Arlen It’s time to take off. You think you’ve loaded up the simulator with more than enough gas for your flight. Yet, you overlook fact that climb burn is much higher then cruise burn. You’re watching the engines flame out in the middle of nowhere, twenty miles from runway. Every sim pilot learns this lesson once. … Read more
In sim racing, you turn the wheel and the car doesn’t turn. You crank on it some more and you spin yourself off into grass. And it’s not all about force feedback wheels. Your wheel must physically turn the same as your car in game to make it feel real. If you’ve got something where … Read more
You spun out on lap three, and the penalty cost you ten positions on results page. The penalty costs you ten positions. Your iRating feels out of reach. Before all this happened, though, you were driving well. System just looks at final grid, that’s the disconnect between effort and reward at the heart of competitive … Read more
After a clean stint, there is something about that silence; it feels like a reward for not having done anything wrong. At the end of the day, you have no incidents in a race and you get a little bump up in your stats. And that’s what frustrates so many guys who is trying to … Read more
While most sim racers obsess over the last lap time, which they regard as ultimate judge of their driving skill, raw lap times aren’t necessarily indicative of all that occurred during the session. Because traffic, tire wear, and fuel weight is not taken into consideration, we must draw a distinction between real pace and outside … Read more
The pedal goes down and the car gets heavy. Front tires bite. Nose dives. Rear end wants to step out. This is the lap, if you’ve watched enough racing on TV. Where driver who carry speed through corner separate themselves from those who wind up in gravel trap spinning around. The dance of this moment … Read more
Before you go racing, calculate how much fuel will be consumed between the green flag and finish line, as well as during formation laps, pace laps, and pit entries, to ensure you don’t run out of fuel in the middle of the race. A tool like the calculator can do all the math for you, … Read more
The next thing you notice on a sim as you crest a hill and find yourself with no juice left prior to the braking zone is, “Oh sh,.” The engine scream. The wheels is spinning. You aren’t moving forward. Your simulation has a glitch! Or maybe it doesn’t. Maybe it’s because your gearing are incorrect. … Read more
On a straight section, the car might be stable, but then it loses traction around a corner. Suspension geometry isn’t always responsible for this problem. A car’s aerodynamic forces can shoves too much on the front end, while the rear end gets light. Total downforce figures is less important than their distribution, their balance. Balance … Read more
Your meeting with strategy is over and the green flag flies. You’re on track chasing your lap times as needle on the fuel gauge ticks down. The difference between a frustrating spin and front row finish can be just a handful of laps. You don’t drive hard all race long. Knowing when to make that … Read more
There is a slight vibration on the steering wheel. You push too hard into a corner and slide out more farther than you want. Lap times don’t increase right away; instead, they plateau. The difference between a stellar stint and a poor one are your handling of the rubber connecting the tires to the pavement. … Read more
A sim racer learns when it’s time to pull in. Are you half a second behind leader? Are your tires balding? Your tank empty? Is there time to exit pit road before they wear out? Or should you come in now for a few seconds to get new ones and pick up some time? It’s … Read more