Latest / BREAK/FIX the Motorsports & Vehicle Enthusiast Variety Show / Screen to Speed No.43: Luca Munro, Hangin' with Sim Racing Stars!

Transcript

Screen to Speed No.43: Luca Munro, Hangin' with Sim Racing Stars! · 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 motor sports.
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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 motor sports.
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So buckle up screen.
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The speed starts now.
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Welcome everyone to unique talks.
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Happy to see everybody here.
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Uh, tonight we got Luca Monroe with us.
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Uh, welcome in.
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Hello, thank you, Leoboff, and thank you to everyone within Init who
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has asked me to come on the show.
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Yeah, thank you so much for taking your time and be with us tonight.
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Uh, so let's start with how you get into Simracing, how you get into
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this industry, and It's actually how you start your way into it.
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Yeah, I'll provide some background.
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So, uh, I have been a writer for the, uh, SimRacing publication
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website OvertakeGG since June 2021.
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Um, I've always been very big into, uh, racing and, and gaming.
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I've always been a firm believer in, in its brilliance.
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Um, and, uh, as far as PC SimRacing goes, I've been involved semi competitively
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within it for, since about 2023.
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Uh, which would surprise some people considering what I've been doing
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for a living long before that.
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Um, but yeah, the, um, the, this industry is absolutely phenomenal.
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Uh, I've, I'm very, genuinely very privileged to be, to be a, a, a
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small cog in this very big machine.
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That's great.
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So how are you actually getting to OvertakeGG?
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How you found each other?
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So it was actually, I was, uh, doing a three year degree at university.
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This might surprise some people, uh, about comic books, which I
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don't think many people would, would believe, but it's true.
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Um, and I had actually entered into it because I decided I wanted to work
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in some kind of like artistry, uh, industry specifically, I wanted to,
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uh, potentially create like designs for cars within Grand Theft Auto.
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Which, um, because if you don't play a Grand Theft Auto, basically all
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the cars are fictional, but they're based on real cars very loosely.
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Um, and, uh, I was, I was about one, two years into it when I sort of realized
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that maybe Rockstar wouldn't exactly be the best work environment for me.
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And, uh, but it was around about that time that I discovered Overtake.
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I'd been writing for a, for a, uh, a publication, a voluntary,
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voluntary publication.
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Called the pit crew online until then writing about the sim racing.
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Um, and I discovered overtake when they put on an event
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called, um, a clash of races.
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Uh, and in fact, I believe you were involved in one
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of those, if I'm not wrong.
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I might be wrong point is, is that I discovered that I thought it was
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absolutely brilliant and I forged quite a good connection of overtake.
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And then I, uh, applied in the latter part of 2020 and, uh, got accepted and, uh.
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It's been a very wild ride.
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We've gone through many phases of leadership, but I've always stayed and
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it's a job I'm very privileged to have.
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That's really great that you, uh, found each other.
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And I, I'm pretty sure that you had some kind of passion in racing before that.
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So, uh, do you remember maybe you play some racing games in your
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childhood or something like this?
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So tell me more about this.
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Yeah, I've, uh, I was introduced to racing games relatively young, um, my brother
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had a copy of the 2004 F1 game, and, uh, he had a very, like, very basic steering
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wheel, and he would, like, balance, I would balance his steering wheel, like,
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on my, on my knees, and press the pedals into the carpet, um, and we would, uh, We
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would spend quite a while just driving.
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I was always Michael Schumacher because everyone loves the red car and, uh,
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uh, I would meet, I would beat him predominantly most of the time, but
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the only times I couldn't beat him was whenever we were driving at Monaco
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and he would just wall ride everywhere and I would try and do it legitimately
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and he'd do it in less than a minute.
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Always irritated me that, um, but, uh, yeah.
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Going on from then I, uh, got into, I was, I was mainly always a PlayStation guy so,
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uh, the F1 games, um, Gran Turismo, those sorts of games were, were my mainstays.
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I was very, not, I was not into like the arcadey stuff, not that there's
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anything wrong with that of course, um, And, uh, for a long, for the longest
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time, I actually kind of stayed, I mentioned earlier that I only got into
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PC sim racing for 2023, uh, because I was just so like overwhelmed by it.
