US Club 6.35 0.01
California Club 6.36 0.18
Southeast US Club 6.37 0.09
West US Club 6.40 0.06
Mid-Atlantic US Club 6.44 0.10
Midwest US Club 6.48 0.15
South US Club 6.84 0.11
Average series entered per member
Midwest US Club 2.08 0.10
Southeast US Club 2.06 0.08
Mid-Atlantic US Club 2.03 0.16
California Club 2.02 0.11
Central US Club 1.99 0.01
West US Club 1.88 0.15
South US Club 1.87 0.07
Northeast US Club 1.83 0.05
West Europe Club 1.67 0.02
International Club 1.61 0.05Series stats
Active members
iRacing Legends Cup 812 23
iRacing Solstice Challenge 802 84
Skip Barber Race Series 708 41
iRacing Late Model Tour 562 36
iRacing Advanced Solstice Challenge 418 56
iRacing Advanced Legends Cup 347 6
Formula Mazda Championship 117 34
SK Modified Weekly Series 108 23
Legends Weekly Road Racing Cup 40 0
iRacing Silver Crown Cup 38 29
Race starts
iRacing Solstice Challenge 3884 720
iRacing Legends Cup 3874 390
Skip Barber Race Series 2751 88
iRacing Late Model Tour 1517 117
iRacing Advanced Solstice Challenge 1109 91
iRacing Advanced Legends Cup 867 64
Formula Mazda Championship 214 47
SK Modified Weekly Series 145 36
iRacing Silver Crown Cup 49 40
Legends Weekly Road Racing Cup 46 3
Average incidents per race
iRacing Solstice Challenge 4.79 0.27
Skip Barber Race Series 4.56 0.82
iRacing Late Model Tour 4.26 1.12
Legends Weekly Road Racing Cup 3.98 1.73
SK Modified Weekly Series 3.87 0.87
Formula Mazda Championship 3.38 0.73
iRacing Advanced Solstice Challenge 2.84 0.30
iRacing Legends Cup 2.82 0.73
iRacing Advanced Legends Cup 2.75 1.01
iRacing Silver Crown Cup 2.11 2.04
Competitor licenses
Formula Mazda Championship
D 39 9
C 78 25
iRacing Advanced Legends Cup
R 227 3
D 92 1
C 28 4
iRacing Advanced Solstice Challenge
R 282 41
D 108 13
C 28 2
iRacing Late Model Tour
R 213 35
D 279 15
C 70 14
iRacing Legends Cup
R 633 19
D 154 0
C 25 6
iRacing Silver Crown Cup
D 13 8
C 25 21
iRacing Solstice Challenge
R 692 75
D 91 5
C 19 3
Legends Weekly Road Racing Cup
R 17 6
D 16 1
C 7 5
Skip Barber Race Series
R 287 16
D 331 26
C 90 3
SK Modified Weekly Series
R 23 6
D 42 6
C 43 11Biggest gains
Road iRating
Pieter Marien 731
Mark Zeidler 580
Ian Travis 541
Michael Chamberlin 480
Brandon Shown 460
Michael Pares Jr 452
Don Keightley 424
Don Canright 418
Marcus Lindsey 393
Maxime Trepreau 335
Oval iRating
Ryan Moody 791
Justin Weaver 477
Jonathan Lintner 460
Joe Doiron 430
David Welborn Jr 396
Christopher Bland 381
Jake Swanson 337
Tim Willis 319
Martin Hillig 302
Daniel White 297
Road SR
Pieter Marien 1.73
Don Keightley 1.50
Daniel Almeida 1.46
Tamás Hartmann 1.44
TRENT BROWN 1.40
bret thurman 1.29
Jacky Ackley 1.24
Michael Pares Jr 1.21
Arto Ihamaki 1.19
Daniel McClelland 1.17
Oval SR
Jody Haddow 2.15
David Scott2 2.03
Luis Rodrigues 1.81
David Black 1.81
Richard Arwood 1.80
Ruth Roset 1.77
Larry Hook 1.76
baraldini paolo alberto 1.57
Richard Gile 1.44
Ryan Moore 1.41Top 5 per club
California Club
Race starts
danny ault 42
James Sowell 38
steven ridley 35
Jeff Bye Jr 35
Don Keightley 24
Race wins
Jeff Bye Jr 21
Troy Decuir 5
Tristan Bayless 4
Chad Peterson 4
Russell Kao 4
Points earned
John Prather 454
Tristan Bayless 414
Harrison Manhart 398
Bryan Heitkotter 395
Jeffrey Cagle 330
Central US Club
Race starts
B. Hillebrand 39
Kevin Cress 35
Robert Cottell Jr 32
DAVID DICK 32
Michael Woodring 29
Race wins
Marcus Lindsey 22
Kyle Gibson 8
Jonathan Lintner 4
Doug Arnett 3
Kevin Cress 3
Points earned
Chuck Johnson 703
Dave Hoffman 667
Jay Osborne 570
Josh Connors 544
bryan nevil 381
International Club
Race starts
Laszlo Miskolczi 89
Andy Mills 62
Leo Greenwood 42
Brad Adamson 38
Eric Potvin 37
Race wins
Andy Mills 27
Laszlo Miskolczi 14
Mikko Vuorinen 11
Curtis Fung 8
Anton Mironov 8
Points earned
Peter Read 499
Luke McLean 483
Sandeep Banerjee 428
Markus Aberg 387
Ian Travis 376
Mid-Atlantic US Club
Race starts
Ryan Moody 59
Jeffrey Gearhart 49
John Stafford 41
WILLIAM KLINGER 40
rich dorshimer 37
Race wins
rich dorshimer 12
Michael Chamberlin 10
Justin Garrett 10
David Cater 9
Jason Meeks 8
Points earned
Johnnie Gandy Jr 517
Justin Garrett 495
Dustin McGrew 453
Kurt Krumm 443
Nim Cross Jr 438
Midwest US Club
Race starts
luke omann 27
Ryan Ameen 26
chad smith2 24
Joey Gase 24
Ray Ehlers 23
Race wins
chad smith2 5
Joey Gase 5
Mark Zeidler 4
Randy Tessar 3
Ryan Ameen 2
Points earned
Scott Ehlers 853
Mark Zeidler 488
Randy Tessar 456
Justin Kirby 448
Scott Smith 261
Northeast US Club
Race starts
Robert Kern 60
Christopher Jackson 27
Dale R. Easterly 26
William Fields 24
Rick LaBanca 23
Race wins
Christopher Jackson 7
Harrison Widelitz 6
Richard Davidowitz 5
John Peters 5
Thomas Lewandowski 5
Points earned
Troy Watson 581
Jeff Sharp 455
Joe Doiron 435
Thomas Lewandowski 424
Robbie Baker 394
Southeast US Club
Race starts
Jon Thurman 43
Jacky Ackley 40
John Maddox 40
Ricky Stansel 35
Allen Krier 29
Race wins
Ray Alfalla 11
Keith Medeiros Jr. 7
Jacky Ackley 7
Doy Woods 7
Josh Berry 6
Points earned
Matthew Kingsbury 565
Ray Alfalla 472
Jeff Dukehart 453
Brad Davies 404
Alvin Lewis 360
South US Club
Race starts
Chad Bulner 67
Ronald McGrane 42
Robert D Gates Jr 40
Brandon Shown 33
Mark Noble 27
Race wins
Chad Bulner 15
Tyler Hudson 12
Brandon Shown 8
Shawn Murphy 5
Ronald McGrane 4
Points earned
Tyler Hudson 412
Brandon Shown 284
Clifton Cockrell 283
Jason Elrod 283
Frosty StClair 251
