i tipped about this like 2 months ago when i saw it at autoblog.co,

ivan225

LOL, I had a lawyer friend in Montreal who was trying to convince Ecclestone that this could work... back in 1998!! We had lots of discussions about how this could work (i.e. aside from racing as a ghost car or against ghost cars, obviously your car would have no impact on real-world events).

mariospants

I am a HUGE F1 fan, and most racing in general with the exception of NASCAR. If they are able to pull something like this off my Lord it could be a beautiful thing for the hardcore sim fans. I can't wait to see the "white paper" on how this is all going to work in game. Very interesting stuff indeed!

-EDGE-

@captain_dl: @gomerkyle9: agreed.

dArk_stAr

As realistic as a racing sim may be, racing an F1 car at home isn't going to be as hard. We wouldn't have to withstand the G's, be stuck in a low view etc. I've seen a video of a guy in GT5:P lapping Suzuka in an F1 car about the same speed as Michael Schumacher. No way could he do that irl.

Obli

@phicaluk:

Yeah, as interesting as it would be a few times, getting absolutely destroyed, even by those poor super aguri guys.

it would be cool as an option though, but certainly could get old i would think.

squall_kitsune

Hmm, if you are racing against genuine F1 drivers (or their ghostly avatars) then you are going to get pwned hard in every game you play. There's a reason why those guys earn millions of pounds a year, and it's got nothing to do with Nazi-themed sex orgies (or lack thereof).

phicaluk

Now why would I want to do that? Sounds good at first but then when you think about it, just why? Also, impossible to implement properly, and if I wanted to race against ghosts... no, I don't want to race against ghosts

CockneyKaiser

I posted this in the Gizmodo article:

Now this is truly a "next gen" gaming idea. People originally thought "next gen" meant higher res textures and better graphics. However, I am starting to believe "next gen" gaming is the development of a highly interactive community. Take MMOs for example, not all of the WoW subscribers are there for the storyline. Some greatly enjoy the ability to do amazing things with their friends in an customizable world. Some people think that technology is just going to alienate each other from the society but I think people are starting to realize how technology is actually bringing people together.

It would incredibly cool if a few friends and you were able to race in an F1 game while the typical AI opponents are actually REAL racers. It would allow fans of the sport to do more then watch, which is very passive. Why not make it interactive for everyone involved. People can already buy radios that listen to the pit crews just for the feeling of being closer to the action.

Music games are starting to do this now. Not all of us have the patience or dedication to learn a real instrument. However, with music games there is a now a way to simulate playing your favorite songs with friends. Imagine, one day your playing your favorite music game while a band is live on stage performing a concert and your getting a live feed allowing you to play the same song as them.

I expect to see lots of technology like this starting to pop up in the near future. Social gaming is growing.

Quicksilver4648

It wouldn't work, not because of the lack of accuracy or precesion but what happens in virtual reality doesn't exactly happen at the same time in real-life. When I'm playing this game, say, if I happen to ram a F1 car infront of me to cause havoc throughout the race course, it isn't gonna exactly gonna happen in real-life is it? And what would happen to other F1 cars if I did so? Go 1500mph to catch up their true positions in the real-time race? Lastly baring in mind F1 races only take place once every week or two. Do the developers really believe gamers will spend their Sunday afternoon participating in a 2-hour race? I know that this is just one of their selling points but it just so happens that it won't work.

Ricksterlau

It said it was accurate to 30 cm. If you were 30 cm off the apex each corner of a lap, it'd make a substantial difference to your lap time.
Wonder how they'll fix it.

I suppose it'll be in a game, but never fully supported.

Itsuru

Here's how they can get around it...

Everyone who's playing has an actual radio controlled drone car on the track. If you slam into someone in the game, then your drone car slams into someone on the real track. Then there's no need to have some kind of AI take over when something happens in game that isn't in real life.

What...

What do you mean that would be dangerous...

Eltigro

It seems like an awful idea to me. Might sound cool, but if you think twice about it, lots of possible problems suddenly rise.

My guess is that It will be a crap, but whatever game gets this feature will sell millions.

Fulgurator

@unleashbass: No difference to me. I always finish last in these things anyway.

