How to use RaceRender with Tesla Track Mode

by

Intro

After accepting delivery of my Model 3 Performance a little over 2 years ago I finally made the journey to Buttonwillow, CA for a TeslaCorsa event. It was my first time on a proper road course with my Model 3 and only 1 day after I had a bunch of track-related mods installed. During the event I had plenty of time to tinker with Track Mode and I was impressed by how quickly I was able to get up to speed thanks to the cars neutral yet intelligent handling characteristics. Because I was using Track Mode, the car recorded telemetry data and video using one of the front-facing cameras of every lap while on track. After the trip, I spent some time playing with RaceRender which allows you to add custom, data-fed overlays to your track videos. I ran into a few quirks along the way so I put together a short how-to article on how to get everything working.

Setup Steps

  • To get started you will first need to:
    • Make sure you have RaceRender, my RaceRender template file, and ffmpeg downloaded & installed on your workstation (links below).
    • Download all track mode-generated telemetry data & video files to your workstation.
    • TIP: I recommend renaming the telemetry data files using the following format:
      • Tesla-M3P-<TRACK_NAME>-<YYYYMMDD>-Session<SESSION_NUMBER>.csv
  • At least on macOS I was unable to read the Tesla Track Mode-generated video files using RaceRender (all I got was a black screen). To resolve this issue I ran each video file through ffmpeg using the parameters mentioned below:
    • # ffmpeg -y -i laps-2021-04-03-10_08_24.mp4 -preset ultrafast -allow_sw 1 -crf 18 -b:v 30000K -c:v h264_videotoolbox Tesla-M3P-Buttonwillow-20210403-Session1.mp4
  • Open RaceRender and close the “New Project Menu” screen.
  • Next please select “File” and “New Project from Template…”.
  • Click “Open Project” and double click on the “Tesla-RaceRender-Project-Template-v1.rrt” file you previously downloaded.
  • You will then need to point RaceRender at the first telemetry data + video file pair.
  • Use the “Side by Side” tool to make sure the telemetry data lines up with what is being shown in the video.
    • NOTE: If you notice that the lap counter is off you will need to modify the telemetry data file using the “Telemetry Data Correction Process” mentioned below.
  • When you are ready click “Create Video” to generate the appropriate output video.

Links