What's Hideous, Weighs 15 Pounds and Can Support a London Bus? F1's New Halo

[twitcher]

Do people think gamers will have an option to turn the halo off in virtual racing? If I payed how ever many hundreds or thousands for a rig, I'd be pissed I was forced to stare at the inside of a banana hammock.


Anyone think a halo clad F1 car will make a "best looking F1 car" list?

 

[Dotini]

This might work...

 

[Jakedog23]

This might work...

The engine or the halo.

 

[Dotini]

The engine or the halo.

It may be the best-looking, in fact most stunning, current F1 car.

 

[Simmpa]

Wow, the ignorance in that comment above doesn't even deserve a response. If presenting actual evidence doesn't work, then you're not worth my time any more.

 

[Liquid]

It may be the best-looking, in fact most stunning, current F1 car.

It certainly was last year but this year, acquiring the accolade of "best looking F1 car" is like being the best looking hog at the county fair.

 

[Dotini]

It certainly was last year but this year, acquiring the accolade of "best looking F1 car" is like being the best looking hog at the county fair.

There was a time - long ago - when I took offense at the purity of racing cars being cluttered up by rollover bars, decals and commercialized (non-national colors) liveries. I was further aggravated by full-face helmets. Needless to say, after many years (and racing myself), I got over it. Perhaps I'm a hopeless realist and optimist? **** Denis Jenkinson!

 

[twitcher]

This might work...

Not for me. Any car with a half propped open toilet seat on top of it will never make any of my lists. Any lists it does make, people will be adding it in spite of having the halo.

It's a pretty good looking car without the halo (from that angle, if you let's your eyes go a little blurry and look past the halo), but with, it looks aweful. It looks like a piece of temporary aero testing equipment that the cars wear in FP1 sometimes.

Mark my words, no halo clad car will make a serious "10 best looking F1 cars" list. It won't be until at the very least the next iteration of the halo, if not, not until aero screen or full canopy is introduced that any modern F1 car will make any asthetics lists.


And still no word as to whether or not sim racers will be forced to use HALO?

 

[Ryanswannell]

You probably will have to deal with the halo in sim racers, they are meant to be a simulation after all...

 

[twitcher]

You probably will have to deal with the halo in sim racers, they are meant to be a simulation after all...

Sim racers don't simulate sweltering cockpit temperatures, or injuries from a crash, amongst a whole list of other things - so why would they need to simulate a safety device, other than to obscure vision?

It's just like in many new racing games, players have the option of turning the helmet on/off while in first person view. PCARS does this.

For someone who wants it as authentic as possible, they can choose to turn the helmet ON, so they only see out a tiny window in the middle of the screen (kind of waste of a flat screen in my opinion). Or, you can play in FPV, but with the helmet turned off.

So why not the same with the halo? It's a safety device, just like a helmet, that in a video game serves no purpose other than to obscure vision to "make it more realistic". I think it's a reasonable comparison, and don't think it's asking too much for the option to turn it off.

 

[Ryanswannell]

I guess you have a point, I'll be surprised if game developers are allowed to alter the aesthetics of the cars though, at least in the official F1 game.

 

[twitcher]

Photos comparing all the '18 cars to their '17 counterparts

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/...#image-fernando-alonso-mclaren-mcl32-14611244

No question in my mind that the halo destroys the asthetics of each and every one of those cars.

There's no way in hell the '18 Torro Rosso could ever make any asthetics list, not when the '17 exists.

 

[Lewis_Hamilton_]

No question in my mind that the halo destroys the asthetics of each and every one of those cars.

It's a shame because in my opinion, the back of the cars look nicer and tidier than last year without those coathangers and TV aerials wobbling on top a tall thin sheet. I think most of the liveries are an improvement too. I'm sure someone will photoshop the halos out soon enough and it'll be much easier to see how gorgeous the cars are this year.

 

[Liquid]

Which dead F1 driver would have been saved by the halo?

