**A Clumsy Gaming Experience: Linus Tech Tips' Augmented Reality Racing Fiasco**

In this latest installment of their popular series, Linus Tech Tips attempted to bring augmented reality racing to life. Unfortunately, things didn't quite go as planned. The team had high hopes for the experience, which was touted as a "wonderful occasion" by one of the contestants. However, the event quickly took a turn for the worse, with equipment malfunctioning and players struggling to even get started.

As the race began, it became clear that something was amiss. One player exclaimed, "This is so stupid," while another lamented, "I don't mind losing, honestly, but I don't like losing because my equipment is malfunctioning." The team's attempts to troubleshoot the issues were met with limited success, leading to a frustrating experience for all involved.

The trouble was not just with the equipment, however. Linus himself noted that the video feed between the switch and the cart was the main culprit behind the problems. "We had people suggesting they think it's because of our incline," he mused, "but honestly, testing worked just fine before everybody showed up and actually tried to race." Another issue at play was the sheer amount of RF traffic in the studio, which overwhelmed the system and caused a range of issues, from microphones going live to Wi-Fi devices interfering with the signal.

Despite the team's best efforts, they were ultimately unable to achieve the desired result. Linus himself confessed that "if you push it to its limits, I wouldn't be surprised if you run into some problems." The good news was that most people probably won't attempt to do so, at least not with a price tag of $2,000 for the equipment.

**A Lesson in the Perils of Wireless Technology**

Linus Tech Tips' experience serves as a cautionary tale about the challenges of wireless technology. In today's increasingly connected world, it's easy to take wireless connectivity for granted – but as Linus himself noted, even small issues can have disastrous effects when it comes to high-stakes applications like racing.

The team's struggles with RF interference and poor signal strength are a reminder that even in well-controlled environments, there are limits to what can be achieved. While Wi-Fi 5 is still faster than Wi-Fi 2.4, large bodies of water – or even just physical obstacles – can have a profound impact on wireless connectivity.

In the end, Linus and his team emerged from the experience with a valuable lesson learned: that even when technology works beautifully, there are always potential pitfalls waiting to be uncovered. As they noted, "When it works and works well, it's a ton of fun" – but if you push it too far, the results can be disastrous.

**A Message to Their Viewers**

Not everyone was left disappointed by Linus Tech Tips' augmented reality racing experiment. The team's viewers took to social media to offer their own suggestions for what might have gone wrong – including a proposal to use networking switches and even installing a repeater to boost the signal strength.

Linus himself acknowledged these suggestions, noting that they were worth considering in future endeavors. "What went wrong is a combination of factors," he mused. "One, there's a ton of RF traffic going on in here. Every device from our studio lights to our microphones to obviously all the Wi-Fi devices in this office is running over the air, and we had weird problems like microphones going (imitates rising static) suddenly."

**FreshBooks: The Accounting Solution for Small Business Owners**

As Linus and his team wrapped up their experiment, they couldn't help but appreciate the importance of accurate accounting. This is where FreshBooks comes in – a small business accounting solution designed to be simple and intuitive, yet powerful enough to handle even the most complex tasks.

With FreshBooks, small business owners can streamline their finances, automate invoicing and expense tracking, and accept credit card payments with ease. The best part? Everything is stored in the cloud, making it easy to access from anywhere – be it a mobile device or a desktop computer.

For Linus Tech Tips, FreshBooks offers a solution that's both practical and affordable. With pricing starting at just $15 a month, even the smallest businesses can benefit from this accounting powerhouse. And with 50% off the first three months for new customers, there's never been a better time to give it a try.

**A Word of Appreciation**

As Linus and his team wrapped up their experiment, they couldn't help but extend a thank you to their viewers – particularly those who suggested solutions to the problems that arose. "Consolation prize," one player joked, as they awarded a day of racing to another contestant. It was a gesture that served as a reminder of the power of community and the importance of learning from each other's experiences.

