Tales and tips from a veteran sim racer
Ten years ago this summer, I joined iRacing, partially out of curiosity to see how far sim racing had come during my college years and partially to scratch the itch of being away from virtual driving for so long. My own abilities and equipment — including a half-broken set of Microsoft Sidewinder pedals — were Read more about Ten Best Drives, Part 1: Going Full Circle[…]
As both a driver and a writer, there’s something particularly fulfilling about redemption. Perhaps it’s the satisfaction of achieving goals within a convenient story arc and coming away with something to show for it, whether it’s a good result, the respect of teammates, or the memories made along the way. I’ve spent the better part Read more about Redemption at Risk[…]
On and off the virtual racetrack, this has been a year I’ll remember both for good and bad reasons. In the spirit of holiday samplers that would even make Whitman’s chocolates jealous, one recent weekend was packed with a full year’s worth of those memories and emotions, making it a fitting end to 2018. My Read more about The Ups and Downs of 2018[…]
Move aside, bald eagle. I may have found an even greater story of recovery from the brink of extinction: the Radical Racing Challenge series on iRacing. Okay, maybe comparing a virtual racing competition to the living symbol of our nation’s freedom is a bit heavy-handed, but the change I’ve seen in the past year is Read more about Summer Road Trip, Week 12: Bounce Back[…]
It’s the most difficult car in iRacing, and as I arrived on the scene this week, its future erupted in controversy. It wasn’t my fault, I swear! The iRacing Grand Prix Series, home of the McLaren MP4-30 2015-spec Formula 1 car, is by the very nature of its A-class license level the pinnacle of road Read more about Summer Road Trip, Week 11: Formula One More Time[…]
He was an engineering visionary whose work I’ve witnessed before. Last summer, I got behind the wheel of the virtual Lotus 49 — one of the first Formula 1 cars created by legendary designer Colin Chapman. In the latest stop on my Summer Road Trip, it was time to again see eye to eye with Read more about Summer Road Trip, Week 10: Colin Card[…]
If you believe the stories told about it, the iRacing IndyCar community is the home of tribalistic teams, hyper-protected setups and attempts to steal them anyway, and drama playing out both in the forums and on the track. From the outside, it’s enough to make even an experienced driver think twice before stepping into the Read more about Summer Road Trip, Week 9: Fast Learner[…]
You might say I had a love-hate-love relationship with my latest Summer Road Trip combination. It went from being one of the weeks I most anticipated to one I dreaded, then back to one I enjoyed, all because of a little thing called perspective. Before this season started, I had never driven the Formula Renault Read more about Summer Road Trip, Week 8: Belle Ringer[…]
With some bad driving, bad luck, and bad opponents blotting my experiences with it, the HPD ARX-01c prototype on iRacing has always left something of a bad taste in my mouth. The first time I drove it after the car was released seven years ago, it immediately put me outside of my comfort zone. The Read more about Summer Road Trip, Week 7: Palate Cleanser[…]
Australia is known for its many creatures that bite, sting, or stab, and during my stint in the V8 Supercars last summer, I think I found their automotive equivalents in one of my worst ever sim racing showings. As the last of my six weeks driving GT machinery rolled around this year, I was set Read more about Summer Road Trip, Week 6: Hotlapper[…]