As a direct ancestor of iRacing, the ‘Grand Prix Legends engine’ had multiple stock car racing false starts, before eventually releasing as NASCAR Racing 4. The original NASCAR 3, cancelled and replaced by one that used NASCAR 2’s engine, is barely remembered.
Video game development is full of names that have made groundbreaking steps you’ve never even heard about. Shawn Nash is a behind-the-scenes pioneer responsible for SODA Off Road Racing’s incredible physics, Papyrus’ graphical advancements and iRacing’s use of laser scan data for the physical track surfaces.
This interview with RSC, published in 2021, details his early life and career, through both his own company, Papyrus, Electronic Arts, to his time at iRacing.
A very interesting blog on the Dynamic Track Model from iRacing Senior Software Developer Dan Garrison was just posted. The blog initially looks back on the first attempt, talks about how with a static sun and clouds it was a simplistic system that allowed for changes in track temperature. Once they started to implement day/night cycles, more in-depth weather changes, they basically had to re-work the model because it was a very binary system that heated and cooled too quickly.
The new system, according to the blog, will store temperature data within multiple layers (rather than just the top layer like the old system). Heat will work its way back up to the surface after the sun goes away, making the transition in track temperature much more gradual.
An interesting mention goes to “the interaction between water and temperature” and wind applying to track temps, because as the blog states this is not only useful in conditioning the track temperature, but also drying after rain. Yes, rain.
The blog also has a little detail on how the data is managed, which is certainly nice to know, but this is a sim where those concerns should be largely their problem.
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