vcs316
28th August 2014, 02:53
Very few people in the entire world have ever been given the chance to drive a full-blown Formula 1 car. This is mostly due to the fact that they are horrifically expensive and incredibly difficult to drive.
But even the likes of Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton don't have access to their F1 cars all of the time. So what do they do in between?
Digital Spy was lucky enough to be invited down to the Belgian Grand Prix this weekend with Shell. On the itinerary was a go in the very same F1 simulator that Fernando Alonso keeps at home.
http://i1.cdnds.net/14/35/618x411/simulator2.jpg
So what's it like? Well, the simulator itself uses the exact same front end as Ferrari's 2014 season car, with the exact same seating layout, pedals and steering wheel.
You lower yourself in by standing on the seat and the first thing you notice is that your legs are raised up high. They run all the way down into the nose of the car, which is angled upward for aerodynamics.
It's a very strange feeling at first, as is just how little of the track you can see out above the car. The simulator itself moves left and right as well as up and down, with a number of projectors in front creating the illusion of being buried inside a racing car.
Perhaps the strangest feeling was the pedals on the car themselves. The accelerator was really long, while the brake pedal had what felt like only an inch of travel to play with.
We only had three laps to play with and the prize for the fastest time was a replica helmet signed by Fernando Alonso himself.
The pressure was well and truly on.
"The combination of sounds, all the real-world controls and the moving cockpit left us really believing we were driving a Ferrari F1 car around Spa"
Pulling out of the pits, we were immediately struck by just how hard you needed to press the brake to get the car to stop. That and how incredibly realistic the simulator was.
The combination of sounds, all the real-world controls and the moving cockpit left us really believing we were driving a Ferrari F1 car around Spa.
It all got a bit much, so we immediately booted our foot flat to the floor and spun. No heat in the tyres combined with the fact that the car was hugely powerful certainly presented a challenge.
Luckily, it being a simulator, we didn't do millions of pounds' worth of damage when we sent the Ferrari straight into the wall. Reigning it in slightly and actually listening to our tuition, we started getting rather quick. Quick enough in fact that we managed a time that would eventually net us Alonso's signed helmet.
http://i2.cdnds.net/14/35/618x411/sim1.jpg
The simulator itself is hugely expensive, costing more than £500,000. Alonso keeps one in his house in order to train with track protocol and keep on top of any major differences each season's car might have.
Obviously it'll never come that close to the real thing, but those three laps certainly left us wondering what on Earth it must feel like for drivers to send the things around tracks in real life.
It was hard enough managing the pedals and steering wheel. The sheer number of inputs on the wheel itself left us baffled; we didn't even touch them during our time in the simulator.
Games have always worked hard to bring real-life racing to consoles, but a 500 grand spend is a big ask. We say spend it on a vintage F1 car of your own, you might just manage it at that cost.
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tech/feature/a592664/fernando-alonsos-f1-simulator-hands-on-the-closest-youll-get-to-the-real-thing.html#~oOciR1P42tRaeP
But even the likes of Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton don't have access to their F1 cars all of the time. So what do they do in between?
Digital Spy was lucky enough to be invited down to the Belgian Grand Prix this weekend with Shell. On the itinerary was a go in the very same F1 simulator that Fernando Alonso keeps at home.
http://i1.cdnds.net/14/35/618x411/simulator2.jpg
So what's it like? Well, the simulator itself uses the exact same front end as Ferrari's 2014 season car, with the exact same seating layout, pedals and steering wheel.
You lower yourself in by standing on the seat and the first thing you notice is that your legs are raised up high. They run all the way down into the nose of the car, which is angled upward for aerodynamics.
It's a very strange feeling at first, as is just how little of the track you can see out above the car. The simulator itself moves left and right as well as up and down, with a number of projectors in front creating the illusion of being buried inside a racing car.
Perhaps the strangest feeling was the pedals on the car themselves. The accelerator was really long, while the brake pedal had what felt like only an inch of travel to play with.
We only had three laps to play with and the prize for the fastest time was a replica helmet signed by Fernando Alonso himself.
The pressure was well and truly on.
"The combination of sounds, all the real-world controls and the moving cockpit left us really believing we were driving a Ferrari F1 car around Spa"
Pulling out of the pits, we were immediately struck by just how hard you needed to press the brake to get the car to stop. That and how incredibly realistic the simulator was.
The combination of sounds, all the real-world controls and the moving cockpit left us really believing we were driving a Ferrari F1 car around Spa.
It all got a bit much, so we immediately booted our foot flat to the floor and spun. No heat in the tyres combined with the fact that the car was hugely powerful certainly presented a challenge.
Luckily, it being a simulator, we didn't do millions of pounds' worth of damage when we sent the Ferrari straight into the wall. Reigning it in slightly and actually listening to our tuition, we started getting rather quick. Quick enough in fact that we managed a time that would eventually net us Alonso's signed helmet.
http://i2.cdnds.net/14/35/618x411/sim1.jpg
The simulator itself is hugely expensive, costing more than £500,000. Alonso keeps one in his house in order to train with track protocol and keep on top of any major differences each season's car might have.
Obviously it'll never come that close to the real thing, but those three laps certainly left us wondering what on Earth it must feel like for drivers to send the things around tracks in real life.
It was hard enough managing the pedals and steering wheel. The sheer number of inputs on the wheel itself left us baffled; we didn't even touch them during our time in the simulator.
Games have always worked hard to bring real-life racing to consoles, but a 500 grand spend is a big ask. We say spend it on a vintage F1 car of your own, you might just manage it at that cost.
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tech/feature/a592664/fernando-alonsos-f1-simulator-hands-on-the-closest-youll-get-to-the-real-thing.html#~oOciR1P42tRaeP