Original story
NEW Press Agency - 5.6.2001
Helsinki International GT coverage available to net users
in real-time - interactive direction
The Helsinki GT event, run this weekend on the street track in the heart of the Finnish capital, will for the first time be available in real-time to selected Internet users. Using the latest technology, viewers can operate as their own directors from a studio in the home, and will be able to put together a compilation broadcast of the event as they wish.
The Helsinki GT organizer and promoter Robert Lappalainen is delighted with the idea, and feels that it will bring the event some welcome worldwide publicity.
With the introduction of this kind of virtual grandstand, the race meeting’s attractiveness as a vehicle for advertising has simply shot up. In the virtual environment it is possible to select trackside advertisements individually according to countries and language areas.
Lappalainen is confident that the race will pull in dozens of millions of web-viewers around the world. At the same time, he does not fear that virtual attendance will reduce the numbers turning up to watch the racing at the track itself.
“There is no way that even the best screen can relay the atmosphere in the grandstands”, argues Lappalainen, “I’d say the real competition in virtual viewing will be with television, as what we are offering is more exciting than the traditional TV coverage.”
The exercise of “virtualizing” the Helsinki GT meeting, including the free practice and qualifying sessions, naturally requires a vast arsenal of technological solutions. Each car is fitted with several miniature videocams and positioning devices, and the data collected from these is fed into a powerful computer system. This in turn converts the data into simulated images that are transferred into the viewers’ computers in the home (or in the workplace!).
The viewer can choose any camera angle he wishes, and can even imagine he is taking part in the race itself.
In practice, the online viewer informs the program of his or her particular interest. On the basis of this input, the software then tailors from the simulation the required camera angle and the image that the camera follows. The picture seen on the computer display resembles a modern high graphics computer game, since it is produced using the same kind of programming.
If the viewer’s Internet connection is sufficiently fast, he can also select a real-time camera image from the car of his choice, showing the in-cockpit view that the driver himself would have. He can also lock the program to follow the progress of one car in particular.
The Finnish developer of the software Tietovalta PLC has made detailed virtual models of the track and the cars taking part, and these have been downloaded to eager Net users for pre-race beta-simulations over the past two or three weeks. In order to reduce the dangers of massive overloading of the system on the day itself, PowergenData arranged virtual qualifying events, and already nearly 1 million wannabe Häkkinens and Schumachers have taken part. The winners in the qualifying events are permitted to take part in the Helsinki GT itself - virtually, of course.
PowergenData is naturally waiting to see the outcome of this first experiment, but is already hatching plans to realise cross-country skiing competitions and track and field meets on the same principle. The company believes that the technology it has developed will radically alter the way we follow sporting events, since the individual viewer will no longer be at the mercy of overly talkative TV commentators or directors who always manage to miss the action, but will be able to program their own personal coverage of the competition.
Toteuma-arvio 2026
Toteuma lyhyesti
- Ilmiön toteuma: 5/5
- Toteuma viiden vuoden tarkkuudella: kyllä; arviointi-ikkuna on 1996–2006
- Toteuma väljemmällä aikahorisontilla: kyllä, erittäin vahvasti
- Ilmiön ydin: urheilutapahtumaa seurataan suorana verkossa ja katsoja voi itse valita kameran, näkökulman tai koosteen.
Suoratoisto, monikamerapalvelut, telemetria ja katsojan ohjaamat näkymät ovat vakiintuneet urheilulähetyksiin. Myös mainonnan kohdentaminen maittain ja käyttäjäryhmittäin toteutui.
Johtopäätös: ennuste toteutui vahvasti ja oikeassa aikaikkunassa.