Ferrari simulator

An Italian fan infiltrated in to the Ferrari factory to look for detailed information on Ferrari simulator. The results of this quest are at least puzzling. The Information is very limited, both in official and unofficial sources. It is not difficult to guess that this is one of the best kept secrets in Maranello.

The simulator is located in the heart of Ferrari's racing department. It is a concrete building, in which the design is referring more to a "Star Wars" film than a car factory. Simulator work is supervised from the control room, located on the second floor. There is a six giant crane tunable shoulder capsule, in which the driver completely sinks in the virtual world. In addition to the size of the device, it is also impressive the precision of action, able to give every little inequality of the track. The Ferrari simulator has benefited from the experience of the company Moog, who is a leader in developing similar solutions for aviation.


The cage is built mainly of aluminum and composite materials, and is a faithful copy of the interior of the car. The eyes of the driver are amazed by the giant five screens installed on the sides. For a fuller effect, the simulator also has the rear-view mirrors. This is for full immersion, in addition to visual effects and the stimulus of moving platforms. There is also the need of sound; by using multi-channel stereo system, the driver is surrounded by the sound, which would be impossible for even the best headphones.

The head of the whole system is a multiprocessor supercomputer, which is using massive computing power and RAM counted in dozens, and perhaps generates about 5GB of data each day. This is a huge portion of information that must be subjected to analysis.

Ferrari's engineers put the plug into the socket usually around nine o'clock in the morning. During this time, the test drivers perform an average of seventy laps of a track. The main emphasis is to put to work the new concepts in development of the car. The exceptions are in situations when the team is preparing to race at a new track. Then the work begins with the preparation of a virtual lap, a new track is virtually built on the basis of information in the form of CAD drawings, photographs, and sometimes even using a laser meter.

Lack of testing means that the use of the wind tunnel and simulator is critical. This is the reason for Ferrari to set up a special unit responsible only for the development of the simulator. The device is subjected to constant alteration, designed to bring even stronger results.

Watch F1 races live here:

TheFastCastor