BBC Sport is launching a new aspect of its online Formula 1 coverage this weekend with a graphic showing the live location of all the cars on the track during the race. The animation, which will be selectable in the video section at the top of the F1 live page, is provided by Formula 1 Management (FOM) – who call it a driver tracker. The aim is to complement to the TV coverage so that fans can better understand the race. It could be a huge help, for example, in the pit-stop period the TV coverage does not always show whether a driver emerges from his stop ahead or behind a rival. The driver tracker will show you all this live.
The driver tracker will be added to the BBC’s live video module – which is located at the top of the live page on the website whenever there are cars on the track. This module also has live video coverage of every on-track session, an in-car camera channel, alternative commentary streams and rolling highlights.
The driver tracker option features a top-down circuit map, on which the drivers are identified by colour-coded shapes bearing their standard FOM three-letter abbreviation (ALO, for Fernando Alonso; HAM, for Lewis Hamilton; BUT for Jenson Button etc). These identifiers move around the track as the cars do, allowing viewers to track the progress of the drivers and the visual gaps between them.
Looks good. Hope the wife appreciates me hogging the flat screen for the race, laptop for driver position and desktop for live timings. Suppose a twitter feed on the phone is going a bit to far
How did we survive without all this technology and information?
Good news indeed, but what might be a more useful improvement is for Mr.Ecclestone to broadcast in HD now rather than wait until (at least) 2012.
That’s handy.
FOM should put it as a tab on their live timing website thingy too so you don’t end up with loads of windows open.
Any info on if this is going to be available outside of Great Britain?
Will this be available outside the UK?
A step in the right direction although it has to be pointed out that A1GP had it two years back even when it was in its last leg…..
So the BBC can do this real time over the web for free, but the FIA cannot do this for the stewards in real time at the race? It is absurd. One can only hope that the BBC will also start broadcasting the race in 1080p HD just to demonstrate that it can be done and there isn’t some huge additional cost that needs to be passed on to the consumer as well.
At last we have an improvement from FOM. This is something that should have been part of the coverage a long time ago. One day FOM may even catch up with the IRL.
I don’t know that HD would be more “useful” than this. more aesthetically pleasing, perhaps, but useful, not for me.
This is a pretty cool addition, though. Between the live timing, driver tracker and onboard camera the laptop is now quite a powerful tool to go with the TV pics.
I hope that no one is truly excited about this. It’s like a bell without the whistle…This feature was already available from the FIA in their iPhone app from last year. It truly amazes me that the pinnacle of Motorsport is so behind in broadcast technology. I know that Bernie tried it before but no-one wanted to pay… so I suppose it’ll be in HD when Bernie finds a way to grind every cent he can out of it and not any sooner. Personally I would like to see each car’s feed as a separate web stream so I can follow whomever I want during the race. This is totally possible with current technology, but will never happen because it would mean that FOM would have to relinquish it’s iron grip on content. The show doesn’t need spicing up, the “show” needs to be “shown” better. Plenty to see, just no way to see it.
as i understand it, bbc’s version won’t be available outside the uk. so better check your local broadcaster, as this seems to be a carbon copy of finnish station mtv3′s online service, will probably appear in more countries “soon”, if not, bug your local station
It’s a shame with this and the live timing that you can’t replay the days events later so you can watch a recording of the race but have the timings and track positions to refer synced with your recording. I’m out on Sunday so will have to record the GP, so I won’t be able to take advantage of this or the live timing.
Great stuff! But out here in India I won’t be able to make use of this feature. Don’t know if ESPN Star (broadcasters of live F1 in Asia) would introduce such an exciting and useful feature.
Sadly TSN in Canada really doesn’t like having to show F1 so we are never going to get that here…
[...] an aside, James Allen was the first one I saw with that news, followed by Joe Saward – both on Wednesday. It’s curious that the BBC didn’t go public itself at the [...]
Fom should broadcast in hd are we to wait behind football come on bernie get your act together as we know bbc are filming the races in hd keep your fans happy soon