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Like all the, all the various things.
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And I thought with how expensive PCs are, you know, like most people
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pay an offer of 2000 pounds for, you know, just the processor or.
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Something.
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And, uh, I was just like, I don't know if I could ever justify the expense of that.
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So, um, I, I just sort of told myself to be content with what
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I have and to not overreach.
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Um, but then it, we'll get to it later.
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I, my reason is for getting into PC sim racing.
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Um, and I'm very, I'm, I ended up with a United sim team who, a couple of
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the people behind the scenes of init, uh, are involved in the running off.
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And, uh, it's been quite a wild journey, uh, since 2023, I've come a very long
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way and I'm very fulfilled by all the sim racing I've been able to do.
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Yes.
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You mentioned that you, uh, was a big fan of Michael Schumacher was,
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uh, as well, uh, during my childhood.
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So I raced in karting and also was really Passionate about Ferrari and
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Michael Schumacher, uh, these days.
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And many people I think started from console.
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Actually, it's really good way to start some racing because
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it's not really expensive.
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Uh, it's a good way to just try some racing if you want to continue.
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So just like, uh, happened for you, for example.
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Yeah.
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So you just started with console, then you, uh, felt like, This
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is what I really want to do.
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And then you, uh, started to, uh, get funds for the PC
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and move to PC sim racing.
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And it's a great, I think.
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Yeah.
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And, uh, the thing you said about that, like it's always a good start.
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I think it's, everyone needs that.
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Uh, initial foot in the door, metaphorically speaking, um, and,
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uh, consoles have always been a very relatively easy, uh, entry point for a
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lot of people, like, even with the, the more sort of arcade y style, right, uh,
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of driving, and, uh, for me, getting, when I was mainly just F1 game, uh, and Gran
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Turismo for a while, Um, and I convinced myself I probably wouldn't be that good
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on the hardcore simulations, like, you know, iRacing and ACC and, and R Factor
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and all that, because I didn't think I was doing that good on the console.
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So how, how could, you don't want to fall into a trap of thinking,
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Oh, if I spend more, I'll do better.
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Um, but, uh, thankfully I overcame that and, uh, been able to, uh,
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been do semi good in, uh, in a load of different, uh, events.
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Um, so tell me please, how is your transition went from console to PC?
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So actually, uh, what was your first, uh, simulator on PC?
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Uh, so when you jump into it.
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Well, I definitely tried to acclimatize myself, uh, by making the, uh, trying
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to identify the gaps between PC and PlayStation by going for a common title,
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and that was Assetto Corsa Competizione.
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Um, uh, both of them being on PlayStation and PC.
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And so, uh, I think that was a good idea, because if I'd gone straight for
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something like R Factor or iRacing, I would have been too overwhelmed and
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just sort of like bailed out of panic.
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Um, but the, uh, it was surprisingly quite familiar to me, uh, being able to,
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um, manage the, the, the, like, in game menus, and, and how, where everything
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is, and how to install everything.
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And, you know, there's so many files when you, when you go to, like, for example,
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when you go, um, uh, I get setups from your setup provider, uh, you have to know
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where everything is, and then, and there's so much involved, but, uh, thankfully
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for me, I had a lot of good people around me, uh, this was before I actually got
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involved with UnitedSim team, uh, I had a lot of people within the community who
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were helping me with, uh, with hardware specifications, and the biggest, uh,
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the biggest one that I believe Um, a lot of people might take it for granted
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is, uh, you know, it's the monitor.
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Like I have a very traditional 16 by 9, uh, 48 inch, uh, monitor.
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Uh, I used to have a 58 inch flat screen TV and, uh, I didn't realize at the
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time the amount of input lag I had.
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And I'd, I'd trained myself so much to just like turn the
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steering wheel in advance.
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And, uh, and, and it was like a really bad habit.
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Uh, and then.
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Uh, it was actually Johan Half, who is an Apex Racing Team driver, who, uh,
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insisted that I needed to get a proper, uh, fast input, uh, rate monitor.
