INTRODUCTION

Virtually all motor fans know car games for consoles and computers. Who most and who least has tried to drive in this type of games, whether with a gamepad or an inexpensive steering wheel. Without forgetting of course the 80s and 90s where there were arcades with machines where you sat down to drive a sports car or Formula 1.

Thanks to advances in technology and, above all, to the reduction in price so that almost any home user can have it, many motor enthusiasts are taking this idea of ​​setting up their own driving compartment at home more seriously (Cockpit).

In this article we will introduce almost all the concepts that cover this hobby, with more followers day by day, and which promises to remain strong, especially due to the next gadgets that will be released in 2015 for the general public  : to highlight the virtual reality glasses "OCULUS RIFT” with which immersion in the simulator takes on a totally new dimension.

Throughout the following articles we will break down each of the following terms in detail:

-ARCADE, SIMULACIÓN, PHYSICS, SIMULACIÓN SOFTWARE AND COMPUTERS, COCKPITS, WHEELS, PEDAL BOARDS, SHIFTERS AND HAND BRAKES, SEATS, SCREENS, PROJECTORS, OCULUS RIFT, SYSTEMS VIBRACION, MOTION SYSTEMS, PLACAS USB CONTROLLERS, CONFIGURACION AND CALIBRACION OF DEVICES,  TELEMETRY, CAR SETUPS, etc..

And we will add a lot of information related to them, but above all, we will make this guide a reference for all users who decide to get fully into Car Simulation.

ARCADIAN

Let's first define what it is Arcade : is the generic term for  recreational   video game machines available in public places of entertainment, shopping centers, restaurants, bars, or specialized   arcades. And of course, in our homes.

All of us who grew up in the 80s and 90s remember them with great nostalgia. It can be said that we were almost always surrounded by them. They amazed us and made us feel like adventure heroes, and of course, car drivers.

During that time, the first personal computers and consoles reached the home user, light years away from those we know today, but which made us have the best moments of our childhoods. Titles such as Pole Position, Out Run, Super Offroad, Virtua Racing, The Need for Speed, Sega Rally, …. They made us enjoy it a lot.

The truth is that you look at it now and you can't believe that he felt like a pilot when he played these arcade games. But honestly it was like that. One got used to what was there at that time and lived it with great intensity.

More than 20 years have passed and now it can be said that we are in another dimension, since everything has advanced so much that this seems prehistoric.

Returning to the topic that concerns us, we will say that these games were arcade because they did not simulate what was really happening to the car. To understand us, you could go at 300 km/h and go through a curve as if nothing had happened. Or collide with other cars and nothing happens to the body, braking from 200 km/h to 0 in 10 meters...

Over the years, these types of things have been polished, but there came a time, at the entrance to the 21st century, when a fork in the road was reached thanks to the computing power of computer processors and electronic systems: First of all, games that continued with the objective of being a distraction and enjoyment for those who used them, without taking into account "realism." (Arcadian), and others that focused more on the cars behaving (reacting) in a more coherent way depending on the actions performed on them.

And that second type of “games” were called Simulators.

SIMULACION

Here I leave a fairly approximate definition of Simulation : “Simulation is the process of designing a model of a real system and carrying out experiments with it, with the aim of understanding the behavior of the system or evaluating new strategies – within the limits imposed by a certain criterion or a set of them – for the operation of the system.”

Actually, simulators as such were already used in fields such as medicine, industrial engineering, design...  and of course, aeronautics. Thanks to the computing power that computers were achieving, the reactions of virtual systems could now be emulated in order to carry out trials and tests before physically developing the final projects, or so that students and future car or airplane pilots could check first-hand the operation of these virtual models and train hard before experiencing it in real life.

And of course, it is known to everyone that Formula 1 teams have been using million-dollar simulators for many years so that their drivers can train on the circuits in which they are going to compete  using the physics and parameters of the setup of their own cars.

Well, returning to computer driving simulators, it can be said that at the beginning of the 21st century   a new era began, since an attempt would be made to emulate real behavior (reaction) of a car, such as G Forces, Rotary Movements and Aerodynamics, and the effects derived from them, as they may be Understeer and Oversteer,  Increase or decrease in Grip, Mass transfer, Tire wear, Gasoline consumption, Physical damage upon impact with an object,…. depending on the action (either with the keyboard, joystick, gamepad or steering wheel) that the player did.

and I say “computer simulators” because it can be said that, today, it is the only means where you can enjoy them. In a console or gaming device we are not talking about simulation, but rather about arcade, since they are focused more on the enjoyment of the home user than on Simracers (driving simulator players) more demanding with the Physics incorporated y sensations (Feedback) that the cars transmit to them.

Of course this may change in the future and the consoles will have real simulators, but today, we must be honest and say that there is still a big gap from a console to a PC in terms of simulation (whether it be cars or airplanes).

(I imagine that now your head is trying to assimilate so many concepts that may sound new to you. Don't worry about it, keep reading.)

As we want to focus on pure and simple Simulation, below we explain those previously mentioned concepts.

THE PHYSICS OF A CAR (ACCION AND REACCION)

Let's define first of all what Physics is.

 Physics is the science that observes Nature and tries to describe the laws that govern it through mathematical expressions

So when we refer to the physics of a simulator we are talking about reproducing,  through mathematical formulas and logarithms, the behavior of objects (cars) in the best possible way.

Well, it may be a bit boring to read, but it is vital to understand that the physics of a simulator must behave (if not 99%, at least 90%)   in the same way as it would in real life.

And we refer to the terms  Aaction and Reaction because depending on what you do with the car, it must react according to the physics established in the simulator.

