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| NTT IndyCar Series Dale Coyne Racing with Team Goh Rookie Alex Palou streaks toward the start/finish line in his No. 55 Dallara Honda during the Firestone 175 at Twin Ring Motegi, the fourth race in the INDYCAR iRacing Challenge. Image Credit: Chris Graythen (Getty Images) via NICS |
NETCODE Meets Up With DIGITAL COURAGE - IndyCar iRacing Challenge & SRO's GT Rivals eSports
Those who strive to remain connected to motor racing culture are left with the very inadequate yet colorful familiar impressions of a laser coded two-dimensional racing venue.
In recent successive weeks we were treated to event races, featuring truly professional drivers from IndyCar and IMSA/SRO Series, broadcast online or cable television from places like Watkins Glen, Barber Motorsports Park, Weathertech Raceway Laguna Seca, Super Speedway Michigan Raceway, Danika Patrick's favorite track outside of the United States Twin Ring Motegi, and a very international circuit in San Marino, Italy Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli.
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| When the headlights of big events go out, the passion for engines remains on. As in other important sports facilities, in addition to national and international competitions, Misano World Circuit opens its doors to "Misano Circuit Tour", the program that offers the opportunity to visit the circuit named after the great Marco Simoncelli. Image Credit: sporttravelworld.com |
Almost sounds exciting, almost like a travelogue, doesn't it? Well, it is not.
Interesting? Yes - but not exciting.
The expressions of NETCODE and DIGITAL COURAGE are very real functional (or non-functional given one's point-of-view) and potentially the Achilles heel elements of a gaming presentation, in a replacement motor sports event, no matter how good the graphics and on-air talking head ,via ZOOM or Skype pop-up window, color might be.
DIGITAL COURAGE (first put forward in the IndyCar iRacing Challenge Round 1 from Watkins Glen by announcer Townsend Bell) is the recognition that no real consequence happens to a driver or the repair-ability of the car when a competitor becomes too aggressive at Race Start, or within the game other than some program template consequence.
If a digital colorful blob slides off the track due to a move that could be classified as DIGITAL COURAGE, instead of having the "track" come under a Full Course YELLOW (FCY), the colorful blob is simply placed back onto the Pit Stop area of the digital race track and a time assessment of having to wait x-seconds, then the competitor can proceed back onto the track "fully repaired" and resume the fray. This process brings forward just a bit of disconnect for the viewer as well as the competitor because the calculation for a consequence almost goes on completely missing.
We are going E-Racin’! Who likes my setup for this weekends @RoadToIndyTV eRace at @roadamerica? It’s definitely got some character! 🤣👌🏼— Hunter McElrea (@HunterMcElrea) April 15, 2020
Not the most flashy or high performance setup, but it will do for now! #TeamCooperTire #RoadtoIndy #eSports #iRacing #SimRacing pic.twitter.com/N5SenyuOpg
NETCODE is technology disconnect of a different nature and can happen even if somehow there was an element of "skin-in-the-game" (like a fee in advance before competition starts in order to bring forward the concept of prize money).
Wikipedia defines NETCODE as a blanket term for anything that somehow relates to networking in online games; netcode is a term most commonly used by gamers when discussing synchronization issues between clients and servers. The actual elements of a game engine that can cause so-called "netcode issues" include, among other things, latency, lag compensation or the lack thereof, simulation errors, and network issues between the client and server that are completely out of the game's hands. Netcode as a term tends to be used only in the gaming community, as it is not recognized as an actual computer science term.
The net effect of a NETCODE issue - if this is an issue that remains localized to the individual competitor/driver - is the ultimate consequence of not being able to compete/play at all, making the experience for both fan and participant unsatisfactory in a way that seems more blasphemous than any real world non-compete definitive occurrence.
This NETCODE "bug" could pop-up at almost anytime in any game and is probably a bigger issue now that most neighborhoods across these United States are under a shelter-in-place order. Since everyone is at home all day, people are online so as to blunt the speed of the Internet as well as infections from a pandemic virus labelled COVID-19 ... which led to the broadcasting of these digital motorsports racing events in the first place. Otherwise ... who'd care?
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| Well...yesterday [at Weathertech Raceway Laguna Seca GT Rivals eSports] had some ups and downs! Qualified P2 and pitted from P2. Then after rejoining in P8 and running my strategy, lap traffic decided to race me hard and we had contact that caused a spin. Then after circulating with damage I was P7 and got collected by a driver who let his car roll down the track unattended... Which totalled my car. Thankfully I finished in the top 25 which gets me reinvited to the next event. Hopefully next race is a little cleaner! On another note, learning a lot with setup and what makes a quick car, but also what makes a long lasting car. So much goes into the preparation for these events and to be your own "engineer" against others with more "resources" is difficult. But boy does it feel good to be competitive! I thank my wife @bydanikoch for being understanding during the days leading to these events. Hahaha. Image & Caption Credit: iRacing via Kenton Koch FB Timeline |
Another less than satisfactory DIGITAL COURAGE element observed during the SRO World Challenge GT Rivals eSports platform second race of IMSA and SRO Series sportcar drivers held at Misano World Circuit. The race, itself, was very hotly competitive throughout the field but especially up front between the top three podium positions.
A bit past half way through, former Southern Californian Kenton Koch, signed in to his purple metallic No. 59 BSport Racing Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT3 from North Carolina, was beginning to challenge for the lead with Sim racer Josh Staffin, when the race stewards assessed a Drive Through Penalty (from a passing incident that happened around 1:14:20) to Kenton.
This excerpted and edited from Sportscar 365 -
Sim Racer Staffin Wins GT Rivals Round in Misano
By: John Dagys - April 19, 2020
Staffin took his No. 230 Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo to a 30.248-second win over the No. 90 DXDT Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Kevin Boehm.
