Sim racing
Encyclopedia
Sim racing is the collective term for computer software
(i.e. a vehicle simulation game
) that attempts to simulate accurately auto racing
(a racing video game), complete with real-world variables such as fuel usage, damage, tire wear and grip, and suspension settings. To be competitive in sim racing, a driver must understand all aspects of car handling
that make real-world racing so difficult, such as threshold braking
, how to maintain control of a car as the tires lose traction, and how properly to enter and exit a turn without sacrificing speed. It is this level of difficulty that distinguishes sim racing from "arcade" driving games where real-world variables are taken out of the equation and the principal objective is to create a sense of speed as opposed to a sense of realism.
In general, sim racing applications such as, Grand Prix Legends
, iRacing, Virtual Grand Prix 3, GT Legends
, rFactor
, GTR2, Live for Speed
, netKar Pro
, and X Motor Racing
are less popular than arcade-style games
such as Need for Speed
series, mainly because much more skill and practice is required to master them. However, sims such as NASCAR Racing 2003 Season
, and Richard Burns Rally
have achieved world wide fame. Also, because of the demands on the computer system, race sims require faster computers to run effectively, as well as a somewhat costly steering wheel and pedals for the throttle and brakes. Most arcade driving games can be played with a simple joystick controller or even a mouse and keyboard.
With the development of online racing capability, the ability to drive against human opponents as opposed to computer AI is the closest many will come to driving real cars on a real track. Even those who race in real-world competition use simulations for practice or for entertainment. Continued development of the physics engine
software that forms the basis of these sims, as well as improved hardware (providing tactile feedback), the software gets ever closer to reality.
developed by Namco
, which the game's publisher Atari
publicized for its "unbelievable driving realism" in providing a Formula 1 experience behind a racing wheel
at the time. It featured other AI
cars to race against, crashes caused by collisions
with other vehicles and roadside signs, and introduced a qualifying lap concept where the player needs to complete a time trial
before they can compete in Grand Prix
races. It also pioneered the third-person rear-view perspective used in most racing games since then, with the track's vanishing point swaying side to side as the player approaches corners, accurately simulating forward movement into the distance.
Pole Position II
was released in 1983 and featured several improvements like giving the player the choice of different race courses. TX-1
, developed by Tatsumi in 1983, was licensed to Namco, who in turn licensed it to Atari in America, thus the game is considered a successor to Pole Position II. TX-1, however, placed a greater emphasis on realism, with details such as forcing players to brake or downshift the gear during corners to avoid the risk of losing control, and let go of the accelerator when going into a skid in order to regain control of the steering. It also used force feedback technology, which caused the steering wheel to vibrate, and the game also featured a unique three-screen arcade display for a more three-dimensional
perspective of the track. It also introduced nonlinear gameplay by allowing players to choose which path to drive through after each checkpoint, eventually leading to one of eight possible final destinations
. An early attempt at creating a home driving simulator was Tomy
's 1983 game Turnin' Turbo Dashboard, the first home video game to feature a steering wheel controller.
In 1985, Sega's Hang-On
, a popular Grand Prix
style rear-view motorbike racer, was considered the first full-body-experience video game, and was regarded as the first motorbike simulator for its realism at the time, in both the handling of the player's motorbike and the AI of the computer-controlled motorcyclists. It used force feedback technology and was also one of the first arcade game
s to use 16-bit graphics
and Sega's "Super Scaler" technology that allowed pseudo-3D
sprite-scaling at high frame rate
s.
The following year, Konami
released WEC Le Mans
, an early car driving simulator based on the 24 Hours of Le Mans
. It attempted to realistically simulate car driving, with the car jumping up and down, turning back and forth, and spinning up to 180 degres, with an emphasis on acceleration, breaking, and gear shifting, along with the need for counter-steering to avoid spin-outs. It also featured a day-night cycle, accurately simulated courses approved by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest
, and force feedback to simulate road vibration in the form of a vibrating steering wheel that reacts to the driver's acceleration and off-road bumps.
The first racing game with simulation pretensions on a home system is believed to have been REVS
, released in 1986. REVS was a Formula 3
sim that delivered a semi-realistic driving experience by Geoff Crammond
that ran on the 8-bit Commodore 64
and BBC
. REVS had a big fan base in England, but not so much in the United States. This was then superseded by the widely popular Hard Drivin'
which was an arcade and home computing staple released in 1989, and one of the most widely played simulators up to that point.
Sim racing is generally acknowledged to have really taken off in 1990 with the introduction of Papyrus Design Group
's Indianapolis 500: The Simulation
, designed by David Kaemmer and Omar Khudari on 16-bit hardware. The game is often generally regarded as the personal computer's first true auto racing simulation. Unlike most other racing games at the time, Indianapolis 500 attempted to simulate realistic physics
and telemetry
, such as its portrayal of the relationship between the four contact patches and the pavement, as well as the loss of grip when making a high-speed turn, forcing the player to adopt a proper racing line and believable throttle-to-brake interaction. It also featured a garage facility to allow players to enact modifications to their vehicle, including adjustments to the tires, shocks and wings. With Indy 500, players could race the full 500 miles (804.7 km), where even a blowout after 450 miles (724.2 km) would take the player out of the competition. The simulation sold over 200,000 copies.
The next major milestone was the 1992 release of Formula One Grand Prix
(AKA World Circuit in some markets) by MicroProse
, also developed by Geoff Crammond. This moved the genre along significantly. Multiplayer was made possible by allowing different drivers to take turns, and racers could also hook up their machines for racing via a null modem
cable. This only allowed two drivers to race. Leagues emerged where drivers would submit records of their single player races to compare with other drivers. This is the first sim in which drafting/slip streaming was possible.
