Latest / BREAK/FIX the Motorsports & Vehicle Enthusiast Variety Show / Screen to Speed No.41: Emma Galasso's debut Episode!

Transcript

Screen to Speed No.41: Emma Galasso's debut Episode! · BREAK/FIX the Motorsports & Vehicle Enthusiast Variety Show

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Welcome to Screen to Speed powered by INIT Esports.
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In this podcast, we dive into the journeys of remarkable individuals,
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making waves in sim racing, and bridging the virtual with the real.
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From the thrill of digital circuits to the roar of real life racetracks, we explore
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the passion, Dedication and innovation that drives the world of motorsports.
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We'll hear from athletes, creators, and pioneers sharing their stories,
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insights, and the powerful ways sim racing is connecting communities and
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creating pathways into motorsports.
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So buckle up, Screen to Speed starts now.
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Hey everybody!
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Welcome to InnoTalks.
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I'm Emma Glassa.
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This is my first time hosting InnoTalks.
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I was a guest twice.
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Um, and I have Axe here with me.
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It's going to be a great talk, but please bear with me as this is my first one.
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So, we're going to see how this goes.
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Um, alright, so.
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Uh, Axe, talk a little bit about, um, you know, kind of your journey
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in sim racing so we can get an idea.
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Of who you are, um, what you bring to Inox, what you do in your day to day, and
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also being that we're both in the us, um, what's your experience been in the us?
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Yeah, so my first experience with eSports and racing in general was when
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my dad, when I used to play grants remote two on the PS two at school.
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Um, I would just do that 'cause I didn't really have many friends in school, so
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it was something I could do on my own.
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I just kind of would just sit down and I would just set the
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fastest lap every single time.
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And then, I think like 2011, when the PS3 came out, my dad
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bought Gran Turismo, uh, 5.
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Because that track had the top gear circuit on it.
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And at the time, I was really into top gear, top gear and that sort of thing.
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Um, because I just I love the way that they presented the show.
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It was just so visually stunning.
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Um, yeah.
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And then since then I've been playing more like lots and lots of grinds, Gran
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Turismo, and it's kind of the way I kind of, when I come home from school, it's
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kind of the way I relax a little bit.
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Um, sim racing has kind of been a bit of a escape for me from some
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of the bullying that I've kind of faced, uh, in the real world.
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And it kind of gave me something to kind of work towards in that sort of thing.
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Well, I totally can understand how that can kind of help you
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as an escape kind of thing.
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I remember when I was in middle school and high school, I mean,
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for me, it was playing Pokemon.
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People did not think that Pokemon was cool back in those days.
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But, you know, when you practice things like that or do things that
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really Excite you and are really cool.
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Um, in your opinion, sometimes, you know, Now Pokemon is really cool and
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everyone's Everyone's all about it.
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And you've had all this time to kind of catch up.
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So thanks, thanks for sharing that.
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Um, I did have a question for, so for Gran Turismo, were you using
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controller or did you have a wheel?
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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So I started out on controller, uh, with the PS2 and the PS3.
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Um, and then like through the PS4 when I eventually upgraded to the
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PS4, uh, I raised on controller and actually recently this year,
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2023 is when I got my first wheel.
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Uh, it's a Logitech G29, pretty basic.
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Um, I got it on sale through B& H for 250.
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Um, and I, at the time, I had a kitchen table back there, uh, which
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I hooked the wheel up to the table, and I had the pedals on the floor.
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But the problem was I was using this chair, and so every time I'd hit the, I'd
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hit the brake, my chair would slide out.
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And so that was, uh, I had to do a lot of, uh, gear rigging with it.
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But, yeah, that's kind of how I kind of got more serious with it.
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Nice.
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Yeah, I started with a G29 as well.
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Um, I was lucky enough to be gifted my current setup as a Fanatec setup.
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Otherwise, I would still be using a G29.
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I really feel like it's, it's underrated.
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Um, I know a bunch of people who are super fast just using a G29, but
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totally get the, uh, chair situation.
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I kind of had the opposite problem.
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I, I bought, like, a stand on Amazon to hold my wheel, and every time I, Pushed
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on the wheel because I apparently pushed on the wheel it knocked the whole thing
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forward Oh, no, we had a a good time with that So you do are you're still
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on the ps4 now, or do you do any PC?
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I just upgraded to a ps5 this year and my dad actually custom
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built me a sim rig Awesome.
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Oh, yeah, he built it out of PVC piping.
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My dad used to be a carpenter And he's a firefighter, so he's pretty handy.
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Uh, so he literally custom built it to my size.
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So he has, I put a, he put a jeg seat in there, um, a wooden base plate for the
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wheels, for the wheel and the pedals.
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So it's really steady, and it's nice because I can just recline my seat
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back when I'm playing other games, and it's like I'm laying down.
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Awesome.
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That's super nice.
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It's really nice.
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Sometimes I sit in my, my Uh, stand by.
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Oh, yeah.
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Mom, I'm on the, I'm doing the internet.
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I'm doing the interview.
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Go.
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Sorry, that's my mom.
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It's all good, hey mom.
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I was doing a live stream for, I did the Ferrari Esports Challenge this year, and
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my dad, I told my dad, I was like, Please dad, don't walk behind me while I'm in the
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middle of my race, and Jesse walked behind me in the But it's all part of the fun.
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That's what, you know, stream reads all about.
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Um, okay.
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So on the PS5 now, that's pretty cool.
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I actually, I still only have a PS4, but mine is basically a
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Netflix machine at this point.
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Sorry to PlayStation.
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Um, so let's talk about, have you done any competitions, um, either
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through in it or screen to screen that you'd like to talk about?
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Yeah.
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My first like really big one was the winter was the winter cup.
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Um, which I didn't place very well because my 1st time doing that, but the spring cup
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is where I kind of picked up where I kind of picked up momentum and I finished 10th.
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So, that was.
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That was kind of like my first big kind of entrance into large scale sim racing.
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So can you tell us really quick what game that was on and what car you
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drove, just so people have like an idea?
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Yeah, so that was the, that was in Gran Turismo 7, and I was driving a Porsche
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911 RSR, which is kind of my go to car.
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Nice.
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Um, all my cars look exactly the, look pretty much the same.
