Occasionally, we get a request from a client that requires something beyond what you might normally expect from a racing simulator company like CXC Simulations. Recently, our friends at American Honda came to us with one such request that we were incredibly excited to work on.
In addition to providing them our CXC Simulations Motion Pro II for an employee event, they wanted to heighten the experience for their employees by including the Acura ARX-05 in the simulator. The Acura ARX-05 is the car that Acura Team Penske uses in the DPi class of the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship, driven by Dane Cameron, Juan Pablo Montoya, Ricky Taylor and Helio Castroneves.
Of course, we jumped at the chance, and a few weeks later, the Acura ARX-05 was ready for its’s first virtual hot laps. It’s not an easy process to create a car virtually, but our talented team of developers was up to the challenge.
In order to get started, we needed to gather as much data about the car as possible. Luckily, we had access to as much data about the Acura ARX-05 as we needed – including details like dimensions, weight distribution and engine capabilities. From then, we built a 3D model of the car that, after which we textured the car – which is the fun part where the car gets “filled-in” and begins to look like the real-life car that scored its first victory this year at Mid-Ohio.
Once that was finished, we began testing the car in the game to make sure the physics, as well as other details – such as the engine sound – was accurate. In the absence of the team’s drivers and engineers to verify the accuracy, we were provided in-car footage and telemetry to make the experience as realistic as possible.
Once our developers and development drivers were happy with the car, we delivered the simulator with the Acura ARX-05 to an event at American Honda. The employees were thrilled with the final product – being a relatively new car, they weren’t expecting to find it in any available software. And it wasn’t, until we created it virtually.
We have created real-world cars, and real-world graphics, for numerous clients throughout the years. If you have a car or a design that you would like to drive in your Motion Pro II, let us know.