Papyrus followed up Indy 500 with IndyCar Racing
in 1993 and F1GP was surpassed in all areas. Papyrus later released more tracks and a final expansion included the Indy 500 track plus a paintkit. Now drivers could easily customize their cars. IndyCar Racing sold around 300,000 copies.
The first variant of Papyrus' NASCAR series was launched in 1994. In SVGA (640x480) it pushed the PCs of the time to the limit. Suddenly a resolution of 320x200 seemed a poor option and NASCAR was the race sim of choice for anyone with a capable PC, particularly in North America. It was the first sim where cars no longer looked like boxes. It keyed in on sophisticated physics modeling. NASCAR 1 sold over one million units. Moreover, the first real online racing started with NASCAR 1 using the "Hawaii" dial-in servers and it was not uncommon for these early sim racers to have $300 to $1500 phone bills. Online racing had seen its first true realization, and to many, this was the dawn of "real" sim racing.
1995 saw the release of IndyCar Racing II
, updating the first version with the new NASCAR graphics engine. A year later, MicroProse
released the successor to F1GP, Grand Prix 2
, to much anticipation. GP2 became successful not just because of its detailed and thorough simulation of the 1994 Formula 1 season, but also because it was customizable; this was achievable by way of the online community. Players could change everything about the game: drivers, teams, graphics, physics, car shapes, and eventually even the racetracks. Offline leagues reached their peak with GP2 in 1998.
In 1996, NASCAR 2 was released, further improving the original, and the number of sim racers exploded. The TEN
multiplayer hosting service was introduced and went live in November of 1997 with the backing of NASCAR and the online sim racing community grew.
1997 saw the release of Polyphony Digital
's Gran Turismo
, which was in production for five years since 1992, and is considered by some to be the most influential console racing game of all time. As the most realistic driving simulation seen on a console up until that time, it offered meticulous tuning options and introduced an open-ended career mode
where players had to undertake driving test
s to acquire driving licenses
, earn their way into races, and choose their own career path. Later games introduced endurance racing events, such as the 1000 km Suzuka, 24 Hours of Le Mans
and 24 Hours Nürburgring
. The Gran Turismo series
has since become the best-selling racing game franchise to date, having sold over 61.41 million units worldwide.
s provided texture mapping
, antialiasing, particle effects
(i.e. fog, rain and snow), and the capability to perform polygonal calculations faster, while taking the load off of the main processor. F1 Racing Simulation by Ubisoft
, was among the first to utilize the new technology in 1997.
After years of development, Microprose released Grand Prix 3
, which used a more modern graphics engine and featured the same customizable structure of GP2. GP3 was ultimately seen as a bit of a disappointment though, lacking proper network-multiplayer-support and using only an evolution of the GP2 graphic-engine. Still, its similarity allowed easy track conversions back and forth.
Another milestone in sim racing came in 1998 with the release of Grand Prix Legends
(GPL) from Papyrus, based on the 1967 F1 season. It was hailed as outstanding in all areas, but especially the physics and online multiplayer capability. For many, their first real experience with online racing was GPL, or the later variants of NASCAR that used the GPL engine. The release of a third-party add-on for GPL—VROC (Virtual Racers Online Connection) -- allowed racers to join together online and race in leagues.
Despite its age, GPL has remained a top class sim even in 2008 thanks to a strong community, who collectively have updated the graphics to utilize the current CPU and graphics capabilities and have created loads of add-on tracks of a high quality. Modding teams have managed to create new physics sets, and a 1965 1966 and 1969 variants are now available with many improvements over the original.
Since GPL, Image Space Incorporated
has produced Sports Car GT
in 1999 and the F1 series starting in 2000, all published by Electronic Arts
. Unlike the Papyrus sims, the physics are easily modified, and a large community has developed dedicated to modifying the ISI sims. One such modding team, Simbin
, have created their own company and have released several games, including GTR - FIA GT Racing Game
, GT Legends
, GTR 2
, RACE - The Official WTCC Game
, RACE 07, STCC - The Game
, GTR Evolution
and Race On
.
Wired magazine wrote an in-depth article about racing sims called Hard Drive in their February 1997 issue.http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/5.02/ffdrivesim_pr.html
David Kaemmer, co-founder of the now-defunct Papyrus, has released iRacing, a new multiplayer-oriented simulation run on a subscription model. Rally fans have a hardcore racing simulator with Richard Burns Rally
. Eero Piitulainen, lead physics programmer for Richard Burns Rally, is currently developing a new multi-class online racing simulator called Driver's Republic.
A small, 3-man team is developing Live for Speed
, which has just announced the third, and final phase of a 3-phase development cycle. Phase 2 brought in many updates, including the first real cars (The BMW Sauber
F1 car being included in those), however for Phase 3 the first real-world circuit has been announced - The Rockingham Motor Speedway
. The circuit will be laser-scanned for absolute accuracy. Also coming soon is another real-world car - the new VW Scirocco; for which several physics changes have had to be made to ensure a fully accurate simulation.
In August, 2005, ISI released rFactor
, a highly modifiable sim based on their gMotor2 physics engine. Notable for its initial download-only distribution model, rFactor originally released with fictional cars and tracks. ISI's encouragement of the enthusiast mod community has led to an unprecedented number of add-ons, including 800-horsepower-stock cars. Subsequent releases of rFactor featured Formula One cars and recreations of real track layouts under fictitious names.
Paolo Cattani has developed Virtual Grand Prix 3 (published by A&M), notable for its quasi-finite elements tyre model and its clever Artificial Intelligene. AutoSimSport Magazine awarded VGP3 as "the 3rd best simulator of the year" in 2009.
Kunos Simulazioni has released netKar Pro
, a new version of netKar which attempts to bring together highly accurate physics and sound modeling as well as DirectX
9 graphics. Development tools for modifying NKP have been announced.
