5 ms·

I think the cars reflect pretty well the intended ethos and "vibes" of both competitions. Indycar still feels a bit like "dudes racing cars" while F1 has become

by fcatalan 10mo ago

I think the cars reflect pretty well the intended ethos and "vibes" of both competitions. Indycar still feels a bit like "dudes racing cars" while F1 has become a corporate hi-tech extravaganza. Both have their appeal, but I feel Indy produces better actual racing for the spectator despite being slower and less refined technically. I do watch both.

zeroc8 10mo ago
[flagged]
- jabl 10mo ago
  I think they lost it when they started dictating what kind of engines teams can use. Just limit the max fuel flow, and then let the teams go wild. Want to use a gas turbine? Go for it!
  - theflyingelvis 10mo ago
    This! I have said this for years now. It would open up the sport to some real innovation.
- dralley 10mo ago
  The "kids" are on average a lot better at driving than most of the "adults" of 30 years ago. Pay drivers barely exist anymore, and even e.g. Stroll is not bad compared to the pay drivers of decades past, who were genuinely terrible. V10s are overrated. They sound nice, yes, but ask the drivers who have actually driven them and they actually prefer the V6T hybrids in a lot of ways. It turns out that actually sitting inches away from the V10 with the associated noise and vibrations kinda sucks.
squigz 10mo ago
And MX-5 Cup is better than both!
themafia 10mo ago
They put a few full NASCAR races recorded solely from a drivers perspective up on youtube every once in a while. I never appreciated that sport until I started watching those. It's far more brutal and compact than I ever had expected with the shift in perspective making all the difference. It's "dudes racing for their lives."
- rkomorn 10mo ago
  Some of the most racing fun I've had in video games was actually NASCAR games. The whole race was constant jostling for position. There was almost always someone within a car length/width, and zero room for error. From what I've seen on TV and YT, it seemed pretty spot on. Unfortunately I was also bad at driving with a PS2 controller so I was the danger on the track.
- bjackman 10mo ago
  In general the driver's perspective has always seemed underused to me. In F1 at least (where the cars are insanely stiff), unless there are overtakes in progress, watching from the trackside cameras just looks like cars driving round a track. Whereas from the driver's view you can see the car reacting to the track and the driver reacting to the car. People complain a lot that the TV coverage spends too long on the driver's girlfriends. For me I think it spends too long looking at the cars (from the outside)! I guess part of this is just that the image quality from onboards is not so sleek. But if it was up to me I think like 60-70% of the airtime would be from onboard.
  - temp0826 10mo ago
    Sounds like a killer app for VR- observing from the driver's perspective, being able to switch to whoever you want. How many cameras are in those cars I wonder?
    - Someone 10mo ago
      If you have an Apple Vision Pro, you can. See https://www.lapz.io/ https://www.lapz.io/, https://www.forbes.com/sites/barrycollins/2024/10/02/this-incredible-f1-app-is-the-best-reason-yet-to-buy-a-vision-pro/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/barrycollins/2024/10/02/this-in..., https://youtube.com/watch?v=Z9OlYcfLmTY https://youtube.com/watch?v=Z9OlYcfLmTY
twothreeone 10mo ago
Interesting.. I agree on the description but my experience was opposite. I enjoyed F1 much more, though I really enjoy all the technical stats and talks with the teams/engineers that develop the cars and find it to be an equal part of the whole thing as the actual racing itself.
easyThrowaway 10mo ago
The best comparison I can think of is that in a Indycar race, it's every driver against each other, meanwhile in Formula 1 you can feel it's the whole team that's actually taking part in the race, and the car on track is just the tip of the iceberg of the process.
- potato3732842 10mo ago
  They're also both real time competitions whereas a bunch of other racing is turn based.
rpcope1 10mo ago
Honestly after going down to the local circle track to watch the Legend cars, modified , Whelen and actual honest to God GM B-bodies from the 80s, along with other open wheel and general cool shit, it's not hard IMO to find (and be directly involved in) actual racing than watch "NASCAR" Cup series or F1. Legend cars on a road track in particular kind of takes me back to watching the super bike races (which were about as real and hardcore actual racing as you'll get) at Mid Ohio.
56J8XhH7voFRwPR 10mo ago
the corporate hi-tech "extravaganza" has only come recently with its rise in US popularity. While you are not wrong I think thats just one part of the sport. Indycar is just racing and strategy. F1 is technical development, racing, strategy, and team performance. I like both but while I find the racing better in Indy, I follow F1 much more closely because I really enjoy the technical side of the sport. I also think 10 teams (soon to be 11) and 20 drivers (soon to be 22) that race in every race makes it easier to stay invested throughout the season.
carlCarlCarlCar 10mo ago
Your take is disingenuous. At the 2025 Indy 500 they had Tom Brady driving laps in an Indy car engaged in banter witb the broadcast team up before the race started. Then a US military propaganda moment flying Blackhawk helos over the track to titillate their target audience.
- bigfishrunning 10mo ago
  I think the GP poster was referring to the actual race, and not the peripheral parts of the event -- I don't know much about racing in general, but even with the extra "propaganda" you mention, they didn't seem disingenuous
  - carlCarlCarlCar 10mo ago
    I watch both here and there, not every race. Both Indy and F1 have very similar format with the "peripheral" parts. OP had to have been referring to the "peripheral" parts of the race, as it's the only time celebs are trotted out. They don't have Ja Rule calling the action during F1 races; they aren't getting Ja Rules input when there is a crash. The celebrities are nowhere to be found during the actual F1 race.
lisbbb 10mo ago
I followed Indycar this past season, watched nearly every race and had planned on attending a race but then didn't make the trip. I'm not sure what Indycar is trying to be, tbh. The Indy 500 is a spectacle, the rest of the season is not nearly as interesting. There's some good racing, but F1 is more technically interesting and maybe better overall. NASCAR is boring as hell, just stage-managed bullshit like pro wrestling and I have not followed it in over 20 years.