West Europe Club
Race starts
Dirk Wagner 89
Kevin Seal 56
ken odoherty 50
FREDERIC LEGRAS 41
michel duraffourg 40
Race wins
Kevin Seal 22
Florian Godard 12
Mario Vargas 8
K Wegter-Hoekstra 8
Antonino Arcidiacono 7
Points earned
Richard Bouchot 732
Florian Godard 666
Mathieu Bouysset 625
Luca Ceretti 509
Enzo Lodi 478
West US Club
Race starts
Scott M Valley 43
james barber 33
Jeremy Cross 30
bret thurman 28
DAVE SADORRA 24
Race wins
Jeremy Cross 5
Bruce Lawson 4
Bruce Snelson 4
bret thurman 4
james barber 3
Points earned
Michael Kelley 839
Raymond Emmons 484
Matthew Shanks 393
Tim Whalen 363
Michael Vaughn 363Top 5 per division
Division 1
Race starts
Tyler Hudson 23
Ray Alfalla 18
Justin Garrett 13
Daniel Rodriguez 12
Harrison Widelitz 11
Race wins
Tyler Hudson 12
Ray Alfalla 10
Justin Garrett 9
Daniel Rodriguez 6
Harrison Widelitz 6
Points earned
Jay Osborne 570
Luke McLean 483
John Prather 454
Dustin McGrew 447
Scott Ehlers 427
Division 2
Race starts
Pieter Marien 33
David Cater 24
Rick Savage 20
Steve Wright 16
Neil Stratton 14
Race wins
David Cater 9
Jonathan Stewart 7
Justin Weaver 3
Steve Wright 3
Neil Stratton 3
Points earned
Dave Hoffman 347
Michael Kelley 331
Joe Doiron 301
Jeff Sharp 297
Josh Connors 290
Division 3
Race starts
Craig Byerley 16
Daniel White 13
Tim Willis 12
Daniel McClelland 9
Michael Scheurer 8
Race wins
Daniel White 2
Josh Buckwheat 2
Daniel McClelland 2
Michael McDowell 2
emmanuel grossin 2
Points earned
Michael Kelley 331
bryan nevil 228
Mark Plank 220
Kyle Hadcock 201
John Bayes 157
Division 4
Race starts
Don Keightley 17
Robbie Baker 14
Tony Johns 11
Don Canright 10
Tamas Laposa 10
Race wins
Brandon Shown 4
Giuliomaria Garbellotto 4
Flavio Gianesello 2
Ian Travis 2
Parker Kligerman 2
Points earned
Parker Kligerman 334
Robbie Baker 320
Tim Whalen 266
Mauro Bisceglie 235
Ian Travis 196
Division 5
Race starts
james barber 19
James Sowell 14
Steve Claeys 11
Doug Gegenheimer 11
George Buhr 11
Race wins
james barber 2
Steve Claeys 2
Doug Gegenheimer 2
Antti Levoska 2
Kevin Cornelius 2
Points earned
Mats Gustavsson 224
Troy Watson 193
Laust Olsen 185
Chuck Johnson 169
Stuart Thorp 162
Division 6
Race starts
robert senneville 17
Donald Wright 11
Luc Van Gossum 10
Wes Propst 9
Colin Penney 9
Race wins
Colin Penney 2
Chad Peterson 2
Richard Charles 2
Andreas Wilke 1
Richard Green 1
Points earned
Wes Propst 193
Brad Hicks 182
steven peterson 163
Arto Ihamaki 135
Vince Fernandes 131
Division 7
Race starts
Paul D Smith 14
Greg Moore 12
Michael Woodring 9
Juhana Kukkula 9
luke omann 9
Race wins
Juhana Kukkula 2
Andre Perron 1
Alexander Brown 1
Steven Foster 1
Jake Armstrong 1
Points earned
Shane Wright 144
Chad Peterson 136
Bill Johnson 130
Michael Woodring 117
Ray Ehlers 108
Division 8
Race starts
Eric Potvin 27
Marcus Iglesias 14
Michael Perry 12
Tom Ecklein 10
Dave Lodl 10
Race wins
Michael Pares Jr 3
Mark Zeidler 3
Eric Potvin 2
PJ Jordan 1
Dave Lodl 1
Points earned
Gary Jorgensen 197
Simon Gymer 173
Martin Nachtsheim 133
Dave Lodl 117
Garth Galinat 111
Division 9
Race starts
Allen Dossett Jr. 16
Sheldon Lemoine 12
Tony Törnqvist 12
John Sofley 12
Joseph Cooke 11
Race wins
Sheldon Lemoine 4
Allen Dossett Jr. 2
Drew Bateman 1
Matt Spivey 1
Joseph Cooke 0
Points earned
Ross Eldridge 106
Michael Woodring 104
Justin White 93
Brian Cross 86
Robert Hedan 86
Division 10
Race starts
Gerard Florissen 25
Michael Wren 23
Steve Wright 16
maxwell mangum 15
Chris Hatton 14
Race wins
Steve Wright 2
Gerard Florissen 1
Jeffrey Gearhart 1
Chris Hatton 1
Angelos Devletoglou 1
Points earned
maxwell mangum 190
James Legault 154
William Kabela 137
Don Bowden 120
Angelos Devletoglou 105
Rookie
Race starts
Chad Bulner 57
Dirk Wagner 44
Laszlo Miskolczi 44
Robert D Gates Jr 40
Petri Pyöriä 30
Race wins
Chad Bulner 14
rich dorshimer 9
Martin Krouza 7
John Stafford 6
Jean-Marc Bernardi 6
Points earned
Florian Godard 388
Markus Aberg 387
Randy Tessar 364
Johnnie Gandy Jr 357
Robert Björkman 352 - Blog post
- 2 years ago
- Views: 864
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A day in the life of a cat her A day in the life of a cat herder....#8
- From: Steve Myers
-
Description:
Let me start off by apologizing for the long delay since my last blog post. Things have been very busy over here for me the last two months and I have been traveling more than I usually do so my writing time has been limited. I hope I can make up for this by telling you a few stories from my travels, share a few pictures and give you some updates on development and other projects I have been working on.
As you are all aware by this time I am not a fan of our cold winters up here in the Northeast so I was thrilled to head south for the Daytona 500 weekend in February. I was lucky to get a chance to spend some time with some of our professional iRacing drivers such as Dale Jr, Marcos Ambrose and Brad Keselowski while I was there which is always a treat. The 5 and 88 Nationwide cars will be running an iRacing sticker on their B-pillars for the entire season as a kind gift from Jr so I hope everyone will be rooting for both machines. Jr was kind enough to send along some extras to me so the first 5 people to comment on my blog will get one, so make sure your address is correct in our system. If you would like to see what it looks like I have posted a picture of it in my media section.
