Can you please answer my stupid question. Why there is a shaft (support frame? guard?) right in the middle of the driver’s vision? What is its purpose? Can’t they just put it to the sides so it doesn’t block the view of the driver?
They don’t notice it. Rarely an F1 driver is looking directly straight ahead, but when they do, they just tilt very slightly to see around it.
Since 2020 there’s been 4 distinct events where they’ve saved a driver from either death or paralysis.
The most famous being Grosjean’s crash where his car smashed through a barrier at 220kph (137mph) but the top section of the barrier didn’t collapse because the car only contacted the bottom half. So the halo plowed through it where it would have otherwise been his head.
Definitely watch this knowing it’s from Drive To Survive and they massively overdramatise—he climbed out of the fireball after 15s, not the 10mins+ Netflix makes it out to be, but they have a collection of the best footage.
It has saved the lives of many of its opponents, like Grosjean, and has since its introduction has proven itself many times. Amazing how much safer F1 is today.
Just like your nose, stereoscopic (I think that’s the right word) vision will blur out things right in the middle of your view. It’s actually not very distracting at all and you tend to not notice it at all when driving (at least in VR in racing sims).
You also find yourself looking straight down the middle so infrequently that putting the supports to the side would actually block more of the view.
On a flat screen it’s entirely different since you’re only getting a single perspective instead of two different views. It’s one of the reasons VR can be really great in racing games such as iRacing.
I also turn off the halo when I’m playing on my triples. It’s only when I’m in VR that I’ll leave it on.
The funny thing is that the center support of the halo (that’s what it is called if you want to Google more info), is not in the field of view. A driver very rarely looks straight ahead. Mostly they look at the apex of the next corner.
A team has to foot the bill to repair their own cars.
Can you please answer my stupid question. Why there is a shaft (support frame? guard?) right in the middle of the driver’s vision? What is its purpose? Can’t they just put it to the sides so it doesn’t block the view of the driver?
If you put it to either side it ruins their peripheral vision. This just splits their forward vision. This Halo, as it’s called, has saved lives.
Edit: typo
They don’t notice it. Rarely an F1 driver is looking directly straight ahead, but when they do, they just tilt very slightly to see around it.
Since 2020 there’s been 4 distinct events where they’ve saved a driver from either death or paralysis.
The most famous being Grosjean’s crash where his car smashed through a barrier at 220kph (137mph) but the top section of the barrier didn’t collapse because the car only contacted the bottom half. So the halo plowed through it where it would have otherwise been his head.
Definitely watch this knowing it’s from Drive To Survive and they massively overdramatise—he climbed out of the fireball after 15s, not the 10mins+ Netflix makes it out to be, but they have a collection of the best footage.
it’s called a halo, and it’s to protect the heads of the drivers. here’s a slow mo ppl hated it in th3 beginning.
It has saved the lives of many of its opponents, like Grosjean, and has since its introduction has proven itself many times. Amazing how much safer F1 is today.
totally forgot about grosjean. at about 1:25 you can see that the car punched through the bottom rails and the halo pushed the top one over his head.
Personally, I really like this one of the coverage.
https://youtu.be/7YMjw2sjXqU
Still can’t believe he walked away from it.
Just like your nose, stereoscopic (I think that’s the right word) vision will blur out things right in the middle of your view. It’s actually not very distracting at all and you tend to not notice it at all when driving (at least in VR in racing sims).
You also find yourself looking straight down the middle so infrequently that putting the supports to the side would actually block more of the view.
I play F1 games on flat screen, that halo support is straight down the middle of the screen and it’s annoyed the hell out of me.
On a flat screen it’s entirely different since you’re only getting a single perspective instead of two different views. It’s one of the reasons VR can be really great in racing games such as iRacing.
I also turn off the halo when I’m playing on my triples. It’s only when I’m in VR that I’ll leave it on.
The funny thing is that the center support of the halo (that’s what it is called if you want to Google more info), is not in the field of view. A driver very rarely looks straight ahead. Mostly they look at the apex of the next corner.
Put a finger right between your eyes and look far ahead… finger mostly disappears. That’s how drivers do.