CarRacingBlog.com

Fans of the FIA World Rally Championship will be able to tackle the stages themselves next year when a new WRC video game, billed as the most realistic and playable rally game of all time, is launched.

WRC promoters, ISC, have signed a three year agreement with Black Bean Games to produce the new game which, for the first time, will be available in PS3, X-Box 360 and PC versions.

Black Bean, and their in-house development studio Milestone, are two of the most respected names in motorsport gaming, and were behind the highly rated SBK Superbike championship and MotoGP games.

Simon Long, ISC CEO, said: “The official WRC game will engage a whole new audience for the sport and we’re tremendously excited at the opportunities to grow our fan base and the profile of the WRC. It provides a hugely powerful touch point for us in which to showcase the WRC to consumers, and it will be the most realistic and playable rally game of all time.”

Virgilio Bixio, Black Bean Games president, added: “We are particularly proud to bring the WRC franchise back into the video games arena after so many years of absence. Milestone has been working hard on this title and our expectations are really high.”

F1 2009™, the official video game of the 2009 FIA Formula One World Championship, is set to deliver an even more authentic experience for gamers after developers Codemasters announced that a limited edition Race Wheel accessory, styled after an F1 steering wheel, will ship with the Wii™ edition in selected territories.

The F1 2009 bundle box will feature the exclusive white Race Wheel, which the Wii remote slots into, enabling players to steer the Formula One cars in the game, due for release this autumn, like their heroes.

The news comes ahead of this weekend’s European Grand Prix and the Valencia circuit, complete with its unique swing bridge, is playable for the first time in F1 2009. A gameplay video packed with race action from Spanish track is now available at www.formula1-game.com.

F1 2009 will offer a fully authentic Formula One experience, with all the teams, drivers, cars and tracks from the enthralling 2009 season. The Wii version will set new standards for racing immersion and authenticity, while remaining accessible for the entire family, and the PSP version will allow fans the opportunity to enjoy the world’s most thrilling and glamorous sport on the move.

Cool video showing some behind-the-scenes build tech from Red Bull Racing…

One awesome video from Red Bull, showing the new RB5 and the changes for the 2009 Season, narrated by Sebastian Vettel…

An even better video featuring the iRacing.com technology - freaking awesome!!! Love those triple screens!

Found this cool video featuring one of the nifty SIM racing devices we were talking about yesterday on the blog. I guess I have all year to prove that I’m good for NEXT Christmas! Please Santa… please???

SimCraft Corporation,developers of true-to-life full-motion racing simulators recently announced its integration with iRacing.com, an online, subscription-based racing simulation service.

“We’re proud to add iRacing to our existing suite of racing integrations,”said Sean Patrick MacDonald, SimCraft’s co-founder and chief technical officer. “Between iRacing’s proprietary laser mapping technology that replicates the eccentricities of the world’s best road courses, short ovals,and super speedways, and our cutting-edge software that results in zero latency between what you’re seeing and what you’re feeling — we’re offering racing professionals and serious amateurs an unparalleled experience.”

iRacing was founded by Dave Kaemmer and John Henry. Kaemmer was co-founder of Papyrus Design Group, developers of award-winning racing simulations including NASCAR Racing: 2003 Season and Grand Prix Legends. Henry is principal owner of the Boston Red Sox and Fenway Sports Group — the co-owner of Roush Fenway Racing — as well as an avid sim racer.

SimCraft will debut its professional-grade (APEX SC830) at the 2009International CES(R), Jan. 8-11, 2009, in Las Vegas. SimCraft also plans to demonstrate the iRacing software integration at its booth (LVCC, South Hall 2,Booth #25311) in the Electronic Gaming section.

The APEX SC830 features three degrees of freedom (roll 40 degrees / pitch25 degrees / yaw 40 degrees) and has a state-of-the-art architecture that recreates center of mass rotations. For more details, visit SimCraft.com.

Wow - hard to look cool when starting this thing, but that never stopped those wacky Germans from trying something new! LOL I figured after yesterday’s lawn mower racing I had to up the ante…

The Sport Series HANS Device has been presented the 2008 SAE Motorsports Engineering Conference Award. The award recognizes significant contributions to the racing community through research and engineering.

The Sport Series HANS Device exceeded the criteria for the award which included objectives such as advancements in state of the art products or processes in the field of motorsports engineering. CEO Mark Stiles said, “The Sport Series is built upon more than twenty five years of experience in head and neck restraint technology, including feedback from many thousands of HANS Device users.” Mark continued, “We’re proud to have the Sport Series recognized by the SAE and excited that this innovation has made the HANS Device affordable for all racers.”

The Award was presented during the SAE Motorsports Engineering Conference.

I came across the website today while searching for something else and must say I was impressed at the intentions behind this project. At first I thought it was another one of those “speed trap” warning sites that have been popping up all over, but after reading more I realized - there’s a lot more to this project than meets the eye.

The positive effect of increasing the yellow light time at a troublesome intersection (an increase of one second can reduce violations by 50%) is undisputed by even the most zealous ticket camera supporters.

Nevertheless…

Several cities have been caught shortening yellow light times to increase ticket camera profits and we think there are more yet to be discovered.

Read more on the project, the $10,000 challenge and the objectives that this organization is aiming for… it’s definitely food for thought. See the site at: www.shortyellowlights.com.