The Sim Factory has announced a partnership with the ARCA Racing series
and Image Space Incorporated to create a realistic and sanctioned online racing simulation. The simulation is currently being developed using input from real drivers, real crew chiefs, real data, and engineers specializing in all the areas needed to recreate a simulated stock car racing environment.
More recently, Eugene Cojocar of Exotypos released X Motor Racing
., and Reiza Studios released Game Stock Car (GSC).
opened a 30,000 square-foot performance driving facility in Sonoma, Calif. helping to make simulation racing more mainstream and increasing the potential for many more people to enjoy motor sports as a participant activity.
The oldest and longest running simulator racing website is The Pits. Started in 1995 when an entrepreneur editor from the UK wanted a place to host his modification for the Indycar Racing II sim, it has continued to serve the community with a multitude of firsts in the simulator racing world, as well as downloads and helpful information. Some of the firsts include the first complete mod (or modification) for racing simulation software, The Pits Touring Car Championship, released in 1997.
One of the latest trends in sim racing is towards broadcasting the events. There are a growing number of leagues that are now running flag to flag coverage of their events. And like other forms of motorsports the fans can outnumber the drivers by many. There are several places for fans to go to find out more about simulator racing. Since January 2005, AutoSimSport Magazine has provided industry leading content for sim racers. Beginning its 4th year of publication, AutoSimSport Magazine continues to provide quality media for sim racers the world over to keep current with the latest advancements in simulators, hardware, and where the sim racing industry is headed. Since 2010, "Crash Cast FM" is a new simracing radioshow/podcast.
Computer software
Computer software, or just software, is a collection of computer programs and related data that provide the instructions for telling a computer what to do and how to do it....
(i.e. a vehicle simulation game
Vehicle simulation game
Vehicle simulation games are a genre of video games which attempt to provide the player with a realistic interpretation of operating various kinds of vehicles. This includes automobiles, aircraft, watercraft, spacecraft, military vehicles, and a variety of other vehicles...
) that attempts to simulate accurately auto racing
Auto racing
Auto racing is a motorsport involving the racing of cars for competition. It is one of the world's most watched televised sports.-The beginning of racing:...
(a racing video game), complete with real-world variables such as fuel usage, damage, tire wear and grip, and suspension settings. To be competitive in sim racing, a driver must understand all aspects of car handling
Car handling
Automobile handling and vehicle handling are descriptions of the way wheeled vehicles perform transverse to their direction of motion, particularly during cornering and swerving. It also includes their stability when moving at rest. Handling and braking are the major components of a vehicle's...
that make real-world racing so difficult, such as threshold braking
Threshold braking
Threshold braking or limit braking is a driving technique most commonly used in motor racing, but also practiced in road vehicles to slow a vehicle at the optimum rate using the brakes....
, how to maintain control of a car as the tires lose traction, and how properly to enter and exit a turn without sacrificing speed. It is this level of difficulty that distinguishes sim racing from "arcade" driving games where real-world variables are taken out of the equation and the principal objective is to create a sense of speed as opposed to a sense of realism.
In general, sim racing applications such as, Grand Prix Legends
Grand Prix Legends
Grand Prix Legends is a computer racing simulator developed by Papyrus Design Group and published in 1998 by Sierra Entertainment...
, iRacing, Virtual Grand Prix 3, GT Legends
GT Legends
GT Legends is a sports car racing simulator developed by Simbin for the PC. It is based on the 2005 FIA Historic Racing Championshipsfor GTC and TC cars of the 1960s and 1970s...
, rFactor
RFactor
rFactor is a computer racing simulator, designed with the ability to run any type of four-wheeled vehicle from street cars to open wheel cars of any era. rFactor aimed to be the most accurate race simulator of its time...
, GTR2, Live for Speed
Live for Speed
Live for Speed is a racing simulator developed by a three person team comprising Scawen Roberts, Eric Bailey, and Victor van Vlaardingen. The main focus is to provide a realistic racing experience for the online multiplayer game and to allow single player races against AI cars...
, netKar Pro
NetKar Pro
netKar Pro is an online racing simulator that is developed with an emphasis on realism. It provides advanced features such as a complex tire model and a fully interactive cockpit such as those seen in flight simulators.-Debut and Versions 1.0.x:netKar Pro debuted at a...
, and X Motor Racing
X Motor Racing
X-Motor Racing is an indie racing simulator. The game features high precision physics simulation.Featured is a fully customizable physics model — the tire model, suspension, or motor are available to tune in the game, including an advanced tire model with adjustable parameters, such as...
are less popular than arcade-style games
Arcade game
An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers...
such as Need for Speed
Need for Speed
Need for Speed is a series of racing video games published by Electronic Arts and developed by several studios including Canadian-based company EA Black Box and British-based Criterion Games...
series, mainly because much more skill and practice is required to master them. However, sims such as NASCAR Racing 2003 Season
NASCAR Racing 2003 Season
NASCAR Racing 2003 Season, or NR2003 for short, is a computer racing simulator released in February 2003 by Papyrus for PC and Mac OS X. The game was the last to be released by the company before EA Sports bought the NASCAR license exclusively from 2004-09...
, and Richard Burns Rally
Richard Burns Rally
Richard Burns Rally is a sim racing game, published by SCi and developed by Warthog with advice of WRC driver Richard Burns.-Summary:It simulates both classic and modern rallying, and is best known for its realistic physics engine....
have achieved world wide fame. Also, because of the demands on the computer system, race sims require faster computers to run effectively, as well as a somewhat costly steering wheel and pedals for the throttle and brakes. Most arcade driving games can be played with a simple joystick controller or even a mouse and keyboard.
