A few months ago, many sports fans were eagerly looking forward to the coming summer, knowing that the European Football Championship, the Tour de France and Wimbledon, among others, were on the schedule, with the 32nd edition of the Tokyo Olympics as the highlight. The Tour de France and Wimbledon have yet to be clarified, but due to the corona crisis, the Euro 2020 football tournament and the Olympic Games have already been canceled. There is also clarity for countless other sports, of which the national or international competitions have often been stopped or postponed, with athletes sitting at home as a result.
Among them are quite a few professional drivers, who normally tear across the tarmac at different speeds in different racing disciplines and wear rubber on all kinds of tracks. The natterjack toads and sand lizards living in the Zandvoort dunes can breathe a sigh of relief for the time being; the race, scheduled for May, has been postponed, as have other racing weekend racing weekends. That is no different for the American Nascar races and countless other motor sports.
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What should all those drivers who cannot race physically and are forced to stay at home? Interest renting from Monaco will of course also get bored. So what makes more sense and fun than mimicking the cockpit at home with a racing seat, racing wheel, pedals, PC and monitors, and trading in the asphalt for laminate? For drivers, such a switch to their sport in the virtual environment has been made relatively quick and easy. More and more drivers are now venturing into virtual races. We highlight some examples, showing that motorsports are now suddenly embracing e-sports en masse, largely with the help of a popular simulation racing service.
Nascar
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing is the American organization that is at the basis of several Nascar racing disciplines, which mainly revolves around races on high speed oval tracks and racing cars with roaring V8 engines. The organization decided to postpone all races until at least May 3, although there is an intention to still keep all 36 races of this season.
Nascar races can still be seen on television in the United States and Canada, and they are not replays or archival footage. Meanwhile, all kinds of motorsport drivers have taken a seat behind racing wheels and monitors to continue racing, which is broadcast on television. It uses iRacing, a large online racing simulation service for the PC. The degree of realism is high in this game, with the cars and circuits scanned meticulously. All the bumps and cracks of the physical tracks are reflected in the virtual versions. The same goes for the phyics, where for example the virtual orbits change temperature, which influences the behavior of the tires.
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The people behind this game service have entered into agreements with all kinds of racing organizations and have been working well with Nascar for years. The ‘game’ iRacing took the initiative to offer a virtual alternative, which kicked off on the weekend of March 23, with the eNascar iRacing Pro Invitational Series as the first event. Fox Sports broadcast that race in the US and Canada. This television company will also broadcast all subsequent races of this e-sports competition, called Fox Nascar iRacing, on television, including the three commentators of the real Nascar races.
A video in which various drivers tell about their experiences of the first virtual race and show their race setup
According to the Dutchman Nick Thissen, who is involved with iRacing, among other things, in arranging the software that shows the overlays with information on the streams, the broadcast is largely the same as in physical races. “There are usually three or four people working as a ‘cameraman’ and all these camera images enter the video mixer. After this, everything actually works identical to a normal broadcast. For example, there is a director who chooses which camera angle can be seen live and there is a number of people who view and comment on the footage, so the only real difference is that there are no physical cameras, but in-game streams are used.
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The race set-up of Nascar driver Joey Logano (left) and the more professional set-up of Nascar driver Denny Hamlin
All racers participating in this e-sports competition are drivers who are normally in a real Nascar car. According to Thissen, most real drivers say that the virtual racing experience is almost identical to real racing. “And last Sunday you could hear from one of the commentators live on TV that the movements of the steering wheel and the moments when you accelerate are identical to what he was used to from the real car.”
Not every driver is immediately a full-fledged and skilled sim racer. Professional simracers who are experienced, such as Ray Alfalla, are willing to lend the ‘real’ racers a hand help through coaching. And if, despite all the expert advice and training, things still go wrong on the virtual circuit, it is good to know that there is some room to make mistakes. Joey Logano already noted that it was a good thing that he had a few backup cars at his disposal. Dutchman Niel Hekkens, an iRacing simracer and developer, previously explained how this works. “Before this race everyone had two resets. Then you get a new car in the pits. Had they turned this off, they would not be able to continue. I would choose one reset or none at all, but before you completely reset the resets everyone should know what they are doing. “
In fact, they are just exhibition races that are purely for fun and without any real points, prize money or other things. This also means that there is little prescribed and the drivers therefore use very different set-ups. Thissen: “I understood that some had only set these up a few days ago, purely for these races. Some drivers were fans before and can also be found on iRacing ‘just for fun’, so they usually have their own built or bought set-ups. The hardware is not prescribed. I’m guessing there is a lot of variation in which handlebars and pedals are used. Except for the standard anticheat there is no control.
