ACC Blog: MoTeC Telemetry and Dedicated ACC Workspace

[Paul Jeffrey]

Kunos physics expert Aristotelis Vasilakos continues the new build blog post tradition... this time paying attention to the new MoTeC functionality within the sim...

With release six of Assetto Corsa Competizione comes the inclusion of support for the often discussed, and rarely understood MoTeC telemetry support.. a bit of a black art that Kunos Simulazioni physics developer Aris Vasilakos attempts to explain in his latest blog posting release.

Frankly I know what it is, but not how to use it properly, so I'll shut up and let you read the new post from Aris in full below...

Assetto Corsa Competizione officially supports data analysis, by exporting in MoTec i2 native format.

Assetto Corsa Competizione has been conceived since the beginning to recreate a GT3 racing car, in the most faithful and realistic way, as well as the complexity of the Blancpain GT3 series championship. Users of ACC can obviously just jump in and drive the amazing GT3 cars of the Blancpain series, but as the competition heats up, they will find that the GT3 cars are very sensitive vehicles and their performance and handling characteristics are greatly depended by setup choices. Industry first simulation features in ACC, further influence the cars behaviour as in real life. As simracers and real life drivers are using ACC seeking for more performance, car and driving data acquisition and analysis becomes of paramount importance in order to optimise Practice Sessions training and bring a good car setup for Qualifying and Race Sessions.

MoTeC i2 software solution is an industry leader in data analysis. It can help greatly with reviewing overlaid data, creating track maps analysis, comparing graphs, implementing math channels and more. All of the above and more, if properly used, can provide a good indication of the car handling and give good hint on driver’s performance.

MOTEC i2 DOWNLOAD LINKS
You can download MoTeC i2 software from the following links:
MoTeC software latest releases page: https://www.motec.com.au/software/latestreleases/
direct download MoTeC i2 Pro: i2 Pro V1.1.4.0454 (64Bit)
(it is free for non professional use)

ACC WORKSPACE
To get the most out of a telemetry lap analysis, you need to know how to read it. The MoTeC i2 software is created with the help and used by the best motorsport racing teams all around the world. It is a complex software than can intimidate even the most knowledgable racing engineers. Because of that, we collaborated with a racing engineer to create a specific MoTeC workspace. A workspace is a sort of a template that includes various worksheets with different data channels, histograms, track maps etc. It gives you a perfect starting point to work on your laps, with ordered data and worksheets for each kind of analysis you intend to undergo. The workspace is based on actual real driver performance evaluation and is specifically tuned for ACC data channel export.

ACC uses exclusively real data to simulate the GT3 cars and tyres of the Blancpain GT3 series. As you would expect, such data are protected under heavy NDAs and licensing. We took extra care to protect such data but on the other hand we understand the necessity to provide simracers with proper telemetry output. The ACC data export and MoTeC workspace is all that is needed to evaluate driver performance and car behaviour. The number of the available data channels might seem more limited than say AC1 exports, but it is both realistic in terms that you get data channels that actual cars have, and more permit to focus more on the driver and car performance than reverse engineering and validation.

HOW TO INSTALL THE ACC WORKSPACE
Once you have installed the MoTeC i2 software, run it at least once then close.
Start Assetto Corsa Competizione and go to any track with any car. Then close ACC.
Now into your “documents/Assetto Corsa Competizione/MoTeC/Workspaces” you’ll find a folder named “base_ACC”. Copy this folder inside “documents/MoTeC/i2/Workspaces” folder and it will appear through the available workspaces inside the MoTeC i2 software.
Alternatively you could double click on the file ”base_ACC.i2wsp-archive” and the workspace will auto-install, but on some configurations windows might not recognize how to run this file.