With the development of online racing capability, the ability to drive against human opponents as opposed to computer AI is the closest many will come to driving real cars on a real track. Even those who race in real-world competition use simulations for practice or for entertainment. Continued development of the physics engine
Physics engine
A physics engine is computer software that provides an approximate simulation of certain physical systems, such as rigid body dynamics , soft body dynamics, and fluid dynamics, of use in the domains of computer graphics, video games and film. Their main uses are in video games , in which case the...
software that forms the basis of these sims, as well as improved hardware (providing tactile feedback), the software gets ever closer to reality.
Early years
Racing video games had been attempting to provide driving simulation experiences since Pole Position, a 1982 arcade gameArcade game
An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers...
developed by Namco
Namco
is a Japanese corporation best known as a former video game developer and publisher. Following a merger with Bandai in September 2005, the two companies' game production assets were spun off into Namco Bandai Games on March 31, 2006. Namco Ltd. was re-established to continue domestic operation of...
, which the game's publisher Atari
Atari
Atari is a corporate and brand name owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by Atari Interactive, a wholly owned subsidiary of the French publisher Atari, SA . The original Atari, Inc. was founded in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. It was a pioneer in...
publicized for its "unbelievable driving realism" in providing a Formula 1 experience behind a racing wheel
Racing wheel
A racing wheel is the preferred method of control for use in racing video games, racing simulators, and driving simulators. They are usually packaged with a large paddle styled as a steering wheel, along with a set of pedals for gas, brake, and sometimes clutch actuation, as well as various shifter...
at the time. It featured other AI
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
cars to race against, crashes caused by collisions
Collision detection
Collision detection typically refers to the computational problem of detecting the intersection of two or more objects. While the topic is most often associated with its use in video games and other physical simulations, it also has applications in robotics...
with other vehicles and roadside signs, and introduced a qualifying lap concept where the player needs to complete a time trial
Time trial
In many racing sports an athlete will compete in a time trial against the clock to secure the fastest time. In cycling, for example, a time trial can be a single track cycling event, or an individual or team time trial on the road, and either or both of the latter may form components of...
before they can compete in Grand Prix
Grand Prix motor racing
Grand Prix motor racing has its roots in organised automobile racing that began in France as far back as 1894. It quickly evolved from a simple road race from one town to the next, to endurance tests for car and driver...
races. It also pioneered the third-person rear-view perspective used in most racing games since then, with the track's vanishing point swaying side to side as the player approaches corners, accurately simulating forward movement into the distance.
Pole Position II
Pole Position II
Pole Position II is a racing arcade game that was released by Namco in 1983 as the sequel to Pole Position, which was released the previous year. As with the original, Namco licensed Pole Position II to Atari for US manufacture and distribution...
was released in 1983 and featured several improvements like giving the player the choice of different race courses. TX-1
TX-1
TX-1 is a 1983 racing arcade video game developed by Tatsumi. It was licensed to Namco, who in turn licensed it to Atari for release in the United States, thus the game is considered a successor to Pole Position II...
, developed by Tatsumi in 1983, was licensed to Namco, who in turn licensed it to Atari in America, thus the game is considered a successor to Pole Position II. TX-1, however, placed a greater emphasis on realism, with details such as forcing players to brake or downshift the gear during corners to avoid the risk of losing control, and let go of the accelerator when going into a skid in order to regain control of the steering. It also used force feedback technology, which caused the steering wheel to vibrate, and the game also featured a unique three-screen arcade display for a more three-dimensional
2.5D
2.5D , 3/4 perspective and pseudo-3D are terms used to describe either:* 2D graphical projections and techniques which cause a series of images or scenes to fake or appear to be three-dimensional when in fact they are not, or* gameplay in an otherwise three-dimensional video game that is...
perspective of the track. It also introduced nonlinear gameplay by allowing players to choose which path to drive through after each checkpoint, eventually leading to one of eight possible final destinations
Multiple endings
Multiple endings refer to a case in entertainment where the story could end in different ways, described as an alternate ending.-Literature:...
. An early attempt at creating a home driving simulator was Tomy
Takara Tomy
is a Japanese toy, children's merchandise and entertainment company created from the March 2006 merger of two companies: Tomy and long-time rival, Takara...
's 1983 game Turnin' Turbo Dashboard, the first home video game to feature a steering wheel controller.
In 1985, Sega's Hang-On
Hang-On
Hang-On is an arcade game released by Sega in 1985. It is the world's first full-body-experience video game. In the game, the player controls a motorcycle against time and other computer-controlled bikes. It was one of the first arcade games to use 16-bit graphics and Sega's "Super Scaler"...
, a popular Grand Prix
Grand Prix motorcycle racing
Road Racing World Championship Grand Prix is the premier championship of motorcycle road racing currently divided into three distinct classes: 125cc, Moto2 and MotoGP. The 125cc class uses a two-stroke engine while Moto2 and MotoGP use four-stroke engines. In 2010 the 250cc two-stroke was replaced...
style rear-view motorbike racer, was considered the first full-body-experience video game, and was regarded as the first motorbike simulator for its realism at the time, in both the handling of the player's motorbike and the AI of the computer-controlled motorcyclists. It used force feedback technology and was also one of the first arcade game
Arcade game
An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers...
s to use 16-bit graphics
History of video game consoles (fourth generation)
In the history of computer and video games, the fourth generation began on October 30, 1987 with the Japanese release of Nippon Electric Company's PC Engine...
and Sega's "Super Scaler" technology that allowed pseudo-3D
2.5D
2.5D , 3/4 perspective and pseudo-3D are terms used to describe either:* 2D graphical projections and techniques which cause a series of images or scenes to fake or appear to be three-dimensional when in fact they are not, or* gameplay in an otherwise three-dimensional video game that is...
sprite-scaling at high frame rate
Frame rate
Frame rate is the frequency at which an imaging device produces unique consecutive images called frames. The term applies equally well to computer graphics, video cameras, film cameras, and motion capture systems...
s.
