Redout: Enhanced Edition

Redout: Enhanced Edition

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How RedOut's Shown Racing Speed is Actually Accurate
By Steve
Have you ever noticed that when you slow down in a RedOut race, the map seems to move by REALLY SLOWLY? If the game tells you you are moving at 60 km/h, why are you nearly stopped? This is common in many futuristic racers, but in this guide I investigate this and actually prove that the speed you are moving at is accurate (at least in RedOut)!

Great job, RedOut developers! But don't take my word for this: in this guide I go through the math step-by-step.
   
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Introduction
In RedOut, and most futuristic racers, when you slow down, you seem to come to a halt! Many of us question if the speed shown is really accurate and plausible, and in this guide, I prove that for RedOut, it is!

The way I prove the accuracy of RedOut's speed is by driving at a constant speed through a map. Using the time it takes and the speed I traveled at, I can figure out the length of the track and compare that to surrounding objects! If it consistentlly stays plausible, RedOut's speed is accurate!

To experiment, I used the Alaska: Speedway track. I used this track since it's short, and doesn't have any jumps, so we can keep this accurate. I continuously went at about 60 kilometers per hour along the whole track, and used the time as well as the speed to determine the distance of the track!

Please note that this isn't an exact science. It's likely that I didn't go EXACTLY 60 km/h along the whole track, and that the recorded times are a couple seconds off. Regardless, if the results are in the ballpark of being accurate, the guide should be accurate. Please feel free to let me know if I made any MAJOR math errors, but for small ones that are probably present, it should be okay.
Finding the Length of Alaska: Speedway at 60 km/h
I traveled along Alaska: Speedway at about 60 km/h along the whole thing. It took approximately 7 minutes and 30 seconds to so.

Using Distance/Speed/Time formulas (D = ST) I found that the track went for around 7.5 kilometers. This distance seems to be accurate when compared with surrounding buildings, as they seem to be reasonably proportionate. One slightly disproportionate thing is the car you drive, but who knows, maybe the engines needed to go so fast result in the car being a different size than they are today.

Regardless, the distance of the track seems accurate. However, we still need to check to ensure that this distance is accurate and stays constant at any speed. Each km/h your speed increases should be equal.
Checking Our Work
The speed we normally go at is around 500 km/h, not 60 km/h. Let's ensure that the distance stays constant at any speed.

Plugging in the distance, 7.5 km, along with the target speed, 500 km/h, results in an approximate time to cover the distance of 54 seconds according to mathematics. (The formula used was T = D/S).

54 seconds seems like the time we take at 500 km/h to cover the speedway. This proves that RedOut's displayed speeds are accurate.
Conclusion
So, as we have found, RedOut's speeds are actually very accurate. This means when traveling at insane speeds, we are genuinely experiencing the speed, which is masterful on the part of the developers and gives us an incredible experience. For this, I'd like to thank our clearly competent devs.

If you have any concerns about the math used in this, don't hesitate to tell me! I hope you enjoyed this guide!

Also, if you're wondering why going at 60 km/h seems so slow, look at the passing buildings rather than the track. You'll find that it actually still seems accurate!

The track and car are somewhat disproportionate, but that isn't what we were investigating here and I'll save it for another day!

Thank you for reading!
8 Comments
warrat106 5 Nov, 2023 @ 3:37am 
amber, hate to point this out but who decided how long a meter was when it was invented? someone had to. not really sure as they only teach imperial here but i would say its accurate only if the math is correct, which i am to assume since the math is simple it is. if the develops decided point a to point b was a meter in *their* world then as long as 100 km/h crosses 100,000 meters in an hour then it is accurate in regards to its world. however i will agree that trying to compare real world and game world is far more advanced, but the word meter is used in reference to a distance between point a and b--just as in the real world.

i like to think of it as names are variables that represent a meaning or definition, weather it be an exact number, or the contents of a book. :)

tl:dr

meter = a variable/name with a definition of distance between a and b
meter irl = a name of a definitive distance between a and b
therefore, it's accurate.
PistolPackingPanda 15 Sep, 2021 @ 3:15pm 
I won't comment on factual accuracy, but the subject matter reminds me of MatPat's "Game Theory' videos (a web series I enjoy).
Apollyon 23 Apr, 2021 @ 6:02pm 
I've always imagined the cars to be much larger than modern ones, large enough to have a small cabin with standing room (like the front of a semi truck) rather than just a cockpit. So their scale (and this guide) make sense to me.
ambershee 18 Jul, 2020 @ 8:35am 
It's not accurate, because Redout's internal scale is not consistent across different elements; the track, vehicles, and scenery are not built to the same scales.

The reason why the speedometer is consistent is because it's simple math. There *is* a fixed distance you cover in any given real world period of time, but there'll be some kind of internal conversion with regards to distance to producec a 'kilometer' value that makes any kind of sense.
SkollUlfr 15 May, 2020 @ 8:05am 
internally consistent at least
Wobb the Great and Terrible!!!!! 7 Feb, 2020 @ 1:02pm 
But you found out the speed based on the game TELLING you that you're doing 60KPH. So if the game is lying about you doing 60KPH, maybe it's also lying about you doing 500KPH
All that the speeds and distances have to be is relative to each other, and not relative to real world speed and distance covered.
Keristero 29 Jan, 2020 @ 1:46am 
small detail, but I guess it means a lot to some people
Fushiii 1 Jun, 2019 @ 12:59pm 
This was cool to read, thanks for sharing!