iRacing Shows First Pit Crew Animation Previews

[Paul Jeffrey]

iRacing have dropped a little preview video of some interesting development content coming to the sim in future builds, a fully animated lollipop pitcrew member!

Pit stops are an integral part of the endurance racing scene since the beginning of motor racing history, a place where you can win and lose those vital seconds that could prove decisive in the final result for you and your team, which makes it even more confusing as to why almost all modern simulations totally ignore this vital element of racing and at best provide the functionality but not the actual visual actions that form part of a busy mid-race stop.

iRacing are looking at changing all that as the plan to bring your racing crew to life with realistic looking team animations for when you come screeching on to pit road and back to your cars box.

Early footage in the above video shows some great promise, and the team over at iRacing have promised more detailed footage in the next few days showing off how they created the animations and hopefully giving us a little more insight into what (or should that be 'who') drivers can expect to see when entering and exiting the pitbox during a race weekend.

With over 40 cars present at the recent Daytona 24 Hour event one can only imagine how hectic that pit road must look. Lets hope the folks at iRacing have developed good penalty system for the dozens of cars plowing down its main rivals pit crews in the haste to win a vital few tenths of a second (or alternatively make them non-collidable, but where's the fun in that?)

Stay tuned to RaceDepartment.com for further updates and footage on this interesting work in progress feature. Looking for a good setup or just want a place to discuss your favourite sim? Why not checkout the iRacing Forum right here on RD?

Why hasn't this been done before? Looks cool doesn't it? What do you think? Let us know in the comments section below!

 

[Lorenzo Bonder]

Nice one iRacing, but let me add one more to the amazing pit crew animation games (and it comes from EA, surprisingly):

skip to 10:32 and you'll see what I mean.

 

[Grand Tourist]

Nice one iRacing, but let me add one more to the amazing pit crew animation games (and it comes from EA, surprisingly):

skip to 10:32 and you'll see what I mean.

Wow those pixels really tell the game's age and to have such animated pit crew at that time...impressive and ehm a bit degrading to all the big fuzz about animated pit crew in simulators today. ...just shows sometimes how games evolve graphically ultrafast but are being narrowed down in depth and creativity by exactly that graphics improvement. Just shows how development sometimes works backwards when focussing on just the candy and physics part of race games ignoring the immersion of the game. Of course it will turn out just fine after all and then you have the complete package. ... after a considerate wait.

 

[James Nance]

Well the main thing with most games that have pit animations is the auto pit, makes it easy to line up the car with the animation and away you go. iR has the issue of the driver pulling in manually and lining up with his actual marks just like in real life, otherwise it wont work, I call that immersion.

 

[Fritz Anker]

I struggle with that pretty much every pit. Always takes a few seconds to start work on my car. Hopefully, the animations will help me find my marks better. ...then practice, practice, practice. And then practice more. Not complaining, if it were easy everyone would be race car drivers. Right?

...also, why doesn't he flip the lollipop as the pit crew finishes up?

 

[Grand Tourist]

Well the main thing with most games that have pit animations is the auto pit, makes it easy to line up the car with the animation and away you go. iR has the issue of the driver pulling in manually and lining up with his actual marks just like in real life, otherwise it wont work, I call that immersion.

True. I can't speak for iRacing as I do not own it but AC needs offline pitcrew rather sooner than later as the console version is due to be released. I agree auto pit is not immersion improvement for a sim racer, rather a feature for a simcade....did I just offend PCars enthusiasts?

 

[Shaun Clarke]

Needs a full face helmet otherwise he might get burnt lol...Accidents do happen

 

[Flammenjc]

New video

Nice little detail added. Don't know why you would call this a gimmick.

Of course it's a gimmick, if you're spending that much time admiring a pitstop animation you're not driving fast enough...

 

[Will Mazeo]

Of course it's a gimmick, if you're spending that much time admiring a pitstop animation you're not driving fast enough...

