The future of Motorsports ?

[Mike 1017]

 

[Ace-Garageguy]

Hopefully I'll come back as something like that in my next life.

It's obviously not as fast as it will probably be once it learns how to be a race car, but I think it's beyond cool, and strikingly beautiful too.

Edited July 17, 2018 by Ace-Garageguy

[iBorg]

It's an interesting technology, is it a spectator sport?

On only has to look at the down spiral that is NASCAR to understand fans follow drivers not cars. This eliminates the fan allegiance element. Without that I doubt there will be butts in the seat or eyes on the screen. I for one have no interest in watching robots or drones race. I think this would have the fan base of iracing. Without the personalities, there's nothing to follow.

[Ace-Garageguy]

5 minutes ago, iBorg said:

It's an interesting technology, is it a spectator sport?

On only has to look at the down spiral that is NASCAR to understand fans follow drivers not cars. This eliminates the fan allegiance element. Without that I doubt there will be butts in the seat or eyes on the screen. I for one have no interest in watching robots or drones race. I think this would have the fan base of iracing. Without the personalities, there's nothing to follow.

You could always make it a big RC kinda thing. Then the legions of 350 pound internet warriors with lightning-fast fingers could be the new heroes.

Perfect fit for a risk-averse society that is predominantly WAY out of shape, and prefers pretend to reality...well insulated from anything "dangerous".

Edited July 17, 2018 by Ace-Garageguy

[Mike 1017]

Is there gonna be a human vs robo car  race in the future ? Just like Big Blue vs Chess Champs

[High octane]

You can keep that oversized slot car as I"m "old school" where it takes "balls" to race a car.

[Miatatom]

This isn't a far fetched idea. Have any of you ever watched Battlebots on the Science Channel? Remote controlled fighting machines with all sorts of offensive and defensive concepts, weapons and strategy. Actually entertaining, IMHO.

[iBorg]

I'm a huge fan of Battlebots. Great concept that has a history of mediocre ratings. Are you a fan of the robots or the builders? Note the effort on the promoters to put faces on the builder/drivers. They've learned to focus on the human aspect. This was a six or seven figure project. How many back yard builders will be able to come close to that?

[Mike 1017]

Battlebots are great. I luv the crowds enthusiasm and the over the top announcing. Kudo's to all of the builders 

[webestang]

2 hours ago, High octane said:

You can keep that oversized slot car as I"m "old school" where it takes "balls" to race a car.

Amen! 

[Spex84]

This is really neat stuff, and of course the design of the car is incredibly cool. I think Daniel Simon was involved--you might know some of his other work from movies like "Tron:Legacy", "Oblivion" and "Captain America". His work has a distinctive hi-tech futurist aesthetic that is a good match for an autonomous race car. 

If they can make the racing riveting to watch, then I'll bite. NASCAR does nothing for me; I'd rather watch a 100 year-old car with skinny tires drifting corners with a mad driver, goggles splattered with oil, fighting to keep the car from disaster. That's riveting. 200mph without a hiccup or an error is...yawn.

I loved the idea of BattleBots too, was obsessed circa 1998, but never had any interest in the TV hype (lame and goofy) or the builders as celebrities. To me, it was always about the machines and what they could do.

[Force]

If that's the future I hope I'm dead before it happens...I don't even like electric car racing like Formula E.
Real race cars has drivers and internal combustion engines.

Edited July 18, 2018 by Force

[Xingu]

This is more than likely a glorified test mule for some driverless tech we can all complain about in 5 years.

[jaxenro]

Half the appeal of watching car racing is the danger to the driver in a crash. We may not like to think it but that is the voyeur aspect to it the risk to life and limb

But who cares if this thing crashes ?

[Miatatom]

11 hours ago, iBorg said:

I'm a huge fan of Battlebots. Great concept that has a history of mediocre ratings. Are you a fan of the robots or the builders? Note the effort on the promoters to put faces on the builder/drivers. They've learned to focus on the human aspect. This was a six or seven figure project. How many back yard builders will be able to come close to that?

I like the machines. All the showmanship is just distraction. Get on with it!

[Force]

12 hours ago, Xingu said:

This is more than likely a glorified test mule for some driverless tech we can all complain about in 5 years.

Yes it certainly is, but just because you can doesn't mean you should, the technology is there but it still doesn't make it right.
I don't believe in the "self driving car" either...if you don't want to drive yourself...well, take a bus or a taxi.

Edited July 18, 2018 by Force

[Ace-Garageguy]

15 hours ago, jaxenro said:

Half the appeal of watching car racing is the danger to the driver in a crash. We may not like to think it but that is the voyeur aspect to it the risk to life and limb

But who cares if this thing crashes ?

Wow.

I'm not easily offended, but as somebody who has actually strapped his backside in a racing car, and who has built and prepped them, that made me pretty angry.

Anybody who gets off on seeing other people injured (or is excited by the prospect) is a sociopath.

While it may be true that there are some in the audience who get their jollies hoping for their second-hand thrill when a driver has a problem, ringing pathetic little dwerps' bells isn't why the sport exists...that's not why the drivers are there.