For what it's worth, some believe that had Pedro Diniz been wearing a HANS device at Nürburgring 1999, he would have in fact died.



It's just not possible to ever eliminate danger or claim that a safety device will be 100% effective. There is always balance as well as trade-offs.

 

[Peter.]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/2397462/Formula-One-Villeneuve-hits-out.html

For reference. There was quite a bit of opposition to the HANS device, something we consider a staple now. Driver discomfort, questions about it's actual ability to stop fatalities, the whole lot.

Granted, Villineuve's logic, which is basically "what's the point if we didn't need it before?" seems pretty archaic, but this article sounds very similar to the current discussion. The FIA did with the HANS, much like the HALO, introduce it with limited testing and no discussion, despite opposition.

But the difference to me is that the HALO was forced through over other potentially more effective and less intrusive options, and seems to only be loved by its mother, the FIA. I hope they listen and use this as a stopgap while they evaluate other solutions, and the more we complain is the more likely it is that is the case.

 

[Northstar]

The FIA did with the HANS, much like the HALO, introduce it with limited testing and no discussion, despite opposition.

The HANS device was quite a bit different in that the FIA didn't develop it like they are doing with the halo. The first prototype was made in 1985, than developed for 4 more years before testing started. The FIA didn't get involved until 1994, at which point Mercedes tested it from 1996 to 1998. It wasn't mandated until 2003 at which point it had been around for 18 years.

I don't like the halo because it seems like putting duct tape over a hole in a boat. It might work temporarily, but at the end of the day you still have a hole in the boat.

 

[Liquid]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/2397462/Formula-One-Villeneuve-hits-out.html

For reference. There was quite a bit of opposition to the HANS device, something we consider a staple now. Driver discomfort, questions about it's actual ability to stop fatalities, the whole lot.

Granted, Villineuve's logic, which is basically "what's the point if we didn't need it before?" seems pretty archaic, but this article sounds very similar to the current discussion. The FIA did with the HANS, much like the HALO, introduce it with limited testing and no discussion, despite opposition.

But the difference to me is that the HALO was forced through over other potentially more effective and less intrusive options, and seems to only be loved by its mother, the FIA. I hope they listen and use this as a stopgap while they evaluate other solutions, and the more we complain is the more likely it is that is the case.

I wasn't necessarily arguing the merits of the HANS device, merely trying to demonstrate how a safety device can, in rare circumstances, be a hindrance.

 

[Sureboss]

I don't mind the halo so much, in normal trackside cameras, you don't notice it that much, especially on the Ferrari.

BUT

Who didn't think of moving the camera?

 

[Timlour]

I don't mind the halo so much, in normal trackside cameras, you don't notice it that much, especially on the Ferrari.

BUT

Who didn't think of moving the camera?

I think that picture is a bit misleading. The Mclaren's camera view from the free practice highlights video on Youtube provides more visibility than what that picture shows.



Mclaren's camera is at 0:20. You'll see that the left mirror and left front tire are not cropped out. The visibility is a lot better than what's shown in that picture in my opinion.

EDIT: Looks like the video can't be viewed here, but it should give you an option to watch it on Youtube.

 

[Dennisch]

You quite clearly started it here. Focus on the racing, not the halo and you won't even notice it.

It's an eyesore. It ruins what possible are the better looking cars in at least a decade. F1 is an entertainment sport first. For the spectators. Without the spectators F1 does not exist.

We already lost the sound. Now they're going for a second round of how to ruin the looks of the cars. These drivers know the risks. They get paid very healthy salaries for their job. No one is forced to race in F1. Not one F1 driver who died in like 30 years would have been saved by the halo. It's an half assed solution we didn't need.

If drivers complain that it is too dangerous to race, they're in the wrong job.

And you as a track side marshal are in the same position, don't want to see people get hurt? Don't work in a place where people fly by doing 200mph.