zeroc8 10mo ago

[flagged]

jabl 10mo ago
I think they lost it when they started dictating what kind of engines teams can use. Just limit the max fuel flow, and then let the teams go wild. Want to use a gas turbine? Go for it!
- theflyingelvis 10mo ago
  This! I have said this for years now. It would open up the sport to some real innovation.
dralley 10mo ago
The "kids" are on average a lot better at driving than most of the "adults" of 30 years ago. Pay drivers barely exist anymore, and even e.g. Stroll is not bad compared to the pay drivers of decades past, who were genuinely terrible. V10s are overrated. They sound nice, yes, but ask the drivers who have actually driven them and they actually prefer the V6T hybrids in a lot of ways. It turns out that actually sitting inches away from the V10 with the associated noise and vibrations kinda sucks.

squigz 10mo ago

And MX-5 Cup is better than both!

themafia 10mo ago

They put a few full NASCAR races recorded solely from a drivers perspective up on youtube every once in a while. I never appreciated that sport until I started watching those. It's far more brutal and compact than I ever had expected with the shift in perspective making all the difference. It's "dudes racing for their lives."

rkomorn 10mo ago
Some of the most racing fun I've had in video games was actually NASCAR games. The whole race was constant jostling for position. There was almost always someone within a car length/width, and zero room for error. From what I've seen on TV and YT, it seemed pretty spot on. Unfortunately I was also bad at driving with a PS2 controller so I was the danger on the track.
bjackman 10mo ago
In general the driver's perspective has always seemed underused to me. In F1 at least (where the cars are insanely stiff), unless there are overtakes in progress, watching from the trackside cameras just looks like cars driving round a track. Whereas from the driver's view you can see the car reacting to the track and the driver reacting to the car. People complain a lot that the TV coverage spends too long on the driver's girlfriends. For me I think it spends too long looking at the cars (from the outside)! I guess part of this is just that the image quality from onboards is not so sleek. But if it was up to me I think like 60-70% of the airtime would be from onboard.
- temp0826 10mo ago
  Sounds like a killer app for VR- observing from the driver's perspective, being able to switch to whoever you want. How many cameras are in those cars I wonder?
  - Someone 10mo ago
    If you have an Apple Vision Pro, you can. See https://www.lapz.io/ https://www.lapz.io/, https://www.forbes.com/sites/barrycollins/2024/10/02/this-incredible-f1-app-is-the-best-reason-yet-to-buy-a-vision-pro/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/barrycollins/2024/10/02/this-in..., https://youtube.com/watch?v=Z9OlYcfLmTY https://youtube.com/watch?v=Z9OlYcfLmTY

twothreeone 10mo ago

Interesting.. I agree on the description but my experience was opposite. I enjoyed F1 much more, though I really enjoy all the technical stats and talks with the teams/engineers that develop the cars and find it to be an equal part of the whole thing as the actual racing itself.

easyThrowaway 10mo ago

The best comparison I can think of is that in a Indycar race, it's every driver against each other, meanwhile in Formula 1 you can feel it's the whole team that's actually taking part in the race, and the car on track is just the tip of the iceberg of the process.

potato3732842 10mo ago
They're also both real time competitions whereas a bunch of other racing is turn based.

rpcope1 10mo ago

Honestly after going down to the local circle track to watch the Legend cars, modified , Whelen and actual honest to God GM B-bodies from the 80s, along with other open wheel and general cool shit, it's not hard IMO to find (and be directly involved in) actual racing than watch "NASCAR" Cup series or F1. Legend cars on a road track in particular kind of takes me back to watching the super bike races (which were about as real and hardcore actual racing as you'll get) at Mid Ohio.

56J8XhH7voFRwPR 10mo ago

the corporate hi-tech "extravaganza" has only come recently with its rise in US popularity. While you are not wrong I think thats just one part of the sport. Indycar is just racing and strategy. F1 is technical development, racing, strategy, and team performance. I like both but while I find the racing better in Indy, I follow F1 much more closely because I really enjoy the technical side of the sport. I also think 10 teams (soon to be 11) and 20 drivers (soon to be 22) that race in every race makes it easier to stay invested throughout the season.

carlCarlCarlCar 10mo ago

Your take is disingenuous. At the 2025 Indy 500 they had Tom Brady driving laps in an Indy car engaged in banter witb the broadcast team up before the race started. Then a US military propaganda moment flying Blackhawk helos over the track to titillate their target audience.

bigfishrunning 10mo ago
I think the GP poster was referring to the actual race, and not the peripheral parts of the event -- I don't know much about racing in general, but even with the extra "propaganda" you mention, they didn't seem disingenuous
- carlCarlCarlCar 10mo ago
  I watch both here and there, not every race. Both Indy and F1 have very similar format with the "peripheral" parts. OP had to have been referring to the "peripheral" parts of the race, as it's the only time celebs are trotted out. They don't have Ja Rule calling the action during F1 races; they aren't getting Ja Rules input when there is a crash. The celebrities are nowhere to be found during the actual F1 race.

lisbbb 10mo ago

I followed Indycar this past season, watched nearly every race and had planned on attending a race but then didn't make the trip. I'm not sure what Indycar is trying to be, tbh. The Indy 500 is a spectacle, the rest of the season is not nearly as interesting. There's some good racing, but F1 is more technically interesting and maybe better overall. NASCAR is boring as hell, just stage-managed bullshit like pro wrestling and I have not followed it in over 20 years.