The sim racing path to real-world motorsports is on display this week as I spotlight even more opportunities while real-life race drivers comment on its viability.
From in-person leagues to competing on your phone, sim racing has never been so accessible and ripe with opportunity for the aspiring race driver. This week’s column just further highlights the trend.
I also have the latest competitive and general sim racing news, sim racing tips and tricks and more in this week’s edition of the Sim Racing Roundup on Motorsport Prospects. Its sim racing news for racers not gamers.
From Sim Racing to the Real Thing
Hip Motorsports in Ajax, Ontario, Canada is offering the chance for the winner of their in-person league the chance to qualify for a real-world test in a Radical race car from RySpec Racing. Your chance to qualify starts November 7th, 2023. You can get more information here.
Sim racing specialist Thomas Beesley is making the transition from the virtual world to the circuit world this coming season with confirmation he will race in the 2023-2024 Toyota 86 Championship.
“I have been working hard to develop my driving and racing skills as best I can on a very limited budget,” he explained. “After two years of planning and training, it’s a real accomplishment for us just to have been able to make it to the grid of this year’s Toyota 86 Championship. Since beginning in 2022 I have done as many track days as possible at Ruapuna to build experience driving the TR86 and develop my racecraft. In addition to this, I have been entering as many iRacing events as its possible to do and completed hundreds of hours on our home simulator.”
In Racing Prodigy news, the sim racing to real-world development program has announced that Bobby Labonte has joined the Prodigy Search Committee.
Bobby Labonte expressed his excitement about the event, saying, “It has been really cool to see how gaming in racing has evolved from the time I got involved back in the Papryus days to today. I’ll race anything, so it’s nothing for me to jump on the sim and have some fun. I do believe there is talent out there who might not have the right opportunity to race but are working hard to develop and fine-tune their driving skills in esports. So, I’m excited to meet these sim racers from around the world, hear about their ambitions, and then see how they do in a real race car on a real race track.”
In the video above, Max Papis also has positive things to say about the Racing Prodigy program which he called a path to real-world motorsports.
Prodigy Week Part 1 is set to unfold at the Atlanta Motorsports Park from October 30 to November 1.
Christian Rasmussen will be at the Casino eSport Conference in Atlantic City this November 6-7 as part of the Christian won the Indy NXT championship this year and poised to be a driver next season in INDYCAR. He will be participating in a panel talk on:
“Driving simulators and racing games by professional drivers, and the impact driving simulation games are having on both professional drivers and the gaming industry, and how these types of games can be leveraged into the broader esports industry.”
You can get more details on the conference and how to register here.
Competitive Sim Racing News
Here are some recent headlines from the world of competitive sim racing.
- IMSA Announces 2023 IMSA Esports Global Championship
- Porsche Coanda works driver Dayne Warren fourth at the “Temple of Speed” (Porsche)
- Esports Arena Brings Sim Racing Front and Center at the PRI Show with SRO America Partnership (SRO)
Sim Racing Tips & Techniques
- From Couch to Checkered Flag: How to Start Sim Racing Today (Trak Racer)
- iRacing Guide: Acura ARX-06 GTP (Coach Dave Academy)
- TV vs monitor: Which is the better display for playing racing games? (Team BHP.Com)
- Forza Motorsport: How to Skip Practice (Game Rant)
Sim Racing Tech Roundup
Here is a roundup of the latest sim racing tech news, reviews, and recommendations from around the world.
- Asetek unveils highly modular steering wheel ecosystem due this November (Traxion)
- Fanatec revives the ClubSport wheel base as a 12Nm direct drive unit (Traxion)
- The Fanatec ClubSport DD+ is a 15Nm, PS5 compatible, wheel base (Traxion)
- Ascher Racing Launches McLaren Artura Wireless Wheels (Box This Lap)
- Best racing wheels for Forza Motorsport: Gear, Direct, & Hybrid Drive (Dexerto)
- P1 Sim’s Mistral sim pedals are both hydraulic and haptic (Traxion)
- Affordable Sim Racing: Thrustmaster T128 Review (Game is Hard)
- Oracle Red Bull Racing x Secretlab Gaming Chair (Podium Life)
General Sim Racing News
- EA SPORTS WRC Aims to Continue Immersive Simulation Rally Racing (Hardcore Gamer)
- EA Sports WRC Preview: Dirt Rally 3.0 by Another Name (The Drive)
- Forza Motorsport Shows Why There’s Room for Two AAA Forza Titles on Game Pass (GameRant)
- Forza Motorsport’s Graphics Give Gamers a Glimpse of What Awaits in Fable (GameRant)
- Children in Need Sim Rig Tour to visit St David’s (Wales 24/7)
- The Forza Community Cannot Decide if it Loves or Hates Motorsport (IGN)
- Simracing.GP partners with Chillblast (Esports Insider)
- What is the fastest GT3 car in ACC V1.9? (Coach Dave Academy)
- Forza Motorsport (2023) delivers sim racing for any & everybody (CNN)
- Community racing platform SimGrid adds support for Forza Motorsport (Traxion)
- Grid Finder hosts sim racing equipment competition at ADAC SimRacing Expo (Traxion)
- Porsche’s 60-million-dollar investment in Los Angeles pays off (StuttCars)
- League-creation platform Simracing.GP launches new manual service with F1 23 (Traxion)
- Most of That Stuff in the Gran Turismo Movie Was True! (AutoWeek)
- GTP Cars in iRacing: Which is Best? (Coach Dave Academy)
- Forza Motorsport’s Aggressive AI Makes for Rough Racing (Game Rant)
- What Forza Motorsport Can Learn From Forza Horizon 5’s Creative Crossovers (Game Rant)
- New Release Candidate build for rFactor 2 Online addresses several bugs (Traxion)
- Forza Motorsport debuts with solid Metacritic score as first reviews land (Digital Spy)
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.