HOW TO EXPORT TELEMETRY FROM ACC
To enable ACC telemetry export, all you have to do, is go into the “Electronics” section of the car setup and set the number of laps that you want to be saved. Every time you go out to the track, ACC will automatically export the number of laps selected. If you do more laps than selected, it will save the latest ones. For every time you go to the track, a new session of telemetry will be exported. In that way you can create different setups that export a different amount of laps, giving you the possibility to have practice session setup that save a big amount of telemetry laps and race setups that save less or no telemetry laps at all, keeping your RAM and HDD space under control during long races.​

HOW TO LOAD ACC TELEMETRY EXPORT
The telemetry export laps are saved under “documents/Assetto Corsa Competizione/MoTeC” folder. If you have MoTeC i2 software installed, you can simply double click on the “.ld” files and they will open inside the telemetry software, ready for analysing.
You can also exchange telemetry files, but make sure you share not only the “.ld” files but also the accompanying “.ldx” file.
You can of course open different telemetry laps and session, from inside the i2 software. Go to the far left vertical panel and click on the Data vertical button.​

The new panel will scroll in from the left and if you have already loaded a session, it will display a list of laps. You can select up to 3 to overlay one over another.

Clicking on the top left load icon (image folder with green + icon), a new window will appear.​

If not already, navigate to the documents/assetto corsa competizione/MoTeC folder and you will get a list of various telemetry sessions with the name of the car and the rack. Double clicking on any of them, will add them to the bottom window (selected files).​

Click Open and they will be available to the Data panel for selection and analysis.​

ACC WORKSPACE WALKTHROUGH
The ACC workspace, consist of various worksheets with preloaded data channels that can help you analyse your track sessions.
What follow is a short description of the worksheets available and how to use their functionality to analyse your driving and car behavior.

COMPARE WORKSHEET​

This worksheets, include the classic channels of SPEED, RPMS (engine revs), GEAR, BRAKE, THROTTLE.

You can open a laptime the DATA panel that stays at the far left side of the MoTeC window, vertical buttons.

From the DATA panel you can select multiple laps even from multiple sessions to compare between them. This first “compare worksheet” will give you a clear indication of how a lap is faster than another, gear usage, brake and throttle application. The main speed graph can be zoomed to show he actual speed the car maintains to every part of the track.

DRIVER WORKSHEET​

The “worksheet Driver” uses all the previous data channels but also adds STEERANGLE and GLAT (lateral g forces) and GLONG (longitudinal g forces). Comparing two different laps, you can easily check if a given steer input can generate more g’s and what’s the result in speed. Brake and throttle application comparison is also very important for driver and setup evaluation.

WHEELSPEED WORKSHEET​

The “worksheet Wheelspd (wheel speed)” is used specifically, to understand differences in wheel speed, enabling the engineer to point out excessive wheel spin under acceleration, or slight lockups under heavy braking. Even though the cars use ABS, it can be optimised to give maximum braking force in a straight line, but that might bring slight lockups on turn entry. This worksheet can help optimising such situations.

UNDERSTEER&OVERSTEER WORKSHEET​

A great help for the engineer and the driver, that bring an objective perspective to the very delicate driver feedback in terms of understeer and oversteer.
Channels used: SPEED, STEERANGLE, glat, Oversteer, BRAKE, THROTTLE
The Oversteer channel is a math channel. It will give negative numbers for understeer and positive numbers for oversteer. Ideally you need a bit of understeer to stabilise the car and give the driver the confidence to push for a better lap time. A hint of oversteer out of slow turns is good to have as long as the throttle application remains confident and not tentative. If after an oversteer moment, you can observe a big dip in throttle application, that means that the driver is simply not confident to push and action is needed to maintain car control so time is lost.

Much more information can be acquired from this worksheet and we will produce more tutorials on how to use the ACC telemetry workspace in the near future.

ENGINE REVS WORKSHEET​

This worksheet visualises the engine usage and gear usage through a complete lap. It can also help to determine and instruct the driver to use the best revs range of the engine, to take advantage of the best acceleration possible. Keep in mind that GT3 engines are heavily restricted by rules, so for most of them, pushing the engine to the rev limiter is counterproductive. This worksheet is the perfect place to understand how to use the engine.

Again, much more information can be acquired from this worksheet and we will produce more tutorials on how to use the ACC telemetry workspace in the near future.

SUSPENSION HISTOGRAM WORKSHEET​

The suspension histogram worksheet, visualises the damper velocity for each wheel. It’s a great tool to understand if a damper setting is not ideal for the track and car combination, or certain specific damper choices that might be forced in order to maintain a better aerodynamic platform and make the aerodynamic devices of the car, work more efficiently. Generally if a damper is properly setup you should expect to see a symmetrical bell graph with the damper passing more time in the low speeds thus producing higher bars in the middle of the graph. Highly asymmetrical graphs indicate that the damper is setup badly in bump or rebound, fast or slow, or a specific damper setting is required for the setup of the car, for whatever reason.​

Assetto Corsa Competizione is available on Steam Early Access - Release status 6.