The icing on the cake for my Daytona weekend happened quite unexpectedly. After the race ended I got a text message from iRacing employee Dave Moulthrop (who moonlights as a credentialed photographer at NASCAR events) that the boss was in victory lane celebrating Matt Kenseth’s victory. I headed over to victory lane and after Dave used his muscle to get me over with him in the press section we got John’s attention to congratulate him. Much to my surprise John said, “come on, lets get your picture taken with the trophy”, to which I responded to by jumping the fence and joining him and his fiancé for the latest picture to go on my personal wall of fame. It is also in my media section.
My next journey took me to Las Vegas for another NASCAR weekend. This trip was intended to be one last fun weekend with the boys before my bundle of joy arrives in May and it turned out to be a little fun and a little work. We did a great demo on Saturday night at the Stratosphere where we had the sim running on two motion simulators brought by the CXC guys. I brought a third machine which I used to broadcast the racing action to the Stratosphere’s massive marquee display on the side of the building. I did not have high expectations on how the screen would look considering I had to output the software at a 632x312 resolution but surprisingly it looked great. You could see this marquee from miles away so I am sure it must have looked very cool and I have also posted a picture of this.
All in all it was a fun trip with some great memories from a very much sleep deprived weekend. I need to thank my wonderful wife for being so kind in letting me have fun with my friends and never complaining when we got 12 inches of snow while I was gone leaving her to shovel and unbury our cars all the while being very pregnant.
Now for some updates on development which is what you probably hoping for anyways and are now irked at me for having to read everything I have written so far!
We have a few massive projects we are currently working on that will not be ready for the next major build, but one is worth mentioning now. We are deep into development on bringing private leagues to our service in a way that will hopefully maintain the integrity of the overall service. I will focus a blog post on this topic further down the road when we are prepared to reveal more details on how this will work, but I think we are well on the way to adding an exciting new feature to our service.
It has been our intention all along to remove resets once we have the damage repair and towing features complete. It does look unlikely at this point that these two items will be finished for this next season but I can confirm that we will have the ability to make resets available by series. Starting next season we will be eliminating resets in Class C series and up. Patience and respect for your fellow driver will be very important next season…
We really have not had a chance to touch our netcode in some time so we have started exploring several ways to improve it. We have mentioned this before but we are making great progress on implementing the Akamai IP acceleration technology and hope to have this in the next major build. We have a larger announcement coming soon that will touch on this and other latency related topics.
I am happy to announce that we have hired another Vehicle Dynamics Engineer and we have immediately thrown him into the fire and have him working on the Spec Racer Ford. Eric Hudec joins us from what was formerly known as Petty Enterprises where he was a Race Engineer. We are obviously excited to be adding someone with Eric’s experience to our team and he should bring a lot to the table, particularly on the oval side of the service. We hope to have the SRF ready for the start of next season and we are doing everything we can to also try and get the Nationwide version of the Impala SS ready as well. We are also making great progress on the Corvette C6.R and the Lotus 79 as well, but I don’t expect those to be completed until this summer.
We have also hired a new software engineer to try and speed up the rate that we are turning out features for you and his name is David Tucker. David is already churning out work and has completed a project already that will hopefully be of great use to real world race engineers in being able to use our track data in their simulation tools. David is currently taking a look at our replay cameras to try and make some improvements in how we show you the action.
One of the most popular requests we have received and something I know I have told you we are working on is the addition of Paypal to our service. At this time we are in testing stages of this code and it does look like it will be ready to be incorporated for the start of next season. We do apologize in the delay for getting this feature to you but unfortunately this is not a plug and play item with the way our service works.
I am sure everyone has already seen the news that we are adding a club logo option to the cars for next season. We are also trying to get work done at the same time to add sponsor packages. These will be sponsors that we supply for you to choose from, but this will start to give you more options to make your cars look more like they are in the real world. You will also be able to choose different fonts for the car number on certain vehicles.
Last but not least, I expect that Road Atlanta will be joining our track lineup at or near the start of next season with 5 more oval tracks coming between now and July. We are also set to begin scanning Mosport this spring to get into production as soon as possible.
Now for a very cryptic licensing update.
I told you that I had been working on a contract that would net you three new tin tops and that contract was officially signed last week. I will now torture you by telling you we have the announcement of these cars planned to go out this spring in conjunction with other announcements. Sorry about that, you probably are angry with me for even mentioning it now. I am also so very close to signing a very unique agreement that will involve a popular entry level tin top series with a significant marketing campaign. So those that have been asking for more sports cars, they are in the development pipeline along with the C6.R.
We have signed a MAJOR track that we will be scanning in the next few weeks that everyone should be excited for. Once again I will tease you but not telling you what it is but I will give you a hint that the announcement will come in May…
We have a few very high profile agreements we are working on that should garner us attention from everyone out there that has not already heard of iRacing. I hope to have more information on these projects in the coming months. I will also tell you that we have been working incredibly hard in trying to secure tracks outside of North America and we are making some great progress. I hope to have some announcements about some signings here in the next few months as well.
I know the licensing update portion of this really does not tell you much, but there is a significant amount of work that goes on here that is difficult to communicate about until the dotted line is signed. We are also trying to do our best in trying to pace out announcements so not to overwhelm you and our marketing staff who are tasked with these communications.
Speaking of marketing, the guys have been pounding the pavement to try and bring more awareness to our product and company and have been doing a terrific job as we have seen a nice spike in our membership numbers. I hope everyone will check out Sean Siff‘s blog to try and find a date when our Mobile Marketing Unit will be in their area to stop by and say hello.
That’s it for now. I hope you have enjoyed reading this and will do my best to not let two months go by again before my next post.
Steve
- Blog post
- 1 year ago
- Views: 5096
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A day in the life of a cat her A day in the life of a cat herder....#4
- From: Steve Myers
-
Description:
I am going to have to try and do a relatively quick blog post this week as my day is pretty hectic as it is build day. I mentioned in my first blog that I would try and go back in time and tell some stories about how we got here today. For this week’s blog I thought I might tell the story about how we met John Henry and how the seed was planted to start this company. I am going to stick with our initial meeting for now and document further down the road how this company was started.
I think the best place to start this story is by bringing up a book you should read if you are a baseball fan. The book is called Feeding the Monster and it is written by a guy named Seth Mnookin. This book goes into great detail about how John and his ownership group were able to acquire the Boston Red Sox and start a run of playoff success that life long Sox fans like myself could never have believed would happen. The reason I bring this book up is because it documents a sequence of events that transpired in the bidding process for the Sox which ultimately led to John owning the team when it appeared very unlikely he would. I really don’t have much doubt that if these events had played out differently iRacing would not exist.
