Tom Scott
2 HN recommenders · recommended in 4 months, 2024–2025
4:40 · 12M views · Oct 17, 2022
Tom Scott visits the Swiss Military Museum to see the last surviving 1970s tank-driving simulator. It uses a real camera moving over a miniature model landscape rather than any computer graphics.
Recommended as a great example of early VR and pre-computer simulation.
4 comments from Hacker News
Very cool, reminds me a bit of two Tom Scott videos (these ones do use displays though, but combined with little model worlds) * this video - 1970s tank simulator drives through a tiny world * [LINK] - Submarine simulator
Using VR goggles that have no capability of viewing anything VR makes them just regular goggles though? This tank simulator from the 1970s is a great example of early VR: this video I wonder if there's anything earlier..
The Swiss Military Museum maintains an exhibit with a 1970s tank simulator that guests can try out. It consists of a tank cockpit in a hydraulically mounted chamber that can pitch and roll with the changing terrain. The operator drives a little camera around a large diorama providing a first-person view of simulated terrain; a "foot" on the camera senses the terrain which is then translated into movements of the chamber. Apparently all of the equipment is original except the computer; as computer parts became harder to replace, eventually they just used a Raspberry Pi. this video
Reminds of an early tank simulator where the driver in the cockpit saw a video feed from a camera on a gantry they were slowly driving around a diarama. this video "Real engine" for just one player at a time though.