''rFpro'', originally ''rFactor Pro'', is a

driving simulation Driving is the controlled operation and movement of a vehicle, including cars, motorcycles, trucks, buses, and bicycles. Permission to drive on public highways is granted based on a set of conditions being met and drivers are required to follo ...

software used by racing teams and car manufacturers for

advanced driver-assistance systems An advanced driver-assistance system (ADAS) is any of a groups of electronic technologies that assist drivers in driving and parking functions. Through a safe human-machine interface, ADAS increase car and road safety. ADAS uses automated techno ...

self-driving car A self-driving car, also known as an autonomous car, driver-less car, or robotic car (robo-car), is a car that is capable of traveling without human input.Xie, S.; Hu, J.; Bhowmick, P.; Ding, Z.; Arvin, F.,Distributed Motion Planning for S ...

s and

vehicle dynamics For motorized vehicles, such as automobiles, aircraft, and watercraft, vehicle dynamics is the study of vehicle motion, e.g., how a vehicle's forward movement changes in response to driver inputs, propulsion system outputs, ambient conditions, air ...

. ''rFactor Pro'' was created in 2007 as a project of a F1 racing team, using

Image Space Incorporated Image Space Incorporated (ISI) is an American independent video game developer based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, specializing in the fields of video game development, man-in-the-loop simulator architectures, computer image generation, and entertain ...

's ''

rFactor ''rFactor'' is a computer racing simulator designed with the ability to run any type of four-wheeled vehicle from street cars to open wheel cars of any era. ''rFactor'' aimed to be the most accurate race simulator of its time. Released in Nov ...

'' as a codebase. It has since been used by more F1 racing teams, top road car OEMs, Tier 1 suppliers, and motorsport manufacturers. It was originally developed for driver-in-the-Loop simulations, but has since been used for autonomous vehicle training as well. It is not licensed to consumers.

History

''rFactor Pro'' was created in 2007 as a project of a F1 team, using the ''

'' simulator as a codebase,rfpro.com/about/
archived on March 4th, 2021 and has since been used by more F1 racing teams, including

Force India Force India Formula One Team Limited, commonly known as Force India and later Sahara Force India, was a Formula One racing team and constructor based in Silverstone, United Kingdom, with an Indian licence. The team was formed in October 20 ...

in 2009,

Ferrari Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988) in 1939 from the Alfa Romeo racing division as ''Auto Avio Costruzioni'', the company built its first car in ...

in 2014 and

Alfa Romeo Alfa Romeo Automobiles S.p.A. () is an Italian luxury car manufacturer and a subsidiary of Stellantis. The company was founded on 24 June 1910, in Milan, Italy. "Alfa" is an acronym of its founding name, "Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili." "A ...

in 2019. ''rFpro'' is developed by ''rFpro Limited'', based in

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

, UK.
rFpro - Photo-realistic 3D environments with lidar-accurate road surfaces processed in real time
', at mathworks.com In 2017 ''rFpro'' acquired

's ISIMotor gaming engine, including the gMotor graphics engine, which it had been licensing since 2007. In 2019 ''rFpro'' was acquired by AB Dynamics.
AB Dynamics acquires simulation software specialist rFpro
', by Autocar Pro News Desk , 02 July 2019 In 2020 rFpro partnered with cosin scientific software to enable FTire (Flexible Ring Tire Model) to run with rFpro.

Features

''rFpro'' features a 120 Hz graphics engine, a library of high definition laser scanned tracks and roads, and an infrastructure in which users can plug their in-house vehicle physics through a

Simulink Simulink is a MATLAB-based graphical programming environment for modeling, simulating and analyzing multidomain dynamical systems. Its primary interface is a graphical block diagramming tool and a customizable set of block libraries. It offers t ...

or a C/C++ interface. Alternatively ''rFpro'' rigid multibody physics engine can be used, which samples suspension and drive-train at 800Hz. ''rFpro'' includes a tool called TerrainServer, which can feed the LiDAR data with a 1cm resolution to a vehicle model running in realtime up to 5kHz.Dempsey, M., Fish, G., & Beltran, J. G. D. (2015)
High fidelity multibody vehicle dynamics models for driver-in-the-loop simulators
', in Proceedings of the 11th International Modelica Conference, Versailles, France, September 21-23, 2015 (No. 118, pp. 273-280). Linköping University Electronic Press. The library of laser scanned tracks includes most of those used in the F1 championship.rFactor Pro – Laser Scanning Heaven
at virtualr.net, July 15, 2011 In switching to ''rFpro'' for its simulator software in 2014, the

Ferrari F1 team Scuderia Ferrari Società per Azioni, S.p.A. () is the racing division of luxury Italian auto manufacturer Ferrari and the racing team that competes in Formula One racing. The team is also known by the nickname "The Prancing Horse", in refere ...

cited the high fidelity of the reproduced track surface, with an accuracy better than 1mm in Z (height) and 1cm in X and Y (position), which represented a ten-fold improvement over their previous solution.
Ferrari F1 Team switches to driving simulator software from rFpro
', by Autocar Pro News Desk, 14 Oct 2014 They also cited the ability to respond to dynamic inputs faster than the driver can detect.

References

External links

* https://www.rfpro.com * https://twitter.com/rfpronews {{Sim racing Automotive software Driving simulators Racing simulators Simulation software Industrial software

History

Features

See also

References

Further reading

External links