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They all have a purple livery on them.
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Nice.
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Um, yeah, it was kind of my first time really, Like really thinking
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through Like kind of what my identity is for my cars and stuff.
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Awesome Yeah, livery design is one of my favorite things about sim racing.
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Um Are all your liveries just that same purple or is there anything you've
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custom designed like artwork wise?
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Uh, yeah, so what i'd like to do is I like to play a lot with like
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the fair carbon look too Um a lot of times I like to put a lot of um
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film making related stuff on there.
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So like different brands My, kind of my signature is every car has the color bar
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somewhere on the car and the PBS logo because I currently work for PBS, PBS
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Milwaukee, um, so it's kind of like a little nod to like film and also kind
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of my station and stuff like that.
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Could you explain to people who might not know what a color bar is, what
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that is and what the significance is?
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Yeah, so a car, a color bars is like if you ever seen like comedy and they cut to.
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It's basically like, it basically looks like a bunch of
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colorful lines on the screen.
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Uh, that's called a color bar, and it usually has what's called tone.
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And it's that really annoying high pitched, like, screech.
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Um, and so I put that on there because it's kind of, it's kind of a joke,
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um, where it's like, uh, speeding, where you'd say speeding if you're
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rolling tape or something like that.
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Uh, so it's kind of like a play on words a little bit.
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Nice.
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Yeah, they still use, um, so for anyone watching who might not know.
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Um, both of us have worked in the film industry.
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I don't work in the film industry anymore, but they still say speeding
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every time they're about to start a take when they're rolling sound.
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So that's a really clever, uh, thing.
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So yeah, and I'm honestly, uh, as you can see behind me, I'm, I'm a Portia fan.
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I also work for them, so it's pretty, it's pretty cool to
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see those scars in real life.
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But if you've seen, um, There's Purple Sky Metallic is a color on Porsche's,
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um, particularly the Taycan Turbo GT, and Purple Sky Metallic is pretty cool
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if you haven't seen that car before.
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Um, okay, so the Spring Cup, you said Spring Cup and Winter Cup was your first,
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or was the That was my, those, the winter was my first and the spring was my second.
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Okay.
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Do you have a memorable race from either season that really stuck out to you?
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Yeah.
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Oh my God.
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Uh, Suzuka in the rain, man.
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That was the, I think that was in the winter.
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I'm not sure, but it was either winter or spring.
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And that was a crazy race because I was driving the Porsche 911, which of
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course is rear wheel drive rear engine.
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So I was.
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just fighting that car through the corners.
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And this was before I had my actual rig.
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So I was in this chair and I was just trying to opposite lock this
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car through 130R because all of a sudden, of course, telephony physics,
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uh, decided it's time to go drifting.
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And so I slid that through the corner, but I somehow saved it just, just
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in time to get behind fifth place.
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And so that was a really memorable race.
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And also of course, um, of course, uh,
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Of course, Red Bull Ring in the rain as well.
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Um, they really like rain races during the split.
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I was gonna say, there's a lot of rain.
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I don't think I've ever Well, I have done a couple of rain races
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in iRacing, but I don't think I've ever done it in Gran Turismo before.
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Yeah, it's pretty crazy in Gran Turismo, because especially at the time I was
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using a PS4, and the weather system between PS4 and PS5 is pretty different.
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So, like, the conditions for the rain when I was practicing were
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way different than the actual race.
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And so I was like, okay, I got this in practice and then the race started and
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everything I had in my brain melted.
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Yeah, I would say I did the Global Esports Games Qualifier in ACC within it.
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And I had kind of the same thing.
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I've been practicing at CODA.
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And I was, I felt like, you know, really, really good and then qualifying, I was
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three seconds off the pace that I'd done, and I even tried to replicate
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the weather conditions and everything and it just didn't, didn't bode well
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for me, so I totally understand that.
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Um, so let's talk about what your goals are for the future in sim racing.
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Is it driving?
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Is it making liveries?
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Is it both of them?
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Videography?
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What is it?
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Yeah, so, uh, for those who don't know, I am currently studying
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broadcasting at a local tech college and, um, my plan is I want to somehow
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combine driving with videography.
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So I'm thinking like I'll do races and then on the side, I'll work as like a
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camera operator or something like that.
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Because I love anytime I can get behind the wheel is awesome for me.
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Larry Chen is a big inspiration for me, uh, because he does both driving and
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also photography and videography as well.
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So anything that involves, like, driving and filming at
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the same time is really cool.
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I thought about maybe becoming, like, um, a technocrane driver.
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So if you've ever seen behind the scenes films, it's a car and then
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it has, like, a big arm on the end of it with a camera on it.
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Um, I thought about getting training with that.
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Eventually, um, but yeah, currently I'm kind of trying to figure out
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kind of which direction I want to go, whether narrative or broadcast.
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But yeah, that's kind of what I was thinking about doing in the future.
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Awesome.
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That's super cool.
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Yeah, Technocrane operators have a very interesting job.
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Actually, um, the movie that just came out, oh my gosh, I should know.
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Oh, Den of Thieves.
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Um, Den of Thieves actually has a, the first all electric car
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chase scene that was filmed.
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They outfitted some Porsches with, uh, cranes and shot as like the drivers were
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going through the actual kind of chase.
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Um, it's a cool thing because it's so innovative.
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All of that stuff is custom built and you really just have to
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know your rig and help build it.
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So there's a lot of creativity in that role, even from kind of an engineering
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perspective and stuff like that.
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Um, so yeah, talk to us a little bit about what you currently do in
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broadcasting and, um, like what your kind of day to day looks like in that.
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Yeah, so I'm currently in a broadcasting engineering program at college.
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So my day to day is, uh, so usually, uh, Wednesdays and Thursdays,
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Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays.
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Um, I mean, Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, I have what's called workshops.
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So, my college is partnered up with the local TV station in my, in my city.
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And so what I do is I go in and they rotate me through different positions.
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So, like, for example, one day I'll be running a teleprompter.
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The next day I'll be running a camera.
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The next day I'll be like a floor assistant.
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And then the third day I'll be working as like a, a switcher or a CG operator.
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Um, and then I have my normal classes, which are lecture based.
