Sim Racing - Bring The Open Road, To Your Home

The Circuit Breaker measures must have left many of our readers craving to just take their beloved rides out for a leisurely cruise to soak in the scenery, and to just enjoy driving for what it is. But with the government recommending you stay indoors and only leaving the house for essentials, you’ve got to wait a couple more weeks before you can take to the open road again. Unless of course, there’s a way to bring the open roads to you.

Enter the world of Sim Racing. It has exploded in popularity in recent years, with racing serieses the world over taking a slice of that e-sports pie by organising their own competitions online.

Unfortunately, due to the similiarity in the content, various arcade racing games, and titles such as Need For Speed, or Forza Horizon, have sullied the image and legitimacy of Sim Racing as a whole. The aforementioned definitely aren’t simulators, and do not have the realism, from a car, track and physics standpoint, that real-life competition drivers rely on for training purposes. In fact, simulators have been used as a training tool for real life competition drivers for a number of years now, only made possible as simulators can accurately represent the sensations and physics of an actual vehicle that a driver can depend on for car and track familiarisation.



Simulators can teach you a lot about racing as a whole, such as how to use the throttle or the brakes to manipulate the trajectory of the vehicle, instead of solely relying on the steering wheel. These were skills that you could once only pick up competitively karting, though top sim racers have proved that you can pick up the same skill set, and use it to compete professionally in real life.

If these sound appealing to you, you’ll be relieved to find that you don't need a whole lot of cash to get started. Sure, the most realistic sims with the most realistic of hardware can cost you tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of dollars, but if you're just looking at getting your feet wet, a couple of hundred bucks can give you a fairly decent representation of Sim Racing.

Photo: Logitech

A used wheel from Logitech’s G series is a good place to start. There are currently 4 wheels in that range, from the oldest G25, to the latest G920. All 4 wheels are compatible with the PC, the the G25 and G27 being PS3 compatible as well, and the G29 and G920 being compatible with the PS4 and Xbox One respectively. Only the G25 and G27 come with a H-Pattern shifter, though the shifter itself is fairly lacklustre. All Logitech wheels come with 3 pedals, with the later 2 wheels coming with uprated brake springs for a more accurate brake feel. Mechanically, the wheels are largely identical, though the G29 and G920 does come with some key reliability upgrades.

Photo: Thrustmaster

Thrustmaster’s T300 or T500 is a good step-up from the Logitech lineup. These produce significantly more torque, which makes them a better fit for drifting or rallying as they have enough power to self-steer without assistance, and are of a higher resolution as well. These wheels have been around for a number of years now, and Thrustmaster themselves have produced higher end wheels, which has lead to lower used prices of the T300 and T500 as users upgrade. With the T500, you get 3 pedals by default. With the T300, whether or not you get your clutch pedal depends on the variant that you are getting, so do check before you buy. Regardless, even with their higher spec pedals, as well as their own conical brake mod, they still do not feel as nice as the updated Logitech pedals.

Photo: Fanatec

Fanatec is the only mainstream manufacturer to really produce a true plug-and-play, pro-grade wheel. There are many smaller Sim Racing manufacturers out there churning out Direct Drive wheels loosely based on industrial motors, but they leave u to sort out a wheel and pedal solution. Direct Drive wheels are what you’d find in the simulators used by professional racing teams, and as its name implies, the wheels are directly driven, meaning the output shaft of the motor is connected directly to the steering wheel itself. This means increased resolution, as well as speed, feedback and raw power, as nothing is lost through the gear or belt driven setups in the Logitech and the Thrustmaster respectively. Fanatec offers not only a DD wheelbase, but they have all manner of steering wheels, and pedals to suit your needs too. They are the only manufacturer on this list to equip their brake pedal with a load cell, which measures braking by force applied instead of pedal travel like the lower end wheels.


Photo: Iracing

Yet another topic of controversy, as loyalists would lobby against other, what they’ve deemed as inferior, sims. Though, undeniable, if you’re after super accurate cars and laser-scanned tracks, and budget is of no concern, then Iracing is your best bet. You pay for a monthly subscription, and you pay for the cars and the tracks that you want as needed. This is the very program used by most professional race drivers on their personal set-ups. Do note that you do not have the ability to add mods to this title.


Photo: Assetto Corsa

Assetto Corsa is more affordable. The successor to this title does come with laser scanned tracks, and the car models themselves are fairly accurate, though some believe it lacks a little compared to Iracing. Still, this is the Sim of choice for drifters and GT racers, helped by the vibrant modding community. This is the only sim with some open world maps, created by modders for the sole purpose of chill cruising.


Photo: Rfactor

Another popular simulator is Rfactor. It is the software that F1 teams use for training purposes, though sourcing reputable and realistic mods can be a huge hassle. An alternative is to try out a simulator with the same physics engine as Rfactor, but that comes already pre-bundled with cars and tracks. Enter Race07. It uses the same ISI-physics engine as Rfactor, but being the official WTCC game, already comes with cars and tracks from the 2007 & 2008 WTCC season. This is also the cheapest sim on this list by far!

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Credits: Jek Ray Low