So the story begins with us at Papyrus working diligently on NASCAR Racing 2003 Season. The date is September 25th, 2002. I get a call from the front desk that there is someone on the phone that has questions about setting up a server for NR 2002 and, oh, by the way, he is the IT guy for John Henry. As I mention in the previous paragraph I am a life long Sox fan having lived in Massachusetts for almost my entire life, so needless to say I was pretty excited to help out. I talked with Jon (his IT guy) for about an hour and gave him all the information he needed to get a server running for John. At the end of the conversation I threw it out there that we were basically right down the street (really, about half an hour) from Fenway and if he ever had any interest in seeing what we do to give me a ring. I really did not think anything more would come of it and went out to lunch for about an hour. When I got back to my desk after lunch, much to my surprise, I had a voicemail waiting for me from John saying he would be out the next morning.
Thursday morning September 26th arrives and I have pretty much not slept because I am so excited about our guest for the day. Pretty much everyone is the office is excited, except maybe Grant, who is never excited about anything. John arrives mid-morning and we start our tour through the studio. I have given many office tours in my time here at iRacing and at Papyrus and nobody has ever taken the time and asked as many questions as John did that day. He made a point to talk to every single person in the studio to find out about them and what they did for the company. What was really amazing to watch during the day was that John became more and more excited about the product and company as the day went on. The tour ended at a cubicle we had setup with a computer running a Matrox video card that could output the cockpit on three screens. John sat there and drove on the system for close to an hour. It’s a pretty gratifying experience to watch someone who could be doing anything else in the world at that moment thoroughly enjoying something you helped create. After literally spending 6 hours with us that day, John left with the promise that he would be in touch because he wanted to help with beta testing NR2003. As it turns out, John was one of the most active participants in testing going forward and was instrumental in developing a lot of the aids that allowed new comers to get up to speed with the software for NR2003.
A few years ago I was talking with John about his visit. He told me that he gets many invitations like mine and he rarely accepts, but something told him to visit Papyrus that day. I know that personally it was probably one of the most significant days in my life, ranking right behind my wedding and just recently finding out I am going to be a dad. I consider myself to be pretty lucky in that I have gotten to do my dream job now for almost a decade because of John and Dave, and one could argue that I need to thank Charles Dolan as well.
Steve
- Blog post
- 2 years ago
- Views: 1283
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iRacing Tour Update: Watkins G iRacing Tour Update: Watkins Glen, John Henry and the Boston Red Sox events
- From: Sean Siff
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Description:
Hello Fellow iRacers,
Today I write you from our headquarters outside of Boston MA. In the following blog post I am going to re-cap for you our four previous events. We spent two consecutive weekends at beautiful Watkins Glen in the Finger Lakes region of New York. Also, we traveled to Red Sox headquarters at Fenway Park in our hometown of Boston MA. We just wrapped up our final tour stop for this season at the SCCA June Sprints at Road America in Elkhart Lake WI.
If you are a motorsports enthusiast and you have never been to Watkins Glen, it is a place that you must eventually visit… especially if you love it and race it as an iRacer. When you come to the Glen for a race, you can basically view the race from any corner on the track. I recommend the straightaway from the toe of the boot to the heel, but any spot is great.
We attended the Glen Grand Am Rolex series event two weekends ago. The NASCAR Camping World East series raced as well, so it was a quite a full schedule for only Friday and Saturday. The event highlight? Definitely the amount of iRacers that came up to introduce themselves. Big thanks to members Terry and Debbie Daul for spending some time with us along with a large contingent of the iRacing NY club. I got to meet many of you including: David Holzwarth, Jeffrey Olivares, Jason Shomper, Will Schneekloth, Chris Hughson, Arthur Daley, Mark A Carpenter, Eric Hopkins, Mark Hopkins JR, Donald Hopings and Tom Glad.
A few pro drivers came over as well, many of whom are fellow iRacers: Trevor Hopwood, Matt Bell, Sylvain Tremblay, Bryan Ortiz, Nick Ham, Jonathan Bomarito and Dave Maynard. Congrats go to Chris Hughson for the fastest overall time at Watkins Glen, yes, even faster than any of the pro drivers!
Our second weekend at Watkins Glen was for the Historic Sportscar Racers. It was our first event of that type, but it was a lot of fun and we were quite well received. Highlights included seeing the 2005 24 hr of LeMans overall winning Audi R10. It was an awesome car to see in person. I would like to say hello to a few current iRacers who were also in attendance: Matt Clark, Florian Fischer, Juan Lopez-Santini and Roger Johnson. Thank you to the whole group of drivers and officiates who made us feel welcome. The weekend ended with one day of the local BMWCCA NY/Patroon chapter. We look forward to more events like this later this season.
Our third event was very unique for us: We brought the iRacing trailer back to our home city of Boston MA to the heart of Red Sox nation… Fenway Park. We set up outside the park for the big game… an awesome Major League Baseball showdown; Red Sox vs. the dreaded NY Yankees. Some baseball fans got the ultimate iRacing/Red Sox treat; they got to meet John Henry, our company owner and founder. It was a thrilling to have Mr. Henry come down to the trailer! It was his first look at our project and he seemed pleased with the result. Even though he was quite busy with the baseball game, he spent time meeting the iRacing staff and happily signed many autographs for some lucky baseball fans who came over to check us out. I was curious to learn what racecar he enjoys driving the most, and he told me that he likes the Formula Mazda and the Chevy Silverado.
Our final event of this leg of the tour was this past weekend at Road America. We were there to support the SCCA, one of our current partners. Thank you for checking us out if you made it over to the trailer this past weekend.
We are working on more plans for the rest of the summer. As soon as I know what events we will be attending, I will make that available right here on this blog.
Thank you again for reading my blog posts over the last four months. I appreciate your support of our tour and for making iRacing.com one of the greatest online motorsports communities. Please keep in touch.
- Blog post
- 1 year ago
- Views: 481
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Martinsville 2009 - iRacing US Martinsville 2009 - iRacing US Spring Tour Update
- From: Sean Siff
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Description:
Hello iRacers,
Thank you for checking out my iRacing travel blog. Well, I can tell you that the rain in Martinsville didn't dampen our spirits... Although it rained basically from the moment we arrived until Sunday morning. The wet weather gave way to a beautiful day for the Cup race. Unfortunately it bumped the truck race to Monday morning. Even though there was not much happening on Friday and Saturday on the race track, inside our trailer a few hundred drivers -one at a time- attempted their first few laps around Martinsville behind the wheel of our simulators.
Almost everyone who drove, put our Silverado and/or Impala straight into the turn one wall. Needless to say, driving in iRacing is "different" (read: harder) than what they expected. As we have seen at other recent events, everyone who tries our simulator is impressed with how realistic it is. We like that.
As some of you noticed, we got a little creative with our marketing efforts and removed a flag from our display and stood in the background of a Speed TV broadcast to garner some free advertising. Our own marketing director and avid "A" license iRacer, Kevin Bobbitt, carried the iRacing flag and yours truly relieved him a while later. Thank you fellow iRacer for posting our picture on the forums. I have since added that to my photos on iRacing world.
A number of you came by to see us and I tried to capture all of your names. Fellow members Joe Ciely, John Sofley, Drew Bateman and Jeffrey Brown all came by to check out what we were up to. Very glad you all came by.
Marcos Ambrose stopped in for a few laps on Saturday evening. He also coached a racing fan around Martinsville. We appreciate his enthusiasm and support!