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And lab based, uh, so I get hands on experience with cameras, um,
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lighting, audio equipment, etc.
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Um, and then I go home and sleep.
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Nice.
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Yeah, that sounds like the typical film life.
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You work, then you're home and sleep.
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Um, but you have lectures in there too, and it's definitely, uh Yeah, it's a
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really cool program because, um, it's It's very designed to get people like hands
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on and get you jobs and stuff like that.
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And I recently learned that one of my professors was a camera
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operator at a local racetrack.
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So I'm hopefully going to talk to him about that.
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Yeah, that's definitely the way to go.
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I mean, they always talk about film being a networking game,
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but honestly, so is motorsports.
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Um, a lot of opportunities happen just because you happen to meet someone at
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the right time and the right place and some really cool things can happen.
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Um, so speaking of motor sport, have you ever been to any
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races in the U. S. or abroad?
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Tell us about that.
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Yeah, so I, like, a thing that kind of attrition to me my dad had is
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we always go to the fall and spring vintage races up at Road America, which
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for those who don't know is a road circuit in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.
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And so me and my dad, we always try to go up there at least once or twice a year.
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Um, I usually bring up my camera with me and I bring like, my dad usually brings
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like some snacks or whatever to eat and we just drive around the, we just drive
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around and we just, I like to take photos.
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Um, that's good practice for me.
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And my first like overseas race I ever went to was the
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Le Mans 24 hours in France.
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Yeah, it was a special gift that mom gave me.
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Uh, And we went there and we visited a friend and then we went to Le Mans 24
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hours and that was, that was a crazy experience because the place where we
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stayed was right by Mulsanne Street.
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Wow.
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And so, like, as I went to sleep, I just would just hear the cars racing
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by me and it was, it was so cool.
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And, uh, I really hope I can go back there again.
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Yeah, I honestly, my actual proper gear.
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Yeah, I was gonna say I don't actually know of anyone who's, who's
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actually been to that race in person.
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So could just see it.
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That's a really, a really cool race to have gone to.
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Um, and I, if you like hearing cars when you go to sleep, I also
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recommend going to Daytona 24.
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It's a lot of fun.
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Definitely, uh, sorry, Daytona, but it's not as cool as Le Mans, that's
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kind of the OG, um, wow, that's awesome.
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And so, I have a couple friends who like to photograph cars, and when you're at the
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racetrack, it is a lot more difficult than people make it out to be to photograph
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those cars, and even taking videos, um, Is that something that you've just
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had to learn through trial and error?
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Is there any resources you've used to learn how to photograph
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cars and stuff like that?
17:14
Yeah.
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So a lot of it is kind of a mixture of trial and error.
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And also, um, I like to use Gran Turismo to practice because I can
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kind of go between cameras on the track and like, I can like say like,
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Oh, I want this track side camera.
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Uh, and so I could literally just practice the shutter speed and the aperture,
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uh, and just kind of figure that out.
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And I usually will, like, write it down on my phone.
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And then when I go up to, like, a circuit where I've got to run America,
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I will just plug that into my camera and then see if it actually works or not.
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Um, and the thing is, I am not, like, an official press person.
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So I don't have credentials to get to, like, the best spots on track.
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But the nice thing, though, is, uh, Run America is You can get
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really, really close to the circuit and get really clean pictures.
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Um, you can go like right up to the fence almost.
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And I've gotten some really, really cool shots of like this
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mini Cooper driving over the curb.
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And you can see it's little tiny wheels lifting up.
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Awesome.
18:17
Um, yeah, it's, it's definitely, I would say it's definitely trial and error and
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also just kind of looking things up and.
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Kind of asking questions on forums and just practicing.
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Wow.
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That's awesome.
18:29
Yeah.
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I, uh, and definitely not a photographer, but when the few times that I've,
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I've wanted to try to get into it, all that stuff kind of, I'm like,
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well, I don't even know how to look at this and think about aperture and
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shutter speed and stuff like that.
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So I, that's really cool to hear how dedicated you are to that.
18:47
That's awesome.
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Um, let's see.
18:51
Okay.
18:51
So you would like to drive, but also take Photos as well and do videography at
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motors in motorsports and stuff like that.
19:00
Have you ever worked with, um, any groups like SCCA or, or smaller groups
19:05
that might, you know, kind of give you a press pass for their like smaller
19:09
days to start with, or how, how do you want to kind of get into that?
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What's your, what's your plan?
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If you had, if you could plan it out perfectly, how would you do it?
19:16
Yeah.
19:17
If I could plan it out perfectly, what I would do is I would try to contact, um.
19:22
The SCCA at Road America, or I would try to contact, um, people who race at
19:28
Milwaukee Miles, since it's closer to home, uh, since I don't currently have
19:33
a driver's license, um, which does make things a little bit tricky, but what I
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would do is I would try to find, uh, I try to get, like, a press pass through that.
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So I can go up to Road America and try to photograph some of the racers there.
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And I would actually specifically try to, um, photograph the female drivers and
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try to highlight them a little bit more.
19:54
Um, because a lot of times, like, like the problem is with like female
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drivers is we just don't get as much press as our male counterparts.
20:05
That's just kind of the nature of how it is right now.
20:08
And if we do get press is mostly just kind of a, like, an op ed or
20:11
like a, like, kind of a filler piece.
20:14
So my goal is to eventually try to talk to the or, um, get my portfolio together,
20:22
talk to them, and then try to kind of work out a negotiation where I can.
20:26
Um, talk to individual female drivers and try to photograph them and maybe
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help them with, um, help them with their like media and stuff like that.
20:36
Awesome.
20:37
That's super cool.
20:38
Do you notice, like when you're there watching people drive,
20:41
do you happen to notice kind of roughly how many women are there?
20:45
Um, have you noticed any growth or anything like that?
20:49
Yeah, I have definitely noticed a growth.
20:51
Um, again, it is in an area that is.
20:55
It's like how much I think I should say I said I should say it's more of like
20:59
a traditional crowd there for racing so there isn't really much female
21:03
representation, but I have noticed a growth in female drivers over the years,
21:07
and it's really cool because I kind of perk up when I hear a female name over the
21:12
PA system and I'm like, Hey, dad, there's a female right there's a female driver
21:16
in this race or my dad, like tells me and it's like that's really cool because
21:19
then I'm like, I'm just like trying to watch for their car and stuff like that.