It came after incidents for both Bryan Heitkotter and Kenton Koch, who were in contention for the win in the 60-minute race.
Staffin, a 24-year-old from New Jersey, led every lap from pole.
Round 1 winner Heitkotter dropped from second to fifth in his Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 after contact with the curb in Turn 6 that sent him into the wall with less than 25 minutes remaining.
The former Nissan GT Academy North America winner finished fifth.
Koch briefly assumed second after Heitkotter’s incident but was handed a drive-through penalty for contact, which he did not serve and was disqualified.
[Reference Here]
The race stewards assessed the drive through penalty and one supposes that Kenton did not agree, or wished to discuss this with the stewards. He drove on and went beyond the two (or three) lap grace period while challenging for the lead and ...
... B O O M, just like that (at around 1:21:00), his Aston Martin, which was the focus of the broadcast at the time, was proceeding down the front straight in anger, at full acceleration, then it was showed parked in pitlane with the broadcasters, who were caught out by surprise as well, left to explain that Kenton Koch was disqualified.
People watching this could all have suffered a whiplash. Very unnerving to the fan who was interested in the "driving" during the competition.
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| Sportscar driver and coach, Kenton Koch's virtual racing rig. Image Credit: Kenton Koch via FB Timeline |
One can only imagine what was going on in Kenton Koch's mind, to the realtime imagining, the feeling that he was actually driving, in his very fast Aston Martin, while sitting in a room somewhere, then suddenly he sees a view of being absolutely stationary on a track pitlane somewhere in Italy.
This has to give the sensation of an electric SHOCK with no electricity while sitting in a chair, looking at screens, in a room somewhere in North Carolina.
In the IndyCar iRacing Challenge Round 4 FIRESTONE 175 @ Twin Ring Motegi run this last weekend, DIGITAL COURAGE was also on display, but the most noteworthy incident, which did not have an effect on the outcome, came directly at race's end. The race was won by Team Penske's Simon Pagenaud for the second weekend in a row, followed by digital rookie Chip Ganassi Racing's Scott Dixon, with lap leader Will Power filling out the podium.
Soon after crossing the Start/Finish line, and coming hard at full speed, Scott Dixon rear-ended Simon Pagenaud nearly disabling the digital Chevy Dallara he was in and throwing off the rear-wing and engine cover of his DXC sponsored platform.
What's worse, a now out-of-control Scott Dixon spins in front of a non-contesting Helio Castroneves who t-bones Dixon's Dallara and sails up into the fence to possibly deal Helio a digital career-ending catch-fence injury. Of course, this being digital where the most damaging thing to happen would be NETCODE because nothing is working out properly as planned or engaged, Helio Castroneves finished the race without one hair ever being out of place just like in reality.
This also left Simon to do his digital victory donuts in a very damaged looking car - not a pretty sight. Oh, but this did not stop Simon's wife Hailey, from popping the cork on a bottle of victory champagne.
Post Race Communications UPDATE:
Turns out there is another element involved with this brave new world of truly Professional 3-D drivers compeating in a 2-D world and it is in-race communications. This can be termed as being an equal partner to NETCODE and it would be NOT-TOLD.
Take the situation that happened in last Sunday's virtual motor sports event put on by sportscar racing sanctioning SRO GT Rivals eSports from San Marino.
Kenton Koch was running in the top three positions for most of the race when Bryan Heitkotter running in the second position in his Nissan GT-R GT3 behind Josh Staffin in his Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo (who later went on to win). At around 2/3rds through the race Bryan Heitkotter had a miscue off of the track leaving Kenton in his BSPort Racing Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT3 to chase down the gaming leader Staffin. Koch's car seemed the better for late race action given that it was gaining on the P1 of Josh Staffin when the race stweards decided that Kenton Koch came too close to lapped traffic cars when passing them on the track and issued a DRIVE-THRU Penalty.
The problem resulted in Kenton Koch being DISQUALIFIED since Kenton was NOT-TOLD and his car was placed in pitlane.
In a post race communication, this is what Kenton Koch had to say via FB private messaging about the DQ.
"I actually never knew I had the penalty... Sorry to burst your bubble [in my imaginary story telling above]. I just never got a notification in my field of view and was focused on driving. I'm new to the game, so apparently I needed to have different boxes checked or something to get the correct notification."
So now there are three things competitors need to be aware of when racing in virtual 2-D:
DIGITAL COURAGE | NETCODE | NOT-TOLD
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Last scatological thoughts on virtual motor sports racing events in relation to the everyday seriousness of living life and racing in reality:
2-D destroys the opportunity for awe.
2-D for too long creates the effect of numbness to the tactile effect and excitement of reality.
The longer this virtual shelter-in-place world goes on, hope deferred makes the heart grow sick.
In being a race fan watching digital racing, one begins to get the sensation of banging their head on a beam that's not even there.
... notes from The EDJE
Next Up?
IndyCar iRacing Challenge Rounds 5 & 6 ... the finale
The IndyCar iRacing Challenge returns on April 25 at Circuit of the Americas, and continues on May 2 with a non-NTT IndyCar Series track to be announced. For more information on iRacing and for special offers, visit www.iracing.com.
SRO GT Rivals eSports
GT Rivals Esports Invitational returns to action on Sunday, April 26th from the south of France at Paul Ricard. Tune-in on Twitch, YouTube, and Facebook for all the action.
TAGS: IndyCar iRacing Challenge, SRO World Challenge GT Rivals eSports, virtual, NET CODE, DIGITAL COURAGE, Simon Pagenaud, Kenton Koch, Aston Martin, Chevy Dallara, Team Penske, BSport Racing, The EDJE
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