In Norris’s case, there is also the knowledge of the game built up, going some way to explaining his success: “I would love to see my hours spent on iRacing! I don’t know if I should be proud of it or embarrassed!” It’s quite realistic, the physics are near real-life.” “I expect all of these guys to be at the front on iRacing. “If you don’t have the hours behind you, you don’t know the tricks and tips, and you’re not going to be at the front,” said sim racer Baldwin, whose recent success in Esports has seen him secure a drive in the GT World Challenge Europe series for 2020 with Jenson Button's Team Rocket RJN squad. Much as drivers get better with every lap and race in the car on-track, those spending the majority of their time racing these games and simulations are able to build up a bank of experience that is difficult to fast-track. What sets the sim racers apart from their real-world counterparts is simply game time. Veloce eEsports Pro Series Race screenshot Norris took a dominant victory in the opening race from pole, going lights-to-flag, while ex-Ind圜ar racer Ed Jones and SUPER GT/Super Formula driver Sacha Fenestraz were other front-runners. Proof of this came in the Veloce Pro Series event one week after the Bahrain race, which was run on iRacing, widely regarded as the most comprehensive sim platform.

'For new people coming in, those things can easily be one or two tenths per lap, and that’s quite a lot of lap time come the end of a normal lap.” “For F1 2019 more than anything, there’s a lot of little things you have to know about than for others. “There are little tips and tricks you’ve got to know for them,” said Norris. It’s for that reason Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, himself a prolific sim racer, has ruled out taking part in any events using the official F1 game. It is marketed to be more of an arcade-style game than a perfectly-accurate simulation, meaning there are certain ways to gain lap time that simply wouldn’t work in reality. One factor that explains the lack of success for professional drivers in these events is the platform: the F1 2019 video game. Vettel takes delivery of first sim racing rig.F1 drivers raise $70,000, as Leclerc wins charity Esports title.

While Norris was able to take victory this time around, YouTuber Benjamin ‘Tiametmarduk’ Daly managed to make it all the way to the final, knocking out Latifi, sportscar racer Archie Hamilton and F3 driver David Schumacher along the way. W Series champion Jamie Chadwick also suffered an early exit at the hands of YouTuber Will 'WillNE' Lenney.

How to become a professional sim racer