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And I, uh, it wasn't until I actually had the monitor installed and I went to turn
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the wheel and I, I, I accidentally hit a wall on, on turning because I was just,
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I programmed myself to turn in too early.
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And so it was quite alarming and eventually I got used to it.
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And I'm really glad that I, uh, I gave into Johan's advice
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because it was kind of necessary.
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Yeah, monitor.
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One of the most important thing, uh, for some racing, I think because,
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uh, the responsive time and also, uh, for example, I got triple, it
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gives me more, um, angle view to the situation, which we got in race.
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So that's, uh, cool to have always.
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Um, so when people coming to my streams, I usually do.
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Telling them that you have to, like, think about your pedals first and
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then upgrade, uh, like, screen, which you got, and then think about
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wheel and the rest off on your rig.
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Yeah, definitely.
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And it's absolutely necessary.
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Do not dismiss that advice.
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I learned the hard way.
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Yeah, that's definitely a thing.
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Um, so you said that you, you've been in ACC.
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Uh, did you do any leaks?
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Like, uh, when?
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Was the moment when you started to think like I would like to
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take sim racing more seriously and on higher level for yourself?
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So the very good one there.
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It's actually quite intrinsically connected to United sim team.
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So basically United sim team and previous guys were involved in a championship
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called the eSports Racing League Which was by VCO And I was actually semi
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involved in the conceptualizing of this championship, where I envisioned, uh,
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the ultimate sim racing championship that would test drivers in, uh, a variety
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of different cars, tracks, and sims.
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Because someone who is very good in an open wheel or on iRacing may not
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necessarily be that good in a GT car on ACC or any other potential combination.
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And, uh, I would like to think that I came up with that idea, but it was
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actually the idea, um, predominantly, uh, Florian Harsper, who, uh, heads up
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VCO, who came up with that incredible idea, and so I, uh, I, I watched and
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I idolized all these incredible, uh, high level esports sim racers, and,
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uh, and I just thought, well, I'm never gonna be like that, you know, I'm, I'm
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gonna, I'm just gonna be content with watching from my PlayStation, and, uh,
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but then it was in the lead up to Good.
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They had three seasons within 2022 and it was the last season when I decided
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I really want to be involved in this.
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I really want to just be in this championship just to say that I have been.
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And then I got in contact with Yvonne Huffler who very kindly allowed me
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to take up a spot within the team.
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And I couldn't, I didn't end up doing ERL for pure logistical
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reasons because I didn't have my own dedicated PC at the time.
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And it was like, all right, if I'm going to do this, I need to do it for real.
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And that's when I started getting the hardware.
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Uh, unfortunately there hasn't been any other esports racing league action
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since, and I'm just praying that Florian will finally bring it back.
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Um, but if he doesn't, there was another event that, well, I know that you've
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also been involved with VCO Infinity.
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Which was another event that I, I sort of came up with the idea of,
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um, basically both of these events.
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I, I've always thought of sim races as being not necessarily better, but
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have a different level of quality to real life races because they can jump
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from, you know, a single seater at Silverstone and then be on, uh, be at Spa
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in a GT car in less than a few clicks.
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And so.
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I've always believed in the, uh, the, the value of versatility.
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I've never, I consider myself a bit of a sim racing journeyman
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because I never want to just get too comfortable in one car or one sim.
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And I want to try and like branch out, uh, cause the value for me is
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getting, uh, being a jack of all trades.
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If even if I'm not a master of any, basically.
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Um, you said about VCO Infinity, Vanya, what was taking part in this?
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I remember I was driving the Xfinity cars, uh, road course.
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It was huge.
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Why terrible?
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It was great.
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I know that was the best experience for me because, uh, it was really hard
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to actually to control the gas on this car, so I really, uh, tried to pay.
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More attention than ever on like cars like GT3 or Porsche Cup, uh, which I'm
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driving most of the time in a racing Uh, and that was really interesting
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because you're like, okay on the exit we're going to be careful with
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throttle Uh, it was great experience.
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Definitely.
