Movie simulations

[Dogtrousers]

Been up Ventoux twice this morning. First on a Tacx movie. I didn't read the details and it turned out this movie was only 6km through the "moonscape" from Chalet Reynard. A decent ride, but I'd got up specially early to ascend Ventoux and that was a bit short so I decided to try something else.

I did the RGT simulation that comes up the other side from Malaucène. RGT is a computer game style simulation rather than a real movie. That's the first significant RGT ride I've done and the simulation is really good, especially with the "camera" constantly switching to different angles.

Both the real life movie and the simulation are impressive in their own ways, and both are immersive experiences. The big advantage of the Tacx movies is variety - they have an absolute ton of routes, while RGT only have a handful of simulations.

When you think that all I really did this morning was sit on my bike for about three hours holding a relatively constant power output, that would be a murderously dull thing to do without the shiny on-screen things to distract my tiny mind.

How much it actually resembles or simulates the real thing isn't a question worth asking. It's just there to help pass the time.

The one thing that is utterly stupid on these simulations is going downhill. RGT actually make an effort to make it a bit realistic by simulating braking on corners, but you still tend to hit idiotic rocket powered speeds. On Tacx it's just too silly and rocket powered. I find one way of keeping the speed sane is a bit of freewheeling makes it pause and reduce you to a stop, so you then restart from zero.

 

[theboxers]

Been up Ventoux twice this morning. First on a Tacx movie. I didn't read the details and it turned out this movie was only 6km through the "moonscape" from Chalet Reynard. A decent ride, but I'd got up specially early to ascend Ventoux and that was a bit short so I decided to try something else.

I did the RGT simulation that comes up the other side from Malaucène. RGT is a computer game style simulation rather than a real movie. That's the first significant RGT ride I've done and the simulation is really good, especially with the "camera" constantly switching to different angles.

Both the real life movie and the simulation are impressive in their own ways, and both are immersive experiences. The big advantage of the Tacx movies is variety - they have an absolute ton of routes, while RGT only have a handful of simulations.

When you think that all I really did this morning was sit on my bike for about three hours holding a relatively constant power output, that would be a murderously dull thing to do without the shiny on-screen things to distract my tiny mind.

How much it actually resembles or simulates the real thing isn't a question worth asking. It's just there to help pass the time.

The one thing that is utterly stupid on these simulations is going downhill. RGT actually make an effort to make it a bit realistic by simulating braking on corners, but you still tend to hit idiotic rocket powered speeds. On Tacx it's just too silly and rocket powered. I find one way of keeping the speed sane is a bit of freewheeling makes it pause and reduce you to a stop, so you then restart from zero.

If you like the video side try bigringvr. They have a great choice of routes from all over the world from 3 to 84km.

BRVR routes
From flat to lumpy to hellish climbs. All of the videos I have done have been excellent quality.

 

[Dogtrousers]

I "rode up" the Angliru over the weekend (Tacx movie). I think it was beyond the limits of what the software + my trainer can simulate with any degree of realism.

I've seen film of the Angliru and I doubt that I could make it up in real life without getting off and pushing. Yet I managed the simulation seated pretty much all the time. I think my trainer just doesn't have the oomph to simulate the resistance of a significant stretch of 20+% hill. So what happens is it lets me carry on at whatever my power output happens to be, but at a very very slow speed. It was definitely very hard work, but it was doable, which I don't think the real thing would be.