The Chicane Podcast

Blended Reality in Sim Racing?

• Track Ghost Sim Racing • Episode 45

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Get ready for a thrilling start to the 2024 Formula One season as we dive into the latest happenings in the world of racing! This episode sees hosts Jason and Jeff unravel the whirlwind of events leading up to the opening race, including the dramatic shift of Lewis Hamilton to Ferrari. Get their take on how this transition impacts the competitive landscape of F1 and what it could mean for team dynamics moving forward.

As technology evolves, so does the world of sim racing, and we discuss the growing trend of 3D printing and its impact on personalizing rigs. Whether you're a seasoned enthusiast or just starting, hear why listeners are motivated to bring 3D printing into their homes during this economically favorable season.

Innovative updates from sim racing developers have transformed experiences, and we spotlight significant advancements that promise efficiency and enjoyment for players. Plus, technology breakthroughs such as blended reality in VR are changing the way racers interact with simulations, combining the best of both physical and virtual experiences.

All this, along with a detailed review of Albert Park, a beloved racing circuit reflecting a rich history within F1. Join us as we share predictions and insights for the dynamic racing landscape that lies ahead! We invite you to tune in, share your thoughts, and be part of our racing community.

Smart Livin, Jeff's Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@SmartLivin-808

Lovely Sim Racing (LSR): https://store.lsr.gg/

Daniel Newman Racing (DNR): https://www.danielnewmanracing.com/

3D Printed Wheels: https://pokornyiengineering.com/

Blended Reality Video ( Rights to video GetCloserRacing accelerateesports): https://youtu.be/uEySMkmDjlo?si=RHVbpIddIOCaL4Ej

LMU Update: https://www.overtake.gg/news/le-mans-ultimate-february-update-tested-more-than-just-lmgt3.2926/

Simagic News: https://www.overtake.gg/news/simagic-co-founder-tyler-wang-leaves-company.2942/

Please e-mail the show for any questions, comments or stories/experiences at thechicanepodcast@gmail.com

Watch the show in video podcast form on YouTube at: https://www.youtube.com/@TGSsimracing

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Intro/Outro Rights below:
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Jason:

The Hello and welcome to the Chicane Podcast, where we discuss all things in the sim racing world. I'm your host, jason Rivera, and I'm joined here by Mr Jeff Smart. How's it going?

Jeff:

bud, jason, dude, pleasure as always to see you. I'm ready to get into it. We got some good stuff today. It is week one of the Formula One season. Oh man, we got a big episode today, wow dude.

Jason:

That's right, dude, I'm pumped, pumped. I can't wait, dude. I mean, it's weird seeing Lewis Hamilton in red, though I can't get used to it, it's like it does not compute.

Jeff:

It does not compute.

Jason:

I don't know if it was like 12 or 13 years in a black car, you know, in silver and black. It's weird yeah.

Jeff:

I will say I mean not that we're going to go down the F1 rabbit hole here, at least not now. But the Ferrari car needs to be more brighter red this maroon stuff ain't cutting it, and that white too, I mean it doesn't, no dude.

Jason:

Hopefully mid -season they'll change it or something, I don't know. But it's the sponsor, right? I think it's HP back there. Yeah, I think it's hp. They were like probably paid extra, dumped one extra dump truck of cash to get a white background.

Jeff:

For sure I bet they paid a lot to convince them to change out the color scheme, but for sure so.

Jason:

But so, anyways, got a good episode here today. Yeah, we do. Man, eric couldn't join us. Eric's coming down with whatever's going on, and that was me the other week. So uh, eric, hope you feel better and uh can't wait to see your next, next go around.

Jason:

So right on buddy it's gonna be just the hawaiian troopers here. Uh, so for announcements, I don't really have much um excited for f1 3d printing. As you know, I do not want to shove 3d printing down your throats or laying it thick, how jeff says um, it's too late for that.

Jeff:

It's too late. Everybody's already been like I've been on the fence about it, but you guys pushed me over the limits, you know it's. It's interesting time to be talking about right, because tax returns are coming back you know, like you know all this, don't enable them, bro so you know.

Jason:

So it's like uh that totally makes sense too. Everybody was like oh, I'm on the.

Jeff:

There were a couple comments. I was on the fence about buying one, but I was looking at that bamboo. But now that you guys showed me all the stuff, I'm all in. I'm like god.

Jason:

We're, like you know, most wanted list of like spouses to sim racers right now well, I'll tell'll tell you this and and you know I will mention this here I will mention it here and take my words with a grain of salt and we're not a politics podcast at all. But if you live in the United States and something that at high cost value, like that coming from China, you know they're talking about tariffs and all kinds of stuff, so you might want to order sooner than later if you're thinking about it, and then you double up with the tax returns, you know.

Jason:

So I mean, you've earned it. That's all I'm saying. You've earned it. So I was going to say this it doesn't matter which model you decide 3D printing is 3D printing. It doesn't have to be the super high-end, expensive model or whatever. It's all about what works for you and do your research. Again, do your research. We're all new to this. We're all new to owning one of these, and we're in what I call the honeymoon phase to owning one of these. And we're in what I call the honeymoon phase. That's what we're in where it's a shiny new product and you just want to see how it works and see what you can build out of it. So that's what I have for announcements. Man, how was your week though?

Jeff:

It was good. It was good, you know, just a little bit of driving, a little bit of everything. Just about out of rookies for Rallycross thing, um, just about out of rookies for, uh, rallycross, um, just drive, you know, not not a cut secret. Formula one open wheels, my favorite, I do like to get in there with mom. You know, some b class open wheel, I think those, that is probably the sweet spot for me. Uh, fast cars, people in there driving, really you can go wheel to wheel and no, you're not going to get taken out, but god, it is, especially with my new shifter dude and going, it just is. Adds a, you know, clicking gears as you're, you know, driving sideways around a turn is, uh, it's pretty cool. My new wheel, uh, tom will tell who knows when it'll be here, but when it will, I'll hold it up and uh, it's actually like a real wheel. I say not a real wheel, not a sim wheel, it's gonna get's going to get an XG hub and it'll go on there.

