Tales and tips from a veteran sim racer
Some racing drivers have found immediate success in their sports’ biggest races, while others have waited a lifetime to taste victory. There’s Daytona 500 rookie sensation Trevor Bayne, contrasting with Dale Earnhardt and his 20 years of trying. The pack of four-time Indy 500 winners – Foyt, Unser, Mears, and Castroneves – have enjoyed a Read more about Heartbreak Hill[…]
Fourteen years ago, I started a ride to satisfy a sim racing craving. After racing online and offline with games like Papyrus’ NASCAR Racing 3 all throughout high school, a busier schedule and cramped dorm rooms in college forced me to take a break. But after graduating, I felt the desire to race again, and Read more about An Anniversary Adventure[…]
The lens of history tends to be rose-colored. Selective memory – or remembering the good times while forgetting the bad ones – is a curious side effect of nostalgia, and it helps explain why it’s such a powerful feeling. It’s true for race fans, who often long for the way things once were while ignoring Read more about A Throwback Performance[…]
The top-level of global prototype racing has been an exclusive club in recent years, with only a few manufacturers fielding LMP1 cars in the FIA World Endurance Championship, and at times just the Toyotas driving competitively and reliably enough to win. More recently, the Hypercar class felt more like Overhyped, with only five entries in Read more about A Speedy Sendoff[…]
Time, and life, seem to race by faster than we can imagine. That hit me after turning 35 earlier this year. Only five years from forty, with the first streaks of gray appearing in my hair, I realized that I’ve been an adult for almost half of my life now. It seems like I took Read more about The Speed of Life[…]
It’s a remedy to the modern road course. A return to racing circuit greatness by combining some of the greatest corners out there. And it exists only in my imagination. No, I’m not the first person to piece together a fantasy racetrack from existing elements. Formula 1 drivers including Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo have Read more about My Perfect Circuit[…]
Sometimes in life, the most momentary mistakes can have the longest-lasting consequences. An offhand remark that hurts a friend’s feelings. A secret revealed that breaks someone’s trust. Or in the sim racing world, a slight miscalculation that shatters your own confidence. For my teammate Karl and me, we’ve each dealt with the latter, and at Read more about Sweet Seventeen[…]
Prior to yesterday’s iRacing Petit Le Mans, it had been six months since the last endurance race that I entered, eight months since the last one I drove in, and a year and a half since the last one that my longtime teammate Karl and I actually finished. A crash at the hands of a Read more about The Complete Opposite[…]
The very first night of a new iRacing season may be a bit early to declare superlatives, but after six months away from any competitive sim racing, my comeback drive of the season came right on time in my return to action. My sabbatical was borne mostly out of real-life relief, with Covid restrictions lifted Read more about Comeback of the Season[…]
At least on iRacing, I have never really had a win-at-all-costs mindset. While some may see it as a character strength, maintaining the perspective that “it’s just a game” after all, it has often proven to be a weakness. I nearly lost my first Power Series championship by not making a slide job on the Read more about Time to Win Again[…]