The Project
NBC Sports was looking to enhance the viewer experience in the 2022 season by creating “Explainer Videos” describing all of the attributes of the NEXT GEN car which had significant changes from the previous year's car.

The Challenge
Initially the plan was to produce several segments before NBC took over coverage but it was quickly determined that to give the fan the best experience these video topics needed to be decided on a week to week basis. The producers knew that each track in the schedule would present different challenges to the new car and that the “Explainer Videos” would need to be timely and topical each week. The challenge then became coming up with a solution that allowed the on air analyst (Steve Letarte) to finalize the topic before a Wednesday call with the team and then have a first look at the broadcast segment by midday Friday.

The Solution
Black Helicopter Creative worked with Toyota Racing Group (TRG) to secure all of the CAD data from Toyota itself as well as third party manufacturers that have equipment in all cars such as the transaxle, tires, suspension etc. After a period of about 10 days the car was converted and textured inside of Unreal engine 5 so that we could take advantage of its real time rendering capabilities. As weeks progressed new CAD data was added based on the stories being told. Regular Wednesday morning video conferences were held to set the plan for the weekend. The first draft was available by Friday for feedback and the final segments were rendered on Saturday and sent directly to the playout system in the truck.