This Third Person Retro F1 Car Footage At Monaco Is Like A Video Game IRL

At this year's Historic Grand Prix of Monaco, someone strapped a 360-degree camera to a Ferrari 312 B3 driven by Jean Alesi, with incredible results
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The whole real-world ‘third-person’ car video isn’t a new thing. We’ve seen it done before plenty of times, often via the medium of IRL Grand Theft Auto recreations. The video above, however, might just be the best use of the technology thus far.

A chap called Lucas Brito who runs VRI Monaco decided to strap a boom with an Insta360 X2 360-degree camera to the back of Nikki Lauda’s 1974 Ferrari 312 B3 at the Historic Grand Prix of Monaco. Jean Alesi proceeded to belt around the famous Monte Carlo circuit, giving us this incredible viewpoint.

The shadow of the boom and camera is visible at points of the run, revealing how this amazing video was shot
The shadow of the boom and camera is visible at points of the run,…

The really cool trick of cameras like these is how the boom is obscured, making the shot seem physically impossible to the uninitiated. It’s down to the camera having a pair of lenses that each capture a 180-degree field of view - you can pick and choose exactly what you want to show and what you want to leave out before the footage is stitched together and exported.

Although it was possible to leave the boom out of the shot, we can still see where it was mounted to the 312’s rear wing, and you can see the boom and camera’s shadow on the track surface at some points. Not that this detracts from the experience - on our first thrilling viewing, we didn’t notice either element.

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Lucas is promising to post a full behind-the-scenes video in the near future on his YouTube channel, which we’ll certainly be keeping an eye out for. He also attached an Insta360 to the front of the car, giving a great look at the 312’s front suspension working away.

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