Page 34 - KCRPCA MayJune 2020

SIMS RACING
VIRTUAL RACING
ANY TRACK. ANY CAR. ANY WEATHER. ALWAYS WITH FRIENDS.
EXECUTIVE
VICE PRESIDENT FRED QUINTANA
When the nights get long and the air gets cold, what’s a car guy to do with all his free time? Some
will spend time working on their race car, while others spend
time polishing their Porsche to perfection. Might I suggest sim racing as a fun alternative. Sim racing has been around for years; however, the advent of enhanced track imaging, simulator software, powerful computers, ultra-high resolution monitors, racing seats and steering wheels that rival racing cars have all provided an experience that is very realistic. Couple this with seamless connectivity and you have the ability to compete from anywhere in the world on a wide variety of circuits and your choice of everything from a Yugo to the latest Formula One car. Your only limitation in sim racing is
the amount of time you have to spend and the size of your budget.
A few friends and I decided
to venture into sim racing a
few years ago on the Xbox platform; however, after racing for a while, we found this to be somewhat limiting. Moving to a PC platform has opened doors to infinite car setups, an abundance of tracks, multiple screen setups and full racing simulators, some of which exceed 100k in cost. Yep, that’s right, 100k. We
opted for the somewhat more conservative route and chose simulators that would provide the experience and yet keep the cost down; at least as far as our other half knows. Racing seat; gotta have it. Dual motor force feedback steering wheel with paddle shifters and adjustable pedals; without a doubt. Gaming PC with the best graphics card on
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Der Sportwagen
YEARS