Jason:

It's like weird to say like a dumb wheel right, it doesn't have any buttons on it, you got your NRG, which is a real life car, same thing, you know. I mean that's part of the immersion, right, that's how you like. Sometimes, when you start in this hobby, you're like so why do you need all these? Why do you need all these different wheels? Like, why do you need that, why don't I just have one wheel? And then it's kind of like, as time goes on, you kind of realize, oh, this kind of fits well for this purpose, right, and so on and so forth.

Jason:

So I'm really happy to hear that, because I'm really happy to hear that, because I'm all about, if you're going to build something, it needs to be a multiple use thing to make it worth it. You know what I'm saying. It needs to be something that is not just one thing, because if it was, that would be extremely expensive if you think about it. If you think about it. So if I can only drive one thing on this, on the simulator, then it would severely limit this podcast and what we talk about.

Jason:

Because there's so many different pieces of gear hardware, sims and different car control, different radius you got to look at wheel radiuses that have to match one to one. You know you don't want to. You don't want to drive a rally car with a formula wheel. You're gonna hit.

Jeff:

You're gonna hit something dude, it hurts and I'm finding out that, like when you go into the iRacing then you go into like the settings for each car you need to set up, like I can't just use the same settings across the. Uh, you know each car get into like in like form it, from F, the F four car to you know a bunch of the formula cars, you could kind of get away with the same setup. You know wheel radius and things like that Boy did that change jumping into a rally or a NASCAR?

Jeff:

I mean it was like you only try to drive with one hand of these little tiny corrections and with the other it like, yeah, it's just not gonna work, so I'm gonna. You have to go through and use like custom settings for for, kind of like, each car at that point, um, but you know that that's kind of. You know, the fun of it is like you know, right now I've got a formula car as I'm, formula wheels, I'm driving, you know, the rally cross right now. So it's a little bit of breaking what we would call the immersion. But whatever, you know, race what you've got.

Jason:

That's true, that's true. So I mean there is, there is a caveat right with what I just said and you just mentioned it. I mean, if you can only afford one thing, then by all means don't let that stop you either. Hell no.

Jeff:

Yeah.

Jason:

So it's not like you can't do it, it's just that it's a little better if you can in the future. Um and again, real, real life wheels. They're not really that that bad compared to you know, the likes of a 1500 plus wheel or 1200 plus us.

Jeff:

I'm talking yeah, this was peanuts compared to my soul pack, probably, like I mean every 200 bucks.

Jason:

Yeah, I know, so yeah, and to know that you have a real life wheel that's designed to withstand like heat, sun, sweat, grime, and it's on a sim. It'll last forever. I promise you that it'll last forever. You won't wear this thing down, good luck. And it'll look cool.

Jeff:

Somebody told me ABC man always be cool.

Jason:

All right, man, so just all right. So we're going to get into the main discussion here. This episode, or at least my portion of the episode, is more on catching up. So we're trying to catch up with a lot of news that's been happening circling. We've been excited for certain things that kind of shifted the focus, if you may.

Jason:

But you know there's been some changes, and the first one I'm going to cover is for the new, lovely SimRacing update, and I will share my screen. It'll be a quick one. So let me just go to over his website and give him kudos, because Constantinos continues to change the game for a package that you're paying for one price, and I really respect that. So shout out to him. I will go through the change log, but I will go through the changelog, but I will show you real quick the new dashboard that he created. It's like two or three of them, so one of them is this lovely dashboard companion portrait. So if you have a portrait phone screen that you want to display something in a portrait mode, we have an option for you. He also released a Rally dashboard that's geared towards Rally. So a much more simple, to the point, clean, yes. And this next one is what blew my mind away, because I hate circular displays. However, take a look at this round dashboard that he created. Tell me that this does not look awesome.

Jeff:

That does look pretty cool. I'm not going to lie. I mean it's not moving to see your tack and the green bars moving. Oh, that's like your relative.

Jason:

Yeah, dude, this is yeah, and then you could change this background, this screen background. I wish I could show more for you, but let's go through the change log real quick If it doesn't open up another tab. Anyway. So the change log here. I'll go over the final changes while you're seeing. That display Is a bunch of fixes and the major update was with that new round dashboard in the rally, and now his plugin on SimHub allows you to update all those dashboards in one place. You no longer have to download a separate file and double click it and open it.

Jason:

Yeah, it's right there and it tells you when it's up to date and it tells you if it needs an update. It's amazing.

Jeff:

Isn't that funny that like I didn't even know I wanted that, but now I got it. Yeah. Like I didn't even think about that. But Constantinos puts it together and you're like, wow, that's a great idea, I need that, yeah. But Constantine puts it together and you're like wow, that's a great idea.

Jason:

I need that. Yeah, it makes it more of a product than just downloading files from a server. It's like if you have the plugin installed, that's all you need. When the plugin has an update, it'll flash and you click on it and it installs, and then you go to your dashboards and everything is maintained, managed and in SimHub. You don't have to go to a website, you don't have to log in, you don't have to put a code, nothing. However, with that, he was using a website called CoFi for membership. That has changed. Now your memberships are handled directly from his website, which I will leave links below, and he also has an option for migration. So they're definitely going away with Kofi. So if you have a Kofi membership, you might want to double check for all you lovely sim racers out there, uh, that are members, it doesn't matter which level. So, yeah, that covers in a nutshell, lovely sim racing updates.

Jeff:

I'm kind of glad that they're. I mean I assume he's leaving Copay or whatever that program is that we're using Cofi or Cofi whatever. Yeah, I'm assuming it's putting more money in his pocket. And anytime we can hook up a sim racing developer with you know what's right there is, in my opinion, definitely I'm all for it.

Jason:

100 and for the same cost. There was no increase. Yeah, he released three dashboards and all these updates for the same cost. That's been the same price since its inception and that's why it makes it more value, like when you put money towards something you know if, and you see that progression. Same thing with Daniel Newman racing.

Jason:

Daniel Newman racing created a rally dashboard and he didn't change his, his price. He said hey, man, if you looking for a different look or a different take, um, you know there's an option for you, excuse me, there's an option for you. And also, you know they both have their different flavors, right? So let's say, you're using the lovely dashboard for everything, but then you want to jump in a rally car. You know you have a different. Daniel Newman has his own flavor, his own style. So you know you can, if you're a member, you can choose that route or you can go over to whichever one you want.

