Can A Video Game Make You Into An Elite Race Driver?

iRacing is an extremely realistic racing simulator. Its top driver won $10,000, despite never driving over 100 mph in real life. Top Gear put him in an open-wheel racer to see if digital skills translate to real racing prowess.

[kudakadere]

I have naver played iRacing, but iam physicaly fit and iam good at GT and Forza , ill take note of this and ill put may skills to the test.

[CombineElite]

Most fighter pilots train in very realistic simulators but then they go through physical training and g-force simulators before strapping on a real fighter jet so in turn this same principal could apply to gamers if the physical part is simulated as well.

Being good at GT or Forza doesn't mean squat when your actually racing real drivers from all over the world for Money. Iracing League is Hardcore gaming, it may look fun but these gamers train hard for this. think of it as Starcraft but on a race track.

[toaster]

People don't play Racing sims to have a jolly good time, they play it to beat their best track times by milliseconds. PC sims like iRacing are much more of a hardcore simulator than the console sims.

[MAJ0R]

yeah people don't fuck around when it comes to iRacing

[Bereaver]

I'd totally be on top of it if I wasn't living in Shanghai and it was free to play with pay to play championships.

[Bolts]

GT5 fans need to try iRacing and Rfactor to understand what a racing sim actually IS. Compared to iRacing GT5 seems like an arcade game. These are real sims where you don't have to "level up" get collision damage. Driving in these sims is extremely hard compared to GT5, the track is laser scanned to model every bump and physics are insane. GT5 physics is too arcade like and forgiving, your car has no weight and the collision with rails along the track has zero physic consequence other than slowing you down. If you hit objects around the track in the PC sims at high speed it'll spill you all over the road.

[Hideo_Kojima]

When you crash in iRacing your car is totaled and vanishes to thin air... http://www.youtube.com/watc...

If GT5 was like that people would bitch and cry that its unrealistic.

FFS people are idiots.

[Ducky]

Guntrol, thats the netcode (or possibly people's connections) being funky.
Not exactly the crashing that's to blame.

[Speed-Racer]

I would say yes and no. It's a start but you can jump into a car and burn laps around nurburgring without prior training in real life. nonetheless...games like iracing and rfactor are used as part of real simulators... I think Redbull uses rFactor... or it it lotus...hmm cant remmeber

[Si-Fly]

Guess you haven't seen the Redbull simulator on YouTube then, I think iracing pales in comparison to that lol!

Having said that, many F1 drivers admit to playing GT and pc sims for fun, wonder what their gamertags are ...

[Speed-Racer]

*sigh* ... They use a game called Racer... just remembered. So technically your argument holds no water. Yes I have seen it, that was actually the reference I couldnt remember.

[Si-Fly]

A game called Racer?! Errr, no, it's not a game! You are hilarious.

[Speed-Racer]

Obviously you comment without prior knowledge. Back to the dungeon ignorant one.

http://racer.nl/ Read up and shut up.

[Si-Fly]

Like I said, 'Racer' is not a game you muppet! It's simulation software.

[Speed-Racer]

*sigh* your defense is so weak, grasping at technicalities in the hope that you feel like you have had the last say. Now go back to your troll dungeon and feed of someone else.

[Sidewinder-]

That's what i call the 'real deal'.

[256bit]

so all you COD players still want to go to iraq?

[Mmmkay]

i'm getting a summer job in somalia.

[PS360PCROCKS]

makes sense, half the battle of racing is the knowledge of when to brake, accelerate etc...

[Capdastaro]

not with a game and a wheel even with force feedback you don't feel the road and all bumps and wind resistance which changes all to your approach dramatically, even those multi million pound simulators only can replicate so much

I drive a 1966 land rover and you really do need to know how to drive it like when I go around a roundabout I can feel when I'm going to fast around it in a game you wouldn't feel it tilting and the wheels bouncing and you would topple over

[Kastanaras]

iRacing makes GT5 and Forza 3 look like arcade racers. Everytime I see someone mention the word Simulator with either console game I just laugh.

[crillinFLIP337]

Videogames helped me pass my drivers test! Ok maybe not but they sure didn't hurt either

[sak500]

NO