For more of the latest news and discussions about Assetto Corsa Competizione, head over to the ACC sub forum here at RaceDepartment and stay in touch with everything ACC!

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[Dirk Steffen]

Fair point. Motec is waaaayyyy too complicated for many of us. I use RaceLogic data and mapping overlays for my real track time. It's great because it gives both the lap trace, lines used, braking points etc (gear, throttle and brake position if connected to the ECU). This I find useful as a learning tool, it can also easily be overlayed onto video too. I think many racing gamers would find data like this useful - the lap trace/braking points, apex and exit clipping points overlayed onto a trackmap, especially if they could compare this with a best or ideal.

I'm sure Motec also gives all that data and a lot more too. It's great that Kunos added it in in for those who want to use it but it's a step too far for me.

I'd really like to know if it does make people faster. There are plenty of fast times out there before/without MOTEC data. I doubt it's going to change anyone from average to alien! Marginal gains for the most dedicated though, yes I can appreciate it could help with that.

You know that Motec i2 does all you mentioned (and way more of course).
You just have to build your own worksheets (you can always simplify them and aid with visualization).
The initial hurdle is first to learn how the Motec i2 software works as it is simply the most powerful and most flexible data analysis software on the market - the initial learning curve for beginners is steep.

 

[whaletail]

No sim racer is going to pay a cent for this. These folks are so frugal they are not even willing to pay for excellent content that sells for less than the cost of a cold drink.

I'd put my time elsewhere if I were you.
Also - basically any person who is willing to learn how a more complex software suite like Microsoft Excel works is capable of learning to use at the very least the basic features of Motec i2. It would be a very shaky business concept to offer something that literally anyone can learn with all the free tutorials, help forums and people who are willing to help online on offer, ... all of which for free.

I have also thus far not run into A SINGLE PERSON who would even let them help with telemetry FOR FREE, as their incentive to learn it themselves is just that much higher than relying on a third party to sort their telemetry data analysis needs.

You would be much better off to start to produce online tutorials on how to maximize simracing efforts by learning how to use telemetry and monetize those tutorials with advertisements and donations or if you are REALLY good and entertaining even with subscription based premium content.

The guy that started VRS would beg to disagree.

Although it only works with iRacing at the moment, I'm pretty sure he eventually intends to include other sims.

Currently, some of the best sim racers worldwide (most from Team Coanda Simsport, which partners with VRS) make data packs for each iRacing series weekly. Each data pack includes one or two setups, a track tutorial, and best lap/optimal lap files to use with the iRacing lap delta bar.

Although some just use the setups, VRS' real value lies in its telemetry analysis and driver coach features. VRS logs every lap you drive, whether in a race, qually, official practice or solo testing, and you can compare your lap telemetry against the data pack fast lap.

The traces are displayed in as intuitive a manner as possible, allowing you to quickly determine where you're losing time compared to the data pack, and why, and you can delve as deeply as anyone would care to, e.g. for car setup purposes.

Although a bit controversial (along with the entire paid setups debate), VRS seems to have attracted a large number of subscribers at $4.99/month for a single series, and $9.99/month for complete data pack access. They also offer telemetry based driver coaching as well, for a separate fee.

They also upload YouTube webinars, wherein they dive into the practical use of telemetry, and explain how to analyze specific corners, etc. I'm not sure how large the VRS subscriber base is, but they're already sponsoring high level iRacing series, and are constantly expanding their business. They've been beta testing their own DD wheel for months, and plan to offer less expensive, but still high end, sim racing peripherals - including the DD wheel, pedals and wheel plates/button boxes, in the near future.

Considering that other top iRacing teams have begun offering telemetry based driver coaching in response (albeit on a much smaller scale), VRS must be doing something right, and comparing your own telemetry against known fast laps is obviously the most efficient way to improve your pace.

