Community Question | What Do You Like The Most About Sim Racing?

[Paul Jeffrey]

A simple question, a very complicated answer.

Sim racing means many things to many different people. An opportunity to sample unique and exciting cars, racing against friends, the spirit of competition, the chase for ultimate immersion, practice for the real thing - you name it, somebody probably feels that way about it.

With such a potentially interesting and diverse range of opinions, I thought it would be fun to ask you all what appears to be a simple question, but will undoubtedly generate a selection of complicated answers:

What do you like most about sim racing?

Let us know your thoughts and opinions in the comments section below!

 

[Will Mazeo]

Being able to replicate a real life event in all its dynamics.
Unfortunately sim racing isn't going in that direction, in fact it has been moving away from it in recent popular titles.

 

[Dan ONeill]

For me sim racing persuaded me to buy a kart and go racing, I did this for a few years then gave up Karting and carried on sim racing.
I just love the competition element of racing.
Using VR is just the icing on the cake as I really feel as if I’m in the car I’m racing and having all those life sized competitors around me is awesome.
I can have some fun hot lapping but I crave the racing.

 

[Giovaneveterano]

Smashing expensive racing cars for free.

 

[Arkoudadis]

Racing!

 

[eg01st]

Even with the fact that none of the simulators will ever be 100% realistic, all of them (if you play with a wheel and pedals of course) will train your reflexes and hand-eye coordination. That is exactly why I bought my first wheel - to train for driving in situations that are dangerous on the street. So when something unexpected happens in real life, my arms and legs don't go haywire in panic.

Only when I started consistently crashing with street cars in Assetto Corsa, I realised that I can't drive as good as I thought. It took a lot of practice to start catching those snap oversteers, and most people on streets can't do that, just watch some youtube dashcam crash footages

 

[Littlefysh]

The rhythm and headspace in lapping alone, let alone how much better it is when racing. Best hit of dopamine I could ever get.

 

[stenovitz]

Well, the answer is quite simple here.

All the free mods from all the excellent modders.

No matter if it's just for a cozy weekend ride at Targa Florio in CSGT WSC 1970 Porsche 911S for rF1 or the GTR2 GPL mod of Alpine A110 1300.
Or close modern racing in the rF1 PCC07 Porsche Carrera cup on my own built fantasy track.
Or combined endurance series in own league setups for the tons and tons of track/car mods from rF1, GTR2 an AC.
Think I have most car- and track mods made public for rF1, GTR2, AC and the simbin series WTCC, RaceOn, Race07, STCC, etc and combining all of them would take at least twn lives without children.
All offline racing, as I've mostly done since 1985.
I like the nerdy engineering car setup mingling just as much as close wheel-to-wheel endurance racing for hours, leaving me in the same adrenaline trance state of mind as for a short 1 hr online ACC wet race with good competitors.

Yes I do a little online racing as well, now mostly now in ACC, rF2 and AC, and experience that my offline skills built up during the years actually are competitive to some extend.

So in short, I like both the racing part as
- the joy of just driving, feeling and hearing the sound of old classic sport cars.
- close racing, mostly endurance but also 30 min quick races
- An the engineering part.

 

[Terry Rock]

That I can again race responsibly without the threat of going to jail?

 

[Eckhart von Glan]

playing a good online game over at iRacing, 90% clean, solid competition, loads of fun to relax after workday

 

[HoiHman]

I have to be honest here

Probably working on the rig, improving it all the time and building rims....

Maybe even more that the actual racing it self.

 

[Dfx_Voodoo]

First of all, this is an opportunity to realize a child's dream of being a racing driver. For various reasons, I was unable to realize this dream in the real world. So the racing steering wheel, virtual reality helmet and overall SIM racing industry helps me with this.
Secondly, in racing, I remove the accumulated stress of the week. It helps to abstract a little from reality.
And of course this is communication with people who are just as passionate as I am

 

[Turk]

In my head racing is a martial art. So it's about self improvement, learning about how things move and behave and applying all that knowledge against people that are better than me, so that I can improve.

 

[MikeNorth]

Continuous learning - challenging myself to become faster than I was yesterday. Being immersed in a life-long passion for autosport, and the meditative stress relief of focusing all attention on the track

 

[lukester1975]

All the trim!

Wings, brake ducts, whatever else the word trim could be applied to in car setup to make the "joke" work. Gear ratios?

 

[LibranRabbit]

With a full motion sim rig, it gives me the ability to race around LeMans or Nordschleife in a current GT3 and experience the closest I'll ever get to the real thing with any weather and time or hot lap any track, any country at any time with what opponents I choose. What a time to be alive! Oh...and pit stop!

 

[cristianoid]

I really like the possibility of putting any car on any track that would hardly happen in reality. F1 in Surfers Paradise, GT3 in Baku, Nascar in Interlagos.

 

[Romandevison]

I saw on RD that there was a game called MotoGP20 and... in a month I'm passing for category "A" (motorcycles).

In motorcycle school I ride a Honda VTR (from what I understand it's a motorcycle for Japanese domestic market), my little experience is about 18 hours of practice. After getting my license I plan to buy a Ducati S4.

I think that's my experience - through video games there is a motivation for motorsport/motorsport. Unfortunately, motorsports are very expensive in my country, but riding a motorcycle on a track is quite affordable - 50$ for 1 session.

 

[nicky stevenson]

I love everything about sim racing but if the sound of the engine is amazing I could spend hours racing around

 

[Kenny Paton]

The driving, which I always wanted to do since I got one of these in the early 1950's.

Then the chance to drive/race in cars and tracks I saw on telly or read about.
From a plastic wheel with a sucker on the end via Atari Night Driver to Automobilista 2 it's been a good journey.