der Bayerische July/August 2020 - 17

A LT E R N AT E R E A L I T Y - T H E F U T U R E O F V I R T U A L D R I V I N G A N D S I M U L AT I O N R A C I N G
more drivers within NCC and hope to
roll out a formal program at the
national level soon. We are currently
working closely with the national
office and updating them on the
progress of our events each week.
We currently have as many as 12
weeks of races planned at this time
and we will start a formal league, a
second season in the wintertime, and
potentially add prizes and incentives
to winners each week as well as the
season champion. It would be great
to be able to participate in a
competition with different chapters,
and even with BMW clubs in other
countries. I think the possibilities are
endless with sim racing as we get
used to this new norm. I hope to see
many of you out there!
See our schedule at https://
www.nccbmwcca.org/iracing-2/
For more information, please
email me at simracing@nccbmw
cca.org

(Above) Inside the virtual iRacing cockpit of the BMW M8 GTE.
brings forth all the adrenaline and
emotions while trying not to screw
up! The pace car exits the track, the
light goes green, and we are all diving
for the first turn! Sometimes chaos
ensues just like in the real racing and
someone will spin out, lock up
brakes, crash, or bump other cars.
Those who survive the carnage start
to form a line, things settle down a bit,
and we are on to some real racing
action for the next 30 minutes. So far,
the race has been pretty clean and we
want to emphasize "good clean fun"
and being courteous to others. Since
it's a real racing program, you can get
penalized if you do something wrong
intentionally, and you can get
disqualified if you are not careful.
It's a friendly competition - not a
demolition derby. We plan to rotate
across all the famous tracks in the
USA for our 12 NCC races for the
summer.
iRacing Leagues
In the past five weeks or so I have
been actively participating in multiple
racing leagues in iRacing. I'm driving
in multiple races per week with

July I August

different cars, and continue to
practice in between, so it keeps me
quite busy after work! It can be fun,
but it can also be really frustrating.
Things can go wrong in milliseconds
and it can be devastating, especially
for an unforgiving car like the M8.
I'd say that after simply practicing by
myself for the past two years, which
has helped me tremendously in my
HPDE driving, the past five weeks of
iRacing has accelerated my driving to
a whole new level. I find myself
being very consistent throughout the
lap and driving more smoothly.
What's nice about sim racing, unlike
driving your own car, you can go as
hard as you want. Even if you crash,
nothing will happen to you other than
poor lap times. I'm still seconds
away from the top drivers, but it has
provided me with invaluable skills
and experiences that I may not
replicate in real life or which may
take long time to achieve. The variety
of racing situations that were thrown
at me have helped me become a
better driver. I can see why pro
drivers swear by sim racing and the
importance of honing one's skills.

The Future of NCC iRacing
Even though we started somewhat
late compared to other car clubs, we
want to build a consistent fan-base
and reach out to as many members
as possible. Anyone can join and it
is open to all skill levels. In terms of
future direction, we want to attract
(Above Right) When Scott is not living in the virtual racing world, he
enjoys driving his M3 CS the way it was meant to be driven: on the track.
Photo by Clutchfoto. (Below) iRacing the BMW M8 GTE on Summit
Point Main.

https://www.nccbmwcca.org/iracing-2/ https://www.nccbmwcca.org/iracing-2/

der Bayerische July/August 2020

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