Track-day video star: BMW adds GoPro integration to M Laptimer app
Now it's even easier to pretend like you know what you're doing on the track.
BMW is taking its GoPro integration one step further by introducing it into its BMW M Laptimer app, so your phone can take care of everything. The German automaker first hooked up the action cameras to some of its cars' head units in 2014, giving drivers the ability to control an externally mounted camera from inside the vehicle.
Starting this summer, GoPro integration will make its way to iOS devices (no word on Android yet). A new GoPro-specific tab will appear in the app, where you can connect to specific cameras, look at live image previews and take note of Wi-Fi signal strength and battery levels. After a lap is done, you can review it all in the app, including the video you just shot.
BMW's M Laptimer app works alongside any car equipped with BMW Apps. It creates track maps and uses data from sensors all around the vehicle to track your lap times and provide you with a visual breakdown of your speed on each part of the track.
It'll also compare your times to your previous efforts, and it will post your new results to Twitter or Facebook as well.
While this will be a great tool for BMW enthusiasts who want to show off lap times, the company claims it also provides a learning experience for the driver. By visualizing things like steering angle and brake and throttle inputs, it can give you the information required to churn out superior lap times in the future.
Having a professional sit shotgun is still the most efficient method of improvement, but this ain't too shabby on its own.