Jason:

So, with Daniel Newman as well, he also had a big update that was just released the other two days ago, maybe yesterday, I don't know at the time of this recording. So let me go ahead and share that and give it up to my man, daniel. And here we go. So we got to release a change log of 5.2. So the man I goes on vacation probably bought his laptop. He comes back and in two days he's firing away. So I'm really impressed with the frequent, the frequency of his, of his products and the updates and, again, justifying the, the value that you're paying, the support you know he's all about. Hey, man, if you support me, I'm going to support you as best as I can. So I'll go over this real quick.

Jason:

Car specific RPMs arrived to EA WRC. All the cars, which is a lot of them, all cars, yeah. So he added all three of the new pack four of Le Mans Ultimate, which we're going to go over some of the changes that they received just recently on their new pack four. He added the second stage blue LED when headlights are activated for ACC wheel and both wheel and button box profiles, ignition and engine off. On and off colors function is customizable. So if you don't like the yellow I think it's yellow and red then you can make it purple, blue, you know whatever you want to match your scheme on the wheel. Added the option to create a delay in seconds when using the function, the function button Okay, cool. Added clutch feedback to the telemetry profile as a brand new clutch companion. Wow, look at that, that's awesome.

Jason:

Added flags to the companion profile. So the companion profile is let's say, you have a DDU and you have a wheel and you don't want to display the same telemetry on both. Then he's made a companion where you can customize the top and separate them. So that's what he means when he says companion profile, flags and spotter priority selection you can now determine which effect you wish to take priority with. This is a big one, because let's say, there's a yellow flag on track, but then there's also I don't know a blue flag. Sometimes the blue flag will take over the yellow and I don't really care about the blue flag. I already know who's behind me. I care about the yellow flag to see if there's somebody off track, if they're trying to rejoin. So that's really good for you to just a click of a button and say, hey, I want you to prioritize the yellow flag.

Jason:

Added a new button function for refuel I think God I need to go and do that for refuel which is awesome. That means you can change the color and everything, assuming Daniel, if I'm wrong, correct me. Added the option to show critical flags on the matrix boxes Okay, added fuel, low fuel, acknowledgement, hot key. This is dope, because sometimes that is cool does not go unread until you refuel, and sometimes that could be a lap or two where the whole rig is yellow. So with this you could say yes, I know, I have low fuel, press the button and it'll go away, so that way you can see the other flags.

Jason:

So the guy's thinking like a sim racer. You know what I mean. He's thinking, if I'm going to give you these features, know what I mean he's thinking, if I'm gonna give you these features, there there has to be like a, there has to be a trade-off and an option for you to customize what your experience, what you want, right. So I'm almost done here. Added a low fuel. I'll say I got that. Okay, brand new, okay, two brand new profiles. So 011, 0, 0, 16 and 0. Added support for upcoming dnr speedway oval dashboard. Oval jeff. So he's making an oval dashboard that doesn't exist and on top of that, he was the first one to drop uh, I think he was the first one to drop the rally dashboard too. Um, on on his products. And you know, modern rally, rally dashboard came from dnr first, and then some changes here which I won't go over. These are just um just bugs, fixes and changes.

Jeff:

I think you get my drift again again like things that I didn't know I needed. But now that I see them I'm like dang, that's pretty sweet. I didn't know, I you know, I never even thought of that, but now I want it. There's like three things you know that you're low on fuel. Okay, got it, opposed to just you know, continually being reminded, yeah.

Jason:

Yeah.

Jeff:

So I mean.

Jason:

I'm telling you, both ecosystems, lovely Dashboard and DNR are thinking outside the box. They earn my, they trust me, they earn my pledge. Every single month. I have zero ask complaints. Everything comes as a surprise. It's like I'm a sim racer. I jump in and then I see that an update again. His plugin does the same thing. It updates on its own. The dashboards that he's released are built into his plugin. You don't have to go nowhere again. It's just. It's just amazing that the things that he's doing, the things that the community's building, is really awesome.

Jason:

I mean, we didn't have this level of support a year ago. Just think just one year the start of 2024, things were just so old school. Now we have products that look modern and feel modern, and feel 2025 is what they feel like. So and then, um, I will mention real quick some LMU updates. So let me share my screen, courtesy of race department AKA overtake now. So it looks like this update was already released. This is kind of old news. So they revised the LMGT3 tire model, which I need to test out and see.

Jason:

I won't go over this too much because this is kind of. You guys probably already read this somewhere, because it's kind of old. It's just we've been busy Le Mans Ultimate, ford Mustang, lmg GT, lmg T3, detailed like no other, so we have new cars in there. So, yeah, I mean it's really a a light change here. Let's be honest with ourselves.

Jason:

This is DLC, and you guys already know how I feel about DLC, and DLC should have been in the game, especially for a pre-release title that you're charging money for. I understand that you need money, but it makes the game way more expensive than what you really paid for, if that makes sense. You know they did a few changes to the HUD and quality of life, but nobody cares about the HUD. Honestly, if you have rigs and a screen, I would disable all of this 100%, yeah. But if you don't, hey, more power to you. I'm not saying anything. You can enjoy the game just as much with the hud on use what you got, like jeff said, um, but yeah, these are just a few updates um, hey, jason, I don't have lmu.

Jeff:

I'm curious to see what, like, the community thinks of you know lmu. So if you don't, I mean you know to. You know, ask some of our listeners if you wouldn't mind just taking a job I don't own it A is it worth downloading here today, march of 25? You have like two people on the fences Like yeah, it's good, and then the people that are like no, screw them for the subscription and all that other stuff, releasing it before it was really, as it was, half-baked Right.

Jason:

What's your thoughts, buddy? It's a great driving-looking game, but they're trying to go with an iRacing subscription model. Yeah, everything is now huh On top of charging you for the DLC and I'm like I already have a subscription. It's called iRacing and that is not going nowhere. It's good luck competing with that, but the sim as a drive, as an experience, it is very, very, very nice, very nice, very great. It feels great. I know a bunch of creators that switched over to mainly lmu, and one of them is dan suzuki. Dan suzuki used to be I racing all the way yeah, 100, now he's 100, like he's deep with lm.

