I notice in the restrictor plate tracks that the draft cone behind
a car is rather wide. Case in point-I just witnessed an AI battle
between Steve Park, Rusty Wallace, and Bobby Labonte at 'Dega.
On the last lap, Labonte goes low coming out of 2 and, running low below
everyone else for the entire backstretch, manages to pass Park and
Wallace for the lead and the victory. Cars attempting this on the
real tracks tend to be shuffled to the back of the draft rather
quickly. I am also able to pass very easily in such a situation. I
think the physics here needs to be tweaked a little...
John DiFool
Not to get too technical, as I agree that it is a game and not purely
realistic, but I think it is pretty close. The "cone" as you refer to it is
larger than most people think. I watched some footage of the land speed
record (granted that is much higher speed, but they are much narrower
vehicles too) and the shot from above the car showed the "cone" & shock
wave of the runs and the cone extended what appeared to be hundreds of feet
to the sides and behind the cars. This said I think it is reasonable to
think that a wider car going approx. 190 mph to throw out a "cone" at least
15-20 ft. out from the car sides and extend outwards of 1/2 to 3/4 second
behind. (190 mph being somewhere near 280 feet per second)
It may be that the cars in N4 are modeled after this newest aero package for
Daytona and Talladega which apparently knocks an ever bigger hole into the
air.
Another couple of points I am sure of though, one is that the inside lane is
inherently faster because it is shorter (NASCAR measures tracks 15 ft inside
the outer wall, an inside/low lane could easily be about 1/8-1/2 mile
shorter depending on track width), and two, never give any kind of credit to
the behavior of the AI cars as their grip and abilities on the same track
that you are running on, are far superior to that of human competitors'
cars.
Last illustration, I did exactly what you desribe last night in a league
practice. We were at Daytona with fixed setups (a good control measure to
test this kind of theory), against all human racers. We went back green off
a yellow with 5 laps to go and I passsed the leader with 3 to go on the
inside and in the interest of winning the race, hugged the apron line all
the way around for the last 3 laps, no blocking, just running the line all
the way around while 2nd and 3rd place guys tried to line up and pass high
several times and got beside me several times but in the corners, they were
simply having to travel a longer distance and could never close the gap
enough to pass.
I've got to go with Dale Jr. ( and Harvick and a couple others) on this one
and say that if we had seat of the pants feel, the sim is about as close as
NASCAR racing can be replicated with current technology.
Not looking for an argument, and I only had 4 years of Physics, so this is
purely an opinion.
edb
John DiFool <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...
Quoted text (14 lines)
> I notice in the restrictor plate tracks that the draft cone behind > a car is rather wide. Case in point-I just witnessed an AI battle > between Steve Park, Rusty Wallace, and Bobby Labonte at 'Dega. > On the last lap, Labonte goes low coming out of 2 and, running low below > > everyone else for the entire backstretch, manages to pass Park and > Wallace for the lead and the victory. Cars attempting this on the > real tracks tend to be shuffled to the back of the draft rather > quickly. I am also able to pass very easily in such a situation. I > think the physics here needs to be tweaked a little... > > John DiFool > >Agree with everything you said, but after watching the actual WC races, and
listening to the drivers talk about how good the outside line is at some
tracks, it seems that realistically the outside line should be better than
the way it is modelled in N4. Everything being equal, against a good driver
on the inside, it's virtually impossible to pass on the outside on any
track.
-Phasor
"SimRacer" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:o1tu6.147598$[email hidden]...
> Not to get too technical, as I agree that it is a game and not purely
> realistic, but I think it is pretty close. The "cone" as you refer to itis
> larger than most people think. I watched some footage of the land speed
> record (granted that is much higher speed, but they are much narrower
> vehicles too) and the shot from above the car showed the "cone" & shock
> wave of the runs and the cone extended what appeared to be hundreds offeet
> to the sides and behind the cars. This said I think it is reasonable to
> think that a wider car going approx. 190 mph to throw out a "cone" atleast
> 15-20 ft. out from the car sides and extend outwards of 1/2 to 3/4 second
> behind. (190 mph being somewhere near 280 feet per second)
>
> It may be that the cars in N4 are modeled after this newest aero packagefor
> Daytona and Talladega which apparently knocks an ever bigger hole into the
> air.
>
> Another couple of points I am sure of though, one is that the inside laneis
> inherently faster because it is shorter (NASCAR measures tracks 15 ftinside
> the outer wall, an inside/low lane could easily be about 1/8-1/2 mile
> shorter depending on track width), and two, never give any kind of creditto
off
> a yellow with 5 laps to go and I passsed the leader with 3 to go on the
> inside and in the interest of winning the race, hugged the apron line all
> the way around for the last 3 laps, no blocking, just running the line all
> the way around while 2nd and 3rd place guys tried to line up and pass high
> several times and got beside me several times but in the corners, theywere
> simply having to travel a longer distance and could never close the gap
> enough to pass.
>
> I've got to go with Dale Jr. ( and Harvick and a couple others) on thisone
> and say that if we had seat of the pants feel, the sim is about as closeas
