Beeping noises at race starts in real-life?

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Aftrbrnr

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HiTork
I guess this isn't that big of a question nor is it exclusive to Gran Turismo, but I've noticed many racing video games will have a beeping or buzzer noises usually in sync with a starting light as it goes from red to green, with the last beep (the one that goes with green) being either louder, longer, or a different tone. I think Gran Turismo's start beep (Beep. . . Beep. . . Beep. . . BEEEEEEEEEEPPPPP!!!) noise is iconic for some people, it maybe one of those few things that have been constant throughout the years.

However, despite this sound being prominent in many racing games, I wonder if such a sound is used in real-life auto racing at all. After seeing so many racing events throughout the years, I've noticed no sound is played at the start of a race. A test of the start lights at the Interlagos circuit in Brazil here shows it is silent:

http://youtu.be/rM3bJIgYIHA

I wonder now if such a noise only exists in video games to get a player's attention to get ready.
 
It probably just takes the place of a flag wave. Like the cones at Top Gear being there for the visibility of turns. A flag wave up top probably isn't enough.

I say wait for the next input.
 
The beeps are only ever in-game I would think... at most start lines the beeps would have to be so loud for the drivers that they'd deafen the crowd.
 
Aftrbrnr
I guess this isn't that big of a question nor is it exclusive to Gran Turismo, but I've noticed many racing video games will have a beeping or buzzer noises usually in sync with a starting light as it goes from red to green, with the last beep (the one that goes with green) being either louder, longer, or a different tone. I think Gran Turismo's start beep (Beep. . . Beep. . . Beep. . . BEEEEEEEEEEPPPPP!!!) noise is iconic for some people, it maybe one of those few things that have been constant throughout the years.

However, despite this sound being prominent in many racing games, I wonder if such a sound is used in real-life auto racing at all. After seeing so many racing events throughout the years, I've noticed no sound is played at the start of a race. A test of the start lights at the Interlagos circuit in Brazil here shows it is silent:

http://youtu.be/rM3bJIgYIHA

I wonder now if such a noise only exists in video games to get a player's attention to get ready.
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You really need to get outdoors more often :)
 
Easy for you to say. Your location is Top Valley. Doesn't get any easier than that.
 
another_jakhole
Easy for you to say. Your location is Top Valley. Doesn't get any easier than that.
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LOL I bet you would'nt even know where Top Valley is.
 
mark2002
LOL I bet you would'nt even know where Top Valley is.
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I had a friend who taught at a school with that name in the UK...

OT: The more I think about it the more I think the OP is mad :D
 
TenEightyOne
I had a friend who taught at a school with that name in the UK...
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That would be Top Valley Comprehensive, just up the road from me.
 
Aftrbrnr
I guess this isn't that big of a question nor is it exclusive to Gran Turismo, but I've noticed many racing video games will have a beeping or buzzer noises usually in sync with a starting light as it goes from red to green, with the last beep (the one that goes with green) being either louder, longer, or a different tone. I think Gran Turismo's start beep (Beep. . . Beep. . . Beep. . . BEEEEEEEEEEPPPPP!!!) noise is iconic for some people, it maybe one of those few things that have been constant throughout the years.

However, despite this sound being prominent in many racing games, I wonder if such a sound is used in real-life auto racing at all. After seeing so many racing events throughout the years, I've noticed no sound is played at the start of a race. A test of the start lights at the Interlagos circuit in Brazil here shows it is silent:

http://youtu.be/rM3bJIgYIHA

I wonder now if such a noise only exists in video games to get a player's attention to get ready.
Click to expand...

I don't know what game started it, but evidently some racing game from yesteryear must have included this beep and been played by enough people for it to be expected from that day forward. At some point a game starts something that seemingly everything that follows replicates.

It sort of reminds me of trends in film, both in movies and television. Mythbusters was doing an episode wherein they compared real-life sounds versus the sounds that come standard in film, and sometimes they turned out to be true-to-life but often they're completely fake and totally unlike the real-world sounds. Punches to the face, for example, sound nothing like real-world punches.

Movies and television perpetuate other myths besides just sounds, though. At some point someone decided that shooting a gun on an airplane is bad because the bullet hole in the wall of the plane will cause explosive decompression that will suck everything out. In reality, while there is a pressure difference between inside and out, it isn't anywhere remotely near enough to suck out much more than just packing peanuts or sheets of paper. If a large enough hole is in the haul (huge hole), wind can blow people out, but people won't get sucked out by pressure differences.

We've often seen people "blown away" by guns in film, too. You know what I mean, when I shoot you and you're tossed backwards from the bullet impacting you. In real life there isn't a handheld gun on Earth that can do that, no matter how enormous, because for every action there's an equal and opposite reaction, meaning that if my gun can shoot you with enough force that you're sent flying backwards, firing the gun would force me just as hard in the other direction, blowing me away just as well. I don't know who started this, but countless films have replicated it over the years.

I digress.
 
It would defeat the point of a race start in reality to have beeps, just like it's stupid in GT5 now I think about it. If racing drivers had a beep countdown the whole grid would no exactly when to release the clutch and push the throttle, just like we do in GT5.
Luckily reality is an unknown race start time based on reactions. Drivers don't know when the race will start.
In GT5 the false race start penalty online is stupid because it counts you down, where is the red lights out to react to? All you need to do is count a silent second in your head and your away, which is easy. I'm sure the people who do get the penalty, like me sometimes are just when you forgot it was on or didn't get the message. I digress a bit here but may as well say the GT5 penalty for a false start should be a pit lane drive through. And using proper random unknown starts.
 
At times the pit sirens will go off at a rolling start and/or sometimes a standing start if the pace car is pulling off the track with its lights off. Or 1/10000 times the pace car doesn't come of the track like the LMS race at Paul Ricard this year and craziness ensues. :dopey:
 
Moot
It would defeat the point of a race start in reality to have beeps, just like it's stupid in GT5 now I think about it. If racing drivers had a beep countdown the whole grid would no exactly when to release the clutch and push the throttle, just like we do in GT5.
Luckily reality is an unknown race start time based on reactions. Drivers don't know when the race will start.
In GT5 the false race start penalty online is stupid because it counts you down, where is the red lights out to react to? All you need to do is count a silent second in your head and your away, which is easy. I'm sure the people who do get the penalty, like me sometimes are just when you forgot it was on or didn't get the message. I digress a bit here but may as well say the GT5 penalty for a false start should be a pit lane drive through. And using proper random unknown starts.
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A bit OT too, but the false start thing is silly anyway. You can release your brakes when you see the 1 sec to go number disappear and you wont be penalised.
 
Yeah, Lewis Hamilton was slow off the start because he was waiting for the big floating 3,2,1, numbers to appear.

Is this thread for real?
 
I could be wrong but I believe some drag races do have a tone they play in conjunction with their Christmas tree though how a driver in say a top fuel car could possibly hear them is beyond me :;)
 
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