TORCS
TORCS ( The Open Racing Car Simulator for ) is a free car racing simulation available for Linux, FreeBSD, Mac OS X, and Microsoft Windows. The program is implemented in C and is distributed under the open source GPL license. TORCS is designed for the development of AI racers, but users can also drive yourself and drive a vehicle with the keyboard, mouse or a steering wheel / pedals.
- 3.1 reviews
- 3.2 Competitions
- 3.3 Use in Research and Teaching
Content
The simulator includes models of various high-performance cars, Formula 1 and road vehicles. You are systematized according to performance class and design of the drive train. Among other things, the following race cars are modeled. With the help of Fanerweiterungen can the scope be enlarged.
In version 1.3.1 many different stretches of road categories ( road sections), dirt ( Rallycross routes) and oval ( oval tracks ) are included. Among other things, there are replicas of the tracks of Monza, Suzuka and Adelaide as well as very many fictional circuits. About the Internet can be many more routes refer as an add -on, such as Brands Hatch, Le Mans or the Laguna Seca Raceway. There is also an editor for creating your own routes.
The areas controlled by the software driver ( computer opponent ) are referred to within the project as robots. The properties and behavior of a robot are set through a part of the source code. Own Robots can be programmed in C or C .
Development
History
The development of TORCS was started in 1997 by Eric Espie and Christophe Guionneau. At the beginning of the simulation was two dimensional, the name of the project was Racing Car Simulator ( RCS). RARS (Robot Auto Racing Simulator ) was used at the beginning of inspiration. After Espie and Guionneau had acquired a 3dfx graphics card, they developed the first 3D version of the simulator using OpenGL and named the project in Open Racing Car Simulator ( ORCS ) to ( to avoid confusion with the revision control system to avoid ). After further development, the project received its current name TORCS. The first version ( 0.0.15 ) was published on 11 September 1999. In March 2005, the project was handed over to Bernhard Wymann.
Outstanding functionality
Apart from maintenance and improvements to a network multiplayer mode, an improved physics engine, better car interiors and the recording of repetitions and telemetry are provided.
Spin-offs
From TORCS there are various spin-offs, for example Speed Dreams (formerly called TORCS -ng ), pyTORCS (formerly called Open Racing ) and GZRacing. Spin-offs take place to achieve goals that are not compatible with TORCS.
Reception
Reviews
The Linux Journal has been mentioned TORCS as the best open source car racing simulator in the issue dated 18 October 2007. Particularly emphasized the possibilities for creating your own vehicles, realistic vehicle behavior as well as the graphics.
Competitions
The TORCS Racing Board performs on its website contests for TORCS player. It developed from the players AI racers against each other in the race. To this end, the AI racers will be uploaded to the TORCS Racing Board, the races are then run offline and uploaded the results.
Departments of the Julius- Maximilians- University of Würzburg and Milan Polytechnic lead by two other competitions, the Simulated Car Racing Championship and the Demolition Derby Competition, both competitions use modified versions TORCS.
Use in research and teaching
Due to the portability, stability, simplicity, modularity and extensibility TORCS was used in many research projects, for example for the automated determination of vehicle settings for the verification of vehicle components for the exploration of applications of neural networks and much more. Since 2008 TORCS is also used for projects of the IEEE Conference on Computational Intelligence and Games.
Gallery
TORCS 1.3.3 (left ) vs. Speed Dreams 2.0 with reflections (right)
TORCS Track Editor
TORCS vehicle editor
Speed Dream screenshot of Archer -R9