Can't wait to see the ad campaign for this though, with the real F1 drivers playing it.

phisheep

Everything's all good and dandy until you smash into a car on the game, then you look on TV and the car you hit is swerving into the wall at 150 mph leaving you wondering what the hell just happened and you hang yourself out of guilt. Alright, I'll just excuse myself and go off to bed now.

gomerkyle9

Sounds like agood idea, though finishing consitantly last seem fairly enevatible and wouldn't make for a good experience.

unleashbass

@IronsUK: Yeah, I guess we'll have to see how that all works out. Don't get me wrong, I really do hope they figure out how to do this the best they can, and I cant wait to see it in some good racing games.

gomerkyle9

@phisheep: Another good point. I reckon the best thing when the safety car comes out is to take control away from the user until the race restarts?

IronsUK

I guess you have to start at the back of the grid then. Plus, it will all end in tears when the safety car comes out.

Cool idea though.

phisheep

@gomerkyle9: I see what you mean. I guess if you go steaming into the back of Lewis Hamilton that would write off his race. However, I suppose it would write off yours as well so perhaps the easy option is "GAME OVER YEAH!" in that situation?

IronsUK

@IronsUK: Oh I read it, but what I'm saying is as soon as you influence the other drivers it becomes your own race and not the race on TV. Unless they gave the racers a magic handicap that let's them speed into the actual positions on the real race.

gomerkyle9

@karasu is my homeboy: Yeah that would be neat, it's really the only thing that makes sense to me. I really hope they go through with this just to get a new original concept into the world of racing games. It wouldn't necessarily make a good stand-alone game but it would be a welcome addition to any decent racing game.

gomerkyle9

@gomerkyle9: If you read the BBC news item you'll see that they appear to have thought everything through quite well. Although GPS technology is the main part of it, there has to be some AI that takes over when the "real" car behind you is going faster than you.

@TrjnRabbit: When there's not a race on you can play as you would in any other racing sim, or you can re-race the real races as the article points out.

IronsUK

@Naryoril: @captain_dl: @gomerkyle9: Lmao this is what I came to say.

@gomerkyle9: And this was what I was going to say as well!

Maybe it'll be a "shadow race" where you can pass through people. Which on one hand is cool because it makes it all about timing, but on the other hand takes out the strategy and interference of racing.

karasu is my homeboy

@gomerkyle9: Unless you make them all ghosts?

gomerkyle9

As soon as you influence the other cars on the track in some way it would throw everything off. It would be a cool way to observe a race as a extra feature on a racing game. Make it so you can move the camera anyway you want, or have the in-car view of you favorite drivers. It's a good idea for spectators but it's a waste of time to try and make gameplay out of it.

gomerkyle9

@Naryoril: LOL .. you beat me to the punch as I was typing. Although your example was different than mine so I think both comments can coexist. :)

captain_dl

Very cool idea. But how do they plan to handle the reactions of other drivers to your car. Obviously you will not really be there on the track so the real drivers will not "give you racing room". Also how will they handle the the fact that I may have "nudged" a car to get the inside line in a turn which would cause the car I tapped to spin out? The GPS data would then be incorrect because that car is still racing, but should be sitting in the kitty litter.

captain_dl

hmm... i wonder what they imagine how to react to your own car.
say i'm in front of someone who is actually driving faster (in RL) than i am, but not fast enough to pass me (in the game). so due to myself, the game can't represent the real race, even if he passes me, he will have lost several seconds and can't possibly be at his real position.

Naryoril

@dionion: Lol, that seems more harsh than I was going for. It's a good feature though, I hope it catches on.

dionion

what a genius idea

noliferuin (PSN+XBL)

Wow that is a really great idea. You got my attention iOpener.

Snowdaddy

I hope Polyphony implements this in GT6: Prologue in 2017.

dionion

That's not too bad, but it does beg the question of how they plan to handle clipping and what you're meant to do when a race isn't on.

Otherwise, it really does seem like an inventive bit of tech.

TrjnRabbit

I love forward thinking! Go iOpener, I really hope this works out for you.