Pit lane has speed limit

 

[James Nance]

Of course it's a gimmick, if you're spending that much time admiring a pitstop animation you're not driving fast enough...

What?

 

[Andy_J]

Of course it's a gimmick, if you're spending that much time admiring a pitstop animation you're not driving fast enough...

Seriously? I suppose you drive fast right past your pitcrew then? Do you give them a wave?

 

[Flammenjc]

How many races do you actually pit in iRacing? Most races are under 40mins and don't require a pit anyway. So my point still stands.

It's a gimmick, nothing surprising about iRacing though, they'll have 5minutes of video about a pit guy animation process overview but rarely ever give physics synopsis.

Did they fix the mad flipping of the cars on high speed crashes or the low speed oversteer when the car is totally unloaded? No, didn't think so. But as I said, if they add some random crap that is little or no effort to put in the game, they are going to do it, and make a song and dance about it to distract people from realizing they pay HUNDREDS of dollars for a sub-standard 'simulation' whilst they are at it.

This is just yet another example of peoples misunderstanding that immersion = realism. More life-like ambiance makes the silly people less likely to criticize the physics because their silly little brains are tricked into believing they are being subjected to a real environment when they are not.

It's quite simple really.

If pit animations are THAT important to people then why didn't they play GTR2 continually? It's nowhere NEAR integral to a game that is a 'SIMULATION' to have character animation of ANY kind.

Number one priority should be the physics, and only the physics. But alas.

iRacing strike again, what will it be next time? I mean there was seagulls, the flag marshall, aircraft at Daytona or needless graphic updates like a shower of marbles or sparks? Do these make a difference to the simulation? No, they do not. They just add noise to which people find it hard to criticize the physics because they are too focused on how immersive and realistic the graphic interactions may be.

 

[Fritz Anker]

...guess you won't renew your subscription, then?

 

[James Nance]

How many races do you actually pit in iRacing? Most races are under 40mins and don't require a pit anyway. So my point still stands.

It's a gimmick, nothing surprising about iRacing though, they'll have 5minutes of video about a pit guy animation process overview but rarely ever give physics synopsis.

Did they fix the mad flipping of the cars on high speed crashes or the low speed oversteer when the car is totally unloaded? No, didn't think so. But as I said, if they add some random crap that is little or no effort to put in the game, they are going to do it, and make a song and dance about it to distract people from realizing they pay HUNDREDS of dollars for a sub-standard 'simulation' whilst they are at it.

This is just yet another example of peoples misunderstanding that immersion = realism. More life-like ambiance makes the silly people less likely to criticize the physics because their silly little brains are tricked into believing they are being subjected to a real environment when they are not.

It's quite simple really.

If pit animations are THAT important to people then why didn't they play GTR2 continually? It's nowhere NEAR integral to a game that is a 'SIMULATION' to have character animation of ANY kind.

Number one priority should be the physics, and only the physics. But alas.

iRacing strike again, what will it be next time? I mean there was seagulls, the flag marshall, aircraft at Daytona or needless graphic updates like a shower of marbles or sparks? Do these make a difference to the simulation? No, they do not. They just add noise to which people find it hard to criticize the physics because they are too focused on how immersive and realistic the graphic interactions may be.

Your point is understood, God bless and take care.

 

[mozzie]

How many races do you actually pit in iRacing? Most races are under 40mins and don't require a pit anyway. So my point still stands.

It's a gimmick, nothing surprising about iRacing though, they'll have 5minutes of video about a pit guy animation process overview but rarely ever give physics synopsis.

Did they fix the mad flipping of the cars on high speed crashes or the low speed oversteer when the car is totally unloaded? No, didn't think so. But as I said, if they add some random crap that is little or no effort to put in the game, they are going to do it, and make a song and dance about it to distract people from realizing they pay HUNDREDS of dollars for a sub-standard 'simulation' whilst they are at it.

This is just yet another example of peoples misunderstanding that immersion = realism. More life-like ambiance makes the silly people less likely to criticize the physics because their silly little brains are tricked into believing they are being subjected to a real environment when they are not.

