Filed under: Etc., EV/Plug-in, Chevrolet, Ferrari, Mercedes Benz, Tesla Motors
VIDEO: Project Gotham Racing 4 to feature the Tesla Roadster!
Warning: Do Not Try this at home! ABG reader Joseph wrote in the other night to let us know about some videos featuring some street racing between A Tesla Roadster, an unidentified sport bike, a Mercedes McLaren SLR, a '63 Corvette and a Ferrari F430. Since Teslas aren't in public hands yet, I checked with Tesla Marketing VP Darryl Siry to find out what he knew.
According to Darryl, The upcoming Project Gotham Racing 4 from Microsoft will be featuring the Roadster. The video was shot during filming for a commercial from Microsoft that should begin airing in Mid-August. Apparently they closed off some streets and used professional drivers and the Tesla proved to be quite an accomplished drifter thanks to its Lotus-developed chassis. PGR4 is coming out in September if you've got an XBox 360. The videos are right after the jump.
[Source: YouTube, thanks to Joseph for the tip!}
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Chris 12:15PM (7/20/2007)
Awesome! The more legitimate and mainstream that car becomes, the more consumers will begin to accept EVs as a viable alternative to ICEs.
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Fabio 12:56PM (7/20/2007)
In one of the video at one point you can see the Tesla alone... and hear nothing but the tires!
That's absolutely astounding, seeing so much power being exploited with so little noise. One cannot but think that electric is the only way to go.
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AES 1:18PM (7/20/2007)
Cool video - but one thing you clearly notice in the last video is how the Tesla oversteered in the corner compared to the other cars (except for the 60's Corvette, which oversteered as well).
This is probably because the Lotus chassis was designed to support a mid-mounted, fairly lightweight engine - instead of a 990 pound battery pack. Similar to what happened with old 911's, the heavy rear weight has so much momentum that it swings the car around.
Don't get me wrong though, I'm a big Tesla fan. I'm sure suspension tweaks can help minimize this. But it still raises the question as to what alternative battery pack layout should be experimented with (e.g. front-mounted, tall, short, skateboard, centerline, etc)
futuredrive.wordpress.com
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A.Brien 1:19PM (7/20/2007)
Yes electric motors are way better to propel a car then internal combustion engine. Electric are vibrations free, silent, more durable, cheaper, more powerful by volume, don't pollute, Can do 2 wheels drive or 4 wheels drive without costly gears differentials, can be put under the floor to save a lot of space and put the weight down, etc.
They can be power by batteries or fuelcells. Have a more linear torque curve.
The auto industry didn't yet adopt this technology because they are afraids that the retail cost will go down if there is some competition in the industry and it's not viable from theirs credit parent compagny.
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Tony Belding 1:19PM (7/20/2007)
I hope the Tesla Roadster will appear in some game that doesn't require me to buy anything from Microsoft. That goes against my principles.
Many (if not most) large corporations in this world are amoral and will lie and cheat from time to time, if they see a clear advantage in doing so. I only know one company that is actively malicious and takes blatant delight in ripping off everybody they possibly can, all the time, even when it's not to their advantage. Microsoft is that company.
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Dave R 1:52PM (7/20/2007)
Comments on the car's handling:
In general all the modern cars (all the cars except the Vette) looked very stable and they had to pull extreme maneuvers (such as pulling the hand brake or popping the clutch) to get the rear end to slide. Drifting a modern car on dry pavement is not easy to do and spinning the car is a frequent result, even for professional drifters.
The Vette which spin every single time obviously suffered from a couple issues making drifting difficult: Likely a worn suspension, open differential and possible a tired engine.
The Tesla which followed the Vette did very well to avoid the Vette after it spun out by quickly slowing down even while drifting and regaining control numerous times.
I would not even begin to suggest that the balance of the Tesla has been adversely affected by the battery back and suggesting that the chassis has been designed for a "conventional" drive train. In my opinion, it handled as well as the two exotics also featured.
Frankly, the drifting exhibited in the videos seemed quite amateurish - whether that was a limitation of the vehicles themselves or the location, comparing the drifting in the videos above to professional drifting is a huge difference. (Search the video sites for "Rhys Millen" or "Tanner Foust" drifting to see some real drifting)
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cowboy bob 1:56PM (7/20/2007)
Oh come on people. The reason these guys spun out is because they can't drive, not because of the cars! When you want to drift thru a corner, you HAVE to set the car BEFORE THE TURN, not IN the turn. Amatures!!!!!
