AFX Dashboard is out ! The brand new LMU focused SimHub dashboard.

Ken990 said:
Hi, just out of personal curiosity. How long do you think it will take before you release this update to your dashboard? I find it quite comprehensive, and since I often race in different categories, your dashboard is very, very useful to me
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Ideally, I wanted to wait for LMU devs to fix the missing regen data, but it seems like it might never come... What I think I'll do is simply work trough everything I want to update on the dash and simply release it when ready. I'm sincerely sorry for how long it's taking, but I'll make sure that it's worth it.

Meanwhile, I've switched from mainly playing LMGT3s to Hypercars, and it made me want to change quite a few things on the dash to make it better in that regard !

All in all, this is what I want to include in the upcoming update, in no particular order :
  • Visual rework of the intervals widget. I find it quite ugly and unreadable as it is right now. If you have any design ideas or wishes, let me know !
  • Redesign of the hypercar battery indicator. I feel like it's quite hard to read as of right now and am thinking about simply making it a number (like TC and ABS values) that changes color depending on it's state (Charging, Discharging, Nearly empty or Nearly full)
  • Redesign of the fuel and VE indicators on top of the dash. The bars look nice, but I would like them to show both values (liters and % for VE) as well as the number of laps remaining for each.
  • Redesign of the low VE/Fuel indicator.
  • Redesign of the Penalty indicator
  • Complete rework of the Damage widget. It is quite ugly as of right now, and I feel like the panel on the right (which shows the kind of damage you have) is kind of useless. Will take any suggestions for this one.
  • Adding tire compound and pressures to the tire widget, without changing it's looks too much (I really like the way it looks as of right now). Also considering adding a visual indicator for brake temperatures.
  • Pedal (throttle and brake) indicator on the center of the widget.
  • Maybe adding a session info widget ? Curious about what you think. It could have grip info, forecast and number of track cuts (if the data is available).
  • Adding temperature values (engine, oil, water) if the data is available. Could be part of a "Car State" widget that replaces the damage widget for better space usage ? Let me know what you think.
Just got trough the last 10 pages of the forum to try and grab all the ideas you guys had. If you have any other ideas, I'll gladly implement them !


Also, I didn't forget about your wished for a rev lights version. I want to make it once I'm 100% happy with the rest of the dash, but stay tuned !
 
1779353328437.png
Changed the charge indicator for hypercars with a simple SOC box at the bottom. What do you guys think ? I kinda prefer it to what was there before to be honest.

Engine map has also been fixed, but still no fix for the regen map as of right now...
 
AFX_Designs said:
View attachment 14647
Changed the charge indicator for hypercars with a simple SOC box at the bottom. What do you guys think ? I kinda prefer it to what was there before to be honest.

Engine map has also been fixed, but still no fix for the regen map as of right now...
Click to expand...
The abbreviation “SOC” is also used in real life, so this is definitely better.

It's the same as what appears on all the dashboards inside the cars on lmu.


It says “SOC” and indicates the battery percentage.
 
Ken990 said:
The abbreviation “SOC” is also used in real life, so this is definitely better.

It's the same as what appears on all the dashboards inside the cars on lmu.


It says “SOC” and indicates the battery percentage.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the feedback ! I’ll keep it this way :)

It kind of makes me want to find a more serious way of showing the VE and fuel values on the top of the dash.
 
AFX_Designs said:
Thanks for the feedback ! I’ll keep it this way :)

It kind of makes me want to find a more serious way of showing the VE and fuel values on the top of the dash.
Click to expand...


More than anything, I think there is currently a redundant indicator.

Let me explain: if you add the SOC with the battery percentage, you could remove the fuel indicator at the top (at least for the Hypercar category, though it could work for GT3 as well). In the end, Virtual Energy is much more important for Hypercars and GT3s. So right now, that fuel bar at the top center is just taking up space that you could use to optimize something else instead.

Another suggestion: the engine map! You could make it smaller, considering there is currently no Safety Car in the game. If we want to future-proof it and keep it, that's fine, but we could just do:

Map:
SC = Safety Car
1 = Race

LMU already displays the settings exactly like this in its MFD.

One last thing: the remaining session time, in my opinion, isn't really necessary to have on the dashboard. In the end, we all check the time on the main monitor anyway. It just takes up space that you could use to better optimize the layout.