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And I also took a part in previous vco events, which been pro sim Uh, so we
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had like in real life drivers and sim racers alongside on the track um Great
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events, and I'm looking forward for the next VCO, definitely, uh, Florian
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doing an amazing job with this event, uh, getting involved a lot of, uh,
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different people, a lot of famous racing drivers, so, I raced on the same track
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with, uh, Ruben Barco, it was great.
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So, yeah, and you can go.
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Yeah, I just wanna, I just wanna say that when I said I was referring to
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myself in that particular car, that was my second race in the event.
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I did five and I got the Xfinity just for the Monza race and, oh man, I was
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like three seconds slower than the person directly ahead of me on the grid.
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I know we started quite close and you passed me at one point and I was just
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like, no, don't be the person that takes all of 46, I'm gonna let it go.
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Because if I wouldn't have forgiven myself, if I'd have messed you up.
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All good.
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Yeah, that was really fun, especially at Monza, uh, Monza.
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That's the track where everybody crashing in T1.
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So with Xfinity it was a fun track to drive with, definitely.
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Uh, you mentioned, uh, Versatility is a key in sim racing.
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So, uh, can you explain why that's so important to you?
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Because, you know, usually I'm trying, uh, to stick with the one car.
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Uh, like that was for me when I did the first champ, uh, first,
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uh, season in GT3s and I tried to stick with the one car for the whole
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season and try to not jump to like formulas or to other cars because, um.
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From my side, I think it's really important to, uh, when you're starting,
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just stick with the one car because, uh, this is how you're building the good base.
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So without jumping around, uh, things,
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yeah, well, uh, a lot of, uh, sim racers that I have idolized have
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been ones who are never always firmly stuck in one car or one sim.
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So, for example, Enzo Benito, uh, he is, to me, one of the best.
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Frederick Rasmussen, who has.
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Recently won the F1 sim racing championship, but it's also a champion on
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iRacing and rFactor, which you can imagine how big the gaps that are there in terms
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of the quality and the abilities needed.
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Uh, and also, uh, Ulash Ojildirim, who, uh, is good on the F1 game, good on
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Rennsport, good on iRacing, good at ACC.
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I've always been of the opinion that, um, you, it's perfectly
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legitimate to be, uh, only.
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That good in, you know, maybe a single seat on iris and, uh, for example,
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but, uh, for me, I, I like the idea of having, uh, the challenge to jump around
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on different cars and make sure that I don't get too comfortable in in one.
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So that I'm always kind of.
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I'm not relaxed, you know, which I guess is kind of, uh, a thing with me where I'm,
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I'm, I'm quite hectically jumping, like most weekends now, I'm always doing like
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as many solo endurance races as possible.
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Just, uh, the week, the week before last, I did three solo enduro races.
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Uh, across the weekend and I actually got some decent results.
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I got a fourth, a fifth and 14th in a all GT3 race, the last one.
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Um, and, uh, having those experiences really feels very fulfilling.
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You know, I, I could just.
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Get myself comfortable in the one car and I guess when it comes to iRacing
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enduro's I'm kind of good in sports cars But I find that I'm quite I guess I ever
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since the road license split on iRacing I haven't done that many formula car
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races because I'm petrified of losing safety rating because yeah They're you
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know, the second you touch someone your car's Bent suspension and you're out.
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Um, but yeah, if I could keep my safe through and I'll probably do a lot
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more and try to, because, because right now, when it comes to, uh,
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like, for example, super formula, I'm definitely not that good in it.
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And I should be doing a lot more of it.
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Um, just making sure that you're never too, uh, at ease, uh, in, in one car and
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relying solely on that to, to do well.
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Uh, I think with, with how, You're varied the experiences are within sim
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racing even just across the same titles like a Porsche cup on ACC behaves a
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lot differently to a Porsche cup on iRacing having those abilities, shared
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abilities across multiple platforms, multiple cars, it makes things a lot
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more interesting and I think it really improves your abilities as a driver.
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That's a really interesting point, because I'm a little bit of a side
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point of this, because I personally think that you have to focus on one
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car and like work with the data, with telemetry, with your two And Correct your
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mistakes during the practice sessions.
