NASCAR and 3D fans (not sure how much of an overlap there is between the two) had to wait 90 extra rain-delayed minutes before witnessing and experiencing the first-ever race in 3D from Daytona Saturday night (July 3).
When the race, which was broadcast live online and on DirecTV‘s n3D channel sponsored by Panasonic, finally began, it was produced with a different set of cameras, angles, and graphics, all of which appeared to be on a greatly simplified and minimized scale.
Any viewers who were expecting the kind of in-car and under-car angles enjoyed in the IMAX documentary NASCAR 3D or even a typical broadcast by Fox and TNT, were likely disappointed. There were occasional shots in the pits and other locations but most of the race was shown from a distant high angle, where the depth is always most difficult to discern. But as the camera panned to follow the cars speeding by there were moments where the depth was clear, especially when the crowds in the stands came into view in the foreground, or when a vertical pole came into the screen from one side to the other.
Those were hardly the dynamic images one would expect from an auto race but they offered a glimpse of what is to come.
— By Scott Hettrick