Ashish Narrandes is a young South African racing driver with drive, confidence and nerves of steel. In this opinion piece, he tackles the thorny subject of racing simulators.
Can a racing simulator turn you into a professional racing driver? The truth is, not really. Racing is probably the only sport in the world where the majority have such a big misconception of what it takes to become a professional, or what it takes to actually race a car. You switch on the television and see 20 plus cars "going round in circles" and people think that's all there is to it. However, I promise you it's far more than that.
The majority of drivers start their careers at a young age in karting, and eventually make the transition into cars or single-seaters. But what about those who haven't had karting experience and want to be professional racing drivers? This is where the simulator plays its small role.
What you should also bear in mind is the different racing simulators that you can buy, which range from a couple of hundred rand to hundreds of thousands for the kind that teams in professional championships buy for their drivers, and which are much more realistic than what the average gamer will ever race in.
What can a simulator really teach you?
However for this argument, let's use your basic simulator that the average gamer would use, spending roughly R6000 without a racing seat. Bear in mind that the game you use also plays a huge role in how realistic the experience is.
When racing on a simulator, there is only so much it can teach you.
Most of the time, the track elevation is nothing near to what it's like in real life. A blind corner in reality might appear more visible in a game. You don't feel the g-force or the back kicking out.
The wear of the vehicle, particularly during endurance races, will never be the same in reality as numerous factors determine wear, such as track condition, extent of the damage from a small accident, temperatures and driving style.
However, simulators are great for learning race tracks, understanding what certain set-up changes can do to a car and also learning about the different changes you can make.
Mind and body fitness
But there is so much more to racing than knowing about the track and so on. Professionally, racing drivers are some of the fittest athletes in the world. Fatigue can affect you in races and drop performance dramatically. You have to be training rigorously. In reality, if there is an issue, you have to feel what the car does for each corner of every lap and react to it in order to get the maximum, corner after corner, lap after lap.
If you race in a championship that does not permit pit-stops and you flat spot your tyres under braking, you're going to have to adjust your driving for the remainder of the race. It's a complete mental, physical and emotional experience!
Another huge aspect is braking and taking risks. It's easy to brake a car on a simulator at 300 km/h just 80m from the corner, however try doing that in reality and you're probably going to be braking at the 150m mark, scared you're not going to make the corner. Changing track temperature can also affect grip and how the car is reacting in each corner. The on-track feelings and mindset cannot be replicated on your simulators. If you crash, there is no reset button.
What it really takes
At the end of it all, it's about how badly you want it. How quick do you learn and react to what is happening? Are you willing to go flat-out where others are lifting off? Whether you started your career in karting or on a simulator, it takes understanding, guts, risk taking, sacrifices, precision, concentration, talent and raw speed to be a racing driver. If you don't have these attributes or work on them twice as hard everyday, you're not going to last very long in this sport!
*Ashish started his racing career in the 2012 South African Formula M championship being the only rookie in the series. After a short and impressive stint, he turned his attention to the Formula 4 championship in India where, after his great performances, he was awarded a scholarship drive in the JK Tyre Formula BMW Asia championship. Ashish is currently working on his single-seater career, putting together the necessary funding required to race in Europe.