Instead, something really useful you could replace it with—which would be a massive help—is having it display the remaining runtime in minutes, based on the fuel or virtual energy you currently have in the car.
 
Ken990 said:
More than anything, I think there is currently a redundant indicator.

Let me explain: if you add the SOC with the battery percentage, you could remove the fuel indicator at the top (at least for the Hypercar category, though it could work for GT3 as well). In the end, Virtual Energy is much more important for Hypercars and GT3s. So right now, that fuel bar at the top center is just taking up space that you could use to optimize something else instead.

Another suggestion: the engine map! You could make it smaller, considering there is currently no Safety Car in the game. If we want to future-proof it and keep it, that's fine, but we could just do:

Map:
SC = Safety Car
1 = Race

LMU already displays the settings exactly like this in its MFD.

One last thing: the remaining session time, in my opinion, isn't really necessary to have on the dashboard. In the end, we all check the time on the main monitor anyway. It just takes up space that you could use to better optimize the layout.

Instead, something really useful you could replace it with—which would be a massive help—is having it display the remaining runtime in minutes, based on the fuel or virtual energy you currently have in the car.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the suggestions :) I don't quite understand what you meant by the redundant indicator though !

The SOC shows the state of change, which is not related with VE or Fuel in any way, so all three have to be there in order to manage everything in a hypercar. Especially for quali setups where you run 100% VE with a super low fuel ratio, there wouldn't be anyway to know how many laps are left.

For the map, I can't really make it smaller. because it shows hypercar values which are long text strings (200kW map for LMH cars like the 499p for example)

I take notes on your comments for the session time, that can be a neat idea !

I'll see how I can reoptimize the layout without sacrificing any important info :)

As always, thanks for all the suggestions, and if you have any other ones, I'd gladly take them !
 
If necessary, you can also display two different pieces of information in the same place by switching between them every 2 seconds or every 5 seconds
 
AFX_Designs said:
  • Redesign of the hypercar battery indicator. I feel like it's quite hard to read as of right now and am thinking about simply making it a number (like TC and ABS values) that changes color depending on it's state (Charging, Discharging, Nearly empty or Nearly full)
Click to expand...
I really like that change, I was using another app because I couldn't see it good.. SOC # with red indicator for low and high is great!!
AFX_Designs said:
  • Redesign of the fuel and VE indicators on top of the dash. The bars look nice, but I would like them to show both values (liters and % for VE) as well as the number of laps remaining for each.
Click to expand...
I personally like the way it is now with the laps, if I need % or Liters I'll look at in game HUD.
AFX_Designs said:
  • Complete rework of the Damage widget. It is quite ugly as of right now, and I feel like the panel on the right (which shows the kind of damage you have) is kind of useless. Will take any suggestions for this one.
Click to expand...
Most important to me is the repair time, tiny pedal seems to have it broken down by aero damage and body damage, maybe something you could implement.
AFX_Designs said:
  • Adding tire compound and pressures to the tire widget, without changing it's looks too much (I really like the way it looks as of right now). Also considering adding a visual indicator for brake temperatures.
  • Pedal (throttle and brake) indicator on the center of the widget.
Click to expand...
I would caution about adding TOO much to the dash, it's really good right now, just my opinion. The best dash I have used. Looking forward to the update!!
 
adam28 said:
I really like that change, I was using another app because I couldn't see it good.. SOC # with red indicator for low and high is great!!

I personally like the way it is now with the laps, if I need % or Liters I'll look at in game HUD.

Most important to me is the repair time, tiny pedal seems to have it broken down by aero damage and body damage, maybe something you could implement.

I would caution about adding TOO much to the dash, it's really good right now, just my opinion. The best dash I have used. Looking forward to the update!!
Click to expand...
Thanks for the numerous feedbacks ! For the SOC I’ve planned to make it change colors when charging/discharging as well as having it blink when the value gets close to max or min. Or maybe just make it colored when close to min/max.

As for the VE/ Fuel indicators, I’ll see what I end up doing, maybe simply remove the little icons to declutter it a bit ? I’ll see what I end up with if I end up changing it.

Good idea for the repair time breakdown ! I could have the car state widget show the car with it’s damage, have a little box with repair time as well as all temperatures (water, oil). Still not too sure about this one, it’s something I want to redesign.

I’ll be cautious to not add any clutter :)

Any ideas for how you’d do a nice relative widget ? I don’t really like the way it is right now.
 
