You are pretty wrong with this opinion. Did you see Stefan Roser? He's just fearless at all. He can perform all the Nordschleife in 100mph drifts. But he lapped over 8 minutes with Ruf CTR. And the same car in the game just did under 7:35 in my hands. There is just the last piece into the puzzle missing, realistically implemented tyres. Don't be falsely forgiving to PD, you know it the same way as I do.
The last piece???? Seriously?
As
already discussed earlier in this thread, the difference between real racing and virtual racing is immense and has far too many variables for the real drivers to ever overcome the advantages the virtual driver has.
- It isn't just about the risk of losing your life, although that's a biggie.
- It isn't just about the risk of damaging very expensive cars, although that can also be a biggie.
- It isn't just about the high cost of running one lap on a race course in real life, versus thousands in a game.
- It isn't just about the very limited access drivers have to practice and race on specific tracks.
- It isn't just about using key parts that are in less than perfect condition in real life versus a game.
- It isn't even just about the physical demands that a real driver has to deal with, that a game player doesn't.
There are even far more variables to consider!
- In real racing conditions, you have no control over the weather, and how much a role even a change of a few degrees has on the performance of a car and the way the tires react to the road.
- In real racing conditions, the track is NEVER perfectly clean. Not only will debris and dirt get kicked up onto the surface of the track, but even car parts, and of course the build up of oil... all of these things can and do impact the performance of a real lap on a real course.
- In real racing, drivers almost never get cars that are straight off the assembly line, with each and every one of their thousands of parts being 100% perfectly manufactured and tested so insure 100% reliability and 100% performance capability.
I'm sorry, but while the risk of getting hurt does effect many race car drivers, whether they wish to admit it or not, even then, and even if you had a driver who had brain surgery to remove all traces of survival instincts.... even then they would be faced with far too many disadvantages that a virtual driver doesn't have to face.
So no, that is hardly the last piece to any puzzle regarding why virtual drivers using a game that has accurate physics engines, and perfectly modeled cars & tracks should always be able to post better lap times in a game than in real life...it really is as simple/complicated as that.
What PD offers people is an opportunity to race without having to deal with all the uncontrollable variables that can happen in a real world, as well as giving players the opportunity to drive cars that have no random imperfections that impact their performance, as well as giving them tracks in near perfect conditions, without random obstacles, and temperature changes.
Basically speaking, the give a driver the opportunity to see what is "possible" with these cars on these tracks when you don't have to worry about losing your life; when you don't have to worry about damaging the car; when you don't have to worry about always buying all brand new parts for your car each race; when you don't have to worry about the high costs of racing and having limited access to practice and race on specific tracks; when you don't have to worry about the condition of all the key components in your car; when you don't have to worry about the tremendous physical strain one faces in driving high performance cars to the limits of their abilities; when you don't have to worry about random weather changes impacting your car's performance; when you don't have to worry about debris, oil, and other things that can without warning impact your performance; when you don't have to worry about random mechanical failures; etc... etc...etc...
There is no simulator that has ever been made that can with any reasonable accuracy represent all the conditions and variables real drivers face each and every day when they race. Sorry, it really is as simple as that.. but what they can do, which is quite good, is give drivers the opportunity to see what is actually possible with these cars in under perfect conditions... and frankly that's a good thing!
Yes, I also like having optional variables, like mechanical failures, weather changes, etc. But only as options.
When the goal is to see what is actually possible, and how each driver's performance compares with another, by giving them perfect cars and perfect conditions, and equal bravado in terms of driving without fear, and equal opportunity in terms of costs and access... yes games like GT are superb for seeing what is possible and fairly comparing driver skill without lap and race times being impacted by lots of uncontrollable random acts and personal advantages, like money, access, and bravado.
Given that we virtual racers race using cars and tracks in perfect condition, and never face the random unfortunate things that occur in real life, it is only obvious that virtually we will always be able to post faster lap times than even the greatest drivers that ever lived....
However, anyone who compares a virtual lap time to a real life lap time to then claim they are equal to or better than the real driver needs to have their head examined!
In addition, anyone who says a virtual lap time must be identical to a real life lap time in order to prove a game is realistic also needs to have their head examined!
Now as I mentioned earlier, I am all in favor of trying to come up with a reasonable "handicap" for virtual drivers, especially if we want to compare our times to "The Stig" in order to compensate for all the advantages as mentioned above that we have over "The Stig". By reasonable I don’t mean dumbing down my virtual car… as I want to experience a properly equipped and tuned car. But by reasonable I mean some kind of added time penalty.
Frankly, this also points out the problems with the "reported" lap times on shows like Top Gear, as there can be soooo many variables why a specific car on a specific day got one lap time, while the same car on a different day got different lap times... there are just so many variables that impact a cars performance, that while it is fun to do, and the Top Gear guys are all about having fun... at the end of the day though, they are rather meaningless, to misleading.
The great benefit to virtual driving is you can do away without all those pesky random variables, and thus lap times now all of a sudden take on a much higher level of accuracy for comparison sake. 👍
OK... that was far more than $.02, but I do get so tired of reading rants about how unrealistic a game is because they were able to post a faster lap time than Michael Schumacher or what ever their favorite race car driver is at the time.
The only other game I raced on the Dunsfold test track was in Racer.
