Sim Racing…. the first step towards a career in motorsport

Sim Racing, in short for simulation racing, is a collective term for racing games software to attempt accurately simulate car racing virtually.

The simulation software along with sim racing hardware simulates all possible feedback that a real car provides such as tyre wear, fuel usage, aerodynamics, grip and suspension movement.

In order to get into sim racing especially becoming a competitive driver, you must understand various aspects of how the car handles while on track.

This includes maintaining the control of the car as it loses traction in such velocity and using the correct driving line to maintain speed to make those fast lap times which is not easy both virtually especially in the real world.

Today’s simulation software is so realistic that has become a very important task for professional drivers.

In my opinion, Sim Racing is now the first step to take to get into motorsport. There is various simulation software out there and every driver has his own opinion based on his preference.

In reality, all simulation software has good and bad features. It’s the user’s choice as long as satisfies his progress or having fun enjoying some thrilling races.

Not everyone races on simulation software to become a professional driver or to compete in high-level events some consider sim racing as their break time and taking time to stress release from work or studying.

We as World Pro Racing opted to go for rFactor 2 based on PC due to many reasons such as many software that you can install including telemetry while on consoles you don’t have much flexibility on what you can do.

One of them is being open to the community to build cars and tracks, pricing, a good number of official free cars and tracks most of them being laser scanned, meaning that they are accurate to the real track. This will help the driver doing practice prior to going to the real track or experience a track you have never been to.

Also, a good number of licensed tracks and cars simulates well the real ones. rFactor 2 is very well known in that it is being used by many motorsport manufacturers to simulate and test their cars prior to going to the track.

It has received much praise for its highly advanced and accurate simulation of vehicle dynamics for most real-life drivers, racing teams, engineers and simulation centres like ours.

As everybody is well aware, motorsport is very expensive not only to participate in events or championships but also to maintain the vehicle throughout the whole season, not forgetting also repairs of damages that might occur during racing.

This is the main reason why sim racing is growing rapidly especially when the COVID-19 pandemic started and due to this motorsport events had to be cancelled and drivers had nowhere to go except racing on their sim.

Going back to motorsport being expensive and to continue elaborating on it, the purpose of our recently inaugurated Sim Racing Facility by Hon. Silvio Schembri and Ivan Filletti, of Gaming Malta at Montekristo Estate, was specifically created for this reason.

Let me create a basic scenario where a Maltese driver has a lot of potential in becoming a professional driver but not in a good financial situation. Basically, there is nothing much he/she can do about it and looking for sponsors locally is not an easy one and believe me we have gone through it already.

Maybe he/she can afford to go for a driving experience every now and then to continue sharping his/her skills but still, the financial position is an issue.

This is where again sim racing comes to place. One of the first steps to take is to participate in our international online casuals which happen weekly where you can apply for free to race from home if you have the hardware and of course the simulation software or you can rent a sim for the duration of the race.

All our races are monitored by real-life professionals, experienced and certified race directors and stewards, where they can guide you and help you with what you did wrong during the race and all our events, are broadcasted worldwide to all our broadcasting partners with roughly half a million unique views per month across the world.

This is already a huge step forward with a minimum financial effort to get noticed by viewers where many times there were scouts who are following the progress of potential sim racers to give them a chance to be part of their team or even beyond that.

And this happened already throughout the four years WPR has been organizing events apart from giving experiences through our partners during championships that we hosted. So, thanks to sim racing, it opened many doors of opportunities to enter into the world of motorsport.

Although sim racing and motorsport are focused on the car and the driver mostly, there are many factors that without them both sim racing and motorsport cannot operate and this is where I am pushing and making people aware of the opportunities that esports is giving.

As I always say, it is not just a game and I will explain why especially to sceptic people about sim racing and those who have a bad impression or not well educated about this sport. This also applies not just to sim racing but I will be focusing on the esports racing side.

One of the major things to become successful in sim racing is to be obviously a fast and consistent driver, but that’s not only it.

An engineer needs to be involved in setting up the car according to the driver’s feedback, hence why a sim racer needs to understand the aspects of how the car handles while on track. This is already another role that someone who is attending an engineering school can have experience in an esports racing environment.

Mental performance and nutrition are two important factors both in sim racing and motorsport. Although many think that a sim racer just sits on the simulator rig and drives without any strong effort, you are very wrong!

Today’s sim racing hardware provide so much feedback that simulates the car’s performance which makes you feel you are racing the real car.

There are many articles and videos on social media about sim racers talking about their experience and progress in sim racing where they have fitness and mental training prior to going for just a virtual race so this is something that has been going for years.

Another very good thing about sim racing apart from the financial part is young drivers. This is another huge topic for me and if you follow my social media you will understand how much it means to me.

There is nothing else that gives me so much pleasure than watching children, both male and female trying out sim racing at our premises and even going beyond that in continuing their training in a professional way to either start practising karting on the real track, hence why we have developed the new karting track La Reve and Mtahleb Hill Climb in Malta to practice virtually prior going to the real track or become a professional esports driver.

Apart from becoming a professional esports driver or real motorsport athlete you have to build a character and become an idol to the young ones.

This is another topic WPR focuses on by training drivers on how to speak well in front of the camera and during interviews, promote their sponsors and much more.

As explained, there are many opportunities which I’m not going into details on each one but to mention what happens during our events and day to day work, we have people preparing and planning events, designers preparing posters and artwork for social media posts, article writers posting after each race, community person in charge of the Discord channel, broadcast directors, floor manager, replay person, video editors and even commentators both local and foreign.

I can make this a long boring article but I think I made my point in explaining well about sim racing and the opportunities it provides. It’s not only about the driver and it’s not just a game!