James Allen on F1 has published a very interesting article, following two Formula One fans as they got the rare chance to sample a professional-grade simulator.
Contestant winners Joe Consiglio and Sean Craddock got to visit??Base Performance Simulators in Banbury, UK, run by Darren Turner. Darren is not just an active race car driver for Aston Martin Racing but he also has tremendous experience with simulators, being the man responsible for three Formula One team simulators, including the one from Mclaren Mercedes from 1999 to 2006.
While both contestants have experience with racing games, Joe is a full-blown sim racer and brought plenty of rFactor experience to the mix. After starting out with a Formula Renault, they moved to a Formula 3 car and finally the virtual version of the GP2 car in which Joe managed to get as close as four-tenths to Darren Turner’s time at Silverstone.
???It was a totally fantastic experience. It is totally different from what I feel at home,??? Joe commented. ???The forces you feel through the wheel and the mental concentration is another step. I???m used to doing a 90 minute race every Thursday night. But even doing a 10 lap run around Silverstone in a GP2 car, I couldn???t believe how mentally tiring it was. I was just thinking ???Don???t make a mistake!???
But even though the simulator proved to be much more challenging and demanding than sim racing at home, the virtual preparation paid of for both drivers as they managed to impress their famous driving coach:
???They both did a fantastic job,??? Turner said. ???Joe does some online gaming with R Factor, but his feeling for what???s going on was good. He was only 4/10ths slower than me, which is fantastic.”
For more quotes and background info on their stunning experience, make sure to check out the excellent article on James Allen on F1.
