Docs menu
Simulators
Two simulators built on F1TENTH Gym: one that tests controller mathematics with no ROS, and one that runs the real launch files above a simulated car.
The workspace has two simulators on purpose, both using F1TENTH Gym’s vehicle dynamics and LiDAR ray casting.
| Simulator | Tests | Runs | Use it for |
|---|---|---|---|
| No-ROS simulator | The controllers’ mathematics, called directly | Faster than real time, deterministic | Tuning, comparing steering laws, regression checks |
| ROS simulator | Whole launch files: SLAM, TF, handovers, the dashboard | Real time, on the real ROS graph | Checking the wiring before the car |
Most failures on the car have been in the wiring around the mathematics, which the first simulator cannot see. Most tuning questions are faster in the first. Use both. The site’s simulator quickstart covers f1tenth_gym_ros in the club’s Docker development environment, which is a separate setup from these.
Never run the ROS simulator on a car while its drivers are running.
sim_joy_node forges the LB deadman and gym_bridge_node publishes a second /scan and /odom. Both refuse to publish while vesc_driver_node, ackermann_to_vesc_node, vesc_to_odom_node, urg_node or joy is on the graph, and keep checking. Do not defeat that check.- No-ROS simulatorA headless F1TENTH Gym harness that calls gap_follow's and pure_pursuit's mathematics directly, with this car's parameters and collision detection that works.
- ROS simulatorracerbot_sim replaces only the car's hardware with F1TENTH Gym, so the real launch files, SLAM, driving nodes and dashboard run unchanged above it.
Checked against
car 1 commit 881c409
and
car 2 commit 779c060, before the two workspaces merged.