The following year, Konami
Konami
is a Japanese leading developer and publisher of numerous popular and strong-selling toys, trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, slot machines, arcade cabinets and video games...
released WEC Le Mans
WEC Le Mans
WEC Le Mans, is a sim racing arcade game released in November 1986 by Konami. It was the first video game to depict the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The Lap of Le Mans is split up into 3 sections, as you pass through each of the 3 sections, the time of day changes from day to dusk, dusk to night, and night...
, an early car driving simulator based on the 24 Hours of Le Mans
24 Hours of Le Mans
The 24 Hours of Le Mans is the world's oldest sports car race in endurance racing, held annually since near the town of Le Mans, France. Commonly known as the Grand Prix of Endurance and Efficiency, race teams have to balance speed against the cars' ability to run for 24 hours without sustaining...
. It attempted to realistically simulate car driving, with the car jumping up and down, turning back and forth, and spinning up to 180 degres, with an emphasis on acceleration, breaking, and gear shifting, along with the need for counter-steering to avoid spin-outs. It also featured a day-night cycle, accurately simulated courses approved by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest
Automobile Club de l'Ouest
The Automobile Club de l'Ouest , sometimes abbreviated to ACO, is the largest automotive group in France. It was founded in 1906 by car building and racing enthusiasts, and is most famous for being the organising entity behind the annual Le Mans 24 Hours race...
, and force feedback to simulate road vibration in the form of a vibrating steering wheel that reacts to the driver's acceleration and off-road bumps.
The first racing game with simulation pretensions on a home system is believed to have been REVS
REVS (computer game)
Revs is a 1984 Formula Three simulation written initially for the BBC Micro by Geoff Crammond and published by Acornsoft that is notable for its realistic simulation of the sport and as a precursor to its author's later work on Formula One Grand Prix and its sequels.-Gameplay:Unlike most...
, released in 1986. REVS was a Formula 3
Formula Three
Formula Three, also called Formula 3 or F3, is a class of open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held in Europe, Australia, South America and Asia form an important step for many prospective Formula One drivers...
sim that delivered a semi-realistic driving experience by Geoff Crammond
Geoff Crammond
Geoff Crammond is a computer game designer and programmer who specialises in motor racing games. A former defense industry systems engineer, he claims to have had little interest in motor racing before programming his first racing game back in 1984, but he holds a physics degree, which may explain...
that ran on the 8-bit Commodore 64
Commodore 64
The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595...
and BBC
BBC Micro
The BBC Microcomputer System, or BBC Micro, was a series of microcomputers and associated peripherals designed and built by Acorn Computers for the BBC Computer Literacy Project, operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation...
. REVS had a big fan base in England, but not so much in the United States. This was then superseded by the widely popular Hard Drivin'
Hard Drivin'
Hard Drivin is an arcade game that invites players to test drive a high-powered sports car on stunt and speed courses. The game featured the first 3D polygon driving environment via a simulator cabinet, rendered with a custom architecture...
which was an arcade and home computing staple released in 1989, and one of the most widely played simulators up to that point.
Sim racing is generally acknowledged to have really taken off in 1990 with the introduction of Papyrus Design Group
Papyrus Design Group
Papyrus Design Group, Inc. was a computer game developer founded in 1987 by David Kaemmer and CEO Omar Khudari. Based in Watertown, MA, it is best known for its series of realistic sim racing games based on the NASCAR and IndyCar leagues, as well as the unique Grand Prix Legends. Papyrus was...
's Indianapolis 500: The Simulation
Indianapolis 500: The Simulation
Indianapolis 500: The Simulation is a 1989 computer game. It was hailed as the first step of differentiating racing games from the arcade realm and into true simulations. It was developed by the Papyrus Design Group, consisting of David Kaemmer and Omar Khudari, and distributed by Electronic Arts...
, designed by David Kaemmer and Omar Khudari on 16-bit hardware. The game is often generally regarded as the personal computer's first true auto racing simulation. Unlike most other racing games at the time, Indianapolis 500 attempted to simulate realistic physics
Game physics
Computer animation physics or game physics involves the introduction of the laws of physics into a simulation or game engine, particularly in 3D computer graphics, for the purpose of making the effects appear more real to the observer...
and telemetry
Telemetry
Telemetry is a technology that allows measurements to be made at a distance, usually via radio wave transmission and reception of the information. The word is derived from Greek roots: tele = remote, and metron = measure...
, such as its portrayal of the relationship between the four contact patches and the pavement, as well as the loss of grip when making a high-speed turn, forcing the player to adopt a proper racing line and believable throttle-to-brake interaction. It also featured a garage facility to allow players to enact modifications to their vehicle, including adjustments to the tires, shocks and wings. With Indy 500, players could race the full 500 miles (804.7 km), where even a blowout after 450 miles (724.2 km) would take the player out of the competition. The simulation sold over 200,000 copies.
The next major milestone was the 1992 release of Formula One Grand Prix
Formula One Grand Prix (Geoff Crammond)
Formula One Grand Prix is a racing simulator released in 1992 by MicroProse for the Atari ST, Amiga and PC created by game designer Geoff Crammond...
(AKA World Circuit in some markets) by MicroProse
MicroProse
MicroProse was a video game publisher and developer, founded by Wild Bill Stealey and Sid Meier in 1982 as Microprose Software. In 1993, the company became a subsidiary of Spectrum HoloByte and has remained a subsidiary or brand name under several other corporations since...