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fusen 1:58PM (7/20/2007)
I'm wondering why no one has given it a thought that the spins were intentional...
if anyone's played PGR or similar games with friends there is always someone who messes up a corner and seeing as the vette was doing it every single turn I think it was more to do with the advert being scripted a certain way than simply not being able to handle the corner.
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Jimbo 2:24PM (7/20/2007)
The cars are doing the same thing over and over for a Gotham Racing commercial. The director of the shot is looking for the cars to do a certain thing. This is not a race or handing exhibit.
AES - I'm sure you can do a much better job of tweaking the Tesla suspension than the Lotus engineers.
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MikeW 2:32PM (7/20/2007)
The old 911 did not oversteer because of weight distribution.
It oversteered because of craptastic suspensions. Swing axle then moving to semi-trailing arms, then the wessaich semi-trailing arms.
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AES 3:02PM (7/20/2007)
Exactly why proper suspensions will help the Tesla.
Regardless, here's a quote from wiki: "In 1972 a tremendous effort was made to improve the handling of the 911. Due to the 911's unusual engine placement (rear-mounted, with most of the vehicle's weight concentrated over the rear axle) early 911's were prone to oversteer when driven at the limit, and could easily spin in the hands of an inexperienced driver".
Tesla's obviously not a rear-engined car, but it's certainly focused a LOT of weight in the back relative to the original, shorter chassis design. Nothing suspension tweaks won't fix - but that just highlights how difficult a task designing a supercar really is.
But as I mentioned, a lot of other EV's have used very different battery placements. Rav4 EV and the EV1 used something akin to a "sandwich" where the batteries were effectively under the floor of the car. What made Tesla go with this design was probably A) the sheer size of the pack and B) the complex cooling and charge management equipment (300 pounds worth) needed to protect the batteries from the environment, as well as themselves.
futuredrive.wordpress.com
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chopsui 3:11PM (7/20/2007)
Yes, you numbnuts, the vehicles are obviously doing the same thing over and over again because that what the director WANTS. They are simulating a video game. They aren't racing. They're all professional stunt drivers, not some random dudes off the street. Ghah!
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Darryl 3:26PM (7/20/2007)
I wasn't there but the drivers are actually following a script and intentionally oversteering. The Corvette always loses control because that is what they want it to do. As an owner of a 73 Corvette, I can tell you it ain't hard to do so you don't need a professional driver for that. As a relatively frequent driver of the Tesla, I can tell you it handles incredibly well, and is not compromised in any way by the battery placement.
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AES 3:43PM (7/20/2007)
Darryl-
Even though you work for Tesla and have a vested interest, I'll obviously defer to your first hand experience.
However, is the oversteer on video 4 (on the 90 degree right turn) just an anomaly then? The other exotics took about the same line into the corner and were perfectly neutral throughout.
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Peter 4:43PM (7/20/2007)
AES - If you think the Tesla needs to take a handling lesson from the RAV4 EV, you are part of a very small minority.
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AES 5:55PM (7/20/2007)
I was NOT comparing the two cars in terms of handling ability - I don't know in the world (ADD maybe?) you got that impression. I was merely comparing the different approaches that various teams have for fitting a large number of battery cells into a car.
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mark 6:54PM (7/20/2007)
watch all of the videos.
Dad
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Max Merak 2:04AM (7/21/2007)
I support the Evil Empire...MICROSOFT FOREVER!!
As for 'Vette oversteer, it depends on the engine. If you have the fortune (or misfortune, depending on your you look at it) of driving a 427 or 454 Corvette, understeer is the problem.
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MTigerV 3:04AM (7/21/2007)
I love how silent the tesla was, but the chug-a-chug from the vette is like a symphony to my ears.
I don't know how it could be done, but a tesla that sounds like that=million seller
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stephen 4:53AM (7/21/2007)
you'll notice that the cars repeatedly performed the same general moves. So to say that black/grey car has poor handling is not totally accurate. I'm pretty sure each driver had an assigned path/pattern.
They are, after all, professional drivers, and they look like they are doing what they get paid for, which is to repeated make the same "mistakes" to get just the right shot for whatever storyboard is given to produce the commercial.
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