Can you go from iRacing to real world motorsport? The answer is yes and this week I bring you more examples of people using sim racing to build real world racing careers both on and off the track.
Along with my usual examples of people using sim racing as a pathway to real world motorsport I bring hope for those who run MX-5 Cup cars on short ovals in iRacing, a free book offer to help with your sim racing skills and a Gran Turismo movie review you should pay attention to.
All this plus general and competitive sim racing news, tech reviews and more in this week’s edition of the Sim Racing Roundup on Motorsport Prospects.
From Sim Racing to the Real Thing
Last season, Kevin Ford won four races in the Better Baker Sportsman division at Berlin Raceway on his way to a track championship. This year, he’s already surpassed his 2022 win total. Since about 2009, Ford competed solely on iRacing. During that time, he also helped on the pit crew of a friend who races at Berlin and eventually he was asked to drive.
“On iRacing, you know how to start and restart a race, you recognize the people around you and how to pass. All that stuff plays in,” Ford said. “It’s not dead realistic, its not a one-to-one conversion anywhere, but it definitely gets you pointed in the right direction and gives you a head start on people. If you didn’t have iRacing or real racing, I think you’d need an extra season or two to really get your feet underneath you.”
Maryland Today’s From Simulated Success to Real-World Opportunity profiles sim racer Oscar Casasola as he journeyed from sim racer to an internship at NASCAR.
“He started posting his candid, relatable videos on TikTok, with reviews and racing content interspersed with memes, humor and commentary. As the clips started racking up views, two major sim racing companies, Thrustmaster and Next Level Racing, sent him gear to feature. Things “snowballed from there,” Casasola said, with his YouTube channel launching in 2020, companies emailing him weekly to review their products, and his audience steadily expanding.”
Jann Mardenborough chats with Mobile Syrup about stunt driving, adapting his life to film for Gran Turismo and more. “I’m very lucky and blessed. I feel very privileged in this position to have a biopic be made about a chapter of my life,” he says in a roundtable interview in Amsterdam attended by MobileSyrup. “I’m 31 and I’m still racing — usually [a biopic] happens when you’re a lot older or you’ve passed away. So yeah, I feel very lucky about that part of my life.”
If you are one of those iRacers that has been racing an MX-5 Cup car around a short oval and enjoying it, get ready as you may be able to do it in real life. The Mazda MX-5 Cup has just completed a successful two-day test at Martinsville and all signs point to it being added to the MX-5 Cup schedule at some point in the future.
“It’s already got a cult following in sim racing,” said Earnhardt. “The series is very exciting and well-respected, people know when they tune in to MX-5, whether it’s at Daytona or Road America, that they’re going to see a fantastic show. And I think that they want to see what that would look like on a short track like Martinsville, and the sim world has already checked that box. It would be very tempting for a lot of oval racers to come be a part of the series if they were to come to Martinsville.”
Competitive Sim Racing News
Here are more headlines from the world of competitive sim racing.
- 2023 British F4 Esports series sees F1 and esports teams go head-to-head
- The inaugural Motorsport UK Esports – GT Challenge
- Sim teammate of Verstappen: ‘Max wants to be the best at everything’
Sim Racing Tips & Techniques
Advanced Motorsports, the new coaching service from sim racing manufacturer and distributor Advanced SimRacing, have compiled the top 6 exercises that played a pivotal role in propelling coaches Phil Bouchard and Racim Fezoui to the professional level in SimRacing, and them will be offering them at no cost. You can join the waitlist now to be notified when the book comes out here.
Here Are More Sim Racing Tips & Techniques:
- iRacing: The Key to Proper Tire Management
- Sim Racing: What is the Force Feedback?
- Stop messing around on racing games – use them to win!
- iRacing Guide: IMSA iRacing Series
Sim Racing Tech Roundup
Here is a roundup of the latest sim racing tech news and reviews from around the world.
- Choosing a Direct Drive Steering Wheel for Sim Racing
- MOZA Racing set to unveil new sim racing equipment at Gamescom
- Best racing sim cockpits in 2023
- Dynisma: The ultra realistic driving simulators training F1’s biggest stars The Third Angle
- The best Gran Turismo 7 racing wheels and accessories to get in gear for the new film
- Thrustmaster T818 Ferrari SF1000 simulator review: the ultimate racing wheel for Ferrari F1 fans
- Fanatec lops $200 off the Podium Wheel Base DD1
- Forza Motorsport steering wheel compatibility list released
- MOZA Racing announces its sim racing R3 Bundle for Xbox and PC – PowerUp!
- $400 direct-drive bundle for Xbox: Moza R3 unbox, setup, and first impressions [Video]
- The Moza R3 is a direct drive sim racing bundle for Xbox
- Moza working on dedicated truck sim wheel, new GT wheel and sequential shifter
General Sim Racing News
- Gran Turismo Movie has so far generated $22.7M ahead of general US release
- ‘Gran Turismo’ International Box Office Continues Strong Performance
- ‘Gran Turismo’ tells the thrilling (true!) story of a video gamer who became a race car sensation
- ‘Gran Turismo’
- Motorsport Games Reports Second Quarter 2023 Financial Results
- RIDE 5 Review (PS5) – Closer To Cutting Edge
- Forza Motorsport’s Maple Valley Raceway Looks Better Than Ever in New Gameplay Footage
- Five of the best car and track combinations in rFactor 2
- Silverstone Museum collaborates with Radical Motorsport to launch new simulator suite
- NASCAR announces Arcade Rush launch date
- Playing through the best Scenarios in BeamNG.drive
- The retro racing games that sit strongest in our memories
- How F1 2023 has better balanced the handling conundrum of racing games
- The Nürburgring is Coming to Forza Motorsport – Twice
- Fueling Talent: World of Racing provides premier sim racing
- Racing Game History: Grand Prix Challenge (2002)
- 8 Best Mobile Racing Games, Ranked
- Silverstone Museum In UK Gets Professional-Grade Racing Simulators
Author: Mark Boudreau
Mark is the publisher of Motorsport Prospects. As a former lawyer, he applies his legal background and research skills to assist race drivers by showcasing the resources they need to make their motorsport careers happen.