I've been using telemetry for a few years now, and while far from an expert, I've gotten substantially quicker as a result. Aliens may not need it (although I'm sure even they would benefit), but for the rest of us plebs, it's an efficient way to extract the most from practice stints, and generally maximize performance.

 

[denzo]

is there a reason why the nissan is not available in the sprint race weekend

 

[Matheus Machado]

No sim racer is going to pay a cent for this. These folks are so frugal they are not even willing to pay for excellent content that sells for less than the cost of a cold drink.

I'd put my time elsewhere if I were you.
Also - basically any person who is willing to learn how a more complex software suite like Microsoft Excel works is capable of learning to use at the very least the basic features of Motec i2. It would be a very shaky business concept to offer something that literally anyone can learn with all the free tutorials, help forums and people who are willing to help online on offer, ... all of which for free.

I have also thus far not run into A SINGLE PERSON who would even let them help with telemetry FOR FREE, as their incentive to learn it themselves is just that much higher than relying on a third party to sort their telemetry data analysis needs.

You would be much better off to start to produce online tutorials on how to maximize simracing efforts by learning how to use telemetry and monetize those tutorials with advertisements and donations or if you are REALLY good and entertaining even with subscription based premium content.

If it was as simple as this, anyone would qualify to make karting data analysis, turns out I am still the only one in my state that does this for local drivers.

To say that offering something that anyone can learn through free tutorials is a big understatement, anything can be like that if you think about it.

The difference lies on the ones who can make a proper analysis and the superficial ones, which goes more deep than free tutorials for sure.

 

[BrunoBæ]

There is probably a pretty good reason that every RL professional racing team does use some form of telemetry data analyzing in their practical track events.
And I guess no potiential driver would be hired if he said Im only a car driver and dont want to mess with understanding this telematro thingy.
This thing goes way over my head because I only want to drive your damned car.

So if we want to consider this video gaming thing as some kind of racing sim(ulation) then....

 

[makan]

is there a reason why the nissan is not available in the sprint race weekend

Because IRL , this car just race in endurances.

 

[denzo]

Thanks

 

[Emery]

And I guess no potiential driver would be hired if he said Im only a car driver and dont want to mess with understanding this telematro thingy.

Some teams just want a driver to drive and not try to help them tune the car. I seem to recall Bourdais landed on a team like that and felt very unsatisfied.

 

[Dirk Steffen]

I'm waiting for an F1 Challenge 99-02 style telemetry to come back to a game so bad.

I believe that telemetry was the perfect telemetry for the masses with enough information and flexibility to help the majority of people analyse and compare laps/driving while giving enough options and flexibility for some more advanced stuff (but nothing too crazy).

All we need is for games to come out with proper telemetry maps for their circuits, "proper" as in not just a line representing the track but the full width so you can see exact car lines/placement. Combining a proper track map with lines and different colour lines representing brakes, gas, coast, etc. is, in my opinion, probably the easiest and quickly-effective way for most people to get benefit out of telemetry. Overlaying 2 laps on the map on the left side with some brake and throttle charts on the right side is incredibly effective especially for how fast and easy it is to setup and understand by almost any one.

0:48 - 1:43 is what I'm talking about, I miss that so much!!!
.

You can build exactly that with Motec i2 Pro. Of course you would have to learn how the software works in order to get there but you can get there.

I tried to use motec for a while ten years ago in Race 07 and it was nice, but I always thought it could be implemented inside the sim. I would never imagine that in 2019 we wouldn't have a single sim with this feature implemented. It would make our lives much easier.

This is really unthinkable with the complexity of todays advanced racing sims.

There are business like Motec out there who do nothing else with a team of programmers to develop data analysis software. It is much to ask that video game producers do that amount of complex work as well.

I think the approach that video game developers develop video games and data analysis developers develop data analysis tools provides users the very best experience in each field.

Where can I find the original blog entry?

https://www.assettocorsa.net/forum/index.php?forums/acc-general-discussions.62/

Especially if you get varying results across sims engines, chassis and tyre

Now , if all that Motec data was consistent across all sims ( as it is in real life ) that would really be something ...............of course you would need a control engine for that, something most everyone would be dead set against ..........explain the logic in that. .