Jason:

Yeah, all in with lmu and a flight simulator now he's a. He's got a new channel, uh, flight simulator. So, dan, if you're watching, I hope you're watching. If you are, um, shout out to you, man, I've always been a fan of his content.

Jeff:

Um, a hundred percent yeah.

Jason:

Super smart guy, um, smart dude. He does a bunch of stuff that he he's created on his discord and his Patreon for wireless wheels too. Remember that. So now that I have a 3D printer, that might have to happen sooner or later Print something out like that. Now I can do it, which is kind of cool. And if I can do it, jeff, that means I got you, because you live like right down the street.

Jeff:

You know what. I remember, what it was that I was trying to think of, what you could 3d print is you we could get into making your own wheel? Oh, yes, yes dude, that was something that I've always thought about. I always see like the ads for them on like.

Jeff:

I forget where I see on facebook or wherever oh no, there's a hold on, um, there's a page that like basically just buy these pieces, here's the plans that you need to print out, um, and you know, a couple nights after work and you've got yourself a pretty one-off wheel. That, yeah, that's it about 100.

Jason:

Yeah, I know, trust me, these guys are amazing.

Jeff:

So now, those wheels are jeff, you're killing me, man.

Jason:

I, I, I was trying to not put 3D printing stuff over here because I took some fire my way and I'm like, hey, man, listen. So we're going to go through this real quickly.

Jeff:

No, this is awesome. I think it's cool is to have a wheel that you made right. Yes, even if you use it every now and again or just as a you know something on the wall that you look at like dude. I built that I, and now I'm sure you, like you, know how all the other wheels work, for the most part, I'd imagine yeah, if you wanted to build this, they'll sell you the files to print for 45 euro, and then you here here.

Jeff:

Here's the. You need some carbon plates that you can buy no, you print these all of these do you?

Jason:

yeah, all of these are printable, maybe the grips that's a little big for the yes, um that's why they cost so much? Right, because they're pre-made, but these are files. You see that files, files, anything that says files on it is printable. Um, I will that wheel.

Jeff:

That wheel would go for like 2200 bucks. I'm over exaggerating a little bit, but no, but it's my point I get what you're saying.

Jason:

You're saying someone come over the house and you're like you see that wheel right there. I built that like from scratch, like all the buttons, the board. I burst it.

Jeff:

Yeah, press some buttons and it was born.

Jason:

The thing about this is soldering skills. So if anybody knows a good guide for me to learn soldering because with 3D printing, if you want to go deep, you have to be good at both- Dude, I did the FPV drones build your own for a while.

Jeff:

Oh yeah, the only way to get into it Like watch some basic videos. But you just got to like buy basic parts and just practice, like not that you're building anything, but just learn to practice how to tin things and then you know solder.

Jason:

Oh right, and then you use the I forget that little clear stuff that you put on there and it melts away, yeah, to clean it up.

Jeff:

I guess, I don't know, yeah look, you can buy all the peripheral stuff that you need.

Jason:

Dude, you can buy the whole thing, Like the whole thing. Yeah, that's cool.

Jeff:

I think it's cool.

Jason:

The circuit board. You know what I mean, but you know this is a completely, and this is another thing. The advantage here of printing this and building it is that it is 100% serviceable.

Jeff:

You have all the parts.

Jason:

Yet if something breaks, goes wrong on this wheel, for whatever reason, you could just swap out the. You know how it's built, you built it, you know.

Jeff:

So that's a bonus topic. That wasn't planned but when. Yeah, sorry about that, I was dude. I was thinking about this forever the other day and I just thought of it. Right, but it'd be cool to have your own wheel. My neighbor's got one of those like laser engravers. I bring that sucker over there and I'd have them. You know right name and number on there, or something, or the Chicane Podcast logo or something. That'd be dope.

Jason:

Yeah, yeah, for sure, man, for sure. I mean something you love custom-made stuff. I already know that about you. Your fuselage is dope as hell, it's like all carbon fiber around you and it's got the big high rise. So yeah, you pride yourself with that. I mean, I like it too. I'm just not good at it. That's the thing, I'm not good at it. But a machine that I can tell it what to do is a very different story. But enough, enough, before somebody comes after me, man, enough about 3D printing. I will leave all the links of everything that I've shown today because I was a little quick about the LMU update. Also, newsflash SimMagic's co-founder what's his name? Tyler Wang. Tyler Wang leaves the company. He gone. Is it going to affect you? Probably not. I wouldn't worry too much these things. Ceos leave all the time they switch, but don't worry about it.

Jeff:

Bro, I think SibMagic is doing one of these guys.

Jason:

Yeah.

Jeff:

And they got products coming on the way. That's going to continue to make it go this way.

Jason:

Yeah, it's fine.

Jeff:

They're going to be all right.

Jason:

Yeah, they're lined up. So they got things lined up, especially Q2, q3, you might start seeing some stuff here shortly. I think we just moved into Q2.

Jeff:

Pretty close yeah.

Jason:

Pretty close to Q2, right? So I mean usually Q2, q3 is when SimGear starts hitting the market by the masses, and then in Q4, then Black Friday all over again. That's how they cash you out, that's how they cash out for the year, but anyways, that's how they cash you out. That's how they cash out for the year. But anyways, um over to you.

Jeff:

Jeff, let's see what you got for us this year.

Jeff:

I mean this year, this episode, this episode, yeah. So I was watching, um, just cruising Facebook the other day, uh, on the uh, some magic, uh or not the some magic, but the? Um, some racing setups, simagic, uh or not the simagic, but the um, sim racing setups, facebook pay or facebook group, and I came across a post that most of them are like hey, whose fault is this? I race you like bro. Nobody cares, like you know, it's just getting old, but anyways, um, they probably you guys don't post that stuff anyways. So anyways, back to the point of hand. This jude is a vr racer, but he figured out. His name is christian hawk. I'm probably butchering the dude's name, but anyways, he figured out how to do blended reality with sim racing. He's using iRacing, I'm I'm sure you could do it with, you know ams other stuff, but uh, so I'm gonna show the video here and the reality, like we can talk about it, super cool stuff.