For example, if a car is going at 100 km/h and brakes hard, in the simulator it should act in a way very similar to reality, that is, increasing the longitudinal G force forward,  transferring almost all the weight to the front axle of the car, compressing/decompressing the front/rear shock absorbers, etc.

Here we must radically forget about things like  braking with a car in a game and having it stop instantly without any physical reaction occurring like those mentioned above.

Therefore, the physics of a Simulator must be one of the priorities to be developed, since without them we turn it into an Arcade game, no more, no less.

But developing this virtual physics model by computer is possibly the most difficult thing to emulate because there are dozens and dozens of variables that can vary the behavior of a car: weather conditions, track temperature, relative humidity, wear and type of tires, different car setup, unevenness or roughness of the track,…. and we can continue like this for a long time.

Now we will analyze the main physical reactions that act on the car when it is in motion.

•  G Forces

G force is a measure of acceleration based on the increase in speed of an object or person due to gravity

We distinguish Longitudinal G Force (forward and backward), Side (left and right) and Vertical (up and down).

Transferred to cars, it can be said that 1G is the acceleration (or deceleration) of 35 km/h in 1 second (9.8 m/s2). So if the speed varies by 70 km/h in 1 second, we are talking about 2G. If it varies 105 km/h in 1 second it would be 3G. And so on.

But it is important to say that in many cases there are much higher peaks of G forces in tenths of a second. The increase or decrease in speed may be constant or peaks may occur in tenths or thousandths of a second, so we will apply this formula to calculate the G force at each moment.

G Force = Increase or Decrease in speed / (relative time * 35)

Increase or decrease from 70km/h in 2 seconds. -> 70 / (2 * 35) = 1G
Increase or decrease of 70km/h in 1 second. -> 70 / (1 * 35) = 2G
Increase or decrease of 70km/h in 5 tenths of a second. -> 70 / (0.5 * 35) = 4G

If the physics of the simulator are well calculated, the G forces should act in a coherent way on the car in question. And that is possibly the most crucial when it comes to replicating the behavior of a car.

But of course, this well-calculated parameter is possibly the most complicated to interpret for the driver of a simulator who is in a static cockpit, since he cannot feel any inertia in his body caused by the G forces, so he has to imagine or intuit the reaction of the car in hard braking or in a fast curve.

Therefore, when a Formula 1 driver rides a Cockpit without movement, he does not perceive the same as he perceives when driving a real single-seater. That is why it is so difficult for them to adapt to braking and lines, since they are accustomed in their careers to feeling several G's of force in their body and reacting in one way or another, and with a simulator they do not perceive this, which is why a 15-year-old kid is usually faster than them when getting into a cockpit.

Because? Well, because there are computer players who have become accustomed to a way of driving without feeling those g forces on their body and have found different references and sensations to improve their times.

For this reason the simulation continues to be developed day by day until there comes a time when a kid who has never driven a real car is no faster than a Fernando Alonso or Lewis Hamilton in a computer simulator. (Although from my point of view, there are still many years for that to happen)

As a detail and to get an idea of ​​what G-Force is in our daily lives, imagine emergency braking with your street car. What has ever happened to you? And what have you noticed? That you were completely blocked by the seat belt and with your head forward. Well, for your information, the G force that you may have felt during that braking does not reach 1G, since a street car does not have enough aerodynamics and grip to be able to maintain grip on the asphalt and ends up skidding (when skidding, the G force decreases).

Imagine what a Formula 1 driver can feel when he brakes from 300 km/h to 100 km/h in a couple of seconds...forces of up to 3 and 4 G. Something that would cause any of us to lose consciousness for a few seconds. (To give us an idea, the airbag of a street car jumps over the 3G)

Here is a video where you can clearly see the effect of G forces (and we are talking about 2 G or 2.5 G at most)

• Rotary movements

Apart from the G Forces, there are some rotational movements that objects (especially airplanes) suffer, which are Roll, Yaw and Pitch.

Roll : Roll (rotation with respect to the nose-tail axis of the object)

Yaw : Yaw (rotation around the vertical axis)

Pitch : Pitch (nose tilt)

These rotary movements are also reproduced in cars, but to a lesser extent than in an airplane. For example, in the Nascar cars that race on Oval circuits (Roll) , where the track is banked. Or on circuits with large slopes (Pitch). Or finally, when the car loses the rear axle and oversteers (Yaw).

After these points, we will say that mass transfer, tire grip and wear, or physical damage upon impact with an object, are effects caused by those physical reactions mentioned above.

And now let's define one of the most important effects that take place when a car goes at high speed, Aerodynamics.

• Aerodynamics

Aerodynamics is the part of fluid mechanics that studies gases in motion and the forces or reactions to which the bodies within them are subjected.

This effect is one of the keys to why a racing car can reach high speeds, have more grip than a street car, or brake much harder. In short, the aerodynamic load is another parameter that the simulator must calculate, as similar to reality as possible, taking into account the setup of the car (its spoilers, suspension height, positive or negative camber of the tires), material and type of body design, wind direction and speed, etc.

As a curiosity, a modern Formula 1 car is capable of developing 3.5 G of vertical force (three and a half times its own weight) through aerodynamic load, which means that at high speeds it could roll upside down on a roof without falling during travel.

Finally, it should be noted that the simulators available to the general public are constantly evolving to get as close as possible to the real behavior of a car. But it is true that there is still a long way to go.

In the next article we will see what Simulators for Computer They are the most used today by the “Simracers” and we will analyze them in detail taking into account the physics, but also other important characteristics that they must have, such as quality and graphic fluidity, realism in the 3D modeling of the tracks and cars, quality of sounds, data for telemetry analysis, possibilities of racing in ONLINE championships and races with other drivers, active user communities, periodic updates, etc...