Honda Racing Corporation USA has unveiled a new, next generation racing simulator located within the company’s Indianapolis operations center.
The simulator features over 2,000 channels of data, and has multiple cameras that are synchronized with the data logged during each session.
Virtually every car setup and testing program can be run through the bespoke Driver in the Loop rig, which can save teams time and money versus limited and highly regulated on track testing.
The new simulator became operational earlier this year, and was used by several Honda IndyCar drivers in the lead-up to this year’s Indianapolis 500.
“The new simulator is superior in every way to our original DIL simulator,” said Ben Schmitt, head of the Vehicle Performance Group at HRC US.
“The vehicle physics models have continued to evolve from the original simulator, including the tire models, and our data acquisition capabilities are exponentially higher than previously.
“The new motion platform, cockpit and vision systems create a vehicle dynamics experience for the drivers that is our closest recreation yet of real-world conditions.”
The new simulator has many advancements over Honda’s original simulator, which was first used in 2013.
The simulator houses a modified IndyCar cockpit that can rotate 360 degrees and translates side to side. The seat sits in the center of a 270-degree wraparound screen that displays detailed images of the track.
Dallara IndyCar chassis, Acura IMSA GTP prototypes, and other Honda and Acura concept vehicles can all be replicated through the utilization of copious amounts of wind tunnel and engine dyno test data that Honda gathers from its other facilities.
Various tire models can also be loaded into the system, which interface with the laser-scanned track models that have detailed track layouts and surface grip data built in.
Together, the different data sources are combined in the new motion rig to make for one of the most realistic racing simulators available.
Other key players in the racing scene have their own simulators available in the US, including Chevy and Dallara among others, but finding available time to schedule a test session is not always an easy task.
Having another simulator available that is built upon the latest technology will allow more drivers and teams to prepare before they take their actual cars to the race track.
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