MOTION-BASED SIMULATION


Confidence tricks


As motion-based simulation breaks into top-flight racing, diverse solutions compete to become the industry standard


BY CHARLES ARMSTRONG-WILSON I


t was 15 years ago that Jacques Villeneuve raised eyebrows in Formula 1 by learning the whole season’s circuits on a computer game.


It was entirely in character with his baggy pants, skater image, born out of a culture where computer games were taking centre stage. And it worked, helping him win four races in his rookie season. But it took more than a


decade for simulations to embed themselves in the arsenal of the F1 teams. In the last couple of


years, though, their relevance has taken a huge leap, thanks to motion-based simulation, which is widely believed to engage with the driver on a much more intimate level, and consequently is being used by most F1 teams – but not all. There is a contrary attitude


that if you cannot reproduce the forces in a real F1 car, then there is no point trying at all. In fact, in attempting to simulate the forces, you risk misinforming the driver, which would ultimately be counter-productive. Furthermore,


32 www.racecar-engineering.com • September 2011


some highly respected drivers are even, we are told, prone to motion sickness when driving a force-based simulator. However, the fact that most F1 teams do now use motion- based simulation supports the argument that it can provide a valuable aid to driver training and car development. But the debate over what forces are regarded as necessary, and how they are best applied to create a worthwhile simulation, is far from settled. The technology is still very new and various approaches are


emerging from different suppliers. This, then, would appear to be an exciting time for the technology. The different solutions are based on the differing views held by the people behind them so, to understand it better, we spoke to three companies with different simulator formats for their insight.


CRUDEN Tracing its roots back to a department of Dutch aircraft manufacturer Fokker, the experts that formed Cruden began life creating simulator technology for


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