21:23
And, uh, I remember there was this one time I saw this driver,
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um, she had a pink helmet and a mohawk, like a mohawk blue to it.
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And, uh, I just, I thought that was so cool because they weren't afraid to
21:35
show their femininity or like, you know, how they identify and stuff like that.
21:40
Yeah, that's super cool.
21:42
I was just at, uh, Daytona for work and it was really cool to see, like, in the MX5
21:47
races, they had multiple women drivers.
21:51
And.
21:51
They also had a, I believe for the MX5 Cup, there is a prize specifically
21:57
for female drivers, which I think is a great way to help encourage more
22:02
women in the sport because, like he said, You know, it's still a man's
22:05
world, unfortunately, and that also means the funding tends to go to men.
22:10
Um, so having programs like that can be really helpful in getting people
22:15
the money they need to run these cars because it certainly isn't cheap.
22:19
Um, yeah, so it's really cool to, to see how the sport is growing.
22:23
Because honestly, I mean, I haven't, I guess haven't been paying too much
22:29
attention, but this year I noticed.
22:31
Multiple female drivers in a lot of classes, and then of course the Iron
22:36
Games were driving, um, a Porsche this time, and it was super cool to see.
22:41
They had a pop up actually in the Daytona fan zone that had, um, it
22:46
was like almost sold out by Sunday, but they had like hoodies and shirts
22:50
and Um, everyone could write on postcards, like, their dreams, because
22:54
their slogan is driven by dreams, so.
22:56
Yeah, I love that.
22:57
It's really cool.
22:58
Yeah, and I have to say, like, when I first saw the, the pink car, I, I will
23:03
admit that I rolled my eyes, because I was like, do we really have to make this into,
23:06
like, uh, uh, girls are pink, whatever.
23:09
But then I heard some of the drivers talking about how they purposely did
23:12
that so that you knew that there was women in the car, not so much about it
23:15
being, like, a pink Barbie thing, and.
23:17
Since then I'm like, oh, yeah, that's, but I'm with you.
23:20
I'm, I'm a purple card person.
23:23
Yeah, for me, like, my color scheme, um, is actually the colors of the
23:27
androgyny flag as I'm an androgynous person, which is gray, which is
23:31
usually gray, blue, pink, and purple.
23:35
Um, because purple, if you think of color theory, purple is pink and blue combined.
23:43
Yeah, so when you combine pink and purple, you get pink and
23:47
blue, you get purple, which is.
23:49
Kind of the combination of mask and femininity.
23:53
So that's often why I have my cars purple because I you know as a Non binary person.
24:01
I I don't really identify with either side, but I do identify more as far
24:05
as women So that's kind of why that's kind of the kind of like little
24:10
secret behind why my cars are purple.
24:13
Awesome I love hearing that.
24:14
I love when people have a story behind You know, the car they drive, the colors
24:18
they choose, uh, because it is something.
24:20
I mean, when we're, when we're at home sitting at our rig, driving
24:23
for hours on end, you kind of want to put yourself into that.
24:28
So, we find different ways to do that, whether it's, I mean, I throw liveries
24:33
together all the time just because I love to draw and put stuff in there,
24:37
and iRacing with Trading Paints and ACC and this other course, it'll let
24:40
you customize it so much that I really get a lot of joy out of doing that.
24:46
I also think it's a really good community building thing.
24:48
Um, I'm actually in a racing league in Isoto Corsa.
24:52
We also do iRacing races, but we have a livery contest every season.
24:56
And it's really cool to see all the creative things that people come up with.
25:00
Um, speaking of that, have you ever raced any leagues besides like, screen to speed
25:04
and stuff, or has it just been that?
25:07
Um, well I recently joined Transmission Motorsport.
25:11
Um, around the same time that I did the spring series and I am hoping to do some
25:19
of the charity races that they have.
25:22
Um, I did the race for mental health.
25:24
Uh, I did the race for, um, breast cancer awareness, which was held by Sophie.
25:29
Um, and I raced for, um, transmission motorsport in that one.
25:35
And I'm hoping to do some of their league races in transmission motorsports.
25:40
Um, I'm just trying to find the time to do it.
25:42
But I'm currently in their development series, which is kind of designed
25:46
to get less experienced drivers kind of up to the level that some of the
25:50
other drivers are in there and kind of get them more experience on track.
25:55
So that's kind of another.
25:56
Yeah, did you go into that a little bit because I feel like a lot of
25:59
people when they start sim racing, like I did the same thing I started
26:02
just hot lapping all the time.
26:04
And it wasn't until I joined my league and was on track with
26:07
real people that I actually had a relationship with that I started
26:10
really paying attention to racecraft.
26:12
Um, so go into that a little bit about the development series
26:15
and how has that helped you?
26:16
Like, have you noticed growth in your own driving since you started?
26:20
Yeah, I really have actually, because it's really nice because it's like, generally
26:25
when you go into an online race, it's kind of like the Hunger Games a little bit.
26:31
Um, everybody, the first laugh is just they kind of hate you.
26:37
Yeah.
26:37
Uh, and you kind of, you're kind of always on the defense, you're
26:40
kind of always on the defensive.
26:42
Um, and so you don't really get a chance to really learn how to, you're kind
26:47
of, you're so focused on not wrecking that you aren't really thinking about
26:50
your lines, your cornering, your overtakes, like that sort of thing.
26:55
So it's, for me, it's really helped a lot, um, knowing people I can trust to
27:01
teach me how to overtake some, to teach how, teach me how to overtake safely.
27:06
How to break into that corner.
27:08
How to use this.
27:09
Yeah.
27:10
How are they doing that?
27:11
How are you learning?
27:12
Are you, are you just on track with them in their own voice
27:14
chat or how does that work?
27:16
Yeah.
27:16
So what we do is we have, we usually will have the, um, like the pros they're
27:22
usually on a, um, softer, they're usually on a, um, harder tire compound and the
27:28
beginners are on a softer tire compound.
27:30
So they handicap the more experienced drivers, uh, so that the less experienced
27:35
drivers can have more experience.