, also developed by Geoff Crammond. This moved the genre along significantly. Multiplayer was made possible by allowing different drivers to take turns, and racers could also hook up their machines for racing via a null modem
Null modem
Null modem is a communication method to connect two DTEs directly using an RS-232 serial cable. The name stems from the historical use of the RS-232 cable to connect two teleprinter devices to modems in order to communicate with one another; null modem communication was possible by instead using...
cable. This only allowed two drivers to race. Leagues emerged where drivers would submit records of their single player races to compare with other drivers. This is the first sim in which drafting/slip streaming was possible.
Papyrus followed up Indy 500 with IndyCar Racing
IndyCar Racing
IndyCar Racing, followed up two years later by its sequel, IndyCar Racing II, is a racing game by Papyrus Design Group. It was released in 1993...
in 1993 and F1GP was surpassed in all areas. Papyrus later released more tracks and a final expansion included the Indy 500 track plus a paintkit. Now drivers could easily customize their cars. IndyCar Racing sold around 300,000 copies.
The first variant of Papyrus' NASCAR series was launched in 1994. In SVGA (640x480) it pushed the PCs of the time to the limit. Suddenly a resolution of 320x200 seemed a poor option and NASCAR was the race sim of choice for anyone with a capable PC, particularly in North America. It was the first sim where cars no longer looked like boxes. It keyed in on sophisticated physics modeling. NASCAR 1 sold over one million units. Moreover, the first real online racing started with NASCAR 1 using the "Hawaii" dial-in servers and it was not uncommon for these early sim racers to have $300 to $1500 phone bills. Online racing had seen its first true realization, and to many, this was the dawn of "real" sim racing.
1995 saw the release of IndyCar Racing II
IndyCar Racing II
IndyCar Racing II is a racing game developed by Papyrus Design Group. It is the sequel to IndyCar Racing, and was released in 1995. A little over a year later, the game was re-released, with a few minor upgrades, under the title CART Racing...
, updating the first version with the new NASCAR graphics engine. A year later, MicroProse
MicroProse
MicroProse was a video game publisher and developer, founded by Wild Bill Stealey and Sid Meier in 1982 as Microprose Software. In 1993, the company became a subsidiary of Spectrum HoloByte and has remained a subsidiary or brand name under several other corporations since...
released the successor to F1GP, Grand Prix 2
Grand Prix 2 (game)
Grand Prix 2, sometimes known as "GP2" and sold in the American market as Grand Prix II, is a racing simulator released by MicroProse in 1996. It was made under an official FIA license that featured the Formula One 1994 season, with all of the circuits, teams, drivers and cars...
, to much anticipation. GP2 became successful not just because of its detailed and thorough simulation of the 1994 Formula 1 season, but also because it was customizable; this was achievable by way of the online community. Players could change everything about the game: drivers, teams, graphics, physics, car shapes, and eventually even the racetracks. Offline leagues reached their peak with GP2 in 1998.
In 1996, NASCAR 2 was released, further improving the original, and the number of sim racers exploded. The TEN
Total Entertainment Network
Total Entertainment Network was an online gaming service that existed from September, 1996 until October, 1999. T E Network, Inc., which created and operated the TEN service, was formed from the merger of Optigon Interactive and Outland in June, 1995 when they received their first round of venture...
multiplayer hosting service was introduced and went live in November of 1997 with the backing of NASCAR and the online sim racing community grew.
1997 saw the release of Polyphony Digital
Polyphony Digital
Polyphony Digital, Inc. is an internal video game developing company of Sony Computer Entertainment and is part of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios...
's Gran Turismo
Gran Turismo (video game)
is a racing simulator designed by Kazunori Yamauchi. Gran Turismo was developed by Polyphony Digital and first published by Sony Computer Entertainment in 1997 for the PlayStation video game console...
, which was in production for five years since 1992, and is considered by some to be the most influential console racing game of all time. As the most realistic driving simulation seen on a console up until that time, it offered meticulous tuning options and introduced an open-ended career mode
Be-a-pro mode
The usage of be-a-pro mode is a repackaging of the player-lock feature with a primitive evaluation system added to rate the player's performance...
where players had to undertake driving test
Driving test
A driving test is a procedure designed to test a person's ability to drive a motor vehicle. It exists in various forms worldwide, and is often a requirement to pass the exam to obtain a driver's license...
s to acquire driving licenses
Driver's license
A driver's license/licence , or driving licence is an official document which states that a person may operate a motorized vehicle, such as a motorcycle, car, truck or a bus, on a public roadway. Most U.S...
, earn their way into races, and choose their own career path. Later games introduced endurance racing events, such as the 1000 km Suzuka, 24 Hours of Le Mans
24 Hours of Le Mans
The 24 Hours of Le Mans is the world's oldest sports car race in endurance racing, held annually since near the town of Le Mans, France. Commonly known as the Grand Prix of Endurance and Efficiency, race teams have to balance speed against the cars' ability to run for 24 hours without sustaining...
and 24 Hours Nürburgring
24 Hours Nürburgring
The 24 Hours Nürburgring is a touring car and GT endurance racing event on the Nürburgring Nordschleife . With a lap length of over , it allows the participation of more than 200 cars, and over 700 drivers.-Overview:...
. The Gran Turismo series
Gran Turismo (series)
is a popular and critically acclaimed series of racing simulation video games developed by Polyphony Digital.Developed exclusively for PlayStation systems, Gran Turismo games are intended to simulate the appearance and performance of a large selection of vehicles, nearly all of which are licensed...
has since become the best-selling racing game franchise to date, having sold over 61.41 million units worldwide.