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But it's really interesting that you thinking that, you know, if you're jumping
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from multiple platforms, multiple cars, so probably gaining more experience
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because of that, um, that kind of happened to me when I started to do ovals.
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So that's completely different discipline.
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And I learned a lot, which I didn't learn and wrote a course because you know,
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um, Having that really close battles, unfortunately, in road course, uh, most
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of the time as you're getting in this car.
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So, um, So it's kind of working for me.
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Um, but I prefer to be in a racing right now.
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Real like I said, of course, the Evo, and I'm so excited for it.
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Uh, because I really like how car feels here, how it just feels on the track
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when you're driving it and how the force of back feels and unfortunately,
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I'm not a big fan of the ACC.
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I just don't understand how to drive GT3s here at all, uh, after racing.
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So I need.
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A lot more time to get used to this.
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And you're used to the oscillation on the back when you go around the
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corner, you're just like, yeah,
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I don't get why it does that either.
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Yeah.
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ACC feels a bit weird for me after a racing, especially with
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breaks, because you have to really smash breaks in ACC and.
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It just feels weird, so I need more time to adapt, because when I
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switched from iRacing to R Factor 2, that was quite easy to adapt.
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Um, because R Factor 2, in my opinion, really close to what we got
20:55
in iRacing, um, in terms of feelings and how the car feels on track.
21:00
But yeah, ACC is different for me, but, you know, if people enjoy ACC and, you
21:05
know, that That's great opportunity that you can start from console with
21:08
ACC and then, uh, move to PC sim racing.
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So probably ACC just opened a lot of doors for many, uh, new sim racers,
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uh, maybe some of them already in racing and other simulators also.
21:23
Definitely.
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And also on the note of, uh, ovals.
21:26
Yeah.
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You're braver than me because I tried to do an oval race once.
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I do not have the guts for it.
21:31
I admire people who do.
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You have to, because Oval's just absolutely incredible.
21:37
And we got this Draft Masters series, which is great, because
21:42
people really like to drive Daytona, because that's like a roulette.
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So, uh, you can guess what result you're going to get, and every time
21:50
you just, uh, focus on the race, then you I have to survive here and you're
21:55
trying to do everything to survive and you're trying to, uh, predict what
22:00
people ahead of you going to do or maybe they started to move, uh, in a
22:04
weird way and here's a crash incoming.
22:07
So yeah, it's, it's a great, uh, experience definitely and give me a lot
22:12
of practice with how to avoid crashes and how to be, uh, you know, focus on
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other points on track when crash happens.
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So you have to focus on the free space, which you see, uh, not be
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focused on the car, which crashed.
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Uh, so yeah, it's definitely a good thing.
22:30
So you have to try if you're going to have a free time, why not?
22:35
Maybe.
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Um, so speaking about cars, so maybe you got your favorite combo,
22:41
like in a racing, maybe an ACC.
22:44
Uh, so what's the, will be the car and the track?
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Well, I can definitely tell you the car.
22:51
Um, I, when I was starting out on, uh, iRacing, I didn't try to like go
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head first into, uh, very long races.
23:01
I wanted to try and ease myself into it.
23:03
And, and, um, uh, the first two endurance races I ever did was actually with a
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mutual friend of ours, Elzendriani.
23:10
We did a, um, a race at Road America, three hour one, and then we did the six
23:14
hours of Watkins Glen, which I elected to do the Friday evening time slot, which
23:20
meant that I was up until about 5 a.
23:21
m.
23:22
Which was quite an experience.
23:24
Um, but, uh, then when it came time to do an, uh, I wanted to drive prototypes and
23:31
there was that, uh, in 2023, the event, um, the MS charity race and that year
23:37
it was two GTP cars, the, at the time, the BMW and the Cadillac and then DBR
23:42
nine and Corvette GT one and the GR 86.
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And, uh, I know that I wanted to do the, uh, uh, the prototype in that.
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And I did it with one of my teammates, uh, called Patrick.
23:55
Um, and, uh, I let him sort of like ease me into it.
