Are the tracks in Forza 5 laser-scanned?

[ReverenceSatans]

You do realize laser scanning only provides an elevation map of the terrain, right?

Um, what?

It can easily provide and entire point cloud of the track and surrounding areas to get millimetre perfect accuracy including track side facilities.

Educate thy self

That's the same system T10 claimed they could beat with their photos and GPS...

 

[ClydeYellow]

Um, what?
Educate thy self

iRacing.com replicates the precise physical features of each track’s racing surface. Our laser-scanning technology produces a mathematical ‘bump map’ of the track’s camber, cracks, curbs, undulations and patches.

I rest my case.

 

[HAL20XX]

I rest my case.

So what you're saying is it "only" measures everything?

 

[SlyNine]

So what you're saying is it "only" measures everything?

I guess on a very fundamental level they would all be included in a height map.

 

[ClydeYellow]

So what you're saying is it "only" measures everything?

Yes.

To be more precise, what laser scanning does, is creating a high resolution height map of the surface of a racing venue. Laser scanning is a technique that's been in use for a long time in industrial design processes, including quality control (*sigh*) reverse engineering. Of course getting a topographical scan of a vast area is quite different than scanning a mechanical piece, and presents a number of new challenges but still...

Laser scanning allows for unprecedented realism when it comes to simulating the "feel" of the road, the little bumps and the curvature of the road pavement and the like. But you still need a photographic and in-site study of the track, and a rougher height map of the surrounding terrain.

Oh, and want to know which technology laser scanning replaced?

Here you have it.

 

[UkHardcore23]

When you watch video's of iRacing Road Atlanta it's very hard to believe Turn 10 laser scanned it...iRacing is like a roller coaster compared to the Forza version. Also Silverstone someone posted an image on here showing it was not right...T10 telling porkies on the laser scanning i reckon!

 

[FuzzyFassbender]

When you watch video's of iRacing Road Atlanta it's very hard to believe Turn 10 laser scanned it...iRacing is like a roller coaster compared to the Forza version. Also Silverstone someone posted an image on here showing it was not right...T10 telling porkies on the laser scanning i reckon!

Did you run the iRacing video posted in this thread side by side with FM5? I can't see any elevation differences when viewed with a similar cockpit FOV.

 

[noshog]

Seeing is one thing, feeling is another, playing both FM5 and iRacing back to back they feel like very different tracks, I don't know maybe it's a combination of all the little things, maybe the rumble strips aren't quite the same, slight differences in camber. I guess a couple degrees (or even millimeters) different here and there can come through the feeling of the track much more than you can actually see it.
I will say though, they did improve the track from FM4 to FM5.

 

[shadynader]

To be more precise, what laser scanning does, is creating a high resolution height map of the surface of a racing venue.

Point clouds not height maps.

On the subject of Atlanta, after playing both I don't believe that T10 has scanned it but I don't think it was ever said to have been IIRC. Also I don't think Silverstone was claimed to have been either. Spa and Bathurst and anything moving forward will be. Anything that was not 'A grade' by T10's standard for the new gen was taken out.

 

[Fat Tyre]

"iRacing.com replicates the precise physical features of each track’s racing surface. Our laser-scanning technology produces a mathematical ‘bump map’ of the track’s camber, cracks, curbs, undulations and patches.

Combine this mathematically-precise surface mapping with iRacing.com’s hyper-accurate sight-pictures and proprietary mapping software and you have a powerful tool that allows even drivers at the highest levels of professional motorsport to use virtual seat time to hone their skills and improve their real-world performance."