February 2025 Update


It’s winter time and we are aware that we are long overdue when it comes to providing an update. We’ve returned from Sim Formula Europe 2025, our first event of the new year, and things have evolved considerably since the previous update.

Let’s kick off with Sim Formula Europe 2025. A year ago we showcased the simulation there for the very first time, giving people an opportunity to drive it themselves. This year we used it to run the on-site competition and try out a new and unique format.

The BAC Mono R leaving the pitlane.

We invited 8 esports teams and ran qualifiers at the event for an additional 8 sim racers to end up with 16 drivers. As we were running this on the new software, there was no opportunity for anybody to practice ahead of the event and whilst the actual car we were driving, the BAC Mono R, was announced days before the event, the track remained a secret until people showed up in Maastricht. On Saturday afternoon, after a short drivers briefing, people got about half an hour of practice to familiarize themselves with the simulation, the car and the track (Anglesey) and then the finals started. Two semi-finals saw the top 3 progressing to the finals directly, with a “last chance qualifier” for places 4-7 to fill the remaining 2 spots in the final. The racing was broadcast live.

Anglesey Circuit from the air.

A lot of people ended up trying the simulation in the four days in Maastricht, and we’ve seen quite a few videos from people sharing their experiences. Feedback in general was positive, and most people stepped out of the simulator with a big smile on their face.

So what changed in the months before?

Obviously, the focus has still been very much on the physics and the driving experience. The configuration of different controllers has been added, allowing people to set up their wheelbase and pedals. Wheel rotation is now set per vehicle, and you can configure the FFB and dead zones for all your axes.

We’ve built a virtual wind tunnel so we can test the aero elements of various cars and directly hook them up to both live graphs and telemetry we can later analyze in various tools.

Together with our partners at Simucube we’ve done a significant step when it comes to the better integration between hard- and software, resulting in a first demo at SFE that showcases the effects of “brake fade” when your brakes overheat. With their active pedals, you can literally feel those brakes go soft and finally hitting the floor of the car.

To run a competition meant other areas of the simulation needed expansion too!

Multiplayer support was added, the first phase of which are LAN based races. Obviously, with a modular physics engine, that also meant the networking needed to be a bit different from most other simulations out there. In practice each car ends up sending different data over the network. That way cars with 6 wheels can correctly render those and all the suspension parts can be moved for opponents as well, but this also extends to things like suspensions, which can be wildly different on various cars.

We also added race control and session management. Sessions can be fully scripted and customized, so you can run your race weekends the way you want. Race control can control those sessions from a central location. Examples of that at SFE is the ability to automatically put all the cars on the grid, but also to manually control the timing of sessions, where the race director can decide when to for example turn the lights green to start a race. Stuff like this is quite important when you are running live events.

The second is broadcast tools. That includes overlays to show the current standings, gaps and drivers, but also camera controls to closely follow the action.

Finally, some graphics items needed to be added. We introduced fully working suspensions that are moved by physics. We also added a driver model that leverages inverse kinematics to move its arms, fingers and legs.

What is coming in 2025?

Those who were present at my talk at SFE already know about some of this, but we’ve just kicked off a joint two year R&D project with Heusinkveld and Donkervoort to create a “digital twin” of their upcoming car, the successor to the F22. This is a project that is executed with a subsidy from the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, an MIT-R&D collaboration project executed by the RVO.

Donkervoort F22 Photo: Copyright 2025 Donkervoort Automobielen.

We also had plans to be in Sydney, Australia for the Race Of Champions, but we decided to not go there in the end because the hardware requirements for running the racing simulation were not met by the organizers so we could not guarantee a smooth experience. That means the eROC will use Assetto Corsa again this year, like before.

We will be running a rally simulator that includes a real stage in a Dutch rally, a project we’re collaborating on with Motorsport in Motion, but more on that later.