Me I like historics mainly where they never had it

Like Tony Brooks said " Its Formula 1 but it ain't no Grand Prix"

There are no strict standards how to adhere to certain algorithms and standards when developing physics engines for racing sims.

BUT - there are standards in the automotive industry (and by extension racing engineering) and mathematics and physics.
This leads to all data being able to be normalized among racing sims to the extend as to which each sim is accurate and / or realistic.

I.E. I have build over the years a personal Motec i2 project where I analyze data a certain way.
I use that project to build individual projects for each racing sim (currently only AC, rF2 and now ACC) to work with the same usr interface for me to quickly see what is important on a glance.

The underlying data formats, data channels, available (and not available) data etc is all different and simply needs conversion and the use of math to resolve for missing bits and pieces. It takes some work.

.... cause the game isn‘t in a good shape atm. Maybe Kunos guys should invest their human recources to the main facts like performance and MP issues IMHO.

Actually Kunos have made an IMMENSE effort to make the actual process of setting up cars way more accessible for beginners and people who do not like to use telemetry data analysis.
It may not look like it at first glance into the setup menu (as it looks almost as complex as it did in AC) but the underlying fundamental changes Kunos made how suspension alignment, bump stops and tires work and are setup are drastically different from the AC approach.

Both approaches are correct and meaningful - the one in AC favors people who feel comfortable with vehicle dynamics and extensive data analysis tools, the one in ACC clearly favors people who really would like to stay away from data analysis.

You can read the blog posts from Aris on the AC forum to see how.
In short: the vehicle physics are now substantially more complex and yet the setup options are substantially simplified.

This is really good for beginners or people who just want to drive.

 

[Butzemann]

A smart and logical decision from Kunos to implement a motec support. Well done. I assume that they will provide or offer data packs, taken from real cars, as a potential benchmark after the official release.

Btw ... roughly 13 years ago GTR2 had a motec interface already implemented. There are a lot of tutorials, videos etc. available how to work with the readings.

Cheers

 

[Butzemann]

... assumed that the reader/viewer has a specific knowledge ...

 

[Spinelli]

You can build exactly that with Motec i2 Pro. Of course you would have to learn how the software works in order to get there but you can get there.

Yes, I know you can do this at least one way: by creating your own map by driving around the entire track on the outside edge then again on the inside edge. Apart from not knowing how to do that, I would have to do that for every track. Not only that, but then I am relying on my own accuracy when defining the track. If there's any other way to do this without having to manually drive around the track, I'd love to know.

 

[Dirk Steffen]

Yes, I know you can do this at least one way: by creating your own map by driving around the entire track on the outside edge then again on the inside edge. Apart from not knowing how to do that, I would have to do that for every track. Not only that, but then I am relying on my own accuracy when defining the track. If there's any other way to do this without having to manually drive around the track, I'd love to know.

Here is a good step by step instruction how to create complex track maps in Motec i2 Pro by @Jens Roos

(ACTI) Assetto Corsa Telemetry Interface

This really should be a sticky here on the forum.

 

[xEdux75JailBreak]

Hey guys! Could you add tyre IMO temps channels? This information is essential to make a fine-tune of cambers!

 

[tristancliffe]

I suspect they're not allowed in real life, or just not worth the cost, so it's not a data channel in game. Like 99% of racing cars, the only way to check tyre temperatures is with a probe in the garage, which you have to do in game also.

 

[Asterix]

I appear to be failing at the installation - seemed to go fine, folders in the right places and copied where necessary, set up changed, stint completed, exit session, 2 files show up in the folder, click on the larger and MoTeC opens, I can see the session, I can see the lap times... and that's it - no squiggly lines.

Edit: Sorted. I had to manually copy the data files from the ACC file to the MoTeC file.

 

[T0mpang]

how can it be that when i see some video's that they have alot more channels?

 

[Dirk Steffen]

how can it be that when i see some video's that they have alot more channels?

You can have as many channels as you want once you start using math channels.

 

[T0mpang]

You can have as many channels as you want once you start using math channels.

there you can see "damper" data

but its nowhere to be seen in my channels

 

[Dirk Steffen]

You look like having possibly deleted the channels.
You should have these 4 channels:

Best reinstall the "base ACC" Motec workspace that came with your install.