Jeff:

So blended reality for those is like you have your vr, but you also have, uh, you need a vr headset that has pass-through, so cameras on the outside you can actually see what's happening with your headset on, if that makes sense. So he basically has it so he can see his rig right. So the big thing with vr that kind of people push back on is I just spent all this money on a awesome badass wheel and I'm gonna put goggles on over him and now you can't see it yeah, that I just spent all this money on and you got

Jeff:

like and all this other stuff 50 buttons on the wheel that you don't know where they are yeah, like, you're, like yeah so yes, he figured out a way to where you see your stuff, your peripherals, your steering wheel, your shifter, your legs, your pedals. But as you go up and you can set it, you start to see the car and I racing you. If you're in a gt3, you can look around and see, you know, the roll cage. Um, you know, look the other way. You can see the netting and stuff. So I'm gonna show the video here and then we can talk about it. So stand by one second gotcha.

Jason:

It's time for show and tell. Here we go, so this is awesome stuff.

Jeff:

So here he is explaining that you can. You know you move the steering wheel in game to match where yours is. But here, if you see he's looking down, he's seeing his hands, his wheel. He's got a shifter on the right side. You can see his legs. And then you look up and he's got his windshield and the iracing thing.

Jason:

That's insane bro.

Jeff:

He just presses a button, goes into full VR. He's basically setting up the game here, clicking through some settings, he's showing you what he's what he's doing and then, jeff, you have that, that meta quest 3. I do so, I am so. For me, I think vr is awesome, but my problem here and I'm thinking this might solve a lot of people's problems with motion sickness because I'm not seeing my hands, like my brains don't have any point of reference, I guess. Um, so I think that if you saw your hands and you had reference points where your hands are on the wheel that you're touching, you can move them around, like he is right that you see my legs, you see my you wouldn't get motion sickness right like I think that might be a huge game changer here he can almost.

Jason:

You seen, are you seeing this, bro?

Jeff:

yeah, he's like looking up trying to grab the roll cage, um, yeah so this is great, it's awesome. So eventually he's gonna get going here and it is the next level. So he's got a porsche wheel and I guess this matches oh let's hear that wait a minute, hold, hold on, damn.

Jeff:

But look at that, it looks crisp and he says in the comments here that it looks much better in his goggles. The OSB or whatever that he's using to capture this is not nearly as good as it is in his headset. But dude, that's wild Dude. How cool is that dude? I think this is killer. Like next level. This is the next level that sim racing is. Now he's got motion, so that probably even adds you know more to you know the immersion. But I can't imagine what's more immersive than this. Like you can look over and look out your window and see the car pull up next to you. Um, you reach down and you grab your shifter.

Jason:

That you can see yeah, I, I see like you can notice it faint, like it's like see-through, just a little bit but it's like, yeah, and he's got, he's in a motion rig too yeah.

Jeff:

So here's the rub, and my frustration is this dude just drops all this stuff on that page and doesn't give any direction of how to do it. He's just like hey, look what I figured out. How to do. This is super cool. And everybody's like bro, how are you doing this? You know what steps. You know? Help me out how to do this. I want to do it and he owns a company. I guess Get Closer Racing. I don't know. I'll try to find his website and we can post it in the links there, but, dude, I think this is next level.

Jeff:

If we can figure out how to do this. I'm definitely going to give it a try. That's going to change the game for real. It's like the best of both worlds, right, like you have your steering wheel in your gear that you paid all this money for and now you get to see it like imagine, I couldn't imagine seeing my soul peck here as I'm sitting inside a you know formula car yeah, that bridges the gap from br with mixed reality like yeah, and then you can have your hue lights onto your arms that you can see you know it's like the absolute best of both worlds.

Jason:

Oh yeah.

Jeff:

So I think he ends the video here or pretty close, he just talks to the camera here. So we'll stop sharing kind of talk about this a little bit.

Jason:

That is crazy. We were talking about something like this similar right, Like on the end of year show when we did.

Jeff:

You're right, we did talk about something to do with VR.

Jason:

Yeah, we talked about the possibility, because we spend the money, like you said, on a high-end device and you can't see it. It's kind of like but this is wild and you have that headset, bro. Yeah, let's figure this out, jeff.

Jeff:

So my kid plays this like what's first started to get me thinking about it. My kid's got this. He plays this uh, blended. Like you walk around the house and like these little cartoon aliens break down the walls of your house and they jump in and you gotta shoot them and stuff and you watch and it looks crazy.

Jeff:

This is wild, like super cool, it's his favorite game, um. But then you're like what, what else could you do? And this guy just took it to the next level, so hopefully here in the near future, because he had. I mean, some people were like this is silly, it's VR. Nobody likes VR. That's not true. Like a lot of people like VR, I would love to do VR, but I just get sick Like I just not fun, right, I'll just take it off and go my triples and it's fine.

Jason:

Technology needs to improve. Like it's a big, heavy piece of gear on your face. It needs to find a way to get slimmer and breathe a little better.

Jeff:

But that's the problem. Yeah, you're not doing this for the Daytona 24, right? No? No, that'd be crazy, a cruel and unusual punishment. Your, the Daytona 24, right? No, that'd be crazy, a cruel and unusual punishment.

Jason:

Your thing would be soaked with sweat and stuff.

Jeff:

Yeah, your neck will fall off too, like. But if you're doing officials like I racing, you know, just official races this would be super killer.

Jason:

Yeah, it would be. I think that's amazing. I think, wow, I'm like shocked that. How did you find this man? Holy smokes yeah.

Jeff:

He was just uh, you know, I said like on that sim racing page, that, that, that, uh, you guys are moderators for sim racing setups, posted it, um, and then just, he did that like six days, five days ago, and then, just, uh, you know, earlier this week he's posted a video of the YouTube video that I just showed. You know, a little bit of like, oh, you can see what he's seeing and you know a video, versus just the pictures that he was showing. That's crazy, bro, but, christian, if you're watching this, please let us know how you did oh yeah, or, if anyone knows, email us at the chicane podcast.

Jeff:

Yeah, I am not a vrc by any stretch of the imagination, but I can follow some directions and would love to know how to do it your pc is definitely more than capable um to do it.

