Real Life Ghost Car

[Steven_D]

I’ve been pondering the idea of what if it were possible to take the Ghost feature common in most racing games, where you can race alongside an invisible car driving a previously recorded lap, and bring it to a real life track? Basically a programmable chase vehicle to use for driver/car development.

This is of course just a hypothetical question, so please do not focus on the engineering aspects of this, as I’m sure that could be a very long discussion. Just assume its possible. I’m asking this solely because I’m curious about these out-of-the box ideas, and also how other people would view such a tool in comparison to the growing use of simulators.

The way I see it, there would be two ways of achieving this: the first would be with a physical autonomously driving vehicle, which could be full size, kart size, or even just a box for the sake of argument. But something you can clearly see, and that you have to chase. The second option would be a from of augment reality vision system, where the image of the ghost car is projected into your field of view (think jet fighter helmets overlaying information on the pilots visor).

There could be a number of uses, such as being able to set specific times for it to lap at. If you’re lapping at 1:31’s, you could set it to run 1:29’s and see where you’re falling back. Set it to incrementally get faster each lap, always have it stay XXm in front of you, try to follow different driving styles, or something completely different.

I have my own ideas about why it could be useful, but I’m curious about what other people’s opinions would be about being able to combine the ghost feature from the simulator with your own physical car and the track.

Assuming such a system exists and you have access to it:

1. How would you personally use it, or see other people using it?
2. Pros and cons compared to simulators?
3. Preference between the physical vehicle vs. augmented reality version?
4. Issues you foresee (non-technology related), such as performance consistency, legal liabilities, etc.

Or, if you have any other comments lets hear them!