23:59
Uh, and it was actually quite, uh, we ended up picking the Cadillac
24:05
and it was quite an experience because, um, if anyone did that race,
24:10
And you did it in the prototype.
24:11
You would know that if you can dodge your way around GR86s, which are basically
24:16
moving mobile cones, then you can be able to premeditate and go for the
24:22
right gaps in with any car, because predominantly GT3s are the slowest
24:26
cars that Cadillac would race against.
24:29
And that became, uh, for some reason, I just really gelled with the car.
24:34
Um the cadillac and driving that no matter what track it is for the most
24:38
part It was just an absolute dream.
24:39
It really suited my style and obviously we all like loud noises the big the big
24:43
v8 um as far as tracks go, I mean i'm a i'm a bit of a Um, you know, I'll drive
24:50
pretty much any track, you know, um, I've, I've enjoyed quite a few successes
24:56
at Silverstone, um, Spa Francorchamps is another, uh, we drove, um, my team,
25:03
uh, we, we entered the, the 24 Global Endurance Tour race in August, and
25:08
that was something I'd really wanted to do in, in the, in the Cadillac,
25:10
and, and I'm also looking forward to driving the Hopefully the 12 hours of
25:15
Sebring in a couple of weeks they're all flowing the Cadillac and then I won't
25:20
pester anyone else to drive it again.
25:21
You know, I just need one teammate to do that with Yeah, basically any
25:27
predominantly most tracks, you know, I'm not really fussed about that But as far
25:31
as cars go quite easily the Cadillac and I've enjoyed quite a lot of successes in
25:35
it I've even won a few championships in it
25:39
I really like also GTPs.
25:41
First time when I tried GTPs, there was at Daytona, we did
25:45
2023 Daytona with ETRS support.
25:50
We had BMW GTP at this time.
25:53
Uh, it was absolutely great experience because, uh, I used to drive a lot
25:57
of prototypes, HPD, LMP2, uh, but then I racing switch it to Dallara.
26:03
I didn't like Dallara a lot.
26:05
And, uh, right now, to be honest, I really enjoy GTPs because, uh, they fast,
26:11
they quite easy to adapt and, uh, quite easy to manage, uh, all in car stuff.
26:17
Uh, it was really complicated, for example, with LMP1, which
26:20
we had, uh, before that.
26:22
Um, So, yeah, I think the purple types just, uh, bring in like
26:28
fresh air into our racing and, uh, into multi class racing as well.
26:33
Um, because they, they're just great.
26:36
So I really like the scars and you mentioned, uh, that you won motorsport
26:41
UK, eSport prototype challenge.
26:42
Uh, so can you tell me more about, uh, this leak and what did the
26:46
championship, uh, mean for you?
26:49
Well, um.
26:50
A couple of the week before this series, I actually won my first
26:54
ever league championship in another community, and that was quite a good,
26:59
uh, you know, a monkey off my back.
27:01
I believe the phrases, uh, so I didn't try to sort of go into this stage with
27:06
the intention of winning the championship.
27:07
And for the first three rounds, I didn't think I had the chance.
27:12
I scored about 26 points across three races.
27:15
Um, and, uh, it was.
27:18
The, the, the, the pen round.
27:19
Uh, just for some context, uh, I had actually, uh, suffered quite a, a
27:24
humiliating defeat in the third race.
27:26
I was second in class and I, and this was at Road America.
27:30
I was trying to navigate my way past the MP three, but that last sector
27:34
is incredibly, you know, single file.
27:38
And, uh, by the time I was able to get past.
27:40
Not only did one of my teammates come past me, but another guy, and I ended
27:43
up off the podium, and I was at, for a week, I was seething with myself.
27:48
Um, and, uh, yeah, it wasn't, it wasn't the best moment.
27:52
Um, but then by some miracle, I, I, uh, managed to get myself into the
27:56
lead of, in class of, um, the, the penultimate round, which was at Suzuka.
28:01
I'd actually, Been involved in a bit of an incident with my who would end up being
28:05
my championship main championship rival.
28:07
Um, uh, thankfully, I was cleared of any wrongdoing.
