What is Sim Racing?
Sim racing, short for simulation racing, is a niche branch of racing games, that focus on authenticity and realism, delivering a simulation game that delivers as realistic a racing experience as possible, the ultimate objective being to make the game as close to real life as possible. There are games that take this to the various degrees - some that herald themselves for being life-like simulators, with laser-scanned tracks to capture every bump and imperfection in the surface for that ultimate realism, along with industry-leading physics, day-and-night cycles, weather variation (rain/dry etc) and incorporating aquaplaning into their game - but when you spend your time & effort on this, you inevitably cannot provide as many cars and tracks for your game, your resources are allocated elsewhere. There are others that offer a wider range of real life cars and real life tracks, with a focus on excellent graphics, So you have a wide range of choice and really feel like you're sitting in the actual car, or driving round the actual track, but perhaps their driving physics are less life-like.
Many racing drivers choose to complement their real racing with sim racing. A decade or two ago this would seem pointless, because there was so much difference between simulation racing games and the real thing - there was little to learn, besides knowing which way round the track goes, and vague braking points etc. Nowadays, sim racing games offer very authentic models of these tracks, built from the ground up using precise laser scanned models of the real life circuits and cars, so much so that you can practice in a car on track in your racing game, sat in your rig in your bedroom, and then go to the track in real life and sit in the car, and immediately be able to transfer your knowledge picked up from the sim, which reflects in faster lap times.
There is no other sport & esport that shares the same synergy as motorsport & sim racing - look no further than Max Verstappen and Lando Norris for example; both of these drivers are very talented racing drivers racing in Formula 1, the pinnacle of global motorsport and both are regular and outspoken sim racing enthusiasts, and can often be found on iRacing crushing their competition! There is no other sport where your real life professionals are also similarly talented and professional in the esports - premier league footballers aren't FIFA esports players, SAS marksmen aren't Call of Duty esports players, but F1 drivers are in the top ranking sim racing teams! This highlights the true extent of genuinely transferable skills & utility of sim racing, one of the reasons it is so popular already, and continuing to becoming more popular.
Indeed, I personally speak from personal experience, albeit at a lesser level - I have practised tracks like Knockhill, Silverstone and Brands Hatch on the sim, and turned up to the race day (having never visited the circuit previously),and immediately been lapping the real track at a good pace up with the front runners. When you consider that most circuits are usually hundreds of miles away from people (you usually have one or two that are local, but most will be far from you as they're scattered around the country), this prior knowledge gained from the sim is absolutely invaluable. You can jump in the same any time and practice as many laps as you need to. Track days and test sessions in real life are expensive and time-limited, so you might get 20 laps in a stint, whereas on the sim you can hot lap to your heart's content again and again, for as long as you want. Furthermore, it's much nicer to practice finding a limit in your sim, and spinning out/crashing on there, where a simple click of a reset button is your refresh switch. In real life, if you bin in the car into the barrier, there is no reset switch - you just get a hefty bill and hang your head in shame, as the day is over.
A lot of general gamers who aren't familiar with sim racing may think sim racing is an umbrella term for all racing games - Mario Kart, Need for Speed, Burnout etc - now that's not to say sim racers will not also play games like these, as they offer a much more relaxed and leisurely driving experience, but specifically a sim racer's real interest is the authentic, hardcore simulation racing games that get you a driving experience as close to reality as possible.
There's never been a better time to get started on sim racing than now! There are a plethora of quality simulation games, covering various formulae like GT racing, single seater racing, drifting, rallying, touring cars etc, and there's Lots of hardware like wheels, pedals, rigs etc that Replicate the feeling of being in the cockpit of a real racing car. Furthermore, some racing is a very social experience, where are you either racing teams or with friends - Although when the red mist sets upon you, it doesn't matter whether it's your own mother in the other car, you want to win!
