dream | act | succeed

God, I missed my simulator. Those three weeks in Ingolstadt, they were cool, don’t get me wrong on that! But without my daily dose of racing, it is just not the same! A racing simulator, this should be your new best friend! That a simulator can never represent reality is without a doubt. It is just not the same and it will never be! But and this is very important to understand, you can get pretty close!

A modern race car driver can not do without it.

Whoever tells you otherwise has no clue about the topic. If you dare to show up at an event without the necessary simulator preparation, you will have a huge disadvantage on your side! That’s all I am saying! All those others, they will have themselves well prepared! They know the braking points, the different lines, how to defend the best and all the other useful facts you need to know. They step into the car, focusing on a couple of things at a time, while you need to absorb basically everything.

A racing simulator isn’t the one way ticket towards the formula one, but it is a necessary step on our journey. It helps us to practice and practice and practice, over and over and over again!

But how much money should we spend?!

You shouldn’t reach for a full motion simulator, that’s for sure! Is it worth the 40k? No, it’s not! But you shouldn’t also spend too little. A cheap wheel and some pedals? If you are seven, that’s fine with me! But if you have at least some ambitions in racing, the equipment needs to have a certain standard! Without a doubt, there might be different approaches towards the simulator topic, but mine is this! If you buy cheap, you buy twice! I made this mistake once, learned from it, now I can not recommend others to do the same mistake. But sure, we all need to make our own mistakes in life.

Consider this! You need feedback on the pedals. Why? Because it helps to make the experience more realistic. You can feel what the brakes are doing. You can work on your skills to drive without ABS. Another thing you need? You need to have a seating position that is similar to the one in the race car you will be driving. The simulator is the perfect environment for getting used to things. But we can easily get used to the wrong things. Get or build a rig that has a certain amount of stability. If everything moves around, you will never be able to get consistent lap times. Get a triple screen. In a car, you can look a bit to the left and right. Sure, you do not see too much in a race car, but at least you can already adapt to this very situation. If you have only one screen, well, it is just not the same. Sure, there are these curved once that are quite wide, but check out the field of view before buying. Get a gaming computer that performs well. Those simulations can get pretty realistic. But if your computer can not keep up with your pace, well, that’s a problem! Therefore, get one of the better once and you will be fine!

If you need the racing hardware, there is only one address.

There are different brands out there on the market, but only one that has convinced me. It is the manufacturer of the best equipment on the market, therefore I do not even need to mention their name. You will find them, I am sure about that!

Implement a racing simulator into your practice sessions and you will improve a lot! Especially in the beginning! A lot of people make the mistake to talk too much without actually investing the time, money and energy. The racing simulator is your chance to shine. You can easily do a two hours stint every single day. And hey, guess what! If you do that, you will become pretty quick! I promise!

Racing is more than just turning at a wheel. Sure, you can’t simulate the physical exhaustion of the g-forces, but you can experience the same environment, noise, stress and pressure. If I have a race with people my level, god, you get nervous and shaky. Keeping the leading position in the last lap? Nobody can tell me, that this isn’t a high stress situation. Even if it is just on the simulator.

You need a simulator! Therefore, get one!

See you next time!