Physics of Racing Series

I want to recommend to all the series of articles Physics of Racing by Brian Beckman, the guy knows one or two things about racing and more precisely about simulation of car racing. :yes:

What is the PhORS?

It is a series of articles about the physics of racing cars. It is decidedly slanted toward autocrossing (my favorite sport), but sidebars from other forms of racing appear when relevant. I start with the fundamentals (Newton's Laws, for example) and am slowly but surely building up complexity and covering more advanced topics. I cover all aspects of racing where physics applies, from driving to car setup to computer simulations. I am trying hard to make the articles useful and enjoyable for the non-technical reader who knows that physics is important for racing but needs some help understanding it. So, you don't have to be a physicist, engineer, etc. to understand the articles.

Brian Beckman, physicist and programmer. Besides spending time innovating programming languages and tools, Brian spends time working on the mathematics behind real-time physics simulation. He worked on the math behind the tire physics of the popular racing game Forza as example.

You can find the full list of articles at: http://phors.locost7.info/contents.htm

At http://channel9.msdn.com/posts/Char...sics-in-Games-Real-Time-Simulation-Explained/ you can see an very interesting interview , 1 hour long, about the differences in the physics in a flight simulation and a car simulation. He explains why flight simulator came first than a true car racing simulator and a lot more.

If you dont know about this articles I encourage you to take a look at the video and read the first articles , may be you can drive faster after the read.

Regards,

This is actually a very intersting interview with lots of insight in the problematic/complexity of race car simulations.

I am looking forward to see some games with physics engines based on the rigsofrods simulation he refferenced.

For those who didnt see the interview wirth Brian Beckman yet. He referrenced following video, where really complicated physics simulations with complex algorithms have been substituted by using simpler particle physics and pure computing power which we actually have today, and will have in the future.
Though the sounds and textures are terrible, the physics simulation is really stunning.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TR9jqGv05H4
http://rigsofrods.blogspot.com/

However, its a pity that Beckman believes that seatmovers have to cost several hundreds of thousands of dollars, and have to be neccessarily operated by hydraulic actuators. Seems he hasn't heard about SCN5s or wiper motor operated simulators yet

regards

Great articles and interview!

This game reminds me of the BridgeBuilder2 game, maybe it uses the same physics engine.

Yeah, I think Beckman should watch some of the videos in the X-Sim Videobar.

The interview was in 2007. Maybe someone should send a mail to him to show the x-sim work