27:37
In a car that handles a little bit faster and so they'll go over which chat and
27:41
we'll kind of we'll do drills So like we'll do a good overtaking drill where
27:45
they'll say like, okay for two laps I want you to drive next to the person next to
27:50
the car next to you and I want you to keep a one second gap between you two and It's
27:57
really nice cuz Tasha She's my mentor.
28:01
She uh, she'll like give me some really funny little pointers and stuff.
28:05
Like let's just see if mr. Berry Mr. Barry the barricade will
28:09
want to kiss you over here.
28:11
And she'll say, uh, and like, she'll say like, okay, this corner, I want you to
28:15
go through like this and she'll, me and her will go slowly through the corner.
28:20
I'll follow her in the next lap.
28:22
She'll follow me.
28:22
So it's.
28:23
It's kind of like a lot of like drills and stuff like that that really help out.
28:27
Awesome.
28:28
So when you first started, when you made that choice to join that development
28:31
program, was that really intimidating?
28:33
Were you kind of scared to do that?
28:35
Or were you just ready to go in?
28:37
Can you take us through that process when you decided to join?
28:40
Yeah, I already knew them for a while.
28:42
So I was kind of like, oh, this is just a cool thing to help me
28:46
kind of get more experience and not feel so anxious on track.
28:49
Um, that was kind of my thought process because I was like, this
28:53
can really, really help me improve.
28:56
And I already knew everybody in there, so it was kind of like,
28:59
kind of just a kind of chill time to hang out with friends as well.
29:03
So yeah, I use, I use the simracing and like the simracing discord
29:08
a lot as kind of socialization.
29:10
Yeah, I would agree with that.
29:11
I, my league, um, you know, there's probably about 15 of us that are really
29:17
super active, and we get people, up to 30 people in our races and stuff.
29:21
I am the only girl in my league, but at the same time, The guys in
29:25
my league are just awesome people.
29:27
Um, we meet up in real life, but also monday nights Um, though i've been
29:31
bad and I haven't been able to make races lately Uh, we just all hang out.
29:35
We're having a good time We're racing hard, but it's it's a casual league
29:38
and it's all about fun And um, I always tell people who are just starting in
29:42
sim racing, you know really think about like It's a game, but it's a kind of
29:49
non, it's like, to me it's a, it's not just a game because you're really
29:52
building skills that are applicable to real life, but at the same time, like,
29:56
you don't need to be terrified of, I was terrified to join my first race.
30:00
It was so intimidating to me, I was so scared of like, being the only
30:03
girl in there and stuff like that.
30:05
Um, did you have any experiences like that?
30:08
And I mean, I guess Gran Turismo might be a little bit different because
30:11
I don't think they have voice chat.
30:12
Do they?
30:13
And yeah, they don't have voice chat, but yeah, I've had a lot.
30:18
I've had a lot of experiences with drivers who aren't the cleanest.
30:21
Um, as I said, I often put political stuff on, like, I often put a
30:26
lot of fried things on my car.
30:27
So I have been, I have been a target of, um, harassment.
30:32
Like I have been called.
30:34
I have been called things in the chat on the side, and I've
30:38
also been targeted during races.
30:41
Usually, it's being cut off, or rear ended, or either planted into having
30:47
another meeting with Mr. Barry.
30:49
Um, but yeah, a lot of it has been mostly chat and on, like, on
30:56
track actions and stuff like that.
30:59
From other people.
31:00
Man, that's super frustrating.
31:02
I've been lucky, I guess, in that sense, because I, I always say that I'm like,
31:06
because I found my league and my league is just full of like, you know, normal people
31:11
who aren't going to do stuff like that.
31:13
And we do have people from the LBGTQ a community in our league.
31:18
And so it's always something where any kind of intolerance is not accepted.
31:23
Um, but of course, when you're in public races, it's not always like that.
31:27
I have.
31:28
Even iRacing, when you're, when your full name is out there, which I don't
31:32
particularly like, but, um, you, I don't think that I've, maybe, I don't
31:37
have my voice chat on for iRacing, but, specifically, so I don't have to
31:41
hear that kind of stuff, but, yeah, I don't think, I can't think of a time
31:45
where I've been directly targeted that I knew I was being targeted,
31:48
because I was a woman or anything like that, um, but yeah, it's just
31:53
unfortunate that people are like that.
31:54
I will say that, like, I, I've been pleasantly surprised by at least the
32:00
sim racing community and iRacing and Assetto Corsa that I haven't seen
32:04
as much harassment as I expected to, um, coming from Call of Duty where
32:10
every single game is just terrible.
32:13
Yeah.
32:13
Um, I was very pleasantly surprised.
32:16
Uh, speaking of, do you, what other things do you do outside of sim racing?
32:20
You don't, like video games or anything like that?
32:23
We talked about film a little bit, but anything else that you do that
32:26
has had like a weird correlation to sim racing, or not at all?
32:29
Yeah, so usually, like, I do play some FPS games, but I do love Assassin's Creed.
32:36
That's like one of my other favorite games.
32:38
I love the representation in it.
32:41
And, like, I am a big fan of, like, the Labrys, which is
32:46
kind of why my name is Axe.
32:47
Um, the Labrys is a, uh, the double headed battle axe, and it symbolizes strength
32:53
and unity in the lesbian community.
32:55
And there's an Assassin's Creed game, Assassin's Creed Odyssey, where
32:58
you're able to have that, that axe.
33:00
So, yeah, I play a lot of role playing games.
33:04
I recently got into D& D, um, and D& D has been really, really
33:10
awesome in kind of helping me tell stories and stuff like that.
33:15
Yeah, that's super cool.
33:16
That's so funny because I, so Assassin's Creed was also a big game for me, um,
33:21
that weirdly connects to sim racing because when I played Assassin's
33:25
Creed, I played the first one when it came out, but Assassin's Creed
33:28
2 was my big favorite game and it inspired me to start learning Italian.
33:34
Um, and since then I've just been studying Italian, also because I'm half
33:39
Italian, but I just remember I was so motivated to try to learn what they were
33:43
saying and I would play Assassin's Creed in Italian to try to understand it.
33:47
Um, and I'm not really good at D& D. For me, speaking verbally and telling
33:53
stories is more difficult to me than just writing them down, but I have a lot of
33:57
respect for people who do D& D because The amount of organization you have to
34:03
do that, I was never very good at it.
