Learning new tracks

[Speeddog]

My video-game knowledge is not very comprehensive, so...

For a rider facing a new track these days, how helpful are the current crop of video games?

Anybody done virtual laps of a track prior to doing real laps?

Seems with onboard cameras these days, and the videos, a savvy rider could learn a lot prior to actually turning a wheel.

[derby]

they're good enough to learn the tracks, but the physics will obviously be different.

hopper, hayden, etc. were learning tracks w/ the motogp video games.

[desmoquattro]

Agreed. Reference points vary, but learning the basic turns at a track is possible in a game.

But no matter how hard I try, I still can't reproduce Rossi's pass of Stoner in the Corkscrew

[Speeddog]

  Well yeah, I could see it might be difficult to replicate.

I've never done track laps outside of Streets on a bike, and a *long* time ago was a passenger for a couple of laps in an AC Cobra at Big Willow.

[Spidey]

I almost never play video games, but I found it really helpful when we'd play vids of Sears Point before a race weekend.  I know the track well, but somehow playing the game helped.  I can't really explain why.  Mebbe it just reinforced the good lines or allowed me to play around with different lines to see where I'd end up. 

[gm2]

watching on-boards of tracks i haven't been to has helped me for sure, just in terms of basic knowing where the track is.  but not much beyond that.

oddly tho, tracks that i do know really well, i see them on video and it looks like some foreign land.

if this in reference to spies or other fast guys seeing new tracks for the first time, i think getting up to speed that quick is a matter of a) talent and b) crew.  emphasis on (a).  it blows me away that anyone can be that fast on a track they've never seen before.  maybe b/c i spend too much time @ one track, but i like to have a second-nature feeling about a place before i really start riding in anger.

[El Matador]

The times I've been to new tracks, it has really helped to look at some vids on youtube. There's basically every track you can think of there.

[zooom]

watching on-boards of tracks i haven't been to has helped me for sure, just in terms of basic knowing where the track is.  but not much beyond that.

oddly tho, tracks that i do know really well, i see them on video and it looks like some foreign land.

this has been my experience too....all depends on what you are looking for too

are you looking at a video of a track to memorize a pattern or are you looking to prep for what you are going to see or encounter...I know a couple tracks I have gone to, I'll look at video's of for specific segments to look at surface condition where it has been known to be sketchy in the past to see if there is further evidence of condition...but like I said, it all depends on what you are looking to gain out of said prep.

[Speeddog]

-------------snip----------------

if this in reference to spies or other fast guys seeing new tracks for the first time, i think getting up to speed that quick is a matter of a) talent and b) crew.  emphasis on (a).  it blows me away that anyone can be that fast on a track they've never seen before.  maybe b/c i spend too much time @ one track, but i like to have a second-nature feeling about a place before i really start riding in anger.

It was the fact of Spies getting up to speed so fast that prompted the question, but it still seemed unreal that he could get there so quick.

[gm2]

It was the fact of Spies getting up to speed so fast that prompted the question, but it still seemed unreal that he could get there so quick.

unbelievable isn't it?  Donington, Kyalami, Portimao, Phillip Island.. up to speed in a day.  2 of those in the rain.  and Portimao is brand new; not on any video game.

esp considering he was club racing on minibikes last year.   

[Speeddog]

Seems Portimao is the proof of what he's got.

Was it the first time for bikes on the circuit when he went, or was there some on-board video floating around?

[gm2]

he tested on monday; the weekend prior was the first time anyone had been on it.  they barely got the track done in time for the race. 

same amount of wow for all the sbk riders.  and all the wss riders that wknd, including josh hayes.

[DLSGAP]

Last year i went back to track riding after  14 year absence. the last track i had ridden on was Road Atlanta when i was 14 years old....


So i sign up for a track day. never seen the track before. And i admit i was a bit nervous. I got a track map and watched a few vids on youtube... and made notes for each corner and studied it for a week or so before the track day. once the jitters of being back on the track were gone, I was lapping people and being yelled at by instructors for going too fast for the group.

My second time to that track., I pretty much had it... they bumped me out of the school groups and put me in with the racers open practice group and i was holding my own very well til my brakes decided they didnt want to work anymore.

[Drjones]

Admitted racing sim geek.

Console games not so much as they're all arcades and have a limited number of tracks, but I would think a good PC sim would help a lot for gaining some knowledge of racing lines, braking points etc. prior to getting on track for real.  For bikes there really isn't anything out there except arcade games (i.e. motogp 08 etc.), but there are plenty car specific sims that would be worth it.  rFactor is probably what you'd want to look at as it is an open source modable meaning there is a ton of tracks available for free from rFactorcentral.  The sim itself is around $35 from Trymedia (online download, no disk).  The only thing more realistic is IRacing, which is an online only subscription based "game" that really is aimed at the proffessional racer.  They physically go to each track and laser scan everything down to the grass blades and do the same for the available cars.  As such it is ass expensive; $15/month + $10-$20 per track and car.  iRacing has some noteable professional racers as subscribers.

[gm2]

Last year i went back to track riding after  14 year absence. the last track i had ridden on was Road Atlanta when i was 14 years old....


So i sign up for a track day. never seen the track before. And i admit i was a bit nervous. I got a track map and watched a few vids on youtube... and made notes for each corner and studied it for a week or so before the track day. once the jitters of being back on the track were gone, I was lapping people and being yelled at by instructors for going too fast for the group.

My second time to that track., I pretty much had it... they bumped me out of the school groups and put me in with the racers open practice group and i was holding my own very well til my brakes decided they didnt want to work anymore.

i don't doubt that someone with some reasonable skill and experience can go pick up a track in a day and start lapping pretty well; good on ya. 

but that's a far cry from being just a hair off bayliss' pace in a day.  learning a track is one thing.  up to championship-winning race pace is another.  that shit's crazy.  =)