Starting on Friday April 3rd we will be setting up for a great two week stay at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. We are eager to leave New England weather behind! From there, we will travel to Long Beach for the Grand Prix. Please come out and say hi! Thank you for your continued support of our tour. See you on the road!
- Blog post
- 1 year ago
- Views: 350
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A day in the life of a cat her A day in the life of a cat herder....#9
- From: Steve Myers
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Description:
I thought you might like to hear a great story surrounding the announcement of our deal with NASCAR this past weekend and how it all came about.
We actually have had a dialogue going with NASCAR since the very early days of this company. We have known some of the folks in the licensing department for well over a decade at this point so it made sense to keep the lines of communication open.
The real turning point for this deal though was a meeting we had on July 31st of last year that was brokered by Dale Jr. Dale had been advising NASCAR on some of his ideas on what they should be doing in the gaming space and he was pretty emphatic that they sit down and talk with us. When he reached out to us to tell about this we obviously were enthusiastic about it so he communicated this to NASCAR and they picked July 31st as the date.
Now this part right here should make all of you proud of this sport we call sim racing and the importance of it to John Henry. July 31st is the trade deadline for Major League Baseball. When John heard that we had a sit down meeting on the 31st brokered by Dale Jr at his race shop he immediately said he felt it was important that he attend. This was no ordinary trade deadline and the significance of this day will forever be a footnote in MLB history. July 31st of 2008 was the day potential Hall of Fame left fielder Manny Ramirez was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers and John was heading to a meeting to cement the future of sim racing when it happened.
We had a terrific meeting with NASCAR, one in which Jr dragged one of his monster computers from his house down so Paul Brooks, Blake Davidson and Nick Rend could demo the software. Jr was the one that actually sat at the computer and toured them through the website and software showing them all the thought and engineering that has gone into this service. Both sides left the meeting with a desire to work together and nine or so months later here we are.
I have had a lot of great experiences in my life, but being present for such a historic meeting for this sport we call sim racing ranks right near the top, not to mention getting to watch such a historic day in the history of the Boston Red Sox from behind the scenes.
I know most of you probably tuned in to hopefully see some development updates so I will throw some out there to tide you over until I do a true development update blog.
As I posted in the forums last week the Lotus 79 is drivable in a development build right now and it is a blast to drive. Eric Hudec has been working on the car and doing a terrific job so far. I have asked him to do a blog post of his own on how the development of the car is going and some of the back stories around it. I think you will enjoy that. Ian is working on improving the aero models for the COT, Nationwide and Truck models with new data we have received and is plugging away at the Corvette.
For international licensing news, we just literally inked a deal five minutes ago for two tracks outside of North America and expect we will annouce this........wait for it.........soon!
I have teased you in the past about a big track announcement for the month of May and there has been a delay in that actual announcement. So I will instead ask you to think about Jim Nabors singing the following….
I have always been a wand'rer
Over land and sea
Yet a moonbeam on the water
Casts a spell o'er me
A vision fair I see
Again I seem to be
Back home again in Indiana,
And it seems that I can see
The gleaming candlelight, still shining bright,
Through the sycamores for me.
The new-mown hay sends all its fragrance
From the fields I used to roam.
When I dream about the moonlight on the Wabash,
Then I long for my Indiana home.
Fancy paints on mem'ry's canvas
Scenes that we hold dear
We recall them in days after
Clearly they appear
And often times I see
A scene that's dear to me
And finally for one last tease, we have announced two of the three tin tops I had promised earlier (Ford GT, Mustang FR500s) and the third will be announced very soon, hopefully accompanied by an international track….
Have a great weekend and I hope all of your significant others let you have some peace while you watch all the wonderful racing this weekend.
Steve
- Blog post
- 1 year ago
- Views: 2383
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How To: Responding To A Prote How To: Responding To A Protest
- From: Nim Cross Jr
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Description:
The Sporting Code does a very good job in explaining how and when you should file a protest. If you are unfamiliar with the protest procedures check out section 8 of the Sporting Code.
What do you do if someone has filed a protest against you? How do you respond? When you initially receive a protest in your email your initial reaction may be emotional. Responding to the protest on pure emotion is never a good idea. If you respond in such a manner you will most likely not get your points across and miss your opportunity to state your case.
When you receive a protest take a moment and read the details of the protest. Most protests are straight forward. At the beginning of each protest I ask for you to respond to the accusations contained in the description of the protest. At this time you should present your side of the complaint, calmly and respectfully.
If there are specific points I would like you to respond to I will let you know by writing a note to you at the beginning of the complaint. For example: I might ask you to respond to the accusations of intentional wrecking. At this point you know what I am looking for. I want to know if you’ve had intentional contact with the driver filing the protest. You should read the description in the complaint and respond truthfully to the accusations. If the incident was not intentional explain to me that it was not and what happened from your point of view. If the incident was intentional you need to be truthful about it. There will be a penalty but for first time offenders I will show leniency when I receive a truthful and proper response. You will only get one shot at leniency though. Repeated offenses confirm to me that there is a lack of respect for the rules laid out in the Sporting Code, for your fellow racers, and for the leniency shown in the previous complaint.
A great number of protests that come to me contain saved “FRAPS” replays. FRAPS replays are greatly appreciated. Often they confirm the accusations in the protest; sometimes they show me the protest may be slightly inaccurate. The protest filed against you may or may not contain replays. I may or may not tell you that I have seen the replay of the incident. If I find your response to my inquiry is less then truthful I will not show any leniency and will assess the maximum penalty appropriate for the violation you are accused of.
When I receive your reply I will consider both sides of the story and any other evidence I may have accumulated in my investigation. I will render a decision in the case and you will receive the “Penalty Notification” email. The current penalties you might receive are…
No Action Taken – I use this ruling when I find the accused was not guilty of the accusations in the protest.
Noted Incident – I use this ruling when I do not have enough evidence in a case to make an accurate and fair ruling. This is not a blemish against the accused account but is a way for me to resolve the case in a way that does not assign blame.
Warning – I issue a warning for specific violations that are not egregious enough for probation or a suspension but the protested circumstance needs to be address.
Probation – Probation is used mostly for first time offenders of a violation that could lead to suspending the offending party. This is a way for me to let the offending party know of the service’s rules and there will be no toleration of breaking said rules going forward. All probations issued are a minimum of 8 weeks.
Suspension – I use suspensions when there is a complete disregard for the service’s Sporting Code and Code of Conduct policies. In most cases this is because there was a second violation of the Sporting Code’s Code of Conduct policies. I might use a suspension as a first resort in only the most violent violations against other members on the service.
You will be told the duration of the penalty if you receive probation or a suspension in the notification email. If you do receive probation or a suspension you may be able to appeal your penalty. For rules pertaining to appeals see section 9 of the iRacing Sporting Code.
There are some occasions where someone has made a code of conduct violation and I have the proof I need to make an immediate ruling. iRacing collects all server chat logs and even some voice chat files. If I have proof that you have made a code of conduct violation you will receive the protest in the mail and in the description I will let you know the violation you have committed is unacceptable, why it is unacceptable, and when you will receive your penalty notice. In such cases where I have undeniable proof of the code of conduct I will include said proof in the description of the protest.
