The 3D world
Pedalsim can show your ride in 3D, from just above and behind you, over aerial photos of the real place. You see the mountain you are climbing, the forest beside the road and the town ahead, as they really are.
To turn it on, open Settings, go to View and pick 3D. The 3D map is on Windows, Android, Android TV, Linux and the web app.
What you see
- The real terrain. Hills and mountains rise out of the map, so a climb looks like a climb and a valley opens up below you as you go higher.
- Trees and forests where they really grow, with the kinds of trees that belong there. They sway in the real wind where you are riding.
- Buildings in every town and city, with roofs, walls and windows.
- Water in lakes, rivers and the sea, catching the light of the sky.
- Other riders on the road around you, as on the flat map.
A world that is alive
- Traffic. Cars, vans, buses and trucks drive the roads around you, with parked cars in towns. It is busiest near big towns, quieter at night, and cars wait for you at crossings.
- People walk the pavements and paths, alone or in small groups, more of them in town and at weekends.
- Animals that really live where you ride appear now and then, many kinds in all: deer at the edge of a forest, cows, sheep and horses in the fields, chamois and marmots in the Alps, reindeer in Lapland, kangaroos in Australia, elephants and zebras in Africa, even pandas in Sichuan. Birds cross the sky, penguins wait on their home coasts, and in spring and autumn flocks of geese and cranes fly over on their migration. Dawn and dusk are the best times to spot wildlife, and every so often a bear or a wolf will follow you for a while.
Turn on Animal names in Settings to see the name of each group of animals above it.
Day, night and the seasons
The sun, the sky and the season follow the real date and time where you are riding. Ride in the evening and the sun sets; after dark, street lamps, windows and car lights come on. In autumn the trees turn, in winter they lose their leaves and snow settles on the ground and the mountains, and in spring everything turns green again.
Want to ride a summer evening in the middle of winter? In Settings, under Date and time, choose a date and time instead of Real time. The weather stays live either way.
Making it run smoothly
The 3D map works your device harder than the flat map. In Settings, View, you can adjust it:
- Quality: Auto lowers the detail during a ride until it runs smoothly, and remembers that for next time. Choose Max, High, Balanced or Low to set it yourself.
- Traffic and Road lines: each has its own slider, from off to busy.
- Animals: turn the wildlife on or off.
If your device cannot run the 3D map at all, the ride switches to the flat map on its own, so you can always keep riding.