Quote:
Originally Posted by DocWalt
It's interesting you say that specifically because I find myself wanting to race more and practice less. I find that racing is a more realistic challenge because it forces you off the ideal line, not to mention the challenge of looking beyond/through cars for reference points, as well as using more of your mental capacity for managing things like checking mirrors, etc. which is much more of a preparation for real world track time.
That said, training alone in a sim is definitely still a good tool for pushing the limits and figuring out the ideal line. Training is also great for learning to try new things but it can teach bad habits too. For me I really need to look through corners more and keep my eyes up... a bad habit learned from racing with a simulator on a tiny PC monitor.
Sims are definitely a great tool if used appropriately  |
In fact, if you are at the beginning of your simracer career, you'll learn a lot more racing. You will learn less only when you'll be able to cheat physics.
At this point, if you race fixed setup series, you can stay real close to real racing.
The fear of crashing in sim and real life is obviously not the same.
If you crash in an official sim race, there's consequences. That's not on offline Mario kart championship.
To drive a quality race in iRacing. You'll need one week of training for that specific event. You don't want to ruin that.
You may have spent the previous year to get the license to drive that specific series. If you crash, especially if you take someone with you in the crash, you may loose your license and go back to lower level racing.
Obviously you would loose championship points.
Racing behavior in simracing is extremely strict. You have to be very clean. Most F1 drivers would be banned.
If you crash others in simracing, you'll get a hard time.
In real life, the fear is mostly money related. Which is totally different kind of pressure. If a pro driver crash, he can easily loose his job.
There is differences in the way you learn. You can't use 100 tires a day IRL (if you are not a CSG driver apparently
). And you can't learn by going too fast in a corner and slowing down lap after fap.
But in sim, the pressure can be absolutely amazing. In iRacing, you're put in races with guys with the same skills you have. It doesn't matter if you're a noob or Alonso. The opposition is massive and you'll get the pressure.