In the end, Linus Tech Tips' augmented reality racing experiment may have been a messy affair – but it's an experience that will be remembered for years to come. And who knows? Perhaps next time around, they'll get it just right.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enMario Kart Live: Home Circuitisn't the kind of thingthat we would normally coverin a dedicated video on Linus Tech Tips,but as one of the coolest applicationsof augmented reality that I have seen,well... Ever, it meritedus giving it a tryeven if it costs us almosttwo thousand dollarsin equipment, andpushing it to its limits.As you can see, undernormal circumstances,you can race with up to four cars,that is assuming that youhave four Switches and,perhaps the most difficult part,four friends. With money.But, as we're about to see,under more challenging circumstances,it doesn't necessarily pan out like this.The insane course thatyou're looking at hereis not only enormous, butwe worked around Nintendo'smulti-level limitation,and we're going to havesome incredible stakes.The winner is going to end up withextra vacation time for the year of 2020.That's right.One good thing is finallycoming out of thisGod forsaken year.Like my segue to our sponsor!Ridge Wallet wants to redefine the walletwith its compact frameand RFID blocking plates.Check out how they cankeep your wallet bulgedown, and use our offercode Linus to save 10%at the link in the video description.(upbeat intro music)This is so cool!I love this course!There's like... There's obstacles!LTTstore.com!It's got everything.You've got all thesedifferent surfaces thatwe're going to drive over,like smooth reflective ones,punchy ones, metal ones,we're gonna go over grates.- It was challengingto get it up to thislevel though, becausethe game actually doesn'trecognize multi-level courses.And the cars aren'tactually very powerful,because the cars have to goup really gradual incline,or else they just getstuck and roll back down.- And one more fun challenge,recording the gameplayfor you guys to enjoy.Now, normally the Nintendo Switch supportsnatively recording your gameplayonto the device itself.But, whether it's becausethe camera's running, orthe processing is too intensive,or whatever the reason is,- Privacy!- Nintendo doesn't allowyou to record gameplaywhile Mario Kart Live:Home Circuit is running.So, we had to set upexternal recording devicesand of course webcams,get them face reactions,for each one of our four Switches.- There's no limitto how big of a courseyou can make, exceptfor the distance betweenall the multi-player Switches,because there's one host Switch andall the other switches need to be near it,and distance from eachperson's Switch to the car.We needed the switches to all be in range,no matter where in the room the cars went.- The thing to remember, guys, iseven under ideal conditions, WiFI,particularly low-latencyvideo streaming over WiFi,is challenging.And as soon as you've got a combinationof multiple wirelessdevices, all streaming videoat the same time, alongwith additional peripheralslike wireless controllers,you are basically creating ahot, ugly soup, of wireless signalsbouncing all over the place.All in all, this cost us,I don't know, somewherebetween two and threegrand worth of hardware,plus the recording setups,plus all the time to set it up,so I really hope you guys enjoy it,'cause I might be out moremoney by the end of it.- Mapping out yourcourse is actually really easy.All you do is set it up and thendrive the car where youwant the course to be,kind of painting on the ground.You set your gates up inorder and drive through them,and the one thing to be aware of is drops.The wheels need to stay incontact with the ground,so in the case, like over here,we actually put some tape on the courseto make it more of a steephill than a drop-off.- I'm ready to race, boys!(countdown and starting fanfare)I'm just going to followat a safe distance hereso I can go around all the people.- Oh no!No! Nooooo, I was in first!- My controls are not working.Oh man.- Come on, come on.You can do it buddy.What, why are you going backwards?- Did someone just bump meand move me up the ramp?- Yes.- Yep.- Nice.- Why didn't y'all dothe opposite? There wego, there we go, okay.- Oh, come on, Luigi! I gotta--Oh, there's items.I want me them items.Oh no, I didn't get that--Oh, get out of the way, Anthony!- Hello?- MOVE IT! MOVE IT--(unintelligible yelling)- I can't move!- I know! Juststop, stop for a second.Who's Luigi? Stop.(Sarah laughing)Oh my gosh.- Uhhh, I think I'm (beep).- No, I'm good,I'm good. (stammering)- I'm stuck. I think, I think.- Wait, someone'sdone a lap already?- Linus, getthe f-- out of my way!- Get out of--you get out of my way!You jerk. Oh no--- Oh, my accelerator--- No! What!?- Ohhh, come on.- What happened?- Oh, I cannot control this.- Why can't I move?!- I cannot control-- Aw...- NOOOOOOOO!Hey! I need help, I'm stuck.Oh wait, wait no, I'mokay, I'm okay, I'm okay.- What just happened to me?- I'm okay! (laughing)- I am not gonna fall.- YEAAAAAAAH, BABY!- I'm gonnapass. GET OUT OF MY WAY!- SARAH!- No, don't pass!- God.- I'm stuck on the--- Ohhh, ifLinus hadn't done that,I had that-- I set up the drift perfectly.