Graphic accelerators era
Graphics accelerator cards brought a new level of realism to the graphics and physics of sim racing games. These new graphics processing unitGraphics processing unit
A graphics processing unit or GPU is a specialized circuit designed to rapidly manipulate and alter memory in such a way so as to accelerate the building of images in a frame buffer intended for output to a display...
s provided texture mapping
Texture mapping
Texture mapping is a method for adding detail, surface texture , or color to a computer-generated graphic or 3D model. Its application to 3D graphics was pioneered by Dr Edwin Catmull in his Ph.D. thesis of 1974.-Texture mapping:...
, antialiasing, particle effects
Particle system
The term particle system refers to a computer graphics technique to simulate certain fuzzy phenomena, which are otherwise very hard to reproduce with conventional rendering techniques...
(i.e. fog, rain and snow), and the capability to perform polygonal calculations faster, while taking the load off of the main processor. F1 Racing Simulation by Ubisoft
Ubisoft
Ubisoft Entertainment S.A. is a major French video game publisher and developer, with headquarters in Montreuil, France. The company has a worldwide presence with 25 studios in 17 countries and subsidiaries in 26 countries....
, was among the first to utilize the new technology in 1997.
After years of development, Microprose released Grand Prix 3
Grand Prix 3
Grand Prix 3 is a computer racing simulator by MicroProse. Released in 2000 by Hasbro Interactive featuring the 1998 Formula One season...
, which used a more modern graphics engine and featured the same customizable structure of GP2. GP3 was ultimately seen as a bit of a disappointment though, lacking proper network-multiplayer-support and using only an evolution of the GP2 graphic-engine. Still, its similarity allowed easy track conversions back and forth.
Another milestone in sim racing came in 1998 with the release of Grand Prix Legends
Grand Prix Legends
Grand Prix Legends is a computer racing simulator developed by Papyrus Design Group and published in 1998 by Sierra Entertainment...
(GPL) from Papyrus, based on the 1967 F1 season. It was hailed as outstanding in all areas, but especially the physics and online multiplayer capability. For many, their first real experience with online racing was GPL, or the later variants of NASCAR that used the GPL engine. The release of a third-party add-on for GPL—VROC (Virtual Racers Online Connection) -- allowed racers to join together online and race in leagues.
Despite its age, GPL has remained a top class sim even in 2008 thanks to a strong community, who collectively have updated the graphics to utilize the current CPU and graphics capabilities and have created loads of add-on tracks of a high quality. Modding teams have managed to create new physics sets, and a 1965 1966 and 1969 variants are now available with many improvements over the original.
Since GPL, Image Space Incorporated
Image Space Incorporated
Image Space Incorporated, commonly known as ISI is an Independent video game developer based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, specializing in the fields of...
has produced Sports Car GT
Sports Car GT
Sports Car GT is a racing game based on GT Racing. It was published by EA and developed by Image Space Incorporated for Windows, and Point of View for PlayStation. The game was released in April 1999...
in 1999 and the F1 series starting in 2000, all published by Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts, Inc. is a major American developer, marketer, publisher and distributor of video games. Founded and incorporated on May 28, 1982 by Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer games industry and was notable for promoting the designers and programmers...
. Unlike the Papyrus sims, the physics are easily modified, and a large community has developed dedicated to modifying the ISI sims. One such modding team, Simbin
SimBin
SimBin Studios is a Swedish video game developer- and publisher founded in 2003 that develops racing simulators for Windows and the current-generation consoles. The company has its headquarters in Vara and the main development studio in Gothenburg...
, have created their own company and have released several games, including GTR - FIA GT Racing Game
GTR - FIA GT Racing Game
GTR is a sports car racing simulator developed by SimBin for the x86 PC. An Xbox version was announced very early on, but never materialized. In April 2006, an Xbox 360 version was announced. The Xbox 360 version of the game was to be published by THQ. However, THQ later announced they would no...
, GT Legends
GT Legends
GT Legends is a sports car racing simulator developed by Simbin for the PC. It is based on the 2005 FIA Historic Racing Championshipsfor GTC and TC cars of the 1960s and 1970s...
, GTR 2
GTR - FIA GT Racing Game 2
GTR2 is a sports car racing simulator developed under license by Blimey for SimBin for the x86 PC and is a sequel to GTR. Since its release in September 2006, it has received widespread acclaim...
, RACE - The Official WTCC Game
RACE - The Official WTCC Game
Race is a racing simulator computer game based on the World Touring Car Championship released in November . The game was developed by SimBin, who had earlier produced critically acclaimed racing simulators like GTR and GT Legends, and distributed by Eidos in Europe and by Valve Corporation across...
, RACE 07, STCC - The Game
STCC - The Game
STCC – The Game is an expansion pack to RACE 07 developed by SimBin and features the 2008 Swedish Touring Car Championship Season and its support series, the Camaro Cup. It is available in a boxed DVD format in Scandinavia and available worldwide via Steam...
, GTR Evolution
GTR Evolution
GTR Evolution is an expansion pack to Race 07 developed by SimBin, published by Atari in Europe and Viva Media in the United States. It was released worldwide for digital download on Steam on September 1, 2008. It is also available for purchase in many countries in a DVD boxed version.- Overview...
and Race On
Race On
Race On is an expansion pack to RACE 07 developed by SimBin and adds the 2008 World Touring Car Championship season, the International Formula Master series and some American Muscle Cars in both road and race-tuned versions to RACE 07. It was released internationally on October 16, 2009...
.
Wired magazine wrote an in-depth article about racing sims called Hard Drive in their February 1997 issue.http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/5.02/ffdrivesim_pr.html
Current developments
David Kaemmer, co-founder of the now-defunct Papyrus, has released iRacing, a new multiplayer-oriented simulation run on a subscription model. Rally fans have a hardcore racing simulator with Richard Burns Rally
Richard Burns Rally
Richard Burns Rally is a sim racing game, published by SCi and developed by Warthog with advice of WRC driver Richard Burns.-Summary:It simulates both classic and modern rallying, and is best known for its realistic physics engine....
