Pace Cars Lane Changing?

[Dapper48]

Has there been any updates to Arc Pro or anything that would allow the pace cars to auto change lanes? This is the ONLY thing that is keeping my replay factor down. I wish the cars could change lanes so I can play more alone with other cars running, or have it a little more entertaining while playing with a few others. Thoughts? Options? Thanks!

[Andy P.]

There is a user called "Dr C" who has been working on this for years. He has a working prototype but has not released it to the public yet.

He is mostly on "slotforum.com".

One thing you can do to randomize things a little is cover up the LED with black tape so the pace car will not reset the lane change.

So if the car in front changes lanes it will follow it...

The only downside there is it will not count laps either...

[Dapper48]

There is a user called "Dr C" who has been working on this for years. He has a working prototype but has not released it to the public yet.

He is mostly on "slotforum.com".

One thing you can do to randomize things a little is cover up the LED with black tape so the pace car will not reset the lane change.

So if the car in front changes lanes it will follow it...

The only downside there is it will not count laps either...

 

 

Thanks for this, I'll check out Dr C.... great idea on the tape. I might try that just for fun even if it doesn't count laps. Thanks!

[Andy P.]

If you use the "Magic App" for ARC you can make all the cars pace cars so so maybe have 2-3 with tape and 2-3 without...

[Dr_C]

First, many thanks Andy P for reference to my work on firmware for pacer cars.

Upgrading firmware in our digital decoders (or DPR chips as we often call then) is one way to unlock extra features for digital slotcars.

A good few years back a digital slotcar enthusiast called Ian Harding (MIH) wrote new firmware to unlock extra features such as adjustable braking strength and head/tail lights on/off. It was primarily aimed at use with the APB C7042 powerbase. Many of the added features did not transfer across for use with the ARC PRO powerbase.

I took a look at the firmware and did a partial update in January 2019.

As Andy P mentions there is more to be done… i.e. to bring back those nice extras for use with the ARC PRO digital powerbase and importantly to add some additional pacer car features too.

The extra features and new features in the pipeline are:

1/ Lighting control.

2/ Adjustable braking strength.

3/ Tunable low speed running.

4/ Programmable fixed speed pacer car function.

The fixed speed pacer car function should include random lane changing (as per the question raised by this thread) and will enable up to six cars to run as pacers within the Hornby ARC app.

It’s work in progress over the winter of this year… but it will happen so please stay tuned.

That said, loading new firmware is not for everyone… its a bit technical in places.

Kind regards,

c

[Dapper48]

Dr C - thanks so much for the reply and update regarding this! I’m very appreciative of the time commitment it must take to enable these features for our community! If there is anything I can do to help or test or even do a video to show installation or whatever, please let me know.

Pace car lane switching is really my only negative of the Scalextric products. I wish they could do it and provide for it as I would certainly purchase MANY more cars as a result to race against. (Hope you’re reading this Scalextric employees) 😀

Thanks again!