So responding to a protest is pretty easy. Just make sure you stay calm and do not let your emotions get in the way of responding to the protest properly and respectfully. Read the details of the protest, respond to any points I may ask you about, and explain your side of the story. If you do these things your side of the story will be considered and I will be able to make a fair and appropriate ruling in the case.
Nim Cross
iRacing Chief Steward
- Blog post
- 2 years ago
- Views: 925
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iRacingworld, season report an iRacingworld, season report and other thoughts
- From: Markus Aberg
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Description:
Hiyall!
We had nice suprises on the main page today, including more info of the world cup, and the launch of iRacingworld.com
I think it's fantastic that we get a social networking site for iRacers and for a version 1(public release) it's pretty good with lots of features. I'd like to see results and stats integrated to the service in the future and I'm pretty sure it will happen somewhere down the road, so people outside iRacing can view what's happening on the championships, TT's, qually's, divisions etc
One thing I've noticed really clearly while being a member for 2 months now: Some people just can't be pleased ever, and everyone can never be pleased at the same time
. It's all cool and ok that people give feedback of the things they want, but mostly it's just ranting for the sake of ranting when there is nothing else you can do about it until the devs have finished whatever it is you want. Also, if iRacing decided to cater just for a certain group of requests, it would not succeed.This needs a huge userbase until it can be "everything for everyone" and until then, compromises are needed. I'm absolutely cool with this and rather take things with optimism and enjoy the things that are already there. I hope many others will too, after they have posted their constructive criticism. No need to stay on the broken record forever
Aberg season update:
I'm currently focusing on 2 series and doing "also-ran" on 2 others. My also-ran series are late model and advanced slowstice, while main focus is on skip barber series and the legends weekly road racing cup
On the skippy series I've had few great weeks and few horrible weeks, and I just had a really bad streak of 8 races where I racked up a lot of incidents and did tons of mistakes. Thankfully the next race after those was a clean win and I'm hoping for a few more of those to get back in the right groove. Currently I'm at 11th position on overall standings and if I get good results from the last 2 races I could be looking at places 5-7 so I'm pretty excited about that and going to give it all I've got!
On the legends road, 3 weeks to go and I'm currently at the lead. Richard and Michael are relatively close and the remaining races can change the nr1 spot. Milos and Adam also still have a chance with the remaining races. The next race is going to be hectic regarding what's going to happen with the season. May the best man win, this series is awesome!
Also, I purchased BRD Speed7 pedals last week and they arrived on monday, and after 2 days of use I'm extremely happy with the purchase. I'll be writing a mini-review of them later.
Cya at the track!
-Markus
- Blog post
- 2 years ago
- Views: 510
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iRacing Spotter ... my vision iRacing Spotter ... my vision
- From: Dave Hoffman
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Description:
I’m a big fan of the auditory side of games/sims. After all, audio is half the product, and for some unexplainable reason it sometimes gets done half-assed and ends up dumbing down the overall product. Some studios put forth the effort that audio deserves. Studios like Crytek, Infinity Ward, and Bethesda (to name a few) do an excellent job of delivering that complimentary element in soundtracks and effects. If realism and immersing one into the world is the goal, then the audio experience is vital for the ‘suspension of disbelief.’ Long story short, I love audio :)
With that spewed, I would say that since day 1 with iRacing, one of the things that I am most looking forward to hearing is the spotter. Opinions vary on how useful he is, but I contend that the spotter is a component that takes the immersion factor to a different level.
No one really knows when the spotter is going to be hooked up, so in the mean time, I’m building my expectations on Papyrus’ most recent incarnation of NR03.
First of all, I liked how the spotter was designed for NR03. It was pretty streamlined, and worked well. An event trigger happens and it queues a sound file... or a series of them. Nice and simple. Although the NR03 spotter/CC contained close to 570 files, it wasn’t as robust as that might indicate. Around 220 of those files were used for car numbers, lap times/speeds, pitroad speed stuff, and there were a good number that weren’t used at all, or very sparingly... and other dormant files that were leftovers from previous NRx titles. That notwithstanding, there were still plenty of event triggers that made it pretty lively.
I can’t talk about sound without mentioning the sound of sound, so let me talk file formats for a second. 5 years ago, WAV files were still pretty common in games. Because WAVs are uncompressed PCM files, I’m guessing that one reason that NRx went with the lower quality format of 8-bit mono, 5512 MHz was to trim down the file size of the sound package. A byproduct of using that lower quality was the “over the radio” sound it helped to naturally produce. It was a great side effect. MP3s are popular in present-day software, mainly because of its compression abilities (about 1/10th the size of a WAV) while not sacrificing quality. When it comes to the spotter, it begins with that “over the radio” sound. MP3 will be great for downloading times and disk space, just as long as the spotter doesn’t end up being in crystal clear stereo. That's the wrong "sound" for a dude on the radio in your ear. :)
Like anything with fixed limitations, the NR03 spotter had its limits as well, but it wasn’t in the number of event triggers. It was in the number of audio clips per event trigger, IMO. For instance, if you got into 3rd place, you were going to hear one of two clips, depending on whether you arrived in 3rd, or returned to 3rd. It would always be the same, so it became very predictable. Redundant predictability doesn’t help with immersion. Or is it predicable redundancy? Either or, I suppose.
In contrast is the file played for winning a race. That event trigger queued one of 16 different files that would play. The same goes for the Gentlemen Start Your Engines stuff. 1 of 12 were randomly played before a race. More randomness, means less predictability, means more believability, means greater immersionability. More on that in a bit.
To the earlier example of being in 3rd place, I think the stock clip was, “You’re runnin 3rd!” That’s good to know, but while listening to a radio in a NASCAR race, I rarely hear the CCs tell them where they’re running. Maybe a brief mention from time to time of around where they're running, but I hear race-related dialog more than anything: Encouragement, praise, irritation, what's going on with the car, lap times, lap times of others, what line is moving, what lines the leaders are running, etc.
Of all the Emails I got about the JJ pack, the ones that made me smile the most were from people who told me that it made them change the way that they were driving. That they were actually responding to the CC's emotion, or advice, by being more patient, or concentrating more than they otherwise would have on their line or preserving their tires. That was my master plan when crafting it: To keep your head ub the race, to make it sound autonomous, like the comments were a reflection of what was really going on in the race and how the player was driving. Not just the comments, but the emotion behind the comments. Sometimes... ehh, things didn’t really fit like a glove, but I knew how the architecture was set up, so I was playing the odds that it would. Inconsistency came with the territory. But other times it was just scary how the comments and emotion fit perfectly into what was going on in the race, and/or how the driver was performing. That was my goal, and it only made me think of how good it could really be if the architecture was designed for it.
I digress before I hijack my own blog. Like I said, in NR03, there was just 1 file designated for being in 3rd place, and many files designated for winning a race, or starting a race. Going the latter route, I would throw at least 10 different files for every event trigger into iRacing's spotter. Even if some of them said the same thing, but in different ways or different voice inflections, it would still create unpredictability.