Jason:

I've done it. It's PC is definitely more than capable to do it.

Jeff:

I'll tell you that, rob Markman, I've done it.

Jason:

It's just like I said I get the Rob.

Jeff:

Markman, get the motion sickness. Yeah, rob Markman, there's not much worse things than that. That and seasick. You know how that goes, rob Markman. Oh yeah, it turned out to just a bad day.

Jason:

And we were just about to go home and the freaking wheel went off, which reminds me Jeff Smart has his own YouTube channel about his fishing adventures. I had to put it out, Jeff.

Jeff:

Oh, thanks, but yeah appreciate it, so Jeff what is this channel?

Jason:

Talk to me real quick about it. If you're a fan of Jeff's man. You can see him in Hawaii reeling up. I don't want to spoil it, but one of his videos there's some monsters in the water. Just going to give you that hint.

Jeff:

Yeah, so I started a YouTube channel in the water, just going to give you that hint. Yeah, so I started a YouTube channel. Um, it is smart, living L I V I N. Um, and it is kind of just follows what I and my family do on the weekends when we take our boat out, go to the beach, whatever. Most of it revolves around the water. Um, and I just posted a video of, uh, me and my dad my brother went out fishing and we hooked our first marlin. So we caught like a six and a half foot straight marlin.

Jason:

I was trying not to spoil it, man, and give it a watch.

Jeff:

It's cool. I think it's cool, Bro, your reaction.

Jason:

I'm not going to say it, but your reaction was crazy and you were like I'm not apologizing.

Jeff:

I apologize for nothing.

Jeff:

Yeah, apologize, yeah, really really awesome, really trying to get the feel of, people can, like you know, not everybody is, you know can go out fishing in hawaii so they can watch a video and kind of. You know, come along for the ride, come along for the adventure, um, and you know, see what it feels like to, you know, be on the uh, the reel of catching a marlin, you know, a couple hundred pound or hundred pound or just over 100 pound marlin, and we catch mahi-mahi tuna, et cetera, and that'll be on there. Sometimes it's just going to the sandbar and chill with the fam, whatever. So if you've got some time, go search Smart Living, fishing or whatever. You can't miss it.

Jason:

Links in the description.

Jeff:

The link will be in the description Great.

Jason:

Awesome, yeah, it um. Links in the description. The link will be in the description. Great awesome, yeah, so links in the description and for those people that are on the audio version.

Jeff:

I will have links there as well, don't forget.

Jason:

Okay, awesome thanks, jason. No worries man. Um, I'm pretty sure we'll have. We'll have quite a few people go over there. We've got a bunch of fans here. So, yeah, jeff is kind of a multitasker. He'll still be how do you say this? Full of salt from the seawater and jumping the rig. And you got to see his collection of what do you call the tails.

Jeff:

All the fish tails, the trophies yeah.

Jason:

Yeah, he's got a shit ton of those.

Jeff:

I have to put that in a video. That'd be a good thing to some. Yeah, man. You usually show like catch it, clean it, cook. It is kind of what we try to show in the video, so we could put that in there along the process.

Jason:

It kind of sucks. We didn't get that video of the tuna because we were reeling tuna left right. Six tunas, bro, yeah.

Jeff:

It was like an hour and two hours of just pure reeling, Just reeling sweating them.

Jason:

things are fast, bro, and we cooked. We ate sashimi like right there.

Jeff:

Not much better, a couple hour old.

Jason:

Not even bro, like maybe two hour old, maybe.

Jeff:

Doesn't get much fresher.

Jason:

Yeah, so I've been meaning to shout out the channel. So check out, jeff Smart, smart Living, if you like fishing, if you like Hawaii, if you want to see Hawaii, where we live, check him out. It's good stuff, but anyways, it's that time.

Jeff:

It is that time.

Jason:

For Track of the Week. So, jeff, you got it. This time. I do let us know what you. What did you decide on?

Jeff:

yo, jason. So I don't say in honor, but being that it is week one of formula one and they're starting off at the australian g, I figured it would be a perfect time to do Albert Park. So I didn't know this, that Australia GP did not always happen at Albert Park, it happened at Phillip Island, I don't know where. That is Interesting perspective I think Eric covered it that it did go to Mount Panorama for a couple years in 1938. And then they stopped it for a while and then they went to Albert Park. So here we go. I'm going to bring up the tab here. So everybody Albert Park.

Jason:

Is that the one in Melbourne?

Jeff:

Is that Melbourne?

Jason:

I want to go there.

Jeff:

Downtown Melbourne. So this right here is vaguely what it looks like today. So I'm going to go through some of this and click along here. So it's kind of interesting.

Jason:

We need to get an ad blocker. No offense Racing Circuits Info, but your ad is out of control right now.

Jeff:

I mean, I don't even know what we of these are.

Jason:

We can't control what's about to be displayed. So if you see something weird, you know where I'm going with it, Jeff.

Jeff:

Yeah, right, okay, so here we go. Albert Park. Albert Park circuit was used for the Australian GP from 1953 to 1956. The circuit was rebuilt in 96 after the Australian GP was moved from Almondale to Melbourne. The circuit is popular with drivers because of its consistent corner placement. The circuit was formed along the public roads in the parkland surrounding a lake Much better backdrop than Melbourne's previous major venue, fisherman's Creek which is nestled along the dock and a rubbish tip I don't know if that's code for like a dump or a waste facility. Yeah, I don't know, but anyway.

Jason:

Rubbish dump Like a trash collection.

Jeff:

Yeah, I think so. A nice little pond or lake is much better than a rubbish rubbish dump. The large flat circuit features a series.

Jason:

They probably caught a whiff of that going around the track. Dude, it's gonna be funny.

Jeff:

Sorry that's okay, a series of fast bends providing populist drivers. In 1953, australian grand prix was won by doug whiteford in the Talbert Largo. Well, following up the event in 96 or 56 was won by the Sterling Moss. Further races took place in 57, 58, which, after local politicians pressured to bring the race to an end. So for 30 years they did not run the Australian GP.

Jason:

I'm seeing that Like there's a big gap, yep.

Jeff:

So, however, in 92, the political winds had turned Damn. Move it along here you can start to see the track kind of take form. They changed the hell out of it.