- If Linus hadn't done what?!Raced properly?!Oh, I guess.Oh, my god.- I'm stuck on the ramp!- It's so laggy.- (Riley cackling)- I am not gonna fall!- YEAAAAH, BABY!You could say I'm a... Mario Ka--OH, I'M STUCK!I'm stuck.- Riley's a low priority.- What the heck?!Oh yes, yes yes yes yes.It's fine. I didn't need you.- Who just--Did someone just hit me?(engine revving, lap finished fanfare)- Hello?MOVE IT, MARIO!- You're Mario!- Okay, okay, wait.I'm under the ramp right now.- No!- Come on... Wow,is this actually seven laps?- Yep.- I can't...- NOOOOOO! (laughing)- Anthony, get thehell out of my way! Back up!- You're in my way!- No, you're in my way!Anthony, move! You don'teven need to pass me!- (groaning) GOOOOOOOOOO! Yes!- Anthony doesn'tdeserve our sympathy!- There's a lot ofcrazy stuff in this course,but that one corner...- Oh God--- I haven't beenable to get through itwithout reversing once.- Your feed isso much better than mine.- No it's not!- Look at mine!What are you talking about?- It's not going!- I can't-- Okay,hold on, I'm gonna useyour feed to drive my car here.- You're weak.- Can I use the track?- You know, I'djust like to thank themushroom-- the Toadstool brothers, and--for this wonderfuloccasion, you know? I just--- (Linus clapping)- Hey! It's okay,you know, I can show-- I can give you guyslessons at any time.- Oh, my god.- Is it done?- If the key- Yeah, Riley's done!- We need a second winner!- I would loveto be, but I'm stuckon this for some reason.- Oh God, this is so horrible.- Oh God, what is this?Outta my way!- Oh my god!- I just lightningedyou all!SARAH!MOVE!Okay, it's kind of working right now.Or not.That's thousands of dollars well spent.What a gaming experience.I don't mind losing,honestly, but I don'tlike losing because myequipment is malfunctioning.- I want to try, like,other people's cars to seeif it was, like, significantly worse.- Oh my God, howdid you not win by more?- Yeah, true!- I think I won bylike, two laps.- (Anthony laughing)- This actually works!- Oh, this is really bad.- Oh my God,Riley's is so much better.I'll tell you what,Sarah. Consolation prize.You can have a day too.'Cause it's just clearly not fair.- Aw! That's so nice.- This is so stupid.- Well, that was a totalcluster, but what went wrong?Our Floatplane viewers,who've had this video forover a week now had some suggestions.Some of them, I'm not sure if I buy.We had people saying they thinkit's because of our incline,but honestly, testing worked just finebefore everybody showed upand actually tried to race.And we had others suggesting thatwiring up the Switches fornetworking would fix it.Now, that's a good idea.And that's one of the thingsthat I thought of at first,except that our main problemwas really the video feedbetween the switch and the cart,which is going to be wireless,regardless of how the switch itselfconnects to the internetfor updates or whatever.So realistically, what I think went wrongis a combination of factors.One, there is a ton of RFtraffic going on in here.Everything from our studiolights, to our microphones,to obviously all the WiFIdevices in this office,is running over the air, andwe have had weird problemslike microphones going (imitatesrising static) suddenly,and stuff like that.The other one, which I actuallythink is the bigger one,is that we had no controlover which frequencyour WiFi was running on.So if it was on 2.4, Imean, oh my goodness--Anything, even a microwave,could have interferedwith the signal.And, whether you'rerunning 2.4 or 5 gigahertz,large bodies of water canhave disastrous effectson wireless connectivity.So even in our better scenario,when we ran it upstairsand did manage to have asuccessful race after the fact,in fact you can see I'm stillconnected to that one here,some of our racers who werejust three or four meters awayfrom me, experienced someissues with their video feedswhen their carts were justdriving around me, lyingthere on the floor.So in conclusion, whenit works and works well,it isa tonof fun.But, if you push it to itslimits, I wouldn't be surprisedif you run into some problems.The good news is most peopleprobably won't do that,'cause it's like two grand inequipment to run four racers.Just like it's... Expensive, to...Sponsor Linus Tech Tips!FreshBooks is the smallbusiness accounting solutionthat's built for owners.It's designed to be simple and intuitive,so you can spend less time on paperwork,and more time running your business,and you can automate all kinds of taskslike invoicing, organizingexpenses, tracking time,and following up.You can accept creditcard and ACH paymentsright on the invoice to getpaid up to two times faster,and the best part iseverything stored in the cloud,so you can easily switchbetween your mobile device,and your desktop or laptop computer.Pricing starts at just $15 a month,with $25 a month handlingup to 50 billable clients,and you can get 50% offyour first three monthsat freshbooks.com/techtips.If you guys enjoyed this video,maybe check out our DIY first personcar racing video that we did a while back.It was way more work,and not augmented reality,but it kind of worked a lot better.\n"