Benefits of Sim Racing

[Doc]

https://www.windingroad.com/articles/blogs/need-to-know-10-reasons-your-racing-should-begin-in-a-simulator/?utm_source=Winding+Road+Weekly+Email+List&utm_campaign=34cf1dbeb9-WR_Racing_News_1_10_2018_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f40212f51a-34cf1dbeb9-58051361&mc_cid=34cf1dbeb9&mc_eid=e26a581775

[Hugh Jass]

Good article, thanks Doc. 

[snowman]

Great article.  That's how I got my start.

[mcewena]

An E30 passed me in the rain into a fairly tight corner and then immediately looped it under braking right in front of me because: E30 & rain.   If that had happened in my 3rd ever time behind a wheel I expect I'd be freaked out.   But because it had happened literally hundreds of times on my PC in the past 15 years (and sometimes I was the E30) all I did was laugh and drive on.

[mcewena]

I will say one thing though, there is virtually no downside to braking with the downshift paddle in sim racing, in fact you can even use it to break loose the back end if you want.  Down shifting too early and buzzing the engine comes directly from my sim time and is a bad habit I've tried to kick in the real car.   Also you can't use $100 pedals with simple potientiometers to teach yourself heel & toe.

Edited June 7, 2018 by mcewena

[Rapido]

Good read @Doc, agree with a lot of those points. As I'm sure everyone is aware, most of our team came exclusively from a simracing background and their first experience of track driving (or any sort) came from exiting the pits in the middle of a ChampCar race. We credit iRacing for developing within our drivers a base level of competence and ability to manage traffic, learn a racing line before hitting the track, and know what to do when the car gets loose.

 

If anyone is interested in getting involved in iRacing, and the ChampCar Sim Series, please feel free to message us at any time if you have any questions.

[aaron_roch]

On 6/7/2018 at 2:31 PM, mcewena said:

Also you can't use $100 pedals with simple potientiometers to teach yourself heel & toe.

 

Very true, but you CAN learn to heel & toe with used load-cell pedals gotten for $100 off the iRacing forum.  I’ve watched 2 people do exactly that, and one of them is 12.

 

iRacing cannot teach you everything, not even close.  But for what it can teach, it does so for pennies on the dollar compared to any other training you can do.  I gave up one “track day” weekend years ago and spent the money on a proper rig, and that was the best investment in car stuff I ever made. 

[Hunterflyy]

Been sim racing for several years mostly oval's.  Before running my first Champ Car Race at Barber last year, my son and myself spent countless hours practicing on iRacing.  The other two guys that raced with us came over a couple of days before the race and practiced.  Although we had a slow car, I feel the practice we had helped us keep it on the track for two days with a decent finish.