I’ve already wrote about other similar tools but it is a fact that with HMD (head mounted display) our experience changes a lot in every sense. Aside from immersion point there is a limitation factor. We are not able to manage buttons or keyboard to operate our systems and therefore we are exposed to worsen our general feeling about the simulator. Digital Race Engineer seems to be a nice and effective way to cope with all these problems.
Egil Sandfeld is an audio engineer and simracer who working with his company understood potential requirements of new devices. He is always ready to listen and get feedback to improve DRE experience on the official Discord server
What is The DRE?
The DRE is an audio system with built-in situation awareness which monitors your racing and surrounding conditions in order to optimize your racing performance. This virtual crew chief gives you important data and information, and listens to you like a real race engineer would. With The DRE you are in full control of driving whether that be in front of your screens or in Virtual Reality.
The DRE has over 600 commands and 50 different types of verbal feedback alerts for iRacing! Be in control of your car and settings, dial in pit stop adjustments, decide with your voice what’s on the screen and UI and many other features. The feedback system provides an interactive digital race engineer who alerts you about more than 50 various topics. The DRE gives you car warnings like risen oil temperature, low water levels, engaged pit speed limiter, brake or throttle pedals hanging and much more.
Newer features include (not limited to):
Check the changelog to fully explore all the changes
Core features
FEEDBACK SYSTEM FOR OPTIMAL RACE PERFORMANCE
The DRE will work as an enhanced spotter detecting cars around you in specific situations like:
YOUR OWN WEATHER REPORTER
The DRE is able to monitor the weather conditions changing around you.
Via voice it will provide you with various updates on conditions like:
COMPARE YOUR DRIVING TO THE ONES AROUND YOU
The DRE provides you with updates when your position changes during practices, qualifications and races. You can ask for details on the car ahead and behind you position wise and on track near you.
For example, The DRE can give you the iRating and Safety Rating of the driver, the name of the team which the driver is in, last and best lap times – and these times compared to yours as delta times. Furthermore, The DRE alerts you when your close opponents pit during races.
HANDLES FUEL AND TIRES
The DRE is capable of properly warning you about fuel levels. Remember the iRacing spotter telling you to “pit now for fuel“, when you still have 3 laps left in the tank? With The DRE your misery is over, as it warns you on the last lap when you absolutely have to come in! Furthermore, you can ask for current fuel level, fuel burn rate per minute, fuel spent on the previous lap and as an average of the 5 previous laps excluding out- and inlaps.
Add to the fuel feedback: It can tell you how much fuel is needed to finish the current session and how much you need to take on in the pit stop. You can even tell The DRE to add specific amounts of fuel, and set tire pressures up and down several clicks and change tires for all, front, rear, left, right or single tires!
GEAR SHIFT ALERTS
Let The DRE alert you when you need to shift gear in two ways:
CAR HEALTH
Make sure your car is operating perfect. The DRE warns you and can give information from various sensors on the race car:
There is a free version ready to try and a pro version costing about 20 dollars which includes things like car health. Check The DRE website to see full specifications of the product.
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