“But it kind of gives you an idea of what time went into it.”ĭraycott has a theory as to why sim racing is so popular. “That probably says a lot more about my ability than it does about what’s actually needed,” he says. racetrack Snetterton, Alexander put in six weeks’ worth of training, doing more than a thousand laps of the circuit, to know its every twist and turn. Ahead of his first race of the season at the virtual depiction of U.K. Some of the most popular YouTubers have tens or even hundreds of thousands of followers.Īlexander races every week in the league against his competitors. That’s vital, as at the highest echelons of competition, racers compete for real prize money. They also post tips, tricks, and ideal rig setups meant to help eke out split-second advantages. Sim racers broadcast their races live on YouTube. The league, he says, is a “really nice, happy environment.” He joined the Nevo Sim Racing League, where he currently stands 21st out of 32 competitors in the British F4 Series (confusingly, eight nationalities are represented in the league, including Americans and Canadians, though most of the competitors are in the U.K. “It’s a hobby I’m starting to take more seriously,” he says. It’s not just money that Alexander has invested in his hobby - it’s time, too. Top-end simulators include hand-stitched seats 200-degree wraparound screens feedback on wheels, seatbelts, and pedals and mechanics that move the driver around within the rig. The sim racing equivalent Pimp My Ride exists on YouTube, where high-end racing rigs are presented in awe-inspiring videos. “You could go up to £50,000 or £100,000 if you wanted to be serious about it,” Alexander says. Alexander even wears a VR headset to more deeply immerse himself in the races. It includes haptic feedback that helps him feel his way around the track, and more accurately mimics the machinery involved in a real car steering wheel. “It kind of escalated from there, and my rig’s now sophisticated,” he says. There was just one problem: Alexander’s racing wheel wasn’t going to cut it. Unlike basic racing video games popular on home consoles, which allow users or computer-controlled players to catch up to each other if one player tears away too fast, iRacing is designed to mimic as accurately as possible the realities of racing on an actual track. He bought a subscription to iRacing, which was exactly what Alexander was looking for: It gave him the ability to test his racing prowess against others online in a realistic environment. Alexander began by playing popular racing games, but soon graduated to a more advanced level of computer-based racing called sim racing. He bought a steering wheel gaming peripheral from a local computer store for £180 ($210) and put it on his desk. Matt Alexander in his sim racing rig Matt Alexander
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