 

[JohnBM01]

I still can't imagine having something dead center to obstruct your view like this F1 halo. Granted I don't follow Formula 1 much, it is a bit tough to try to see up front when you got some big thing obstructing your view up front. The newer F1 cars look great... except for that blasted halo. Almost like someone who has a great-looking outfit, only ruined because of one wrong garment or accessory being worn. If that's not bad enough, I heard there was some gimmick to sell flip-flop/thong sandals inspired by the F1 halo.

FAIL on so many levels!

 

[Whodoyouthink]

The drivers have the power to protest, I still haven't heard enough to hear why they have settled for it, nor how they have adapted to driving with it. Sure, we just had a race, which included some blisteringly fast laptimes (I think a new quali record), but that doesn't mean they wouldn't ask for more visibility.

 

[Nando deBem]

I really don’t understand those “drivers that want more safety are in the wrong profession” type of argument. Would you say the same thing of a new equipment that betters the work safety for firefighters... or cops... or people who work with heavy machinery? It’s obvious that a lot of professions are risky, more than others, but saying that those professions are only for the “real men” out there is ********. Buy a car without airbags, modern disk brakes and seatbelts and be happy.

“My eyes hurt so much because of this ugliness, that I’d prefer to risk ‘your’ life than seeing it again!”

That’s what I hear.

 

[TenEightyOne]

I still can't imagine having something dead center to obstruct your view like this F1 halo. Granted I don't follow Formula 1 much, it is a bit tough to try to see up front when you got some big thing obstructing your view up front.

It doesn't obstruct their view.

 

[raven214]

It doesn't obstruct their view.

Having a vertical bar dead center in front of you is an onstructed view, at least in my book. I know it's relatively thin, but at those speeds, is it really wise to have anything opaque between the driver and their view of the track?

 

[DesertPenguin]

Does anyone here complaining actually keep up with F1 news in the slightest? I'm sorry but after all this time people making the same judgmental opinions when we have numerous articles and personal accounts from drivers explaining how it looks to them, what they do, and how little an issue it is. Just yesterday I watched a video of Carlos Sainz Jr. explaining it and the horizontal bar is completely meaningless to them. They never look up past about 2/3rds of the way up to the Halo from the chassis. That bar is never in their field of view.

 

[TenEightyOne]

Having a vertical bar dead center in front of you is an onstructed view, at least in my book. I know it's relatively thin, but at those speeds, is it really wise to have anything opaque between the driver and their view of the track?

@DesertPenguin has pretty much said it all... it doesn't affect their visibility. I'd say that previous centre-vane devices have been just as obstructive, perhaps even more so.

 

[DesertPenguin]

And in case anyone was wondering how big of an obstruction that center bit is, they are rarely ever looking straight ahead and even on straight sections they are looking ahead towards the next turn. They're also able to "see through it" in the same way you do in your ordinary car in every day driving. How often do you consciously feel obstructed by your A pillars? Probably not too much.

 

[Whodoyouthink]

One caveat is that they did have to reposition the start lights. This was a similar issue when the rear wings got higher, don't recall the particular season. But yes, the center-vane devices could be considered a minor obstruction as well. Playing with the cars virtually quickly makes you realize those devices are minorly annoying. Though not as much as the halo I'd say. There has been opinions about whether corners like Eau Rogue and Turn 1 at COTA might be more difficult with the halo in their FOV. Certainly because INDYCAR decided against them, due to visibility issues, it isn't a trivial nuisance like modern A-pillars. I mean there are cars out there with some very annoying A-pillars; just because we can adapt to having them doesn't mean there isn't some room for improvement.

 

[Peter.]

Having a vertical bar dead center in front of you is an onstructed view, at least in my book. I know it's relatively thin, but at those speeds, is it really wise to have anything opaque between the driver and their view of the track?

Maybe it will in the new F1 2018 game, but that's because in our games our FOV is very limited, unless you run a triple monitor. I'd say just use the T-Cam but the Halo has ruined that too.