Sim Racing and Esports News Roundup for October 20, 2022

This week in the Sim Racing and Esports News Roundup I bring you some amazing
sim racing opportunities. From an opportunity for female sim racers to go from
sim racing to the real thing to the amazing prizes offered by some upcoming sim
racing series, there is something for everyone here. Not only that, but you also could use your sim racing skills for good in raising funds for a worthwhile motorsport-related charity.

All this and much more in this week’s Sim Racing and Esports News Roundup.

From Sim Racing to the Real Thing

• Kelly Moss Road & Race and INIT Esports have teamed up on their brand new Screen to Speed initiative. “By now you know that every once in a while we come up with something different. This time we have cooked up an amazing program/event that will see female participants from all over the world challenge themselves on a sim racing event, for a chance to take a seat in a Kelly Moss Porsche race car! Please RSVP now and share this with everyone you know. Would you help us make the gaming and motorsports world more inclusive? Take action now!” Prizes include:
  • $15,000 cash
  • A trip to the LIVE show
  • Pro-level racing simulator
  • LIVE Porsche track day
  • VIP Passes to KellyMoss IMSA Race with full hospitality
  • AMA (Ask Me Anything) with professional female racer
  • Signed event t-shirt
  • Posters
  • Stickers
  • Gaming equipment

Competitive Sim Racing News

• Sauber Motorsport has unveiled a dedicated esports facility that will host all its esports activities, including for the Alfa Romeo Formula One esports team. Situated within the team’s headquarters in Hinwil, Switzerland, esports partners Fanatec and Playseat supplied the team with all the equipment required for the facility. “We are thrilled to unveil the Sauber Esports Arena, a further step in the development of the team’s esports programme, as well as a confirmation of our commitment to keep playing a leading role in the esports scene,” said Frédéric Vasseur, Alfa Romeo team principal. “With the series gaining more and more recognition and attracting new fans, we are delighted to give our talented esports drivers a new and exclusive facility, where they will be able to train and race together as they battle for the Formula One Esports Series Pro Championship title.”

• The eNASCAR International iRacing Series will return with a five-race schedule, including a virtual race livestreamed at the ADAC SimRacing Expo in Nuremberg, Germany, on December 6. Drivers across the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series, NASCAR Mexico Series, NASCAR Pinty’s Series, and NASCAR Driver for Diversity Driver Development program are all scheduled to compete on iRacing.com, which provides one of the top online racing simulation portals and features officially-sanctioned, laser-scanned replicas of race tracks around the world. More details can be found at https://www.enascar.com/.

• 2022 eNASCAR International iRacing Series Schedule
  • November 15 – Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Las Vegas, NV
  • November 22 – Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada
  • December 4 – Daytona International Speedway (9 a.m. ET), Daytona, FL
  • December 13 – Circuit Zolder, Heusden-Zolder, Belguim, Germany
  • December 20 – Darlington Raceway, Darlington, SC

• The 2022 SCCA National Championship Runoffs just wrapped at VIRginia International Raceway on Oct. 2, but the excitement is far from over, with iRacing’s virtual SCCA Runoffs poised to race on a digital VIR playground starting Oct. 17. Come Oct. 22, following five days of qualifying, racers and fans alike will be treated to eight solid hours of the best virtual racing around, and you’re invited to race or watch! Full details can be found here.

• Six industry-leading brands have pledged their support to the 2022 ROKiT British F4 Esports Championship, which kicked off at a virtual Donington Park last Friday. The brands include:
  • ROKiT who have been confirmed as the Title Partner, and will provide prizes including an E-Mountain bike for the champion.
  • Simulator hardware company Simucube also join the roster as an Official Partner, and for the winner, a Simucube Pro 2 wheelbase is up for grabs.
  • Base Performance Simulators already support ROKiT British F4 through their state-of-the-art Formula 4 simulator in Banbury, and will extend that to Esports, with three days – two to the winning team, one to second place – on offer, complete with a driver coach and an engineer for the sessions.
  • Also offering simulator time are the Virtual Reality Racing Club (VRRC). Based at Silverstone, just a stone’s throw away from the home of the Formula 1 British Grand Prix, the VRRC are putting forward six hours of simulator time at their new facility to the team finishing third, and the top three drivers will receive an hour of online coaching apiece. VRCC will also gift the champion with a SimRace5 chassis, and GTF1 race seat.
  • For the season finale, Noblechairs will be offering one lucky viewer the opportunity to win a gaming chair from its Hero Black Edition range, as well as helping to kit out the studio from which the finale will be broadcast live on iRacing’s YouTube channel.

• Precision data measurement of every aspect of the track surface, weather details, and car performance is the secret to success at Circuit Paul Ricard – both on track and in Assetto Corsa Competizione for the FIA Motorsport Games. The Esports competition will be contested on a custom-branded virtual version of the Circuit Paul Ricard track – one of many circuits around the world that have been laser scanned down to the millimetre by Assetto Corsa Competizione developers, Kunos Simulazioni.

• Finally, do you want to compete in a 24-hour race and earn money for charity? Dutch Sim Racing Team are raising money for Operations Motorsport and you can enter here. The Sim Grid has a profile of the Dutch Sim Racing Team here. “We are happy to announce the 3rd annual Charity race with Dutch Sim Racing Team (DSRT)! Another 24 Hour race in which we will be raising money for Operation Motorsport. For more info about the info or to join the discord, visit https://discord.me/trickortreat Thanks again all and good luck! THERE WILL BE A REQUIRED FEE PER TEAM ENTRY OF $15 – THIS MONEY WILL BE DIRECTLY DONATED TOWARDS THE CHARITY!“

Sim Racing Tech Roundup

• Professional Motorsport World Magazine has a great article on Driver in the Loop (DIL) simulators. “The last decade has seen driver-in-the-loop (DIL) simulators become indispensable vehicle development tools. The idea of using DILs for engineering tasks originated in the world of racing – first F1 and then other series – but more recently mainstream automotive manufacturers have recognized their benefits. BMW, for example, has installed no fewer than 14 examples of various types at its Research and Innovation Center (FIZ) in Munich. DILs range from static units to those with full motion platforms, the latter being the focus of this article; specifically, how do different manufacturers quantify the capabilities of their systems and what impact does this have on the end user?“

• Performance Racing Magazine also has an excellent article on using sims in motorsport in their column When Virtual Becomes Reality. “From training rigs to engineering studies, simulators have become commonplace in racing. As more motorsports organizations look to leverage the increasingly sophisticated technology, it’s poised to become an integral development tool for a variety of applications in the real world.”

General Sim Racing News

• Watch the video above for a drivers eye view of sim racer James Baldwin on Assetto Corsa Competizione.

• The Traxion Podcast speaks to Paul Crawford of Motorsport UK to see why the governing body is investing in virtual racing and aiming to create a new community. “It’s now committed to sim racing and racing esports, so here you will hear Thomas Harrison-Lord and colleague Ross McGregor speak to Paul about an upcoming Motorspork UK organised sim racing esports competition, but also the organisation’s goals for the virtual world and its exciting future plans for a community.” You can listen here.

• While not strictly related to sim racing, Arabian Gulf Business Insight explains how jobs opportunities in the e-sports and gaming industry are growing fast. “The total number of jobs in the e-sports industry grew by 87 percent year-on-year to reach 11,000 in 2019, according to a job industry report released by Hitmarker, one of the global leaders in e-sports recruitment.” So if you cannot or do not want to become a professional sim racer or real world race driver, you will still have a growing list of employment opportunities in the esports industry.