In the hodos office, we think this looks fun ! Can the same principles make drivers safer too?
“Anyone who’s played racing videogames like Gran Turismo or even Mario Kart knows the ghost car—the hologram that rides the track with you, recreating exactly the fastest lap you’ve driven. Following that car through the apexes is the best way to learn to drive consistently fast and beat your competition come race day.
Justin Hayes wanted to take that videogame feature and offer it to actual drivers. So he created GhostDash, a head-up display that projects a virtual car onto the road, right in front of the driver. Mounted on the dashboard, a Lexan surface, coated with a specialty material called HoloFilm, sits in front of your face while the LED projector shows the car you need to follow at 1080P resolution. If you’re trailing, the ghost car will appear ahead, and if you pass it, an arrow will show that it’s behind you.
“Imagine you’re driving, and you do something different than normal—brake earlier, go smoother off the pedal,” says Hayes, who spends his working hours as a racing instructor. “Something real small that makes you a little bit faster. But the next lap you come around, you have to remember exactly what that was and how to do it even faster. That’s a hard thing to do.” Rather than overloading your brain and trying to remember how you took a curve on that one great lap you ran, a quick glance at the ghost car ahead will let you know where you need to be. That’s a lot easier than having to visualize and memorize your whole lap.”
Image courtesy of wired.com