RaceRender Data File Format

• This page includes data file layout information, advanced features, and advanced sample data and video. Scroll to the bottom for the sample data.


• RaceRender supports many different datalogger file layouts, which are typically in CSV (Comma Separated Values), tab delimited text, or semi-colon delimited text format. These are essentially text-based spreadsheet formats.


• Either CR (13, 0x0D), LF (10, 0x0A), or CRLF may be used to terminate lines. Each data row must have its own line.


• The file extension should be .csv or .txt, and use standard ASCII or UTF-8 encoding. A standard UTF-8 Byte Order Mark (BOM) may be included at the very start of the file.


• Column titles and data values may be enclosed in quotes (" ") if you wish, and this is neccessary if they include a comma or the delimeter character.


• Generally, data values can use either decimal point notation (ie 1.100, 1.200, 1.300, etc.), or the European-style comma decimal separator if enclosed in quotes (ie "1,100", "1,200", "1,300," etc.).


• Recommended column names:
  

  Column Heading	Column Description
  Time	Sample time in seconds. The first sample does not have to be zero. This is the only required field, and may also need to be the first column in the file. You can use values of either raw seconds (1234.56) or in "hh:mm:ss.nn" format (00:20:34.56).
  GPS Time	Alternate: Sample time in raw milliseconds. The first sample does not have to be zero.
  Longitude	Vehicle position longitude (X). Can be feet, meters, or coordinates, as long as it's in decimal notation. GPS coordinates are recommended.
  Latitude	Vehicle position latitude (Y). Can be feet, meters, or coordinates, as long as it's in decimal notation. GPS coordinates are recommended.
  Altitude	Vehicle position altitude (Z). Can be in any unit of measure, but meters are recommended.
  GPS_Update	Set this to 1 when the row represents a new GPS data sample, 0 if not. RaceRender will use this to apply an interpolation to known GPS fields, thereby making even a 1Hz sample rate appear mostly smooth.
  X	Acceleration / Deceleration (X) G-force
  Y	Lateral (Y) G-force
  MPH	Vehicle speed in Miles Per Hour (MPH)
  KPH	Alternate: Vehicle speed in Kilometers Per Hour (km/hr)
  Speed (m/s)	Alternate: Vehicle speed in Meters Per Second (m/s)
  Heading	Vehicle heading (degrees; 0 = North, 90 = East, 180 = South, 270 = West)
  Lap	Current lap number. This only needs to be set once per lap. If not available, the user can also manually set the Start / Finish point within RaceRender. Note: An alternate lap counting and timing method is also available; See the Advanced Features section further below.
  RPM	Engine speed in Revolutions Per Minute (RPM)
  Gear	Current transmission gear number (0 for Neutral, -1 for Reverse, -99 for Park)
  Accuracy	GPS position accuracy (meters); used for loggers with low or inconsistent accuracy (such as smartphones)
  Throttle	Throttle position; typical range is 0 - 100.



• The Time column is required, and the data rows must be in chronological order. Other columns can be omitted, at the cost of the related overlay features not being available. Additional columns may also be added, for use with custom gauges, graphs, etc.

Advanced Features

• Important Requirement
  To enable the features in this section, the first line of your file needs to be: # RaceRender Data
  The following lines need to either also start with a #, or it must contain the column headings, and then the lines of data values.


• Hash Tag
  Lines that start with # are generally ignored, except for special cases explained here.


• Precise Lap Times & Separate Lap Info
  Although using a "Lap" data column is simple, it may not offer ideal convenience or timing precision. Therefore, RaceRender also accepts precise lap times by inserting # Lap tags. These can be placed anywhere in the data, and each entry may also be separate from others, but they must be in chronological order. They need to include the lap number (starting with zero) and the completed time for that lap in "hh:mm:ss.nn" format.
  
  Example
  # Lap 0: 00:02:43.08
  # Lap 1: 00:02:23.07
  # Lap 2: 00:02:12.69
  # Lap 3: 00:02:13.45
  


• GPS Latency
  In cases where your GPS data has an unusual or intermittent delay before it is logged, thereby causing the logged sample time to be incorrect, you can add a "GPS_Delay" column to tell RaceRender how much earlier this data reading really occurred. For example, if your sample time is 22.58 and your "GPS_Delay" column for that row contains 0.5, then RaceRender will treat the GPS fields as if they occurred at 22.08. If you use this feature, you should supply a "GPS_Update" column as well (explained in the column list above). Be sure to only update the "GPS_Delay" column the same time that you update "GPS_Update"; it should not change between updates.


• OBD-2 Data Interpolation
  When OBD-2 data is logged, it is common for it to be logged at a different sample rate than your GPS or accelerometer data. RaceRender will interpolate this data separately, thereby providing much smoother animations, if you include an "OBD_Update" column and mark the OBD-based fields by adding " *OBD" to the end of each one's column title. This is demonstrated in the sample data file below.

Sample Data & Video

This data file demonstrates a couple casual laps with several advanced features (described above): Precise Lap Times, GPS Latency, and OBD-2 Data Interpolation.
  Data File (607 KB CSV)
  Video File (58 MB 360p H.264)


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