34:05
I was a seven foot tall elephant man when I was playing D& D. I'm a rogue elf.
34:11
Nice.
34:12
Yeah, I'm a rogue elf, yeah.
34:14
Um, yeah, but it's so cool how you can, especially in this day and age,
34:18
where we can do stuff like this.
34:19
Like, obviously we're not Even in the same time zone, but we're both here
34:24
on this stream talking to each other and streaming out to other people.
34:28
It's something super cool and like my whole D& D crew, um, was from college
34:33
and we, and we would always play on, over Zoom during COVID and It would be
34:37
for hours at a time, so it's a really cool thing to just be able to connect
34:41
with people and do stuff like that.
34:44
Um, alright, so let's move on to something that I think that people don't talk about
34:51
too much with simracing, but is important.
34:55
When you start sim racing, do you feel that you kind of just approach
35:00
the track and you're just driving it a lot and that's how you get better?
35:03
Or are you the kind of person who's looking at, you know, the data and
35:07
getting really granular with like tires and figuring everything out in real life
35:11
and kind of applying it to the game?
35:14
So I'm kind of like a mixture.
35:16
So I use the app on my phone, um, which is like a digital dashboard.
35:23
Um, so I have the tire temperatures up.
35:26
And a lot of times I kind of just drive by feel like I like, I usually like to drive
35:33
the track a couple laps, usually 5 or 6.
35:37
And so I drive around the track and I don't want to overdrive
35:40
it because then I kind of feel tired and then I forget things.
35:43
So, usually I do 5 or 6 laps.
35:45
I screenshot my fastest lap.
35:47
I save the lap time for my fastest lap and I'll screenshot, like, the data.
35:52
And I usually will screenshot the dashboard on my phone as well to kind
35:56
of keep track of the tire temperatures.
35:58
Um, I have a disability called dyscalculia, which does make
36:04
doing calculations and like time based measurements and stuff
36:08
like that very difficult for me.
36:10
So, usually when I have to evaluate my fit stuff, I actually do it by feel.
36:15
So, like, if I feel like the car is loose, um, and I look at the tire temperatures,
36:20
or I look at the gauge on the side.
36:23
I can kind of predict when I'm going to pit, or it's the same thing with the fuel.
36:27
Like, if I start to kind of feel the car, you know, not giving me what I need,
36:31
that's usually when I, that's usually when I pit or whatever, or I just kind
36:36
of go by feel a lot of times I have to, a lot of times I just kind of use my gut.
36:40
Awesome.
36:41
Yeah, I think that's a really good, I mean, it's kind of an
36:43
innate skill, but if you don't have it, you can definitely tell.
36:47
When you don't know how to understand the car.
36:49
Um, bad things happen.
36:50
So it's really cool that you're able to kind of get that feel.
36:53
And I think it's something, again, really cool about sim racing that we know, we
36:57
can feel as the car is changing even though it's not a car in real life.
37:02
Um, so kind of going back to that, when you're doing stuff by feel and, you know,
37:06
kind of trying to put it all together.
37:10
What's a moment in sim racing that It was like your Hall of Fame moment,
37:15
so to speak, so far in your career.
37:18
Well, a couple weeks ago, I got my first podium finish.
37:21
Um, I finished second in the many, in the, uh, Nation Series.
37:25
Um, that was at, uh, Sardena Circuit.
37:29
And I was in second place and it, it felt unreal because I started in third.
37:35
And then lap nine, I, I got spun out.
37:39
And so I was like, I was like, no, no, no.
37:42
And then I, uh, I managed to climb back up to second place and like, like my
37:49
heart was just like, it was insane.
37:52
I was just sitting there like, I'm just sitting in my living room.
37:54
My heart is going like 125 beats per minute.
37:58
My Apple watch was telling me that you've been sitting for, you have been sitting
38:02
for 10 minutes and your heart rate is 120.
38:05
What is going on?
38:06
Yeah.
38:06
And like, I remember screaming like, I want, I got second place.
38:11
And then mom came in and she gave me a hug and I like just started
38:15
crying and it was so silly.
38:16
I was like, this is really silly because I'm just sitting here in my living room
38:21
and I feel like I just ran a marathon.
38:24
I mean, I don't think that's silly at all.
38:25
It's, it's such a rewarding thing.
38:28
Cause I mean in my league, I started in last place every single race I was last.
38:33
And then the one time that I wasn't last and came in mid
38:37
pack, like, I almost cried.
38:38
And then when I got my first win in iRacing, it was, it
38:43
was that kind of moment.
38:44
I was so nervous and all this stuff and then you finally pull it off
38:49
and it just is an amazing feeling.
38:51
And I feel like that's another thing.
38:53
How cool is that that we get to just be in our house and do this thing and
38:57
get so much accomplishment from it?
38:59
Because you, like, what, just what you're telling me about how much you are thankful
39:03
Taking notes of things, um, even figuring out stuff for your camera on your sim,
39:08
and then taking it out in real life.
39:10
Like, there's a lot of time that goes into that, and it's, it's a
39:12
reward that you for sure earn, so that's super, super cool to hear.
39:18
Um, so in your future in sim racing, what, what do you hope to accomplish and do?
39:22
We kind of touched about that in your, um, outside of sim racing
39:26
career, but what would you like to do?
39:28
Overall, um, well, eventually I want to upgrade my, I kind of want to upgrade
39:33
my rig a little bit and I'm hoping to get my streaming channel set up.
39:38
I just got a capture card, um, a couple months ago.
39:42
I'm currently working out how I'm going to hook it up to my laptop
39:45
and everything, but I'm hoping to start a Twitch channel with a friend.
39:49
Also, um, and I'm thinking about doing kind of like a fun kind of
39:55
game show type thing where my friend.
39:57
Asks me random questions while I'm driving.
40:00
Nice.
40:01
And if I get them wrong, I have to like, I have to do, I have to
40:04
pick a punishment out of my helmet.
40:07
Um, so like driving blindfolded or something like that.
40:11
And I'm hoping to do more charity races.
40:13
Uh, hopefully I'm actually hoping to pair up with, uh, a local, with
40:19
my local LGBTQ plus community or my local church who is a trans affirming.
