- 3,694
- South Australia
With the birth of Sophy, the new AI racer that can outpace earth’s fastest racers, an idea crossed my mind for GT’s future. Use the AI’s experience and skill to help me set up my car! Both real and virtual!
I spend a fair bit of time at real tracks and something that is really lacking is knowledge on car setup. Very serious teams hire engineers. Competitive grassroots guys get books, like Clem Smith’s Tune To Win, and start studying. But for Joe Everyman, setup is a dark art that you fumble with every track day hoping you’re doing the right thing.
Enter former racing driver, turned engineer, Bob(B) Spec and his Tuning Masterclass. A mode where you can be guided through the ins and outs of setup. Feeling and adjusting the effects of spring rates, ride heights, gear ratios, downforce and tyre pressures.
Picture it, you bring your car to the mode, choose a track, Bob asks you to do some laps in it (and does some himself virtually) to evaluate its performance. You come back to the pits and Bob says, “The car has too much roll, I suggest stiffening up the front end.” Or maybe, “it’s topping out on the straights, we need longer gears.” Or even “For a bumpy track like Bathurst, we need softer suspension.”
This, like a real day at the track with a skilled setup expert, could absolutely be as in depth and detailed as possibly imaginable. You could ask Bob questions, “why does the back end keep stepping out?” And he could guide you in tuning it out. The AI already knows what the fastest possible tune for a track is, and it can guide you into finding it and maximising it for your driving style.
Challenges could be included, like classic GT license tests. Maybe you need to increase a cars cornering G capability with tuning, or set up a car to get under a certain 1/4 mile or build a drift car capable of a certain score. All guided by Bob.
The real world part? Why not include a (locked to tuning mode) unbadged car, with entirely configurable settings across the board. Engine CC, configuration, aspiration, power, torque and rev range, weight, distribution, downforce KG front & rear, spring rates, suspension geometry, rigidity. Absoloutely 100% bottom up customisable figures, only useable in tuning mode on the unbadged car.
All these figures would be available to the developers already, so if opened up to the players we could remake the performance of any car imaginable, use it in the virtual world and get guidance on setups that could help them understand real world tuning as well.
PD already knows all the technical side of car tuning, and include a lot of it in the Apex book which is being included digitally with GT7. The world of car tuning is incredibly complicated, but if it were made easy, responsive and virtual it could absolutely teach countless people a real skill and add a huge dimension to the game.
Thoughts?
I spend a fair bit of time at real tracks and something that is really lacking is knowledge on car setup. Very serious teams hire engineers. Competitive grassroots guys get books, like Clem Smith’s Tune To Win, and start studying. But for Joe Everyman, setup is a dark art that you fumble with every track day hoping you’re doing the right thing.
Enter former racing driver, turned engineer, Bob(B) Spec and his Tuning Masterclass. A mode where you can be guided through the ins and outs of setup. Feeling and adjusting the effects of spring rates, ride heights, gear ratios, downforce and tyre pressures.
Picture it, you bring your car to the mode, choose a track, Bob asks you to do some laps in it (and does some himself virtually) to evaluate its performance. You come back to the pits and Bob says, “The car has too much roll, I suggest stiffening up the front end.” Or maybe, “it’s topping out on the straights, we need longer gears.” Or even “For a bumpy track like Bathurst, we need softer suspension.”
This, like a real day at the track with a skilled setup expert, could absolutely be as in depth and detailed as possibly imaginable. You could ask Bob questions, “why does the back end keep stepping out?” And he could guide you in tuning it out. The AI already knows what the fastest possible tune for a track is, and it can guide you into finding it and maximising it for your driving style.
Challenges could be included, like classic GT license tests. Maybe you need to increase a cars cornering G capability with tuning, or set up a car to get under a certain 1/4 mile or build a drift car capable of a certain score. All guided by Bob.
The real world part? Why not include a (locked to tuning mode) unbadged car, with entirely configurable settings across the board. Engine CC, configuration, aspiration, power, torque and rev range, weight, distribution, downforce KG front & rear, spring rates, suspension geometry, rigidity. Absoloutely 100% bottom up customisable figures, only useable in tuning mode on the unbadged car.
All these figures would be available to the developers already, so if opened up to the players we could remake the performance of any car imaginable, use it in the virtual world and get guidance on setups that could help them understand real world tuning as well.
PD already knows all the technical side of car tuning, and include a lot of it in the Apex book which is being included digitally with GT7. The world of car tuning is incredibly complicated, but if it were made easy, responsive and virtual it could absolutely teach countless people a real skill and add a huge dimension to the game.
Thoughts?