While I'm on the "what I would do" kick, I'd add more random triggers. In NR03, there weren't many, maybe 3 or 4. These are the files that play out of nowhere when you don't really expect them, and those were the best ones because they weren't expected. Unpredictability is good. Following my theme, I'd keep them, increase the frequency that they're triggered, and have at least 10 different files per those events as well. File, files, randomness, files, more files.
Other things that I'd love to be in there, besides what was in NR03: Being told when cars for position are gaining on you... and at about what interval they're gaining... what lap times the leaders are running (possibly at a push of a button, like the one that queues "the leader's at the liiiiiiine......... now." Fuel sheet. One of the coolest things that I heard in NR03 was something I heard one time. Just once. There were about 20-30 laps to go, and my CC was telling me to save fuel. It was totally unexpected, and he was right, I ran out in T1 after the checkers (thanks to saving fuel). Coincidence? I don't know, but it was cool! Need more stuff like that.
Other things... more info on who you're racing against, and who's off lap. NR03 was quick to queue up when you were approaching an off lap car, or when the leader was behind you threatening to put you a lap down (that one was over-queued). What was lacking was when the car ahead, or the next 2-3 were for position. Or the car behind, or next 2-3 behind were for position. The files were in there, but I very seldom remember ever hearing them, if at all. So more of that kind of stuff... and..... class? At least 10 files per event trigger :)
I keep harping on these numerous files per event trigger for one reason. I had a ton of files for the JJ pack that I couldn't even use in NR03, but would loved to have used. The problem was that there was nowhere to put them. I spliced some into other files, combined others somewhere else, used some other magic, and just ran out of options. With more options, there's more variety, and it would have been much, much better than it was. The same theory applies now. More makes less more dynamic, and that can't be a bad thing.
In the end, I would also make the spotter mod-able. I can already hear people screaming NO, NO, NO modding. Two argumentative points here. 1) No one would have to use the non-stock version, and no one would have an advantage or disadvantage in using stock or non-stock. IoW, it's one of the few things that would be neutrally harmless and essentially invisible. 2) iRacing is world-wide, and everyone doesn't speak English. That's probably the best argument right there..... unless everyone wants non-English speakers to be on the low end of the level playing field when the spotter does get hooked up. Fair?
Those are my random long-winded thoughts at 1:00am :)
- Blog post
- 2 years ago
- Views: 347
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Visual FPS what makes the worl Visual FPS what makes the world go around
- From: Jeff Thomas
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Description:
We as humans have a very advanced visual system. While some animals out there have sharper vision, there is usually something given up with it (for eagles there is color, for owls it is the inability to move the eye in its socket). We can see in millions of colors (women can see up to 30% more colors than men, so if a woman doesn't think your outfit matches, she is probably right, go change), we have highly movable eyes, and we can perceive up to and over 60 fps. We have the ability to focus as close as an inch, and as far as infinity, and the time it takes to change focus is faster than the fastest, most expensive auto-focusing camera out there. We have a field of view that encompasses almost 170 degrees of sight, and about 30 degrees of fine focus. We receive information constantly and are able to decode it very quickly.
So what is the answer to how many frames per second should we be looking for? Anything over 60 fps is adequate, 72 fps is maximal (anything over that would be overkill). Framerates cannot drop though from that 72 fps, or we will start to see a degradation in the smoothness of the game. Don't get me wrong, it is not bad to play a game at 30 fps, it is fine, but to get the illusion of reality, you really need a frame rate of 72 fps. What this does is saturate the pipeline from your eyes to your visual cortex, just as reality does. As visual quality increases, it really becomes more important to keep frame rates high so we can get the most immersive feel possible. for those of you who's enquiring minds wanted to know
as always this will be debated, but at least the above has some factual basis to it :)JT
- Blog post
- 2 years ago
- Views: 343
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ReadyToWrestle, and A Whole Lo ReadyToWrestle, and A Whole Lot More 1: One Month of iRacing iMpressions
- From: Benjamin Fruth
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Description:
I don’t know if anyone will read this but, hopefully someone will find some enjoyment out of something I write. Who knows, maybe even a “say wHAt?!” or a “+1” comment. So, to begin,
Hi. My name is Ben, I’m 20 years of age, I work at Wal-Mart and I am a professional wrestler. I wrestle in very few promotions for now because I’m just beginning my professional career and my main wrestling home is PWO, or Pro Wrestling Ohio. PWO is a promotion that can be seen throughout the entire United States on the channel SportsTime Ohio. I represent a regular person who loves racing. All of my opinions will be as unbiased as possible because there are two sides to every story. I plan to come on here and write about iRacing whenever it’s possible to give another perspective on what might be writing about.
The first topic is, “One Month of iRacing iMpressions”.
I signed up on October 31st, 2008 after reading and watching everything I could on iRacing for 2 weeks. I was excited because it looked like such a unique opportunity. Oddly enough, before those 2 weeks I mentioned, I was an avid iRacing basher. Going to the NASCAR Racing 2003 Season (NR2003, for short) game forums uninformed and uneducated. For example, I believe I once wrote something to the effect of, “why pay for a game I already own”, referring of course to NR2003.
In my idiotic stupor, I couldn’t see what iRacing was, I could only see what it was trying to take away. I saw iRacing as the figure that was going to kill my favorite game for over 3 years. The game I had longed over for so long, paid large amounts of money to get and the game I had put hours of my effort and ability into. The game was NR2003 of course, but little did I know that although iRacing may do those things, it wasn’t intentional.
Fast forward to those 2 weeks I mentioned earlier and by the end of them, I realized that iRacing was not a game…it was a simulation. Nearly all racing games I ever played were trying to take the racing material in question and make it realistic and exciting all in one package that could be bought by anyone, enjoyed by anyone, and used by anyone. Just thinking of making a simulation like that boggles my mind. It’s nearly impossible…unless you skimp short a couple of things. Maybe instead of making the billboards and signs that are on the race track in real life correctly, they’ll replace them fictionally or with products the game company wants to sell you. Possibly, instead of making an entire accurate roster of drivers for a series, they’ll just make some fictional drivers up to save time. These are the tricks that game companies use to cater to many, not me.
IRacing is a simulation in the fact that it succeeds in emulating what real life is like. It represents the bumps on the track and the look of the vehicle. It doesn’t do these cheaply or without cost but, it does these things accurately. Unlike a game, it doesn’t appeal to everyone but, it appeals to me. So, I bought a one-month subscription, to make sure I wanted to race and that my computer could race.
That one month has passed now and I’m finally a year time member. Although, I don’t think I’m the typical member because I haven’t purchased any new cars or any new tracks. To be completely honest, I haven’t even raced on all the tracks and up until an hour ago, before writing this, I had not been in all of the cars. I was even bumped up to a Class D in Oval this morning after the new 4 week Rookie rule was implemented; what a great time to be a member.
It has been a spectacular month. I just started testing and learning how to set-up the Advanced cars and I’m most looking forward to racing in the Advanced series and getting, hopefully, more oval wins and more road course top fives. I want to make sure I rush nothing and enjoy everything. No matter what happens on track I don’t take it to heart. The Safety Rating and iRating may fluctuate but I will make sure my temper, my skill and my fascination stay steady.