Jason:

Look at that Big change.

Jeff:

Yep, new state premier Jeff Kennett, was keen to find a way to make the Melbourne more dynamic and interesting city, planning to boost tourism and the local economy through a series of major international events, and at the top of the list was securing the Australian Grand Prix from rivals. I'm going to butcher the name. And Dale and the Formula One circuit oh good, duly arrived in 96. Nadelle and the formula one circuit all good, duly arrived in 96. Many of the original rows were using, used from the 50s and incorporated into or incorporated into the new circuit. It was repit, resurfaced and now runs in the opposite direction. That's kind of cool. Imagine if they did that with a bunch of tracks for this year. They just ran them backwards so they go, go, go.

Jason:

Click on 53.

Jeff:

You want to see it again.

Jason:

So it was headed? In what direction it was headed?

Jeff:

I think it's going this direction. This direction. It was going there, yep, because this is the opposite direction that it goes today.

Jason:

And now they've flipped it.

Jeff:

Jump ahead.

Jason:

That's the first track I've seen do that.

Jeff:

Yeah, and now it goes this way, like on the show, you know, yeah.

Jason:

So all right, it's a high-speed track dude Very high speed.

Jeff:

Some new sections were added, including permanent pits, garage, start-finish straight and corners. I'm going to jump ahead, Jump ahead.

Jason:

So this is where it gets interesting.

Jeff:

So this is where it gets interesting. The whole park benefited from a multi-million dollar investment in sporting facilities which are available to the public for the rest of the year once the grand peace grand prix circuit departs. Nevertheless, the event wasn't universal, popular and protests were held to the removal of trees during the construction works. Of course, there's going to be people complaining. Yeah, although the, the once, the once the construction was complete, the amount of trees were doubled. You're like what do we? What? Like you think? You're just like, hey, listen for a second. Protesters. I got it, we're taking down some trees, but we're gonna double the amount of trees once this thing's done. So like, let's pump the brakes on this protesting thing did?

Jason:

they just move them, they just dug them out and just planted them back yeah, I don't know, but they doubled them right.

Jeff:

So you think that would be. People would be happy that that happened yeah so, all right, I'm gonna jump ahead here. They can't make their mind. Yeah, seven corners have been revisioned, two corners eliminated altogether, which is interesting here. This was while I was. This is most of the time. At this point in history, people are tracks, are adding turns to slow the cars down. Australia is like hold my beer, watch this. I'm going to get rid of some corners.

Jason:

Yeah, we're going to drive this thing backwards too.

Jeff:

So, at turn one, the track had been widened by 2.5 meters, promoting better lap times and overtaking opportunities, and the same with turn three and four up to four meters wider on the inside. Bam Turn six similar, adding the width by 7.5 meters. The largest speed on the circuit had increased from 149 kilometers an hour to 219 kilometers an hour in 2021. The chicanes at nine and 10 had been removed altogether. This is again like leave it to australia to be like yeah, we're getting rid of this stuff yeah, like we're just gonna make it faster creating the longest straight of on the circus in a new drs zone.

Jeff:

the original circuit turned 13, was revised to turn 11 and significant changes realigned along the the, the, uh, the lakeside drive. I'll show this in a second. And they added some camber. Uh, here's the final circuit and I'll kind of walk you through, oh yeah.

Jason:

You can see the difference I'm going to go. Yep, I'm going to go back and forth a couple of times, so you can see, look at, look at turn eight going into turn nine and 10. Hey before we do that. Yeah, oh look how fast it. Yeah, they got all.

Jeff:

There's no stopping, there's no stop, there's no, no corner yeah, I think this is the drs zone here, or the first one, and then there's the other one is over here I mean, let's not. Let's not truly forget about what happened over here, when you know, some old driver named fernando alonso brake checked george russell. Let's not forget about that. Oh no, right around here I'm gonna let you have that debatable, debatable so yeah, just a cool that you know this goes contrary to every other track that we have been talking about it does.

Jeff:

They're making it faster, opposed to slower. So I'm going to stop sharing for a second. I'm going to share a different one. I got one other one I want to show here. That's interesting. So here is the actual track layout. Oh snap, so here's the actual track layout. Oh snap, so you can see. If you're familiar with it, it starts here and it comes around. This is where it was, and the turn that I was just talking about with fernando and uh russell was up in here and they come around here. This is the straight away. You can kind of see it going wrapping around the lake. But to think about, like when they invested all this money, like they put all these parks in that people get to use basketball arenas, sporting centers, fields yeah, that's very heavy traffic, you see that like they built all this, this huge park?

Jeff:

is this even a golf course over here? Get out of here. Like it looks like all this stuff was built around the track, not for like they put all this stuff in. You know, like I'm sure cars use this stuff, but I don't know, I don't. You know maybe some of our listeners are familiar with this over. Like, are these populated roads here?

Jason:

lakes was it lakeside drive because this is a street course.

Jeff:

Yes, they just block it off for the for the race but super cool little story of how they built all this little infrastructure park, big park area, the golf course, these stadiums, et cetera around around the track and how they get to use it after the after the race is over. So yeah, man.

Jason:

Yeah.

Jeff:

Just to summarize real quick first made it into a video game in Formula 1 99, which is wild, and now it's been in the F1 23 and 24 game by EA the last two years.

Jason:

The same game every year.

Jeff:

So jump in there, play it if you'd like, and then you can watch it this upcoming weekend.

Jason:

Yeah, man perfect timing, jeff, perfect timing. I think it's a great venue. I mean it's. It's a beautiful location, melbourne, I mean by the ocean, like that's got to be dope to watch I I now maybe a little parcel because I went to a street course, right so.

Jeff:

But it is cool when the cars are going that fast against a wall or barrier. It gives you like something relative, like when they're driving us. You know, like like I love silverstone, but there's nothing there to show you how fast they're going, right when you're wide open yeah when you're with the barrier and they're, and you can see. You know they have a camera right next to it. You know I was lucky enough to see the car go by, but it just makes it feel the speed a little bit more. Does that make sense?

