Building a F1 race simulator

I absolutely love formula 1, I've watched almost every race in the last 30 years.

For me it's as much about the people involved, the drivers, the engineers, the team managers - all have to be at the top of their game.

The technology is amazing too, bleeding edge race cars being nursed around a track close to the limits of physics by drivers on the limits of human ability.

When you follow Formula 1 race upon race, season upon season, you can't help but fall in the love with the majesty of the "F1 family" travelling the globe and putting on a fantastic display almost every fortnight for the season.

Like a lot of pro sports, the more you follow the news outside of the events themselves (in F1 they lovingly call it the "circus"), the more you will gain appreciation for the actual competition events themselves.

If you know the drama, the rivalries, the gossip and the news, then it provides much more context and enjoyment to the sport.

That way, when Nico Rosberg locks up his tyres and runs wide when trying to pass Lewis Hamilton in the second corner of the race, you know that's a big deal that's going to cause some controversy because they are heated rivals, instead of just "oh the green and grey car just tried to pass the other green and grey car but screwed up"..

When Daniel Ricciardo is half a second back and trying desperately to get past Fernando Alonso in the last 5 laps of the race to move from 7th to 6th place to get those extra 2 championship points, if you know where they are in the overall standings and that this particular battle on the track really matters, then even though they're not even close to finishing at the front, it's more exciting to watch - and it makes sense that the race director is showing this instead of the race leaders who are all racing multiple seconds apart from each other..

You need some kind of investment and engagement.. Even if you're not rooting for one specific team..

That said, you do kind of have to also accept that some races are dull (like today's Russian Grand Prix) and end up being a convoy of ground planes running perfect laps... That just kind of comes with the territory, and there's not much to do about it..

The next race will be (EDIT: at the Circuit of the Americas, not a street circuit) in Austin TX on the weekend of Nov 2nd, and should actually be more exciting, so maybe give that a watch..

I find pit strategy to be a factor, but rarely the most important ones. A given chassis performs predictably differently on different tracks. I find the technical design and car setup fascinating - and that is what I think the biggest factor is. That's why teams that win the constructors championship tend to do consistently well even when everyone's pit strategy is the same.

Have you watched MotoGP? It sounds like you would enjoy it more.

There are no pit stops. The riders don't have radios. The pit can only communicate using signs on the straightaway.

Motorcycles tilt, so aerodynamic downforce is not possible. That means there's no such thing as "dirty air" and drafting is effective. The vehicles are smaller, so passing is frequent. The rider is a significant fraction of the vehicle mass, so winning requires skill in shifting weight, balancing, and feeling the bike. All of these factors make it much more seat-of-the-pants than F1.

If you've never seen a MotoGP race before, here's a slightly above-average one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4X4yvTHaRM#t=240 I'd rather link to a typical example than the best, since I don't want to get your hopes up.

Give up, and start watching the World Endurance Championship. F1 has turned into a circus more than a sporting event. The teams are painted into a fairly confined box, where every car is mechanically and visually similar. Then they throw in Gimmicks like DRS, Push to Pass Kers, and tires that degrade quickly, all in the name of making the racing more exciting. Winning the championship pretty much means finding a loop hole to exploit the first half of the season and then coast to end.

the WEC on the other hand gives teams a lot more latitude in answering the question of "how do you go fast for 24 hours?" and that is very apparent when you look at Audi, Toyota and Porsche. 3 very different cars as far as overall design, engine capacity, engine design, fuel type, hybrid system capacity and design.

A V6 Turbo Diesel with a flywheel hybrid system, a V4 Gas Turbo with a battery hybrid system, and a normally aspirated gasoline v8 with twin Super Capacitor Hybrid systems, that put down 1000HP when all three are engaged.

3 Very different cars, but so incredibly close when it comes to overall performance, and that is with out much Balance of Performance, Push to Pass, or DRS systems, and they actually have tires that last.

