Sim Racing and Esports News for May 26, 2022-In The Zone

This week’s Sim Racing and Esports News has a lot of great information that you will be able to put to good use. The Coach Dave Academy looks at VR in iRacing, there are details on updates to rFactor 2, the new World Rally Championship game, this year’s edition of the FIA Motorsport Games and more. Most excitingly, there are two more opportunities for sim racers to cross over into real world motorsport. I have details on how this year’s winner of the Skip Barber Formula iRacing Series will be able to race in their real-world series, as well as information on the new Drive to Dream competition and its prize of a drive in the 2023 Porsche Carrera Cup Italia.

• The Coach Dave Academy has published an informative post on everything you need to know about VR in iRacing. “Virtual Reality (VR) has come a long way in recent years and is probably the best way to improve immersion in sim racing. iRacing fully supports VR across a wide range of VR headsets. There are a lot of factors that must be considered when making the move to VR.”

• The Sim Grid reports that “rFactor 2’s Q2 drop has included some spectacular content, with one particular highlight being the Next Generation Touring Car (NGTC) Infiniti Q50 and Toyota GR Corolla from the British Touring Car Championship. Here at SimGrid, we can’t get enough of this tin-top goodness and neither can our communities – here are some upcoming series that they are running in rFactor 2!”

• A new Assetto Corsa Competizione esports competition has just opened for entry and the prize is one of the biggest ever seen in sim racing; a drive in the 2023 Porsche Carrera Cup Italia. All rules and regulations can be found on the Drive to Dream website.

• The Race Department looks at the phenomenon of getting in the zone. “This “zone” plays a role in sim racing as well. Finding your rhythm is often mentioned as race preparation advice, and usually, this can be done consciously by approaching a stint in a relaxed manner without paying too much attention to the rest of the field. To dive in as deeply as Senna described, however, is rare, and not consciously achievable, at least from my experience.”

• Mikkel Gade will have the opportunity of a lifetime behind the wheel of a Skip Barber Formula Race Series car for the full 2022 season, after locking up the Skip Barber Formula iRacing Series title with a dominant victory in the season finale at Sebring International Raceway. After posting the top qualifying time for the final event, Gade led all but four race laps across both features, scoring a fourth place finish in the first before charging back to the front to win the latter by nearly four seconds. “The Skip Barber Formula iRacing Series closely mirrors the real-world Skip Barber Formula Race Series in vehicle formula and racing circuits, with the added caveat that the top performers in the virtual series earn racing opportunities in the real one. Each week, a new slate of 20 drivers qualifies their way into the next race round, receiving coaching from Skip Barber Racing School instructors before taking to the track for a pair of 15-minute timed races. The champion at the end of the six-week series earns a full-season ride in the Skip Barber Formula Race Series, and more than $500,000 worth of prizes is on the line overall.”

• The new WRC Generations rally sim has been unveiled and it will showcase the 2022 season with the new Rally1 cars. “As is to be expected with an official WRC game, the majority of the drivers, teams and rallies from the current real-world season are to be included. That’s particularly important in 2022, as the championship has implemented the hybrid Rally1 ruleset. That means a 3.9kWh battery within a plug-in hybrid system and a tubular chassis. Three new cars have been built to these regulations so far.”

• The FIA Motorsport Games are ready for a 2022 return and they again include a sim racing component. Taking place between 26-30 October 2022, around 80 nations are expected to compete representing the individual FIA (Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile) National Sporting Authorities (ASNs) from each country. They will race in a vastly expanded programme of 17 disciplines spanning the motorsport spectrum, staged across the three locations of Circuit Paul Ricard, Veynes and St. Baume. “Esports action also returns, giving the opportunity for motorsport gamers aged over 16 years to compete on the global stage without a racing licence.”

• GP Laps has put together a great video of what would be my home track. “Le Circuit Mont Tremblant may be one of just three circuits to have hosted the Canadian Grand Prix, but it is all but forgotten in the minds of contemporary Formula 1. Isolated nearly 100 miles north of Montreal, nestled in the ski mountains of rural Canada, St Jovite, as it was known in the 60s, was a fantastically fast and treacherous course. Brought back to life for Assetto Corsa by P_Cote, Mont Tremblant is truly a marvel in vintage sim racing, something to full immerse yourself in and enjoy the brutality and elegance of 60s racing at its finest.” You can watch the video above.

• Simracing.GP has added Automobilista 2 support to their platform. “For a long time, AMS2 enthusiasts were greeted with a “Coming Soon” banner next to the sim’s logo, but their patience is now rewarded: The support of developer Reiza Studios’ title makes it possible to organize championships, individual events or series of races on the platform.”