Jason:

Yeah, it does. It does because it's like close proximity, with nothing between you, nothing between you. It's like a wall and it's like enclosed almost, but you're not enclosed. In a way it's not like coda, coda's a a nice fast track, but it's wide open. You know what I mean? Super wide, open, very, very, uh, wide, uh, how do you say this? Uh, apex, apex, right, yeah, so something like a street course is meant for cars, so they're not that wide.

Jeff:

But as a spectator, dude, you get to be like up on the cars at some of these street courses.

Jason:

And I remember when we did the Singapore episode, which if you haven't watched you need to go back and watch that please. It was a very, very good episode when Jeff went over to Singapore last year and saw the F1 race and you were telling us I remember over to Singapore last year and saw the F1 race and you were telling us I remember that to navigate the track that you had to go up and around, and it was weird, and that's probably why and it's because, uh, it's a street course, so it's like do you have to find a way to get around it?

Jeff:

That that's how you were telling us, like yeah, during the day you have to, like they have these overpass, got to walk over, and but after the race is, you know, like qualifying and or even just practices are over for the day. They open up, you just walk on the street and you're like on the track yeah, yeah, you walk on the track.

Jason:

It was super cool, yeah, yeah.

Jeff:

I mean I guess they do that for some of them when they just open the floodgates for uh, all the uh spectators even the lizards, bro.

Jason:

Remember the lizard that was on the track Godzilla yeah, he was posting his best sector of the day Purple sectors and shit.

Jeff:

That better be on Drive to Survive. That was some of the funniest stuff.

Jason:

Oh, snap, drive to Survive. Oh my God, that's right.

Jeff:

Haven't had a chance to watch it yet. It comes out real quick.

Jason:

I'm trying to forget about the season, right? So that way it hits you by surprise, right, I know there was some things you know.

Jeff:

All right, hey, if you're ready to move into the round table. I got some quizzes Round table yes, this is kind of my round table for you. I'm going to put you on the spot here.

Jason:

These are either or you get to pick one or the other, okay, and we'll put these and we'll we'll listen to them in a couple at maybe midway through, and see how you did.

Jeff:

For what did I get myself into here, right? So, all right, I'm going to give you two names. You got to tell me who's going to have more points before the end of the year. Okay, first one. You got the youngest driver, kimmy, in the Mercedes and Fernando in the Aston Martin. Who's going to have more points at the end of the year? Bro, fernando, no, no, no, not who you want, who you think? Fernando Dude, kimi was throwing some beasts of a time at practice.

Jason:

That's all right. At practice it's hard to tell whether it means anything you got to be careful at practice, because a lot of cars they hold them back because a lot of cars they hold them back. You know that Red Bull was not as fast as we. You know it usually is and I think that I forget, there's a term for that, where they purposely.

Jeff:

Sandbag.

Jason:

Yes, there it is. They were sandbagging and not showing you what the car can really do, so we got to see.

Jeff:

I think Fernando's like 40? 44. He's double Kimi's age. Yeah, that's wild. He's been driving F1 long and Kimi's been alive.

Jason:

He's the oldest man on track right now.

Jeff:

All right, so here's the next one we got to take care of him. I don't want to lose him the battle for the Red Bull seat Lawson, bull seat, lawson versus sonota. Obviously sonota did not win the red bull seat. He's driving the, the visa cash app racing red bulls. Who's gonna have more points by the end of the year, lawson or sonota? You got an, a seat guy and a bc guy. One's driving the faster car, one's driving quote. Unquote the jv. I say lawson.

Jason:

I was impressed with lawson last year. Okay, he did wreck a few times, but that's what rookies do. It is rookies do that because they don't they don't truly know the limits of the car. That's what I'm assuming. Yes, he's a professional driver, but he's not track time. It's track time nothing can be.

Jeff:

There's no substitute for experience enough, especially in f1. Okay, getting down to the meat and potatoes, red Bull or McLaren. Basically, who's good at the constructors? Mclaren, ooh Okay, norris or Max.

Jason:

Norris, what about you, jeff?

Jeff:

I got one last. I didn't make any. I'm putting you on the hot seat. I'm not saying Well, I'm going to say Kimmy, cause I'm a Mercedes guy. Um, I like Lawson. I think he's deserved the seat, okay.

Jason:

We agree on Lawson.

Jeff:

Yup, Um and I'll. I like them. I think McLaren is just. Their two drivers are just super consistent. So, and here's my shout out to DNR. I shout out to DNR I got a friendly wager Gentleman's bet. I'll send you a can of beans and I want one in return. I'm going to put Piastri against George Russell. Daniel Newman, if you take my challenge for a can of beans there, you go All right by the end of the season. I got the supply too, Jeff, you know.

Jason:

I'm good for it, bro. I got you bro.

Jeff:

We got the supply, you'll put a comment if you're going to take my wager there of a can of beans on whose driver is going to have more points at the end of the year this is cool, man, this is cool.

Jason:

This is almost like fantasy F1. We should do that, dude. We should.

Jeff:

We could corner the market. I know right, dude, I it's been like what 90-something days.

Jason:

Yeah. And what about you said did you answer the Fernando one? Oh yeah.

Jeff:

I took Kimmy because he's a Mercedes guy.

Jason:

Bro Kimmy ain't doing shit. Fernando's OG let's go. He is.

Jeff:

He's one of the last gangsters, I'll give it to him.

Jason:

I'll give it to him. This is me and Jeff behind the camera, away all day. It'll be like a Tuesday night, off an off weekend we're still talking shit, oh man.

Jason:

So, hey, I want this challenge, great challenge, Jeff. I want this challenge to go out to all of you. If you, yeah, yeah, please leave your answers below this video or send them on an email, if you want to be anonymous, to the chicane podcast at gmailcom, and let us know We'll start. I'll start a poll if I get enough data and see where we're at on the 16th Right, I got that right. 16 is when we start and, yeah, it's going to be. It's going to be interesting. It's going to be a lot of fun. It's going to be a lot of fun. Yeah, it's going to be interesting. It's going to be a lot of fun. It's going to be a lot of fun. So, thank you, jeff. I really appreciate you coming today. Eric, I hope you feel better. Brother, recover, and to all you viewers and listeners out there, have a great start of your week. Thank you.

People on this episode

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Jason Rivera

Host
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Erick Kelly

Co-host
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Jeff Smart

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