The main thing that helps me is being interested in the technology itself. The actual sport as it plays out is highly optimized/refined, as you say, but if you’re interested in what determines the performance envelope and how the different teams approach the problem of expanding it, then the whole thing takes on another dimension. The teams design and build their cars themselves with a huge range of available resources, so there is a nice mix of scrappy ingenuity, dogged refinement and luck on display.

This, together with the huge budgets involved at the front of the grid, also produces a sport that features celebrity engineers who command multi-million-dollar salaries and have dramatic contract disputes, etc. This may or may not appeal to you.

Crucially (for me), the teams are very secretive about what they are doing and why, so figuring out the mechanical and aerodynamic approaches that are in play, which ones are winning, which brilliant ideas are languishing on underfunded teams, etc. becomes a very interesting saga of nerdy armchair detective work. Even the parts of the cars that they can’t hide — the bodywork — are sophisticated enough aerodynamically that you can’t necessarily tell what is going on (or copy it for your car) without a relatively detailed understanding of how it works within an overall aerodynamic philosophy. There is a good and growing online community to get into with that.

Then you add the drivers; there are only a couple dozen to know about so its pretty accessible that way, and you get a sense as others here have said about who is under pressure, who has the talent but not the machinery and vice versa, and how they all interact.

Another interesting interaction is between drivers and cars, or driving styles and car characteristics — there are drivers that can uniquely exploit certain car characteristics, or cars that may be designed to suit certain drivers or styles, etc. and those will evolve as drivers move among teams and as the technical regulations change.

I realize typing this out that these things point more to enjoying the sport more than the races themselves. I am a lot less fixated on watching the races than I used to be, but there are still some great moments and I catch what I can. Today’s Russian GP was notably boring for the last couple of years, FWIW. For more instant gratification Moto GP might be a better bet, and most of the technical drama unfolds over there too. I still think F1 is pretty exciting though.

I think it's like any sport. Take NFL for example. Outside of the US most people look at it as long slow and boring. I love it - because I find it's similar to F1. Strategy is important. It's not necessarily about who is fastest but who is smartest. Who can outwit the other person/team. Tyre wear is part of that. Yesterday we had a race with pretty much no tyre wear - it was one of the most boring in a long time. Most other races this year have been exciting despite the fact they have been dominated by one team. If you're not interested in monitoring tenths of a second, thinking about fuel levels, tyre compounds and strategy it's probably not for you. If you just want to watch a bunch of people drive as fast as they can and see who comes first maybe look into the lower formulas (GP2 for example).

I agree that F1 is not very easy to enjoy for the casual observer. You have to spend time trying to understand what happens behind the scenes to get the most out of it.

If you look at individual races, it might sometimes be a bit boring. The Russian GP yesterday was the most boring race in a very long time.

The first thing to understand is that that F1 is a driving and car building competition. There are two championships going on, the constructors' and the drivers' trophies are separate and sometimes involves a conflict of interest between the driver and the team. Every car is different from each other and the changes between races can be pretty significant.

A second thing to understand is that the competition lasts for the entire year, from March until November. Even though the past years one team has been dominant (Merc this year, Red Bull previous years), there's a big "best of the rest" competition going on.

A third thing to understand is that a Grand Prix lasts for the entire weekend. If things go wrong on Friday, it will have consequences on Sunday. If the weather changes, all bets are off. If you really want to see drivers earning their money, watch some Friday practice sessions. The car setups are off, lots of changes may be made and usually there's quite a lot of interesting background information discussed by the commentators.

Individual F1 races may be a bit boring for the uninitiated but it is the best drivers in the world driving the most sophisticated racing cars ever built. You might have to be a hard core racing geek to get the most out of it... but I am and I definitely enjoy it.

One point I always remind myself on is that the tyres are actually the most important part of the car (no tyres, you're just driving round on titanium discs...), so they should have outweighted focus to a certain degree.

In any case, the technical aspects are fascinating for geeks and hackers:

http://www.carvaluation.com/blog/f1-technical

Until you can complete a race using one car Formula E is no more than a dog an pony show. Motorsport is about 2 things. Proving the Quality of your product, and pushing the technology forward. I do not see Formula E doing either yet.