It's quite simple really.

If pit animations are THAT important to people then why didn't they play GTR2 continually? It's nowhere NEAR integral to a game that is a 'SIMULATION' to have character animation of ANY kind.

Number one priority should be the physics, and only the physics. But alas.

iRacing strike again, what will it be next time? I mean there was seagulls, the flag marshall, aircraft at Daytona or needless graphic updates like a shower of marbles or sparks? Do these make a difference to the simulation? No, they do not. They just add noise to which people find it hard to criticize the physics because they are too focused on how immersive and realistic the graphic interactions may be.

If you have ever watched live races from the NEO endurance series, pit crews will be a great feature to have. It will add a great authentic look to the races and will enhance the immersion factor immensely, not only for the drivers but also the spectators that watch the streams, and there are many people that watch the streams, ~4000 + views on YouTube.

I agree the damage model in iRacing is lacking at the moment. They have had a guy working on that for the last two years, (they also made a video about it some years ago). I am confident that when his work gets released iRacing will have the best damage model in the "sim" industry.

People forget that iRacing IS "GPL and NASCAR 2003" and are regarded as the all time classic simulators in regards to physics. So now, what you claim is that iRacing lost all their knowledge in producing the above titles and went backwards in producing physics. Can we see some of your credentials to put any weight behind your statements?

PS iRacing have produced videos about their physics. Look at the Behind the scenes making of the BMW Z4 GT3 video.

Skip to the 14:40 mark.

 

[Fritz Anker]

That was an interesting video. Thanks for posting.

 

[snyperal]

I think it's a gimmick. It is a step towards immersion but I think there are more pressing issues.

I'd like to see more pit guys even if it's just your pit box for now. Day / night transitions, tyre choices and then rain.

 

[xnorb]

Hmmm ...
Step one: Create car based on real world telemetry and physics calculation
Step two: Throw it all out of the window and adjust until it's performance is the exact same as for the other cars?

Either their calculations aren't correct or they got false information.
Afaik the Z4, the RUF and the McLaren are directly competing in real world GT3, why would it be needed to adjust anything after modelling those 3 cars realistically?

I really don't understand that.
(Added weight as done in real world i can understand, but he made it sound like they were adjusting data like HP and alike to fix for example acceleration / top speed...)

 

[RichardHessels]

I don't think so, they don't really have to be super mega detailed (or should have option to lower res). Plus other games have more details than sims and are running fine.

Seriously tho. Imagine being in VEC and when changing drivers you have 1st person view in the pit garage waiting for your teamate to arrive, then you get in the car, see them putting the seatbelts, etc. Would be fun

We are talking about regular hardware of 10 years ago.
I think the latest generation mobile phone can shift more pixels than machines from 2006.

 

[mozzie]

Hmmm ...
Step one: Create car based on real world telemetry and physics calculation
Step two: Throw it all out of the window and adjust until it's performance is the exact same as for the other cars?

Either their calculations aren't correct or they got false information.
Afaik the Z4, the RUF and the McLaren are directly competing in real world GT3, why would it be needed to adjust anything after modelling those 3 cars realistically?

I really don't understand that.
(Added weight as done in real world i can understand, but he made it sound like they were adjusting data like HP and alike to fix for example acceleration / top speed...)

There are many ways to do BOP in the real world, adding weight is an option but not the only option. Real world series can and do add restrictors to Engines to limit how much horsepower is produced and that is what iRacing is probably also doing. So no, it's not a matter of, "Throw it all out of the window and adjust until it's performance is the exact same as for the other cars?". iRacing will just be simulating a restrictor of some form.

 

[xnorb]

Ya, but if they already got real world data, why would that be required?
Except they didn't get the data from real world GT3 (in this case) cars.
And especially seeing 100% exact same acceleration curves and top speed i'd be very worried as behavior under braking and while cornering does vary from car to car.