AFX_Designs said:
Thanks for the suggestions :) I don't quite understand what you meant by the redundant indicator though !

The SOC shows the state of change, which is not related with VE or Fuel in any way, so all three have to be there in order to manage everything in a hypercar. Especially for quali setups where you run 100% VE with a super low fuel ratio, there wouldn't be anyway to know how many laps are left.

For the map, I can't really make it smaller. because it shows hypercar values which are long text strings (200kW map for LMH cars like the 499p for example)

I take notes on your comments for the session time, that can be a neat idea !

I'll see how I can reoptimize the layout without sacrificing any important info :)

As always, thanks for all the suggestions, and if you have any other ones, I'd gladly take them !
Click to expand...



Hi! I’ve edited your image and drawn some colored lines on it, hoping this helps us get past the language barrier :).

So, looking at the red rectangle: that's where the Virtual Energy and Fuel are located.In Hypercars and GT3s, knowing exactly how much fuel you have left during a race is pretty secondary; we mostly just look at the Virtual Energy percentage. Because of this, you could remove the "bars" (yellow line) and replace them with a percentage number ranging from 0.01% to 100% (exactly how it looks in the bottom-right of the in-game HUD).

You could apply a very similar logic to the LMP2 class: remove the Virtual Energy, remove the "bars," but keep the liters displayed as a number with one decimal place. This would definitely be more intuitive and much easier to read.

Green line: remaining session time. I think I managed to make myself clear on what I meant here.

Orange square: tire temperatures!Why not make the grey background where it says FL-RL-FR-RR change color based on how hot the tires are?To give a practical example: BLUE = cold tires, Green = optimal temperature, Orange = slightly overheating, Red = overheating.The idea is to replicate what’s already in the game, which would make this widget way more intuitive.

White rectangle: why don't we simplify this widget? In the end, it’s a very similar point to what I mentioned earlier.If I’m driving a Hypercar or a GT3, I’m focusing on saving energy, specifically Virtual Energy. Knowing the actual fuel consumption is secondary, and looking at those numbers while driving can be confusing.On the other hand, if I’m in an LMP2, I only need fuel data, so the Virtual Energy info is useless to me.


1779456411701.png
 
Ken990 said:
Hi! I’ve edited your image and drawn some colored lines on it, hoping this helps us get past the language barrier :).

So, looking at the red rectangle: that's where the Virtual Energy and Fuel are located.In Hypercars and GT3s, knowing exactly how much fuel you have left during a race is pretty secondary; we mostly just look at the Virtual Energy percentage. Because of this, you could remove the "bars" (yellow line) and replace them with a percentage number ranging from 0.01% to 100% (exactly how it looks in the bottom-right of the in-game HUD).

You could apply a very similar logic to the LMP2 class: remove the Virtual Energy, remove the "bars," but keep the liters displayed as a number with one decimal place. This would definitely be more intuitive and much easier to read.

Green line: remaining session time. I think I managed to make myself clear on what I meant here.

Orange square: tire temperatures!Why not make the grey background where it says FL-RL-FR-RR change color based on how hot the tires are?To give a practical example: BLUE = cold tires, Green = optimal temperature, Orange = slightly overheating, Red = overheating.The idea is to replicate what’s already in the game, which would make this widget way more intuitive.

White rectangle: why don't we simplify this widget? In the end, it’s a very similar point to what I mentioned earlier.If I’m driving a Hypercar or a GT3, I’m focusing on saving energy, specifically Virtual Energy. Knowing the actual fuel consumption is secondary, and looking at those numbers while driving can be confusing.On the other hand, if I’m in an LMP2, I only need fuel data, so the Virtual Energy info is useless to me.


View attachment 14659
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Thanks a lot for your very detailed message ! It definitely makes things quite a bit clearer :)

  • For the VE and Fuel indicator, I will try to find a good way to display both values in a more serious way while making it readable.
  • For the Tire widget, that’s already how it works ! The grey reactant le changes color depending on surface temperatures (like the ingame mfd) and the temperature number shows inside temperature. I will also change the FL FR RL RR texts for the tire compounds used (S, M, H, W)
  • I will see how to make the consumption widget better ! I also don’t quite like how it is right now.
 