40:24
I'm hoping to do a. a charity drive where I can donate, um, clothing and
40:30
things like that for what they need.
40:33
Awesome.
40:34
That's a great goal.
40:35
I love both of those.
40:37
Um, so we kind of touched on this already, but as you're prepping to do more charity
40:44
races, for example, um, What are things that you, like, how do you, first of
40:49
all, I guess let's go into how do you find those races in your community?
40:52
And how are you able to find races to participate in?
40:57
Um, usually, usually, um, I usually have like the discord notifications
41:02
for my, for my channel for the, um, for like transmission and I
41:07
have the discord channel for in it.
41:09
And so I usually, whenever something comes up like, uh, like a new race series,
41:13
I usually will kind of look at that, check the dates, see if I could do it.
41:17
Um, that sort of thing.
41:19
And I usually, like, I kind of look on the internet and stuff like that, but I
41:23
don't really trust that kind of stuff.
41:24
Cause I'm not going to join a random discord if, you know, if it's weird
41:28
and creepy, um, but generally I try to just look it up and see if
41:33
there's anything available that's free to enter, which I kind of just
41:37
sticking with my two leagues for now.
41:38
Um, just cause I'm not really ready to do iRacing or Assetto Corsa yet.
41:45
Um, I kind of want to get my bearings with with Gran Turismo first
41:49
before I kind of venture into that.
41:51
But yeah, awesome.
41:55
Yeah, I think that's another thing that's, um, you know, a little bit
41:58
different about sim racing is, yeah, you can just join those public races.
42:02
But like you said, everyone's just trying to run into each other and nobody's.
42:06
You know, being particularly nice, whereas when you find a, a league
42:10
or a race that's hosted by an actual eSports team or something, you
42:15
can at least hope that people know what they're doing when they drive.
42:18
Not always true, but uh, you know, you can try.
42:23
Yeah.
42:23
Um, so let's think about like, have, have there been any moments, like I think back
42:30
to, I was racing, I was trying to learn Spa and instead of Horse Competizione,
42:35
I was in a GT3 And I worked so, so, so hard to get 26 seconds as my lap
42:43
time, and I was like, This is the time!
42:45
It's the best time ever!
42:47
And then, a year later, I came back and set a 2.
42:51
20, just kind of messing around.
42:53
Have there been any moments like that for you, where you've revisited
42:55
an old track and car, that you've really been able to see improvement
42:58
that maybe you didn't notice?
43:01
Yeah, yeah, I actually, um, it's kind of funny because it's like, I'll try
43:06
really, really hard to set a really good qualifying time, and then I'm
43:11
like, I'm working at it, I'm working at it, I'm working at it, I don't get
43:14
it, and then during the race, I'm in like, place, and then I manage to beat
43:18
it, and I'm like, well, that would have been useful twenty minutes ago.
43:23
Yeah, I don't.
43:24
Now we can start it back here.
43:26
Yeah, I feel like that always happens to me too.
43:29
I think part of it is like, When you're on track with other people you're so,
43:33
I, at least I am, I'm way more locked in because I'm trying to get ahead
43:36
of them that I can just, you know, follow what they're doing and set
43:39
faster times, but totally get that.
43:42
Um, and kind of in that same vein, have you noticed anything
43:45
about your driving style or anything that has changed for you?
43:49
I know I look at my old laps and I definitely wasn't
43:52
ever using all of the track.
43:53
I was probably giving like three feet of space on either end of the track and
43:57
then Now I'm giving a couple centimeters.
43:59
Has there been anything you notice in your style that's changed?
44:02
Yeah, I, I used to be very, very, very cautious, um, with other drivers.
44:09
And because of, because of like the nature of Gran Turismo, um, if you
44:16
get, like, if somebody bumps into you, there's like a 85 percent chance that
44:20
that penalty that they were supposed to incur would transfer over to you.
44:25
So you kind of have to be really defensive.
44:28
But since I've joined these leagues, I've kind of become less of a
44:32
cautious driver, and I've kind of become more of a balanced driver.
44:36
Um, where I kind of, I won't let people get past me, but I will drive very clean.
44:43
Like, there's a lot of times where I will, like, if somebody is coming
44:48
up behind me, I know that they're trying to, they're trying to pass me.
44:54
So what I like to do is I often, like, I kind of mirror them a little bit.
44:58
Like I kind of get a feel of how they're, how they're driving.
45:01
I actually let them pass me first.
45:05
And so I can watch how they're, how they're interacting with another driver.
45:10
And then I kind of wait for them to kind of get a little too
45:13
cocky with the other drivers.
45:15
And I kind of waited out.
45:17
I'm kind of like the vulture a little bit where like, I kind of
45:22
wait for other people to kind of mess up and I kind of capitalize on
45:26
other people's mistakes because I'm.
45:29
Again, I'm, I'm kind of the cautious person who's kind
45:32
of evaluating the situation.
45:34
And then I kind of go for it and stuff.
45:37
I think that's a totally valid strategy.
45:39
I do that unintentionally sometimes.
45:41
I used to be the driver that never fought anybody because I was always convinced
45:45
that everyone was way faster than me so I would just kind of let them by.
45:49
Um, but sometimes I would let them by and then, like you said, watch
45:52
them and see where, whether a little slower or wait for them to just make
45:57
a mistake and then capitalize on it.
45:58
Because sometimes it's really not worth of, you know, going at it
46:02
for three laps when something like that could happen to either of you.
46:06
And I know whenever I'm under pressure, I'm better at being under pressure now.
46:10
But before, if you were behind me, I was just going to spit myself out
46:12
this for just for, um, so would you say, cause it sounds to me like you've
46:19
gained a lot of confidence as a driver.
46:21
Would you agree with that?
46:21
Yeah.
46:22
Awesome.
46:23
Yeah.
46:23
I would definitely agree with that.
46:24
Like before, before I was like, I was kind of like, I had, like you
46:29
said, I was very convinced that.
