Ferry, they use iRacing,
http://www.iracing.com/home.html at the institute.
What they are doing is incredible. It is the future of racing. Right now they are still in the input stage, I am privileged to have assisted them last Summer in their infancy, building the track using Bob's Track Builder and Google Earth at first, then altitude inputs using GPS readings at over 200 points from the 3.27-mile long layout. They have since done the shorter courses. It has developed to adding sensors to the actual race cars that read every little nuance in the track, the sim will have ever little bump or ripple, off camber corners are perfect. It is still in the input stages. Once completed, it will be used to set up actual track configurations, especially when the sim times exceed the actual track times. So it is hoped to work klike a reverse technology, right now it is input, but it is hoped to lead to better configuration output and in fact already has.
Let's face it, the old time seat of the pants drivers are still around, but the best crew chiefs and mechanics are geeks! The younger drivers are geeks too, they all practice in racing sims.
They have at least a dozen of those simulators at the Viper Institute, aka "The Snake Pit". They cannot use it in the art barn because it has to be hooked into the mainframe.
Here is a YouTube video giving a comparison of the iRacing VIR setup and the actual setup using a Skip Barber formula Mazda car. One of the Skip Barber instructors drove the sim and the actual car.
Swear to the Cosmic Muffin, if the driver's hands in the sim moved, I couldn't tell the difference!
Caz
[YOUTUBE]Cn96JwbB1Ag[/YOUTUBE]
