The Go4Race Virtual Instructor aims to provide accessible driver coaching

For those starting out in real-world motorsport or sim racing, a driver coach can help you refine your technique and extract the best lap time.

That can also be costly, even in the virtual world. However, Polish startup Go4Race is developing a driver training tool that it claims can deliver insight-led driving feedback on its own, thanks to an artificial intelligence algorithm.

The idea is to replicate a racing instructor, but via software. It will analyse your driving and the track, before showcasing the ideal, optimal, possible time. The data will then be broken down into sectors and the driver can then chip away bit by bit, trying to match the suggested lines and technique.

Car speed, GPS positioning and yaw are all taken into account.

The aim is for Virtual Instructor to be platform agnostic, working across several major driving platforms.

“People who are amateurs, or even semi-amateurs, mostly have to rely on themselves,” said Williams Esports driver Kuba Brzeziński, who finished second in the 2022 24 Hours of Le Mans Virtual.

“This is where Go4Race’s algorithm comes in handy. It will be the coach and engineer.”

After analysing your lap, the programme will look at each individual corner and rank each on what it thinks is best to worst. Recommendations for each section will then be provided, such as turn-in point or when to brake.

The idea is to offer two plans:

• Basic – Feedback in the form of visualised lines
• Pro – The lines plus detailed graphs

“Our target products are called Virtual Instructor and Virtual Mechanic,” said project CEO Tomasz Augustyniak, hinting at more than just driver coaching tools.

Unlike on track where a coach can maybe look at a handful of laps, in sim racing, data from hundreds of laps and be fed back into the system for greater analysis.

Traxion.GG understands that Go4Race isn’t the only outfit currently racing to bring artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms in the form of a driver coach, so this area of sim racing is set to flourish over the coming years.