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Sim-racing: definition

The word sim-racing is made up of two words: “simulation” and “racing,” it’s a category of video games for consoles and PCs that groups all titles that deal primarily with the simulation of motor racing.

Video game fans will be familiar with titles such as Forza, Gran Turismo, Need For Speed, Dirt, and many more. These games are trendy because they’ve been around for many years and have significantly evolved. For example, the Need For Speed series is well known for its arcade-style games, where fun is the game’s name. Here, you don’t have to worry about your car because the only thing that counts is first place on the podium. Other video game series are the opposite of NFS, such as Gran Turismo and Forza Motorsport, with titles much more focused on realism and racing simulation.

The main aim of sim racing is to offer an immersive and faithful motor racing experience but on the small screen. As a result, numerous players and peripheral manufacturers have taken the sim-racing market by storm, offering products that blur the line between simulation and reality. We’ll look at this point in more detail later.

Types of simulation

In sim-racing, there are three primary schools of thought:

The arcade type is the entry ticket to the virtual motorsport discipline. Here, the basic principle is to have fun and pass the time by driving exotic cars as fast as possible on freeways, country roads, and even in town. We have several top-rated titles in the arcade category of sim-racing, including Need For Speed and Forza Horizon. With these games, you’ll have access to a wide selection of cars, each more beautiful than the last, with the possibility of upgrading and customizing them, all set in breathtaking environments (especially on Forza) and sprinkled with a rhythmic soundtrack. There’s no need to worry about the condition of your car, as it doesn’t take any damage, except perhaps cosmetic damage.

The sim-arcade genre is more advanced than the arcade because you have titles that take up motorsport competitions like F1. Unlike NFS and Forza, you must care for your driving, vehicle, and season in sim-arcade games. The most popular titles are Gran Turismo, Forza Motorsport, and F1 2022 (as in other years). In the sim arcade, drivers must manage fuel, tires, engine, bodywork, etc. Fine drivers and strategists will be rewarded with guaranteed victories but still with room to maneuver. Oh yes, if it’s too complicated, no one will want to play it, and that’s only logical.

The simulation type is the best for aspiring racers, and it’s on titles like Asseto Corsa and iRacing that real racing drivers train. For this guy, it’s simple: a digital retranscription of what you’d find in an actual car race. You’ve got qualifying, damage and car management, fine-tuning of suspension, brakes, tires, and the whole shebang. And I’m not even talking about the physics of the cars, which are identical to the real thing: the vehicles behave as if you were behind the wheel at full throttle at Monza. Simulation racing is the ultimate in sim racing, and aspiring drivers turn to the titles in this category.

The most popular sim-racing brands

Like Apple and Samsung in the smartphone market, some trendy sim-racing brands occupy three distinct segments. You have the entry/mid-range segment, with manufacturers like Logitech and Thrustmaster offering inexpensive products designed to give you good value for money on arcade or even sim-arcade titles. This segment is characterized by reasonably old-fashioned technologies, notably corrode/gear drive bases, which do the trick for the average rider looking for fun.

One notch above, we have the mid/high-end segment with brands such as Fanatec, Moza Racing, and Simagic offering premium peripherals with very high immersion and advanced driving realism. These peripheral manufacturers are world-renowned, and their products are highly regarded in the industry, with a large fan base worldwide and experienced racers turning to them most often. These brands offer products that are, admittedly, more expensive than Logitech and TM but are still relatively affordable for what you get in return. Regarding technology, you’ve got the best: Direct Drive base, Load Cell Pedals, aluminum steering wheel, and so on.

Finally, we have the brands that operate in the very high-end segment, with players like Simucube and Heusinkveld representing, as far as I’m concerned, the top manufacturers of sim-racing peripherals. Here, the watchwords are realism and sensations, with no limits. These manufacturers use premium materials for their products and invest heavily in research and development to create new technologies that push back the frontier between virtual and reality. As for price, it’s expensive – costly. With Simucube and Heusinkveld, you can quickly get a device costing over €1,000, and a complete setup will cost you an arm and a leg. But that’s the price for the best sim-racing products, like an active pedalboard with a motor simulating the force needed to brake.

Sim-racing setups

A sim-racing setup comprises all the peripherals you need to race on the small screen. For a standard format, you’ll need a steering wheel, a base, and a pedalboard to participate in the races in a somewhat immersive way.

• Standard setups. You’ll need a base, a steering wheel, and a 2- or 3-pedal pedal board to race. These setups are standard because they include the essential peripherals for sim racing.
  
• Specialized setups. These are setups specially designed for a particular motorsport discipline, such as F1, GT3, rallying, etc. These setups include discipline-specific steering wheels, a pedalset with 2 or 3 pedals, a shifter, a handbrake, a dashboard, RevLEDs, and more. Customization has no limits on these setups except for the rider’s needs and the ecosystem he’s on. For example, Fanatec’s ecosystem is highly customizable, with numerous compatible peripherals from the brand’s catalog.
  
• Advanced setups. Advanced setups are based on the specialized ones and add a cockpit (standard or dynamic simulators), monitors, several brackets, and so on. This is the ultimate in sim-racing regarding immersion, products, and realism. Thanks to specific cockpits, you can also have so-called “hybrid” setups perfect for two motorsport disciplines, such as F1 and GT.