Morpork

5 seconds seems a bit of a long time for a racing game.

GHz

That's effing brilliant. Might even lure me back to racing games. iOpener deserves millions for this. One of those "now why didn't someone think of that before?" ideas...

freakout

You know ... after thinking about this some more, I doubt it will ever happen. I mean look, when the current generation of consoles came out, we were all told that we would get real time weather in our games. If you are playing Madden with the Giants at home, the game was supposed to check the weather conditions at that moment and adjust the game to the same weather. We have not seen that yet. So this seems to be way far fetched.

captain_dl

Oh yeah, and on that last bit, better make sure you've hit the head before powering up your console. There's no pause button in the real race, so unless they build in a time-delay system that allows you to use yours, you'll have to choose between holding it in or letting it loose where you sit (for increased real-race simulation!).

Purple Dave

What is two cars are less than one car length apart in real life and your, in-game car is supposed to be between them?

noobosaurus

Sounds cool on paper, but it won't work nearly as well in real life. If you're stuck in the back of the pack, you'll have to pass the entire pack to get to the front. There won't be any slipping into the middle without forcing the AI to completely take over for any cars that are behind you. And once the AI takes over for one car, anytime that car interacts with another car, the AI has to take over for that one as well. Before too long, the AI is running everything but you. Once it takes over a car, it can't let go of it until/unless it happens to end up in the same spot, travelling at the same speed, in the same direction.

Basically, the system will allow all those other cars to interact with you, but without two-way interaction, it'll either prevent you from having any fun, or it'll quickly stop being recognizable as the same race.

Now, the other option is to have all the other cars act as ghosts, but then it's a matter of whether you, running time trials, can be faster than cars that are actually in a real race. Not really a fair comparison.

But you know what the biggest problem with this is? You'd only ever be able to play this during an actual race. If you're that big a race fan, wouldn't you rather be _watching_ the race and playing the game on days when there isn't one?

Purple Dave

As has been pointed out before, as soon as you influence the race (e.g. try to race the other cars...) you will lose the real time aspect of the game. Starting from the back would solve this some what (but still, every car you overtake or try to overtake will lose its realtime position), you would not influence the front cars but then you have to make the game easy enough to catch up with the leaders once the race is on the way.

OsgoodDeucalion

Wait... why would i want to play a game while I'm watching the bet sport in the world? I mean why would I miss the race, there is no way I could be in the race so don't use that argument

Mad-elph

@Purple Dave: Drive a Depends sponsored car FTW!

Only way to make this work is to make it arcadey, where race conditions/positions reset whenever you cause a crash or some such. Also, AI would be necessary for the cars around you, while GPS could be used to update the positions of the other cars around the track.

It'd be neat if the AI (performance, agressiveness, etc) is modeled after the actual drivers, with parameters updated after each real life race.

kftgr

I am not so sure this would be so interesting to play "live". maybe as a ghost feature you could "try to beat Kimi's Time in Australia"... but then again to be honest it might be one of those 90 10 things where you are putting so much effort in to mapping his lap, and all that essentially matters is the lap time he did.

That being said, I do think this would make an awesome add-on feature to any F1 game for a different reason. If you could get the correct positions with 5 seconds, updated on your console, you could kind of watch the race "live" via your console and, given the correct options, allow the player to call the camera shots, instead of how it is now, where the FIA (or whoever it is) controls the one and only feed of the races. you wouldn't be stuck watching whatever they want to put up there. You could tell the camera to track your favorite racer, or go back and watch how a crash developed, or watch that interesting corner or chicane as everyone passes through and not just the one or two drivers the FIA wants to show you.

the possibilities are endless! this could work for lots of sports too. Just think, in the future we will have the sale of Broadcast/TV right and the sale of GPS tracking rights. neat!

weinerman

And to think i thoguht this up back in the day of the dreamcast but NOOOOOo, no one would listen to me at ALL! they were like, thats dumb, shutup...well..SCREW EVERYONE THAT SAID THAT! you killed my dreams =(

Pupnasty

This would be AWESOME if you could race in real time.

You could race the racers during the race. Who wouldnt like to say they placed ahead of Michael Schumacher?

string_theory