Some simple changes to make life much easier
Posted: Sun Dec 18, 2016 11:08 am
These are things I think every time I use Harry's (and perhaps I'm doing it wrong and some of them are already available)
1. don't require internet to switch to a track I have previously downloaded. I don't always have internet at the track and if I forget to switch track before going I am screwed. Why can't Harry's just keep all the tracks I have downloaded locally? I have been caught out by this several times and had to switch to Track Addict on those days as it keep previously used tracks around.
2. easier to get the sessions for the day and the last session in Lap List. I would like a mode that only shows today's sessions, nothing else. And it puts the last session at the top (then next oldest, ...). I am not interested in sessions from other tracks or for other days when I am at the track. I know I can select different views for track and sessions, but I want to strictly filter to sessions for today (and not have to fiddle around to do it). This is what 99% of people will want to look at when they are at the track after all.
3. remember the camera setting. I want to permanently set to use my iphone camera. Sometimes it seems to remember that between sessions and other times it goes back to None. I have been caught out too many times forgetting to set the camera again even though i set it for the previous session.
4. configure what is on the Timing display. I can't read anything but the timer and the bar on the right. These rest is too small to be useful on track. I would like Oil Temp in big writing. Time in very big writing (as it is now), and perhaps a couple of other things. I don't want any of the rest. Would be great if this was configurable. As it stands it is just a stopwatch when on track.
5. ok, so not a usability one, but configuration of what appears on the overlay with OBD. Currently it shows fuel (what? how is this of interest?), oil temp in an unreadable little dial, RPM (twice? WT?), NO brake pressure (strange to have accelerator and no brake when it is available as a reading?), steering angle if available would be via a steering wheel image, use of gear reading when available instead of calculating the value (I assume this is available on some cars - calculation seems delayed).
6. rework the defining your own track. I have never got this to work. I ended up defining 12 tracks, none of which worked when I crossed the start/finish, then when I went back to the same track I couldn't find any of them listed anywhere. This is all too difficult. I switched to Track Addict and had a working track defined in about 10 seconds and used that instead. It was also easy to find the track again when I went back another day (I find so many things simple to do in Track Addict that I just can't figure out in Harry's, but I really want Harry's to work out).
7. the charts are not very useful without being able to overlay them on different laps. Look at some of the track data analysis software to see how to do this well. I have been unable to make use of any of them.
Hope these suggestions are useful. The biggest pitfall I find with Harry's is usability. This falls into
1. getting to the information you want (especially the laps for the day or the last session) easily
2. configuration of overlay - useless information on the default overlay and other useful information is missing
3. readability - Timer display, OBD overlay, etc. have a lot of unreadable stuff on them for how they are used
4. complexity - setting up a start/finish for a new track. I just could not get this to work. When it says "point phone..." then what does that mean when in landscape? What does it mean with regard to the orientation of the phone in the horizontal vs. vertical plane, etc. This should be easy (see Track Addict for how simple it can be).
I'll stop there. Harry's is good but it could be great if usability were addressed.
1. don't require internet to switch to a track I have previously downloaded. I don't always have internet at the track and if I forget to switch track before going I am screwed. Why can't Harry's just keep all the tracks I have downloaded locally? I have been caught out by this several times and had to switch to Track Addict on those days as it keep previously used tracks around.
2. easier to get the sessions for the day and the last session in Lap List. I would like a mode that only shows today's sessions, nothing else. And it puts the last session at the top (then next oldest, ...). I am not interested in sessions from other tracks or for other days when I am at the track. I know I can select different views for track and sessions, but I want to strictly filter to sessions for today (and not have to fiddle around to do it). This is what 99% of people will want to look at when they are at the track after all.
3. remember the camera setting. I want to permanently set to use my iphone camera. Sometimes it seems to remember that between sessions and other times it goes back to None. I have been caught out too many times forgetting to set the camera again even though i set it for the previous session.
4. configure what is on the Timing display. I can't read anything but the timer and the bar on the right. These rest is too small to be useful on track. I would like Oil Temp in big writing. Time in very big writing (as it is now), and perhaps a couple of other things. I don't want any of the rest. Would be great if this was configurable. As it stands it is just a stopwatch when on track.
5. ok, so not a usability one, but configuration of what appears on the overlay with OBD. Currently it shows fuel (what? how is this of interest?), oil temp in an unreadable little dial, RPM (twice? WT?), NO brake pressure (strange to have accelerator and no brake when it is available as a reading?), steering angle if available would be via a steering wheel image, use of gear reading when available instead of calculating the value (I assume this is available on some cars - calculation seems delayed).
6. rework the defining your own track. I have never got this to work. I ended up defining 12 tracks, none of which worked when I crossed the start/finish, then when I went back to the same track I couldn't find any of them listed anywhere. This is all too difficult. I switched to Track Addict and had a working track defined in about 10 seconds and used that instead. It was also easy to find the track again when I went back another day (I find so many things simple to do in Track Addict that I just can't figure out in Harry's, but I really want Harry's to work out).
7. the charts are not very useful without being able to overlay them on different laps. Look at some of the track data analysis software to see how to do this well. I have been unable to make use of any of them.
Hope these suggestions are useful. The biggest pitfall I find with Harry's is usability. This falls into
1. getting to the information you want (especially the laps for the day or the last session) easily
2. configuration of overlay - useless information on the default overlay and other useful information is missing
3. readability - Timer display, OBD overlay, etc. have a lot of unreadable stuff on them for how they are used
4. complexity - setting up a start/finish for a new track. I just could not get this to work. When it says "point phone..." then what does that mean when in landscape? What does it mean with regard to the orientation of the phone in the horizontal vs. vertical plane, etc. This should be easy (see Track Addict for how simple it can be).
I'll stop there. Harry's is good but it could be great if usability were addressed.