Game Preview: Real versus virtual

The associated video with this article shows some shaky vision from inside a Formula Drift car at the recent Achilles Formula Drift Australia event at Calder Park in Melbourne.  Don’t watch it just yet.

The purpose of this hair-raising exercise was to get a little perspective on the vast differences between virtual and real-world racing.

For the average gamer set up, whether PC or console, the chances that it is anything other than a static chair or couch, with perhaps “rumble” turned on for the game controller are remote.  Most of us don’t treat this pastime with any real-world significance.

Games such as Gran Turismo 5, Forza MotorSport, Live For Speed and rFactor allow players to get very technical with their rides, adjusting all manner of virtual car bits to improve in-game performance, handling or simply aesthetics.

While these tweaks give another angle to the racing game-play, and make great back-of-the-box bullet points to aid sales, they do little to truly add to the experience of managing a vehicle around a race track.

Force feedback steering wheel controllers add some immersion, giving us pedals and a degree of haptic feel for at least the forces acting on the front wheels. The next step for some people is to build their own racing rig. Plonk a seat into a home-built case, mount the steering-wheel controller and pedals, followed by positioning at least one, preferably three screens strategically at eye level.

That is a big step, however all that equipment can take up significant amount of living-room or man-cave real estate. Not a step taken lightly, and pretty much flags the owner as a race-game enthusiast.

From the home-built rig, the only way up is to a commercially-built racing simulator. With hydraulic actuators, surround-sound capabilities and comfy seats you could pay anywhere from $1,500 for something like the Vesaro Advanced Racing Simulation rig up to a whopping $50,000 and more for something like the CXC
Motion Pro II Video Game Racing Simulator (warning however, this rig only works with PC based racing games).

Or perhaps for a cool US$1,500 per day, maybe renting a full F1 Showcar simulator might be the way to go; at least you will feel like you are in a full-bodied F1 racing vehicle, that flies.

All of these simulators rely on the jerk of gravity to simulate speed or cornering, which essentially is the same forces in play in real-world racing, just with race cars sporting a potentially greater range of force, and backed by horsepower rather than digitised commands.

No matter how sophisticated these static racing rigs get, no matter how many screens and speakers get connected, surely there are too many real-world factors that cannot be simulated virtually?

Now it’s time to play the video.  With FormulaDrift driver Nattaweoot “Oat” Krerpradab in his Mazda FDD RX7 we spent a few seconds experiencing the forces, sounds and smells of a typical drifting session, how does this compare with the virtualised representation?

Well, surprisingly, for me, it was not so much the G-forces at play that were the deal breaker.  In fact, Oat’s car control was smooth and refined (despite how shaky that vision looks) with the drifting sensation something that cannot be simulated with a static or hydraulically-actuated rig.

The other problem game developers face is in perspective, car racing, and in particular drifting or rallying, is the requirement of a fuller vision cone than that traditionally presented by a video game.  You can spend a lot of time sideways, looking out the side windows with the front wheels on opposite lock or close to it.

This means your head is turned towards the oncoming road, something that doesn’t work -- even with head-tracking technology such as the Xbox 360 Kinect, or TrackIR systems -- when the screen is always front and centre.

This is why it is nearly impossible to play games featuring drift events from a cockpit view, moving the camera to a third-person chase cam makes playing the game possible, but reduces the immersion.

Finally, the smells:  If the experience in Oat’s RX7 was anything to go by, I really don’t know how they are able to compete.  The smell of burning rubber can be exciting, but once it fills the cabin, blocking all vision, and getting into every exposed orifice, things become tough.

The next generation of gaming consoles are about to hit the market, this will undoubtedly improve many aspects of game development.  Expect better physics, better sound production and obviously better graphics, but I for one am hoping that any thought of smell-e-vision is left on the cutting-room floor.