The new RaceCapture firmware and app brings a huge set of features and fixes. Read on for what’s new – and see the easy upgrade instructions at the end of the blog post.
ShiftX3 support
The RaceCapture firmware brings enhanced Lua scripting support for the new ShiftX3 sequential shift light + gear indicator – and has a bonus: ShiftX2 users benefit as well. We’ve built in helper functions that streamline how ShiftX2/3 is controlled and drastically reduces memory usage in your script. See the ShiftX2 and ShiftX3 user guide to see how much smaller your script will be.
Hard buttons for dashboard navigation
Now RaceCapture supports using the hard buttons on ShiftX3 and ShiftX2 for dashboard navigation! ShiftX3 provides two buttons for left / right navigaton, and ShiftX2 has one button which navigates the dashboard left. It’s extremely helpful for flipping pages without using the touch screen!
Lua scripting presets
We’ve also added the ability to quickly load pre-made scripts, so you can get up and going super fast – no copy/pasting!
Just press the Presets button on the scripting view, then select the preset you wish to load in. Be sure to press the cloud update button to get the latest scripts.
We’ve also fixed some issues in the Lua scripting window that made it made it impossible to scroll the scripting editor in a touch only environment. While it will never be as good as a real keyboard and mouse, you will be able to perform on-the-spot editing of your scripts, with any device.
Unified Configuration files
RaceCapture configuration files (.rcp) will now store the full dashboard configuration, layout, alerts and other app preferences into the main RaceCapture configuration file saved under Setup. Correspondingly, all dashboard and app settings are restored when the file is loaded under setup.
It’s a unified way to save and share your RaceCapture configuration, and it works across all RaceCapture and PodiumConnect devices. It’s a long asked-for feature and we’re happy deliver this core improvement!
Rules-Based Alerting
The new alert and warning system vastly improves the old two-threshold gauge coloring scheme by switching to a powerful rules-based engine. Now you can define multiple thresholds and actions to control gauge color, popup messages, and in a future release, control of the ShiftX2 and ShiftX3 sequential shift light and alert LEDs.
Here’s how it works:
Setting up an Alert Rule
Navigate to your dashboard and press the ‘customize’ on an existing gauge. Instead of the simple color thresholds editor, you are now presented with the rules editor. Press the (+) to create your first rule, and one or more actions – such as color a gauge, or create a popup alert. You should find the rules flexible enough to meet most alerting / warning requirements.
Pit-to car Alerts
The new Pit-to-Car alerts lets you send important safety and warning messages to your driver and provides a simple and safe way for the driver to respond to messages. See the demo video to see how effective it is:
But first, check out the demo by Alex of Rainbow Unicorn Racing:
Works with all telemetry connections
Pit to car alerts works the same if you’re broadcasting telemetry via on-board cellular or via the RaceCapture app.
Testing Pit-to-car alerts
After updating the app and firmware, start a telemetry streaming session.
Navigate to the Podium dashboard on your device, then enter a short message (max 16 characters) to be sent to the car and send. Once it sends, you will see it pop up on the screen. Press the X button on the popup to dismiss – you will see an “OK” as a response to your message on Podium.
To ask the driver a question, append a ? to the end of your message. The driver will be presented with a X or Check icon – which responds as NO or YES, respectively.
Key bindings for pit to car alerts
For Android, you can pair a Bluetooth keyboard and use the ‘k’ key to reply with ‘YES/OK’ and the ‘n’ key to reply with NO, where appropriate. Enterprising race car hackers with mobile devices will modify a Bluetooth keyboard and remote mount switches for easy access on the steering wheel or other convenient location. For Raspberry Pi, a USB keyboard can be hacked to do the same thing. Or, you could make something a bit more dedicated, like hard buttons for your steering wheel:
Pit to car alert configuration
We’ve added a number of configuration options for the pit-to-car and sensor alerts. You can:
- Enable/Disable the pit-to-car alerts feature globally. This is great if you are using multiple dashboards and want the alert to pop up on just one device.
- Configure timeouts for the popups. Even though the popup will minimize, it will automatically dismiss after the designated period. This timeout can also be disabled.
- Configure Rotate and minimize delays. This is useful for fine tuning the behavior of popups to suit your taste.
Automatic NO REPLY if driver does not reply
If the pit-to-car alert’s timeout is reached, the RaceCapture app will automatically reply with ‘NO REPLY’ – confirming that the app displayed the alert, but timed out without the driver replying.
Using touchscreens with gloves
For those of you who don’t have touch sensitive gloves such as the Sparco Arrow RG-7 EVO, you can modify your gloves fairly easily for touch screen operation.
