Sim Racing Vs Arcade Racing
If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to drive the cars of your motorsport heroes, sim racing is your answer.
To get the most out of the experience, players often invest in a gaming PC and equipment like racing wheels and pedals. This creates a very realistic virtual driving experience.
Realism
Video games have long been used to offer players an escape from the real world and to experience other worlds that are sometimes foreign, but at other times not unlike it. As gaming technology continues to advance, some fans hope that it will get closer and closer to realism. While that may be the case for some genres, there is one area where realism has not been embraced: sim racing.
Sim racing is a subset of video game racing that focuses on creating an immersive experience by using hardware and software to mimic the feeling of driving a real car. It can be played with a simple controller, but racing simulator arcade machine many enthusiasts use more sophisticated setups called rigs that feature pedals, seats, steering wheels and monitors to provide a more realistic feel. Some rigs even include motion sensors and tactile feedback systems to replicate the feel of the car’s suspension, grip, and other physical characteristics. Combined with advanced physics engines, detailed car models, and accurate tracks, these simulations can be quite realistic. Vesaro’s D-BOX haptic feedback system, for example, is renowned for its subtlety and works directly with the leading simulation developers to ensure that their games respond appropriately to user input.
Challenge
In a genre where arcade racing games could typically cause players to jump off ramps at 150mph, drift continuously for hundreds of yards and abuse the hell out of that ‘NOS’ button, sim racing requires a different skill set. Aiming for high speeds on tight street circuits, navigating tight corners with expert traction control and beating time trials are just some of the challenges faced when playing these titles.
Serious sim racers often have formal setups called rigs that consist of pedals, a seat, a steering wheel and multiple monitors. This can be a technical and costly pursuit, so it is important for newcomers to consider how serious they want to become in their quest for speed and how much they are willing to spend on equipment.
The growing popularity of esports has found a natural home in the world of sim racing, with championship series being raced throughout the year and offering big prize pools. This has even seen some sim racers make a living from the game. Just like with video games, mobile apps and twitch streaming, the potential to earn money from sim racing is there for those who can market themselves well enough.
Fun
Sim racing games focus on the core aspects of car handling that make real-world racing so complex. This includes braking points, racing vr racing simulator lines, suspension settings, load changes, understeering and oversteering, weather conditions and tire performance. A good sim racing game must be able to simulate these physics, as well as offer challenging gameplay and an immersive experience.
Unlike arcade racing games, which can be played using a gamepad, most simulators require a gaming keyboard, mouse and steering wheel or pedals for full immersion and realism. This can be expensive for home systems, but it is worth the investment to get the most out of the experience.
The emergence of professional racing sims has been enabled by advances in computer hardware, the development of advanced physics engines and the availability of high-speed Internet connections. F1 Arcade, for example, is an immersive F1 racing experience located in London’s One New Change retail centre with 60 Vesaro V-Zero simulator rigs and D-BOX haptic feedback. It plans to open five more venues in the U.S. over the next five years.
Social
Being a competitive sim racer requires an incredible amount of skill. From mastering braking points, racing lines in dry and wet conditions, understanding understeer and oversteer to load changes and more; the learning curve is long, but extremely rewarding.
As a result, sim racing has become an expansive community that is not only vast in number but geographically diverse. With online communities and forums enabling players to co-ordinate racing schedules, share modded cars and tracks and discuss hardware configurations, it has spawned an entire underground circuit that helps drive the sim racing industry forward.
From the ultra-realistic RFactor and Assetto Corsa Competizione to the free-to-play titles of Project Cars, iRacing and Raceroom; there is a simulator for everyone. Whether you want to emulate the feats of Ayrton Senna in Formula 1 cars around classic circuits or dart through forests in modern rally cars; there will be a team of like minded individuals waiting to welcome you onto track. Be sure to bring a gaming laptop or PC with a decent graphics card and steering wheel/pedals for the best experience.
Value
Unlike arcade racing games that are more focused on the sensation of speed and frantic action, sim racing requires a significant commitment of time. This type of esport also requires a substantial initial investment in hardware such as a racing wheel, pedals and a gaming monitor.
This investment is necessary to ensure the user has a realistic driving experience that replicates the sensation of accelerating, decelerating and turning on a racetrack. The higher the quality of the setup, the more accurate the simulation. A bare-bones setup can cost $200 to $500, while high-end sim racing rigs can cost as much as a car.
From an ANT perspective, the democratization of high-resolution and immersive simulators like iRacing and Assetto Corsa Competizione have contributed to bridge the gap between virtual and traditional racing in some communities. Nonetheless, interviews have highlighted that making a living from sim racing remains challenging even for successful star players. This is mainly due to the lack of competitions and sustainable ecosystems for amateur sim racers in APAC.
