How SimReader and Overlay Work Together in onRails

Setup tuning is feedback. You change something. You lap. You observe. You decide what to change next. The faster that feedback loop, the faster you improve. But for years, that loop was broken by a simple problem: you couldn't see your data without leaving the cockpit.

You'd make a setup change, lap the car, then alt-tab out to look at your tire temperatures and lap time. You'd enter the numbers manually into your setup tool. You'd wait for recommendations. You'd read them, understand them, then alt-tab back into your sim to make the next change. By then, you'd lost your focus point. You'd lost momentum. You'd wasted five minutes between laps that should have taken ninety seconds.

onRails closes that loop with two features working together: SimReader for instant data capture, and a transparent overlay so you can access that data and your recommendations without ever leaving the cockpit.

SimReader: Live Data Without Manual Entry

SimReader reads telemetry data directly from your simulator in real-time. No plugins. No external hardware. Just live data from shared memory, captured with a single hotkey press.

It works with seven simulators: Assetto Corsa, Assetto Corsa Competizione, Automobilista 2, iRacing, Le Mans Ultimate, Project Cars 2, and rFactor 2. If your sim isn't on that list, onRails supports manual entry of tire and lap data—still faster than writing things down. But if you're on one of these seven, SimReader handles it automatically.

When you snap the data, onRails captures three critical pieces of information: your tire temperatures (inside, middle, and outside for each tire), your last lap time, and your sector times. All of it appears in the app instantly. No typing. No transcription. No room for error. Just clean, real data that tells you exactly what happened on that lap.

Overlay: Recommendations Without Breaking Focus

Here's the second piece: onRails runs as a transparent overlay on top of your sim. It sits there, visible but not intrusive, giving you instant access to your setup recommendations without making you alt-tab away from your cockpit view.

You lap. You snap your data with a hotkey. The Setup Engineer analyzes what you just experienced—your tire temperatures, your lap time, your behavior feedback. Recommendations appear in the overlay. You read them right there in your cockpit view. You understand the change. You adjust your setup. You press the hotkey to hide the overlay. You're back to racing, same lap.

No second monitor required. No window switching. No losing your reference point. Just you, your sim, and the engineering data you need to go faster.

Why This Changes Everything

Setup tuning has always been about the feedback loop. The tighter the loop, the faster you learn. But the loop was slow because there was friction everywhere. Data entry took time. Understanding recommendations took time away from the cockpit. Making changes required leaving your setup point and re-orienting yourself.

onRails removes all that friction. Snap. Analyze. Recommend. Read. Adjust. Lap. Snap. The entire cycle—data to decision to change—happens in under two minutes, and you never leave your focus point in the sim.

That's not just convenience. That's a fundamental change in how fast you can iterate on setup. Instead of five or six meaningful laps per session, you can do ten or twelve. Instead of learning which direction to adjust through trial and error, you're adjusting based on real tire temperature data and engineering logic.

Think about what that means over the course of a season. Over the course of a career.

The Two Features Work As One

SimReader without the overlay would still require alt-tabbing. The overlay without SimReader would still require manual data entry. Together, they close the feedback loop completely. You lap. Data appears. Recommendations appear. You understand. You change. You lap again.

The goal isn't flashy features. The goal is getting you real feedback, instantly, without breaking your concentration or wasting your session time. That's what SimReader and the overlay deliver.

For Every Setup Level

Whether you're building a baseline setup from scratch with the Setup Developer, or dialing in lap-by-lap refinements with the Setup Engineer, or making live adjustments in a race with the In-Race Engineer—SimReader and the overlay are there. Real data. Instant access. No alt-tabbing. No manual entry. Just engineering.

That's what onRails is built for: closing the gap between thinking about setup and actually improving it.