29.01.2022   1 comment

Episode 4: Tires - ‘round and black ones’ is not good enough for a racing sim…

I remember Ronnie Ton was once asked at a race what tires he was using, he said: ‘round and black ones’. Typical Ronnie. A vast underestimation of the importance and complexity of tires.

In the automotive industry it has taken many years to come up with accurate tire model physics, and this process has surely been accelerated by developments in Formula 1. Tires play such an important role in F1 and in fact all classes of racing. Sim tests have become a critical part of the preparation of F1 teams for a particular track, before an F1 race, and even during a race weekend. The physics models used for F1 are probably developed in close collaboration with tire manufacturer Pirelli and I would not be amazed if all teams use the same tire physics.

But what’s the situation in r/c? R/C tire manufacturers don’t have the means nor the knowledge to set up a serious tire testing development program. In r/c it is very much development b... read more

25.01.2022   23 comments

Sneak preview of what's to come: 1:10 BASHER TRUCK...

Great fun class, aimed to bring new blood into VRC, not for serious racing but just for FUN!

We will convert some off-road tracks to open space bashing areas where you can drive, jump, crash, whatever. Should be fun chasing each other in multiplayer and trying to crash mid air. The basher truck is really easy to drive, the perfect r/c beginner class for VRC.

It could bring new r/c enthousiasts to the VRC platform and they may give one of the racing classes a go as well. We need new blood!

25.01.2022   1 comment

Episode 3: Development Virtual RC v3 Physics engine (2000-2005)

I laid out my plans for VRC v3, not knowing anything about what it would take develop a proper game or sim. I just had a vast 30 years of experience in r/c racing itself, and in manufacturing, which was limited mainly to nitro on-road because that is what I had raced myself and was involved in as a manufacturer. With Serpent we had a brief moment in off-road with the Serpent Cobra and Spirit line but that was short lived and there was very little knowledge to go by. The first decision was to focus entirely on on-road starting with 1:8 nitro sportscars and 1:10 200mm nitro sedans.

Chassis physics engine
What I had in mind was to create a real nitro on-road racing r/c experience with realistic looking cars and tracks, and even more important, cars that would feel like real r/c cars. So, 2 things were extremely important, realistic physics and realistic 3D cars and tracks. A physics engine describes with physics, kinematics and vehicle dynami... read more

16.01.2022   8 comments

Episode 2: Setting up a development team for Virtual RC v3 (2002)

After having promoted our “Virtual RC” game port adaptor together with version 1 and 2 of the “Virtual RC Racing” game I thought it was time to step it up to the next level. I started laying out my plans to Lothar and he seemed receptive to the idea to do a more realistic and serious r/c car simulation. Had Lothar done version 1 and 2 of Virtual RC Racing all by himself, it was clear at the outset that my ambitions with this new version were a lot higher and would need a bigger team to develop it. In my plans I envisaged very detailed r/c cars and tracks, and a sophisticated physics engine to make the cars behave as realistic as possible. And of course, I wanted the new platform to be able to host races for the members and post the results on a website. So the idea for VRC v3 was born, but it was clear that we would need additional experts in each of these fields.

Game architecture, 3D engine, and GUI
Lothar had already done his own game... read more

14.01.2022   2 comments

Check out all the videos of the 2021 VRC Worlds modified classes, all 14 main final videos are now published. Visit the VRC Pro Motion page on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-GLjtIaF0u53FKkmuITQbsVC6AfK6M4u. Big thanks to Mike 'the voice' Garrison from the US for doing all the commentary, he really brings these videos alive, he is the best!

Make sure to share the videos with your racing buddies on Facebook and other socials, it could bring new racers to VRC and more racers = more competition = more fun!

13.01.2022   5 comments

Episode 1 How it all began…

All my ‘rc’ life and especially as a manufacturer I have been wondering how we could make the r/c car hobby more accessible for the general public. This hobby is simply very difficult to get in to, especially in those days. Companies like Kyosho and Tamiya were the only companies offering products which were entry level, but even these were quite difficult to operate. As a manufacturer of model racing cars it was even more difficult to promote our racing products. Promotion was limited to advertising in rc magazines and r/c races. Remember in those days there was no internet yet!

Late nineties the first computer sims came on the market, for real racing cars, air flight sims and also sims for radio-controlled model airplanes. This triggered the idea of creating an rc car sim so we could everyone give a ‘virtual’ rc racing experience without having to worry about crashing the car all the time. And of course, the game had to be controlled with a proper r/c transmitter, no... read more