- Blog post
- 2 years ago
- Views: 153
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A day in the life of a cat her A day in the life of a cat herder....#11
- From: Steve Myers
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Description:
Having had a few minutes to sit down and reflect on the last few months I have to say it’s been a really exciting summer for me personally and professionally. On the personal side of things I thought I had the best job in the world all these years. I now have to say that that being a dad is the best job in the world and I absolutely love spending as much time as possible with my daughter. On the professional side of things I have also had the chance to see some major projects that I worked on for many months finally happen or get announced which was very gratifying. There was so much exciting news this summer but I think my highlights had to be seeing John Prather get a chance to be a professional race car driver for a weekend in the VW TDI Cup Series, announcing our NASCAR and IndyCar partnerships and seeing Marcos Ambrose take our colors to the track at Pocono.
So as the summer has pretty rapidly come to a close a new build is creeping up on the horizon. I really don’t have too much I can absolutely confirm will be in the next build at this time but I will give you a run down on what we are working on, some of which will be pretty obvious.
It’s not going to be a surprise that we plan on having the IndyCar ready for the next major build and it’s going to be an absolute blast. We will have different cars for different track types and the models all look terrific. We will also have the ability to adjust brake bias, weight jacker and sway bars from in cockpit. We should also have the in car brake bias and sway bar adjustments available in all cars that have this feature. We may not be able to get all of these adjustments done and for all of the cars by the next build but if we don’t they should not be far behind.
The Corvette C6.R did look like it was going to slip past this next build but we have actually just received a batch of data from Pratt and Miller that we had been waiting for so there is a chance this will be done. We still are waiting for some data but we have been promised its arrival in the next week or so.
The next new car in the development pipeline will be the Ford Falcon. Because we actually secured this license with the Ford contract we signed early this year we actually have a significant amount of work already completed on this car.
One feature that will definitely make the build is opponent tire smoke and skids. You will now be able to relive your own Cole Trickle moments on the high banks of Daytona.
There is a very small chance that we may have some tire improvements in this next build but we are probably going to make a change to a single car to start with. We are contemplating doing this on the Star Mazda to start with to get some feedback. We may also be able to sneak in the graphics model changes to this car to bring it up to spec with the current car.
One major project we are targeting for the next release that is not going to be a surprise is private racing. I don’t think I need to go into all the details on what we have envisioned here as it has been discussed at length in the forums. I will say that it is entirely likely that we will have a basic set of functionality with this available when it launches which will grow to be more robust over time.
A major project that is loosely tied into the private racing that has been partially leaked is our inclusion in the NASCAR Hall of Fame. Some of you may have seen items pop up in public records regarding this but we have finally executed that contract. This is pretty exciting for all of us because the Hall will have a terrific exhibit setup with show cars running our software and everyone that goes through the experience will leave with a print out of their lap times on a “sales slick” for iRacing. I actually flew down last week to supervise the “training video” shoot for the exhibit that will feature Dale Jr and Terry Labonte and I think that will come out terrific as well. It’s going to be pretty exciting to see how demonstrating our software in the Hall helps us build out customer base over the next few years as they expect at least 700,000 people to go through it in a given year.
One feature that Dale Jr put on our development schedule was the ability to transfer setups to each other. The general concept of what we are building is that you will be able to send and receive setups from other drivers who are connected to the same session you are. I am just going to put it out there now that whoever has the fastest lap in a practice session I join is going to get hassled to send me their setup!
Our friends to the north will be happy to know that the next track to be released will be Mosport and I am fairly certain it will be done in time for next season. The track that is next in line to be completed will be Brands Hatch and we actually already have a track spline done. The Kiwi turned a 1:17 in the Dallara the other day on the track and it’s going to be a fantastic track for the service, although possibly a safety rating killer! We have penciled in at the moment that Zandvoort will be the next track completed after Brands Hatch.
Night racing is coming along with a significant amount of engineering complete on it already. Unfortunately I don’t see this being rolled out with the next build as there is still quite a bit of work left to be completed. We have actually started the process of converting Richmond to a night track and we will send out some screenshots as it progresses.
We have seen quite a bit of discussion in our forums about mixed class and fixed setup racing and we have started the process of figuring out how properly implement this into the service. Quite a bit of the work that we are doing for transferring setups will help move the ball down the field on fixed setup racing actually.
For a media tease, I expect that you will see some iRacing segments on two TV shows this fall. When I have an actual confirmation on if we have made the cut and when they will air I will be sure to pass it along.
I hope I have given you enough of a taste of what we are working on to tide you over to my next blog which I plan to try and do before the next release. I anticipate this will go into more detail on some of these projects I have vaguely described. Until then I wish those of you in contention for a series championship the best of luck. I will be changing diapers….
Steve
- Blog post
- 1 year ago
- Views: 3601
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iRacing Cost iRacing Cost
- From: Andrew Fayash III
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Description:
I posted this in the forums, for those who avoid the forums or don't check them often I thought I'd try posting a blog just to test it out.
I am sick of hearing people complain about any of the prices on iRacing.
Let me break things down, I'm gonna show you the cost of driving in the lowest division at a local dirt track I used to race at.
(All figures are based off racing magazines and the costs at my local track in 2006)
Lets see $35 each race to get in the pits (driver or not), $25/week if you get the season pass (which costs $70). Test & Tune Sessions $15 to drive.
Driving Suit: about $1000
Racing Gloves: about $50 - $75
Racing Shoes: also $50 - $100
Helmet: $200+
Lets say you run, 20 races, and are in 2 test sessions and you got the season pass early. You bought a suit/helmet and you got your gloves and shoes off an old buddy of yours who used to race (hmm they are a little worn and may not be safe but the officials won't notice for at least a few weeks)
That alone will set you back a total of: $1800 if you bought the cheapest of all the safety gear.
Well hell $1800 and you don't even have a car, trailer, motor, tires, spare parts, gas or anything at all.
The car (a used car that needs some work but was a 10th place car every week this year is up for sale, $1500 without the motor or spare parts, $2500 with motor still no parts [these figures for a car are from a real car that was sold a few days ago])
The trailer, well one of your friends happened to have one you could borrow so you got lucky there too.
Tires, new they cost about $75 each if I remember correctly. Lets say your brave and only run the season with 1 set of tires besides the one on your car so $300 there.
Gas and spare parts I'm not even gonna begin to try and figure out, that stuff depends on how good/bad of a year you have and how much you stay out of trouble.
Oh almost forgot, your probably thinking well you can win money back if you do well. Guess what, first place in my division (when I ran in 2006) was $120. So if you win every single race and never need a spare part, and somehow got free gas for both your trailer and racecar all season, then your total comes out to $4600 spent and $2400 won.
Your -$2200 and let me tell you that is an amazing (I'd say impossible) season to get, no flat tires, no broken parts, no motor trouble, borrowed trailer, no gas.
$20 for track access on iRacing for life, about $13 a month to race as much as you want/can, $15 for a car that you never need gas/tires/parts for no matter how bad you wreck it?
That is some cheap racing experience if you ask me. - Blog post
- 2 years ago
- Views: 1258