The {TOOLTIP|VERSION|47217|Toyota TS030} has not raced since both cars failed to finish at Le Mans, but that has not kept the car off the track at least in a virtual world. The team is now preparing for the 6 Hours of Silverstone on August 26 in Toyota Motorsport GmbH's simulator.
Because {TOOLTIP|MAKE|1586|Toyota} Motorsport GmbH formerly ran the Toyota Formula 1 team, it still has access to the simulator that it built then. In fact drivers do not strap into a replica TS030 chassis, they sit in one of Toyota's Formula 1 cars that was used in races.
Alex Wurz and Nicholas Lapierre have been using the simulator to prepare for the race. Kazuki Nakajima will not be driving during the race due to its short length.
The simulator was built in 2007 at the company's headquarters in Cologne, Germany, to simulate its Formula 1 car. It can simulate 20 tracks in multiple layouts including all of the WEC tracks and the Nürburgring Nordschleife. Toyota has laser-scanned each track and keeps the data updated each time the actual track is changed.
In addition to the TS030, it can simulate the Toyota F1 cars, Toyota Super GT cars, GP2 cars, non-hybrid Toyotas in the WEC and various Toyota and {TOOLTIP|MAKE|1345|Lexus} road cars. It allows engineers to modify even the tiniest parts of the car including individual aerodynamic elements, clutch settings, engine mapping, brakes and suspension settings.
The car's image is displayed in panorama from five projectors giving the driver a 220° view of the track. The car is hooked up to six hydraulic jacks to move the car horizontally and vertically.
Technically, Toyota uses 16 computers running simultaneously to create the simulation. Six are for the visual effects, two for controlling chassis motion, one for audio, one for the operator and one for telemetry. One computer each is controlling the chassis, powertrain, control, simulation and system communication.
Toyota says that generally times in the simulator are about half a second faster than in real life because there is no fear of death.
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