Race Against Your F1 Faves At Home

As a big F1 fan, the closest I will probably ever get to an F1 car is on TV or from the grand stand at a GP, but all that is set to change with a new concept by Dutch company iOpener Media.

iOpener have created a system where real time GPS data is beamed straight from the track and into your home consoles, letting you race against the likes of Lewis Hamilton, Kimi Raikkonen and all your favourite drivers. The ESA (European Space Agency) was so impressed with the project they have given the company a grant to help with development of the concept.

Bizarre Creations used F1 telemetry data from the cars to help design the tracks in the early 3D F1 games from the original Playstation and Playstation 2, when no detailed circuit maps existed.

“Games with the real time feature would excite a hardcore minority of gamers, Formula 1 and similar complex simulation games are getting less mass market nowadays, compared to their more arcade-style heyday in the late 90s, this sort of feature would probably appeal to the hardcore gamer or F1 fan more than a mass market gamer, having said that, the hardcore would totally love it.” – Gareth Wilson, Design Manager, Bizarre Creations.

“If Hamilton is driving behind you he can’t see you [in the game], so he would drive right through you, so the AI takes over at that point and you see a very realistic overtaking.” explained Andy Lurling, Founder iOpener Media.

iOpener isn’t planning to make the games itself, and is currently in talks with six games companies to bring the technology to home systems as early as September this year.

Source: BBC Technology