And anyone who isn't heartbroken seeing a finely-crafted racing machine destroyed just doesn't get it. Period.

 

Edited July 18, 2018 by Ace-Garageguy

[jeffdeoranut]

driverless cars will be great until the doohickey malfunctions...our species is obsessed with technology.

[smhardesty]

21 hours ago, iBorg said:

I for one have no interest in watching robots or drones race.

Ditto

 

 

21 hours ago, High octane said:

You can keep that oversized slot car as I"m "old school" where it takes "balls" to race a car.

Amen, brother!

 

 

20 hours ago, Miatatom said:

Have any of you ever watched Battlebots on the Science Channel?

Exactly once. And that will be the number of times I end up watching it.

 

 

18 hours ago, Force said:

If that's the future I hope I'm dead before it happens.

Yep, but I'll rephrase that. I hope my time here in this world has passed before it happens.

 

.

Edited July 18, 2018 by smhardesty

[High octane]

Modern technology is destroying our simple way of life.

[Bainford]

18 hours ago, jaxenro said:

Half the appeal of watching car racing is the danger to the driver in a crash. We may not like to think it but that is the voyeur aspect to it the risk to life and limb

But who cares if this thing crashes ?

Really!? As a lifelong motorsport fanatic, I personally disagree. I certainly do not want to see anyone get hurt. In fact, a good amount of the motorsport events I attend are local, and I know many of the players to some degree, and some of them I know very well. They are friends. I know their names. I know their families. Sometimes they do get hurt (or worse), and it is always an emotional, heart wrenching event. I never want to see that.

On-track incidents can be exciting, but generally speaking, crashes are boring. They interrupt the flow of good racing, which is precisely the reason I attend motorsport events. If the racing is great, I'm there. If I want to see crashing, I'll go to a demo derby, which I don't because they are pretty lame. Anything that disrupts the racing is unwanted.

Just my personal views.

Edited July 18, 2018 by Bainford

[jaxenro]

So why do people tend to slow down to look at crashes on the side of the road? 

Come on guys. I’m not saying anyone is hoping for a crash or injury but do you think people would line up to watch a robot cross a high wire stretched between two buildings? No one is hoping for the wire walker to fall but they want to live vicariously as part of the risk. No one wants to see a crash or injury in car racing, ski jumping, or high wire walking, but they want the vicarious thrill of watching others perform on the edge of risk and usually the higher the risk the more popular the sport. 

I probably didn’t term it correctly no one wants an injury but they want to live the risk. The want the thrill of watching people perform on the edge. They want the emotional investment and I don’t think that exists with a machine

they don’t want to see someone hurt they want to see people push the edge where they risk it and not get hurt

 

btw next time you watch race highlights on regular news tell me what they cover, the perfectly executed lap, the brilliant strategy, the fine tuning of the car, the fantastic pit work shaving milliseconds off, or the crashes 

Edited July 18, 2018 by jaxenro

[Ace-Garageguy]

53 minutes ago, jaxenro said:

 

...They want the emotional investment and I don’t think that exists with a machine...Unless you happen to be the one who built the machine, or you have a first-hand understanding of just what it takes to prepare a competition vehicle. Try it, and tell us what it feels like to see your work...or someone else's...destroyed in an instant

...btw next time you watch race highlights on regular news tell me what they cover, the perfectly executed lap, the brilliant strategy, the fine tuning of the car, the fantastic pit work shaving milliseconds off, or the crashes...Yeah, and the media has been roundly criticized by just about everyone who has a brain for their "if it bleeds, it leads" mentality. 

Probably why I don't have much use for people who live vicariously. Second-hand emotions: why bother?

Probably also why I have no use for "reality" TV that focuses on grown men behaving like babies instead of the hard-core guts of the work.

Edited July 18, 2018 by Ace-Garageguy

[jaxenro]

We are talking about spectator sports and it is hard for the average person to feel an emotional investment in a machine someone else built. We empathize with humans not machines

the media panders to human nature it doesn’t create it. Personally I rarely if ever watch anything on tv except some DVDs of old shows I like. But if it bleeds it leads would go away the second the ratings did 

watching an auto race is living vicariously sorry but it is human nature. Our brains are wired to release various hormones like dopamine in response to stimulus and danger is a huge stimulus. The release of those hormones triggers a euphoric rush but without the element of risk the rush isn’t as big. Stress will also do it, like watching your favorite batter against a good pitcher, but the greater the stress, or risk, the greater the release. It goes back to the flight or fight concept and has valid biological underpinnings 

The question was is is this the future of Motorsports I was simply trying to answer that without the human element for spectators to emphasize with, and absent any risk of danger to a person they can empathize with, the average spectator will not show up. Absent fans you have no sponsor moneybecause thereisnt any reason to sponsor the team if no one is watching. Until you solve those issues it will be at best a fringe sport 

[Lizard Racing]

I have to agree that I hope my time is up before robots take over motorsport.  It's already gone too far IMHO.

Removing the human element also removes the human interest.

Robot vs. human?  I saw Jay Leno beat an autonomous Audi at Willow Springs.  That probably won't last long.