FIA World Rally Championship: From Hearing Private Conversations to Seeing Ghost Cars

Listening in: From hearing private conversations to seeing ghost cars, what FIA World Rally Championship has planned for fans this season By Heather McLean

Monday, February 10, 2025 - 14:11

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Next up for WRC is Rally Sweden, the ultimate winter challenge, which is taking part from 13 to 16 February 2025

This season FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) is at the start of rolling out the initial phases of its Command Centre project, which is set to bring fans closer to the insider information at each race, as well as bringing virtual ghost cars into the broadcast as a further project.

In addition to increased data availability and new Alarms' being tested at the first WRC rally of the season, conversation between drivers and their teams was hot-tested at Rallye Monte-Carlo.

Says senior director of content and communication at WRC Promoter, Florian Ruth: We did it already in broadcast, with the communication between the engineers and the drivers in Monte-Carlo. But for us, due to the nature of the sport, it was a bit difficult, he notes regarding the rugged and vast tracks and locations used for WRC, which make connectivity difficult.

This Command Centre project, when you think it further ahead, the next step is the usage of data to bring a real time ghost element back to the championship

But we are able to dip in and out of the conversation, pre-start, post flying finish, when the drivers talk to the engineers, when they give them the time, the ranks, the position, and maybe some advice for the road section or the upcoming stages. Clips of this we already had in the broadcast from Monte Carlo; we put in a lower third team radio and then we listen in when the chief engineer or the team manager quickly talked to the crews. And this just gives [such a different] feeling [in the broadcast], because on broadcast we normally see they are talking, but we've never heard them. And now for the first time we will be able to listen in.

Next steps

For WRC, as Command Centre progresses and more data from the cars is made available to fans, the next step is about analysis, says Ruth. To really go deep in the analysis of the data, and with the data, what we've got from the cars, to compare why one car is quicker on special sections of the road than others.

Read more Alarm bells: FIA World Rally Championship begins rolling out its Command Centre project to bring fans insider knowledge with tests at Rallye Monte-Carlo

Once we can really analyse the data for the fans, then we are able to analyse why a car was quicker than the others, why someone gained so much time at a split time compared to others, because of the braking technologies, because of the feeling on the throttle, steering angles, over steering, under steering, all these combinations we will be able to explain to the audience.

WRC's commentary experts will go into that great depth of detail on the data using either touchscreens or cutting edge technology and graphics within the production to outline all the differences between teams and drivers.

The end result may end up looking like a Nascar studio. Notes Ruth on that type of interactive studio setup: Obviously that's also something we are looking into. As you know, Nascar are working closely with NEP and we are working with NEP, so there are some technologies we are sharing and looking into from each other.

World Rally Championship is bringing out the initial phases of its Command Centre project, which is set to bring fans closer to the insider information at each race, as well as bringing virtual ghost cars into the broadcast as a further project

Ghost car graphics

In addition to Command Centre and the various stages of its roll out, Ruth wants to bring ghost cars into the broadcast. As WRC rally drivers race the clock rather than each other in each stage of a race, a ghost car will bring an additional element of excitement to fans at home. A ghost car is a virtual graphic illustrating the position of a specific vehicle in the stage and where it was in relation to the car being focused on in the broadcast.

Explains Ruth: This Command Centre project, when you think it further ahead, the next step is the usage of data to bring a real time ghost element back to the championship. The ghost car means we always see every car compared to the leader, so we don't see just the difference in time, we physically see the other car and with the data available, we will be able to calculate the exact positions of the leading cars compared to every moment of the current car on the stage; it's a bit like in a computer game, you see the car you're chasing and you're trying to catch up, and this I want to bring into reality.

Yet he adds: The ghost car the virtual car would be a pure graphical element, but the graphical element in the real picture. So we don't go into a 3D world. To put a virtual ghost, a virtual lead element, in the live broadcast has been quite difficult in the past, but now we are pretty sure we have found ways now to make it happen.

Ghost cars in the broadcast are most likely going to be a feature for next season, Ruth says, however he adds, but who knows, as in the first tests we've seen some really positive developments of the data and we know it's possible .

WRC is being supported by Tata and NEP Finland on Command Centre, and by Rawmotion, WRC's graphics and design agency, on the ghost cars project.

Next up for WRC is Rally Sweden, the ultimate winter challenge, which is taking part from 13 to 16 February. Sliding around on snow through the frozen forests of Northern Sweden, the cars will hit speeds of up to 200 kilometres per hour on studded tyres.

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