AnyGlove conductive drops
AnyGlove is a treatment that allows gloves to be touch screen compatible.
Conductive thread
Weave a few strands of conductive thread in the index finger to easily make your gloves touch screen compatible.
Gear calculation
RaceCapture’s Lua scripting now provides a convenient helper script for calculating gear based on Speed and RPM, and it’s easy to use by specifying your tire diameter, final drive ratio and ratios for each gear. See the Lua scripting API reference for an example of how to use it.
Fixes and other improvements
We’ve included a collection of important fixes across the app and firmware. See the Change Logs below for all of the details.
Install it today!
App
You can get the latest app on all supported platforms:
- Windows / OSX: Get the latest package from the Downloads Page
- Android: Google Play | Amazon App Store (for Fire tablets)
- iOS: Get the latest from the iTunes Store
- Raspberry Pi: Get the latest package from the Downloads Page
Firmware
- Download the the latest firmware package for your device, paying attention to the hardware version (RaceCapture/Pro (MK2/MK3), RaceCapture/Apex, RaceCapture/Track (MK1/MK2) or PodiumConnect) from the Downloads Page
- Back up your current RaceCapture or PodiumConnect configuration by reading the current from your unit and saving it to a file. This is important as your system will revert to factory defaults after upgrading.
- Update your firmware using the firmware update screen under Setup. Video Guide
- When complete, ensure your firmware reports the expected version in the top/right status bar when you connect using the RaceCapture app.
Feedback / Questions
Post your questions and feedback in the RaceCapture Support Facebook group or in the Autosport Labs support forums
Change Log
RaceCapture Firmware
= 2.15.2= * Builds for RaceCapture/Apex and PodiumConnect = 2.15.1= * Core: Ensure ShiftX configuration happens after ShiftX is booted and ready = 2.15.0= * Core: add support for ShiftX2/3 lua functions * Core: broadcast button events from ShiftX2/3 to connected clients for dashboard navigation * Lua: Reduce default memory limit back to safe level, add lua function to override limit * Lua: Add Gear calculation helper function * Lua: Add functions to support ShiftX3 * Config: Ensure we can configure maximum number of CAN channels without crashing firmware * Config: Fix error updating Track database under certain high memory usage conditions. (Reduce track DB to 50 tracks) * Config: Add ability to configure a fixed delay between OBDII queries to slow down OBDII engine, used for diagnostic purposes * GPS: Filter out GPS speed spikes = 2.14.0= * Core: Add support for pit-to-car alerting = 2.13.9= * lapStats: Prevent edge cases where incorrect timestamp prevents proper lap timing * lapStats: Require a minimum lap distance of 0.1Km to prevent false lap completion = 2.13.8= * GPS: Prevent coarse updating of distance for channel data * GPS: Limit interpolation to reasonable value = 2.13.7= * GPS: Upsample GPS if GPS source is slower than 10Hz, to improve lap timing accuracy and reliability = 2.13.6= * Builds for RaceCapture/Apex and PodiumConnect
RaceCapture App
==1.14.6==
* Dashboard: Add bindings for navigation left / right messages from RaceCapture device
* Setup: Fix Pulse-Per-Revolution setting for RaceCapture/Pro MK1
* Dashboard: Prevent excessive dashboard lagging under certain conditions
* Setup: Add Presets capability to Scripting view; fix scrollbars on script window to make mobile/touch experience better
* Core: fix default tracks and presets (issue appeared in 1.14.4)
==1.14.5==
* Analysis: Fix error importing datalog (invalid argument)
* Core: Support Sensor Landscape mode
==1.14.4==
* Core: ensure configuration files can be loaded without errors, handling default values
* Core: re-enable Wake Lock to prevent Android from sleeping
* Core: Ask for runtime permissions for Android 6.0+
==1.14.3==
* Dashboard: Add key bindings for pit-to-car alerts ('k'=Yes/OK, 'n'=No)
* Dashboard: Provide customization options for pit-to-car alerts
* Core: Save dashboard and general app preferences into unified config file with ability to import dash / app preferences when$
==1.14.2==
* Dashboard: fix issue where pit-to-car alerts were not ack'ing or replying with cellular telemetry.
==1.14.1==
* Dashboard: Fix issue around saving screen settings
==1.14.0==
* Dashboard: New alert rules for dashboard supporting colors and popup alerts
* Dashboard: Enable pit-to-car alerts
* Dashboard: Improve UI performance by not updating screens that are hidden