46:30
Like I had the kind of the imposter syndrome where I was like, I'm not the
46:34
fastest driver here I should just let them have their race Um, or I just didn't
46:39
want to make anybody upset which would then trigger like a hate comment in the
46:43
chat And so I kind of did it as a kind of self protection a little bit Um, but
46:49
now i've kind of i've kind of gotten sick of it Honestly, i've kind of gotten sick
46:53
of kind of gotten sick of being pushed around and so i've kind of become the
46:57
pusher a little bit like Like now, when somebody is trying to get past me, I kind
47:03
of break a little bit and I kind of dodge and weave and I've kind of become more of
47:08
the kind of become more of the aggressor.
47:11
Um, but again, I try to keep it clean because, you know.
47:16
You get that clean race bonus in Gran Turismo.
47:19
Nice.
47:19
Yeah, iRacing 2 really punches you if you go off track at all, so that's never fun.
47:24
Yeah, you get a point, you get a point zero, you get like a point
47:27
five hundred per, uh, point five hundred millisecond penalty if
47:31
you go off track in Gran Turismo.
47:33
Oh, yeah, I forgot about that.
47:35
That's, I would And it adds up if you do it again, and it goes up to one second.
47:40
Oh my gosh, that, I would be in trouble if that was me.
47:43
But yeah, that's really interesting because Yeah, I feel like when you
47:47
start getting comfortable in the car, you really, I mean, it's just like
47:50
what drivers talk about all the time.
47:52
Like when you know that car, like the back of your hand, you can do
47:54
stuff like that because you know exactly the limit and stuff like that.
47:57
So super cool.
47:59
Yeah.
48:00
Last race, I was driving again, the GT three RSR, and I knew that I can go up,
48:06
I could go through your row, uh, rogue without lifting and other people couldn't.
48:13
And so, even in the rain, I was able to go through Ouroog without lifting.
48:19
Man, it's terrifying, but it was so cool.
48:22
Oh yeah, that's a scary one.
48:23
I just, I remember I was doing that, and I sat of course in the
48:26
Ferrari 296, and it was, uh Crazy.
48:30
I was always like, I don't know if I'm going to make it.
48:33
I'm just going to, you know, put my pedal to the metal and hope that it works out.
48:37
So, sometimes it's what you got to do.
48:39
But yeah, there is definitely a lot of confidence that comes with that.
48:41
And that's kind of what, what that seat time is all about.
48:44
I always tell people I'm like, look, I didn't believe it either when
48:46
I started, but you really do need the seat time and you just got to,
48:50
just got to be in there and do it.
48:51
And eventually, whether you realize it or not, you're getting better every
48:55
single time that you really race.
48:58
Um, all right, so it looks like we are kind of approaching our end time here.
49:03
Is there anything that you wanted to, um, discuss about, uh, either
49:08
in it or the mission of women in esports and, um, anything that
49:12
you would like to talk about?
49:16
Uh, yeah, mostly just kind of, I kind of wish there were more organizations
49:20
in my city, uh, and in like the United States in general for esports racing.
49:26
Especially for women.
49:27
Um, because I've been looking around and there just really
49:29
isn't anything for women.
49:31
Yeah.
49:31
Um, in the United States, there's a ton of stuff in UK.
49:35
I've noticed, but there's not really much here in the States.
49:37
And so I would personally love to start something or find something, uh, with
49:43
women in the United States, like, just so we can have accessibility for that.
49:48
Because, Go to Beadaholique.
49:48
com for all of your Especially if you're a woman living in a much metropolitan area.
49:52
They're just really using anything really to find.
49:54
So I'm really glad that, you know, it exists because if I didn't find
49:58
it, I probably would not be able to do what I'm doing right now.
50:02
So I think I, uh, I'm so glad that you guys exist.
50:06
And I hope more people join up for the United States.
50:10
You know, kind of try to branch out and get this mission moving
50:13
in the United States as well.
50:14
Yeah, I totally agree with that.
50:16
Um, same here.
50:17
I really, all of my, well, my league is actually primarily in
50:21
the U. S. and Canada, which is, I was very surprised to see.
50:24
Um, because I really thought that U. S. was only going to be
50:27
like NASCAR and stuff like that.
50:28
So, I've been pleasantly surprised by that.
50:30
But all of, a lot of the eSports, uh, specific people that are really
50:34
like into the eSports aspect of it.
50:37
are not in the U. S., and I'm really hoping that, like you said, we can kind
50:41
of get the movement going in the United States, because they're, like, what you're
50:45
saying, when you live in a big city or something, it's way easier to just have
50:48
a rig than it is to, to go on track.
50:51
Um, I will say that since I've been, um, involved within it, and if you have
50:56
LinkedIn, I highly recommend, like, following, Stephanie, following in it,
51:00
because A lot of stuff is actually, I find it through LinkedIn, oddly enough.
51:05
Not even through Instagram or stuff like that.
51:07
But, um, there's, there are organizations out there for women.
51:12
Um, maybe not necessarily for sim racing, but motorsports in general.
51:16
Um, someone that I work with actually organized on track days for women.
51:21
Of course, you have to own your own car to take it to the track,
51:24
which isn't really accessible.
51:25
But still, those kind of events.
51:28
You really only know about it if you know somebody, because they
51:31
don't have, you know, all this money to put into marketing.
51:33
But, um, I think that the rise of, like, IMSA's growing in popularity,
51:39
obviously, for me, the one's taking a big, um, boost of growth in the U. S.
51:44
Uh, so I think that things are coming, but it's kind of up to us a little
51:48
bit to help spread the message, so.
51:50
Yeah, definitely agree, I'm super grateful for organizations like this that really
51:54
exist just to, um, kind of help women especially in that spotlight for esports,
52:00
but then in the U. S. as a whole to make it more of a, more of a popular thing.
52:05
Um, so thank you so much for, for joining us this evening on
52:09
this, uh, It's been a pleasure.
52:11
Yeah.
52:11
Um, for anyone who's not watching live, it is late here in the U. S., so.
52:16
Um, I had a great time talking and, um, thank you so much.
52:20
Thanks to everyone tuning in today.
52:23
Uh, again, this is my, my first stream, so hopefully it didn't go super crazy.
52:28
Thank you, Axe, for being, uh My guinea pig so to speak.
52:32
Um, I think this has been a great conversation and um, I really
52:36
look forward to talking on the discord and hanging out more.
52:40
So thank you very much everybody and we'll catch you next time.
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