Investigation of Relevance of Simulator Skills to Physical Driving
canopic jug writes:
[Ed note: this is a quite old story, but might lead to interesting discussion. What kind of simulators have you operated and how well did the prepare you for the real-life activity? Which ones were successful? Which ones were not?]
Back in 2013, TopGear brought in simulation champion Greger Huttu from Vaasa, Finland to drive a real racing car to investigate how well simulator skills transfer to physical racing. In a nutshell the answer is quite well, aside from the motion sickness.
After one installation lap to check everything's working, he starts his first flyer. All eyes turn to the final corner, a swooping downhill-right with a vicious wall on the outside, ready to collect understeery mishaps. Here comes Greger. The engine revs high and hard and his downshifts sound perfectly matched. Then he comes into sight and, to the sound of many sucked teeth, absolutely bloody nails it through the bend, throttle balanced, car planted. His only hiccup is a late upshift, that has the rotary engine blatting off its limiter. "Time to crank up the revs," says Alan. "He's quick."
The telemetry confirms it. His braking points are spot on. He's firm and precise on the throttle. And in the fastest corner, he's entering at 100mph compared to an experienced driver's 110 - a sign of absolute confidence and natural feel for grip. Remember, this is a guy who has never sat in a racing car in his life - he's only referencing thousands of virtual laps. Then, on lap four, he pops in a 1:24.8, just three seconds off a solid time around here. He reckons the car feels more grippy than it does online, but that's probably down to set-up and baking-hot tarmac. It's a weirdly familiar experience, he says, like deja vu... with added sweat.
The air temperature is 34 degrees; in the cockpit, it's probably closer to 45. It's just too extreme for the increasingly sickly looking bloke from the Arctic. Then there's the g-forces. Road Atlanta is a bucking, weaving, undulating place, where your tummy floats over crests, then smashes into your intestines through compressions. This is another first for Greger. He's never been on a rollercoaster, or even in a fast road car. In fact, the quickest he's ever been was on the flight over here, which also happened to be his first plane ride. Which would explain why, as he hurtles down the back straight at 100mph, he throws up, right inside his helmet. When he rolls into the pits, little flecks of sick roll down his visor and his overalls are soggy around the neck.
For the most part, he handled the car quite well.
Previously:
(2020) Video Game Approved as Prescription Medicine
(2020) Pacman Turns 40 Years Old
(2016) Aircraft Are Now So Automated Pilots Have Forgotten How to Fly
(2014) Video-Game Vehicle Crashes Get Real
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