This week I show you how sim racing can lead you to race in the British F4 Championship in my latest From Sim Racing to the Real Thing segment.

In addition to racing in British F4, DTM race driver Bruno Spengler explains why he sim races, a new sim racing competition from SRO Motorsport and 3 unorthodox ways to improve in sim racing.

All this plus more resources to help you develop in sim racing, the latest tech and sim racing news and more in this week’s Sim Racing and Esports News Roundup on Motorsport Prospects.

From Sim Racing to the Real Thing and Back

How Sim Racing Can Lead You to Race in British F4 — 2022 ROKiT F4 British Championship certified by FIA. 29th May 2022, Thruxton Circuit. Motorsport UK

As part of the announcement that ROKiT was continuing on as the title sponsor for the 2023 ROKiT F4 British Championship, they announced the ROKiT Racing Star program. “In addition to the title rights and associated benefits, ROKiT is funding the ROKiT Racing Star programme that will provide talent, sourced through an esports programme, the opportunity to race on track in the 2023 ROKiT British Formula 4 Championship.”

As should be obvious if you read this column or follow sim racing, real world racers sim race. They either do it to learn a track, hone their racecraft or just have fun amongst numerous reasons. Bruno Spengler is one of those real world drivers. Spengler, the French-born, Canadian-raised racing champion was born in 1983, racing not only more than 15 years in DTM competition but also recently as a member of Turner Motorsport’s BMW GTD Pro in IMSA competition, that team having competed in this year’s Rolex 24 at Daytona already. He was recently announced as the Team Captain for BMW M Team BS+COMPETITION this season for the inaugural season of ESL R1. John Munro of Traxion GG recently sat down with Spengler to learn more about his role on the team.

“There’s so many things you can achieve and show your cars and even help with developing cars by doing sim racing with great drivers and great teams, like this competition for example. The sim racing platform is huge, and I think there is no limit for this platform to evolve.”

Competitive Sim Racing News

The virtual counterpart to the GT World Challenge championships is returning for 2023, and it will include a new in-person Sim Pro Series Live LAN championship alongside the existing online formats. The collaboration between the SRO and AK Esports uses the officially sanctioned Assetto Corsa Competizione platform and a field of GT3 machinery. The online sprint championships for Europe, America and Asia continue in a largely unchanged format, as does the Intercontinental online endurance series which sees multiple drivers per car and includes a virtual 24 Hours of Spa. More details can be found here.

Here are more headlines from the world of competitive sim racing:

Sim Racing Tips & Techniques

Author Davide Nativo of Race Department looks at 3 unorthodox ways to improve in sim racing. “Nowadays everyone offers articles and videos that say the usual repetitive things: how to improve braking, how to accelerate faster, how to follow the racing line. Then there are those that make promises like: this will forever change the way you race, I wish I had known this when I started simracing, “alien” secrets that will make you faster, etc. Therefore, I have decided to share with you the 3 unorthodox things I have done to improve in simracing, and how. Some may seem silly, but indulge me because I think you will find them interesting and fun.”

ChatGPT is all the rage these days but how about ChatGPT as a sim racing driver coach? Race Department looks into it. “But the power of any technology is as positive (or negative) as the intentions and capabilities of the user. And one very interesting case can be seen in the video below, where an attempt is made to use ChatGPT as a driving coach for iRacing. This experiment is very interesting as it showcases how this technology works and can be implemented to teach a real person the basics of a specific discipline… such as sim racing. Enjoy!”

If you are a regular reader of the Sim Racing and Esports News Roundup here on Motorsport Prospects, you will recognize that I post a fair amount of tips and advice from the Coach Dave Academy. In case you were not aware, you should check out the Coach Dave Digest newsletter. Highly recommended and you can sign up here.

SIM Motorsport Race School has been created to support aspiring Racing Drivers wanting to get into Motorsport, or even get back into Motorsport. “It is well known that simulation training prior to a race weekend is now more important than ever and the ability to be able to test and prepare is invaluable to today’s top racing drivers. The Race School has been created to provide aspiring racing drivers from all age ranges, 14yrs – 70yrs old, with the necessary skills to learn how to be the very best at being prepared both mentally and physically, as well as good at reading telemetry and applying what they learn to become better drivers.” More information can be found here.

Sim Racing Tech Roundup

Sim Racing and Esports News Roundup — VRS DirectForce Pro Formula Steering Wheel

Here is a roundup of the latest sim racing tech news and reviews from around the world.

General Sim Racing News

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.