What do the drivers think about it? John Hunter Nemechek says it doesn’t matter that there is no physical driving. “As a rider you just want to race and do laps. We are still a very competitive group by nature and we all want to give a great show to all viewers.” Daniel Suarez admitted he didn’t know what to expect. “I’ve never done iRacing before and knew very little about it. I had an old GT25 simulator, which I bought second-hand about 10 years ago to race on the PlayStation. I had no experience with iRacing, but that is no excuse, because I have done many simulators, such as Toyota Racing Development. ” Suarez states that iRacing is not yet a simulator, but it is very realistic and impressive. He did not yet have hardware to participate in the virtual races and had to borrow a set-up from Toyota. Driver Kyle Busch also had none rig and also had to borrow the equipment, although he hopes to be able to return to the physical race track after about six weeks.
For the time being, the virtual variant is the only option. The Texas Motor Speedway was on the menu this weekend. 27-year-old driver Timmy Hill won the race after becoming its predecessor after one light nudge overtook the rear bumper. “It has not changed because it is now iRacing. I would have done this in real life,” said the winner, who is also a very experienced iRacing player. In the race were also necessary crashes, collisions and slides alongside funny moments, like Clint Bowyer did effort had to find the virtual pit lane.
IndyCar
The American IndyCar has also sought refuge in iRacing. Until May 2, a race takes place every Saturday in the IndyCar iRacing Challenge competition. The first race took place last Saturday from the virtual Watkins Glen in New York State. In this American Red Cross Grand Prix 25 drivers participated who are also behind the wheel in real life and normally almost all compete in the NTT IndyCar Series. Driver Sage Karam knew from pole position to drive to victory. He is a very experienced iRacing player, who already has 165 wins to his name.
Just like the Nascar races, this race at Watkins Glen had plenty of spectacle, such as major collisions with more than two cars and a typical example of a caster’s curse. In doing so, a commentator praised driver Scott Speed’s virtual driving skills, as he lost control of the virtual steering wheel just then and had to resort to one of two available resets. These moments were also accompanied by the necessary enthusiasm of real commentators. The race even had a first: the addition of the Aeroscreen, a protective halo in combination with a kind of windshield. This addition has already been tested in real life, but has yet to be introduced at the first real physical race.
This competition may not have the exposure from the virtual Nascar competition, but the next five races can also be followed on enough channels, including IndyCar.com, the IndyCar platforms on YouTube and Facebook, and via the iRacing Twitch channel.
Visible is the Aeroscreen, the transparent shell of the cockpit.
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formula 1
Formula One management will have thought what Nascar and IndyCar can do. March 22 was the first virtual Formula 1 ‘substitute race’ on the Bahrain circuit. Numerous platforms, social media and forums were enthusiastic about the virtual Nascar and IndyCar races, but the same cannot be said of the virtual alternative to Formula 1. Perhaps this was partly due to the fact that no use was made of iRacing, but of the officially licensed and not so much focused on a hyper-realistic simulation game F1 2019 of Codemasters. According to a tweaker, it was also far from a serious race. “The race itself was really sad, and some drivers had issues with the game. For a driver who had to start at the back, the game crashed before the race, but the bot that took over managed to move from place twenty to a few laps place five. ” This involved British McLaren driver Lando Norris, with the ai bringing him fully back into the race. The next race within the virtual Formula 1 Esports Virtual Grand Prix Series will be held on April 5 at Albert Park in Australia.
The interest of current, professional Formula 1 drivers was not too great, except for the participation of Lando Norris, Nicholas Latifi and former drivers Stoffel Vandoorne, Nico Hülkenberg, Esteban Gutierrez and Johnny Herbert. Furthermore, some simracers, a commentator, golfers and a cyclist participated in the race. Max Verstappen deliberately failed to appear, as a result of which driver Philipp Eng replaced him. The Austrian won the qualification and finished third. Formula 2 driver Guanyu Zhou won the race. Verstappen explained his absence by pointing to his extensive racing experience in another iRacing variant, very different from the significantly less realistic F1 2019. “Because I never play that game and before you understand and understand it a bit, you will be a few days later. Because I am already busy with the other racing games at the moment, I do not feel much for that now. Then you switch too much and that does not work. ” Verstappen also had some joking tips for Norris, such as a lap in reverse and no braking in the first corner.
Key lock
There have been quite a few other races, such as Norris taking on fans in F1 2019. Or called the much more serious sim race competition Real Racers Never Quit, in which only professional drivers such as Verstappen and Norris participate. This competition can be followed via the Team Redline channel. There was also the IMSA Sebring SuperSaturday, which is also used by iRacing and several MotoGP racers showed their virtual motorcycle skills during the first virtual MotoGP exhibition race. In the Veloce Pro Series, professional racers race against experienced e-athletes. This serious championship is hosted by Veloce Esports, which is also behind the NotTheGP races utilizing F1 2019. And the canceled races at the German Nürburgring are now also getting a digital replacement.
This summary is just a few of the many new initiatives and virtual racing events. The current home stay policy puts sim racing in the spotlight more than ever. For drivers like Verstappen and Norris, sim racing is anything but new, but that is certainly not the case for all drivers, who are suddenly participating in all kinds of virtual alternatives that are springing up like mushrooms. E-sports enthusiasts and racing fans have a luxury problem for now.
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