In episode 2 of Nitro Nights, host Tom Deacon welcomes real-world racer and sim racing star Cem Bölükbaşı.
Only 22 years old, our guest Cem has had an extraordinary career already, experiencing the transition from real racing to sim racing and back. Stepping into esports racing due to monetary reasons at first, the Turkish boy hailing from Karlsruhe, Germany, has made his way among the big players of the scene. Esports organization G2 Esports as well as former F1 pilot and sim racing enthusiast Fernando Alonso are just a few notable entities shaping his path.
Cem has become successful in F1 Esports with Toro Rosso and in iRacing with G2 Esports as well as Red Bull Esports Racing Team. This got him to bounce back into the world of real racing as a GT4 driver after a few years.
In October 2019, he turned heads with his impressive performance on the Hockenheim weekend at the Formula Renault Eurocup. Sitting inside a formula car for the first time in his life, Cem took on his first qualifiying session only 24 hours later.
Having different weather conditions for every training and qualifiying session didn’t make the adaption any easier for the esports newcomer. Also, the car differed much from GT cars in weight and speed. However, Cem managed to adjust quickly and impressed the audience, finishing 17th in his first race, while technical issues forced him to leave the second one.
He currently tries to transfer his learnings about car setup into the digital world. He is still competing as an esports athlete and wants to become even faster in the virtual real.
In Nitro Nights, he shares his thoughts on the excitement that is sim racing and why esports racing is so unique in comparison to other esports titles.
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