. Eero Piitulainen, lead physics programmer for Richard Burns Rally, is currently developing a new multi-class online racing simulator called Driver's Republic.
A small, 3-man team is developing Live for Speed
Live for Speed
Live for Speed is a racing simulator developed by a three person team comprising Scawen Roberts, Eric Bailey, and Victor van Vlaardingen. The main focus is to provide a realistic racing experience for the online multiplayer game and to allow single player races against AI cars...
, which has just announced the third, and final phase of a 3-phase development cycle. Phase 2 brought in many updates, including the first real cars (The BMW Sauber
BMW Sauber
BMW has been involved in Formula One in a number of capacities since the inauguration of the World Drivers' Championship in . The company entered occasional races in the 1950s and 1960s , before building the BMW M12/13 inline-four turbocharged engine in the 1980s...
F1 car being included in those), however for Phase 3 the first real-world circuit has been announced - The Rockingham Motor Speedway
Rockingham Motor Speedway
Rockingham is the UK's most modern motorsport venue and Europe's fastest racing circuit, hosting corporate driving days, driver training, conferencing & exhibitions, vehicle manufacturing events, track days, testing, driving experiences and motorsport...
. The circuit will be laser-scanned for absolute accuracy. Also coming soon is another real-world car - the new VW Scirocco; for which several physics changes have had to be made to ensure a fully accurate simulation.
In August, 2005, ISI released rFactor
RFactor
rFactor is a computer racing simulator, designed with the ability to run any type of four-wheeled vehicle from street cars to open wheel cars of any era. rFactor aimed to be the most accurate race simulator of its time...
, a highly modifiable sim based on their gMotor2 physics engine. Notable for its initial download-only distribution model, rFactor originally released with fictional cars and tracks. ISI's encouragement of the enthusiast mod community has led to an unprecedented number of add-ons, including 800-horsepower-stock cars. Subsequent releases of rFactor featured Formula One cars and recreations of real track layouts under fictitious names.
Paolo Cattani has developed Virtual Grand Prix 3 (published by A&M), notable for its quasi-finite elements tyre model and its clever Artificial Intelligene. AutoSimSport Magazine awarded VGP3 as "the 3rd best simulator of the year" in 2009.
Kunos Simulazioni has released netKar Pro
NetKar Pro
netKar Pro is an online racing simulator that is developed with an emphasis on realism. It provides advanced features such as a complex tire model and a fully interactive cockpit such as those seen in flight simulators.-Debut and Versions 1.0.x:netKar Pro debuted at a...
, a new version of netKar which attempts to bring together highly accurate physics and sound modeling as well as DirectX
DirectX
Microsoft DirectX is a collection of application programming interfaces for handling tasks related to multimedia, especially game programming and video, on Microsoft platforms. Originally, the names of these APIs all began with Direct, such as Direct3D, DirectDraw, DirectMusic, DirectPlay,...
9 graphics. Development tools for modifying NKP have been announced.
The Sim Factory has announced a partnership with the ARCA Racing series
Automobile Racing Club of America
Automobile Racing Club of America is an auto racing sanctioning body in the United States, founded in 1953 by John Marcum. The current president of ARCA is Ron Drager. The ARCA RE/MAX Series races stock cars similar to those seen in past years in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, and indeed most cars...
and Image Space Incorporated to create a realistic and sanctioned online racing simulation. The simulation is currently being developed using input from real drivers, real crew chiefs, real data, and engineers specializing in all the areas needed to recreate a simulated stock car racing environment.
More recently, Eugene Cojocar of Exotypos released X Motor Racing
X Motor Racing
X-Motor Racing is an indie racing simulator. The game features high precision physics simulation.Featured is a fully customizable physics model — the tire model, suspension, or motor are available to tune in the game, including an advanced tire model with adjustable parameters, such as...
., and Reiza Studios released Game Stock Car (GSC).
Venues
It was around the turn of the millennium that the technology was reaching a maturity that enticed pioneers to establish dedicated race venues. Sim Racing Ltd in the UK developed the concept of dedicated race venues for drivers and sim drivers alike. Their first offering came in the form of a range of drivers challenge activities. Sim Racing Ltd are now growing their range of offerings across the UK and beyond. Hyperstim are also opening a number of race centres around the world. Recently a new centre has started in Holland. This centre contains 20 dedicated simulators connected via local area network, using rFactor and GTR as main software simulators. Recently venues have opened in the US when in August, 2011 SimracewaySimraceway
Simraceway is an online racing service that hosts live, multiplayer racing events. The race environment is hosted and developed by Ignite Game Technologies, Inc...
opened a 30,000 square-foot performance driving facility in Sonoma, Calif. helping to make simulation racing more mainstream and increasing the potential for many more people to enjoy motor sports as a participant activity.
The oldest and longest running simulator racing website is The Pits. Started in 1995 when an entrepreneur editor from the UK wanted a place to host his modification for the Indycar Racing II sim, it has continued to serve the community with a multitude of firsts in the simulator racing world, as well as downloads and helpful information. Some of the firsts include the first complete mod (or modification) for racing simulation software, The Pits Touring Car Championship, released in 1997.
One of the latest trends in sim racing is towards broadcasting the events. There are a growing number of leagues that are now running flag to flag coverage of their events. And like other forms of motorsports the fans can outnumber the drivers by many. There are several places for fans to go to find out more about simulator racing. Since January 2005, AutoSimSport Magazine has provided industry leading content for sim racers. Beginning its 4th year of publication, AutoSimSport Magazine continues to provide quality media for sim racers the world over to keep current with the latest advancements in simulators, hardware, and where the sim racing industry is headed. Since 2010, "Crash Cast FM" is a new simracing radioshow/podcast.