So I've been working on the Fuel/VE indicators, as well as the whole color palette of the dash and came up with something I quite like ! My goal was to have close colors for data of a same theme (ex: BMIG, BB and ABS should be close in color) and to change VE and Fuel colors to match the game colors. This is what I came up with :

Hypercars :
1779702037094.png
Other classes:
1779702071352.png
 
This is an alternative version with tweaked TC colors (lighter, more turquoise) and SOC color (darker blue to be closer to VE). Which one do you guys prefer ?

1779702390162.png
 
I see 'VE Laps (Hypercar)' with a value of 88.2—is that a percentage? If I remember correctly, Virtual Energy (VE) in LMU is displayed with two decimal places (for example, 100.00%). It would be great to match that exact same formatting.

Also, I don't think 'VE Laps' is the correct label. It would be better to just name it 'VE'.

As for the colors, honestly, any color scheme is fine by me. The most important thing is simply ensuring that the values are highly legible at a quick glance.
 
Ken990 said:
I see 'VE Laps (Hypercar)' with a value of 88.2—is that a percentage? If I remember correctly, Virtual Energy (VE) in LMU is displayed with two decimal places (for example, 100.00%). It would be great to match that exact same formatting.

Also, I don't think 'VE Laps' is the correct label. It would be better to just name it 'VE'.

As for the colors, honestly, any color scheme is fine by me. The most important thing is simply ensuring that the values are highly legible at a quick glance.
Click to expand...
The value I chose to display is the number of laps remaining with VE (and the same with fuel), so the current placeholder value shows that the car has 88.2 laps worth of VE and Fuel remaining ! Hence the labels bein VE LAPS / FUEL LAPS and not VE / FUEL
 
AFX_Designs said:
The value I chose to display is the number of laps remaining with VE (and the same with fuel), so the current placeholder value shows that the car has 88.2 laps worth of VE and Fuel remaining ! Hence the labels bein VE LAPS / FUEL LAPS and not VE / FUEL
Click to expand...


Let's see what the others say as well, but I don't think this is the right move.

As a Hypercar driver, I need to know the exact percentage of Virtual Energy I have left to avoid getting a stop-and-go penalty for virtual energy overconsumption. I don't care about actual fuel at all. I can enter the pits with even 0.01% of Virtual Energy and I won't get a penalty; the only thing that matters is that it stays positive. If you only show the remaining laps, you are taking away this critical piece of data. The exact same logic applies to GT3s.

On the other hand, if I'm driving an LMP2, I don't care about Virtual Energy at all, but my vital metric is fuel liters. I can enter the pits with just 0.1 liters left and be perfectly safe.

Wait for feedback from the other guys too, but in my opinion, it's just not clear this way. Sorry for being so meticulous, but these are the kind of data points that can either save your race or completely ruin it.
 
Ken990 said:
Let's see what the others say as well, but I don't think this is the right move.

As a Hypercar driver, I need to know the exact percentage of Virtual Energy I have left to avoid getting a stop-and-go penalty for virtual energy overconsumption. I don't care about actual fuel at all. I can enter the pits with even 0.01% of Virtual Energy and I won't get a penalty; the only thing that matters is that it stays positive. If you only show the remaining laps, you are taking away this critical piece of data. The exact same logic applies to GT3s.

On the other hand, if I'm driving an LMP2, I don't care about Virtual Energy at all, but my vital metric is fuel liters. I can enter the pits with just 0.1 liters left and be perfectly safe.

Wait for feedback from the other guys too, but in my opinion, it's just not clear this way. Sorry for being so meticulous, but these are the kind of data points that can either save your race or completely ruin it.
Click to expand...
Thanks a lot for your input, it totally makes sense :)

I’ll make it display fuel liters and VE %
 
Thinking about it again, I can make the VE% and Fuel Liters value texts change color.

Yellow when < 3 laps (of fuel/ve) remaining
Orange when < 2 laps remaining
Red when < 1 lap remaining
 
AFX_Designs said:
Thinking about it again, I can make the VE% and Fuel Liters value texts change color.

Yellow when < 3 laps (of fuel/ve) remaining
Orange when < 2 laps remaining
Red when < 1 lap remaining
Click to expand...
The problem is that when you have less than 1 lap left, you don't know where you stand just looking at this value.

You don't know if you need to be careful and lift and coast, or if you can push like hell because you'll make it back to the pits anyway.

The VE and Fuel data need to be displayed exactly as they are in-game—in my opinion, this is vital.
 
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