28:11
Um, but, uh, it was a huge point swing.
28:13
And I said afterwards, you know, I've had a win.
28:16
Now, if I don't end up winning the championship, I don't expect to.
28:20
So be it thinking I had no chance, but then I saw the points
28:23
afterwards and I was like only.
28:26
Three or four behind and I thought, Oh, if I win the race, I could win
28:30
the championship and I, for the, for the best part of a week, I was very
28:34
nervous and anxious, but, uh, went into the final race didn't qualify.
28:39
Well, I never, I never typically do.
28:41
Um, and, uh, I just thought, okay, pressure off.
28:44
I'm not going to win this.
28:46
Let's go for it.
28:47
And, uh, first lap.
28:49
Bit of a pileup, managed to dodge my way around that just, uh, got myself
28:55
4th in class, my main rival's leading.
28:57
Managed to muscle my way into 3rd, settled there for a while, then the rain arrived.
29:02
2nd place spins off, and I'm easing in very closely on my
29:06
main rival, but then we pit in.
29:10
Uh, don't fuel as much, uh, because I'm, I, I intend to only go like fill up just
29:16
as much on the second stop, rather than a short one on the last, get out ahead.
29:21
And then my main rival just starts spinning constantly.
29:23
And I'm just sort of like looking, keep one eye on the, on the relative
29:27
and it's like, Oh, he's moving in.
29:29
Oh, he's gone.
29:29
Oh, he's opening.
29:30
Oh, he's gone again.
29:32
And, uh, uh, from that last stop, I made the mistake of switching to new tires.
29:37
Uh, when it was still raining, I could have.
29:39
Kept my current pair and I wouldn't have lost so much time.
29:43
I lost quite a lot of time and he was only like a few seconds behind me.
29:47
Uh, he kept me spun a few more times.
29:49
Um, which kept giving me like temporary moments to breathe.
29:54
But then that last lap, oh my gosh, that was, that was an experience.
29:57
I, uh, got stuck behind an LMP3, a friend of mine, and my main rival
30:02
is like more than a second a lap faster, and he's within range.
30:07
And then going through the first corner at Silverstone, did I say Silverstone?
30:10
I don't think I did.
30:12
First corner at Silverstone, and then navigate my way through there, got
30:16
on the brakes, I look down again, and his, the gap is increased, and
30:20
He spun again and it's the last lap.
30:22
And then I just was like, keep it steady, keep it steady.
30:26
And I'm, I'm, I'm in the same channel as one of my teammates who's in LMP3.
30:30
And it's like, I'm coming up behind you.
30:31
Don't make it difficult.
30:32
I'm about to win.
30:33
And I get across the line and I am absolutely over the moon.
30:37
It was Probably the highlight of my life and it's also how I, uh, won
30:41
this shirt, by the way, uh, because Abruzzi was a sponsor of the series
30:44
and, uh, also, um, got these gloves as well, uh, and racing boots.
30:49
So, I got, uh, quite a good deal for winning that championship and, uh, I
30:53
don't think I'm ever going to, uh, I think I peaked there, you know, in,
30:57
in this, in, uh, winning the LMDHM championship in this, uh, series.
31:01
It was something I'm very keen to look back on constantly whenever I'm
31:05
feeling a bit down and I just remember.
31:09
I've won that championship and anything else now is a bonus.
31:13
That's great experience which you had and congrats with the first
31:17
position in this prototype challenge.
31:19
Um, I hope you maybe going to get it once again, get a win in the more serious
31:26
championships or maybe you're going to take a part in this one once again.
31:30
Uh, you men, you mentioned some kind of overcoming negative self talk.
31:34
So can you tell me more about this?
31:36
Yes.
31:36
So that happen after you win.
31:38
Yes.
31:38
And understand.
31:39
Yeah, it kind of, I'm kind of in that first phase again now because I, we,
31:46
we just had a really like gut wrenching defeat last week in the Bathurst 12 hours.
31:50
We just missed out on a podium and I, uh, not, not the fault of anyone, by the way,
31:55
you know, like, but basically I, um, I, I keep getting into a bit of a vicious
32:00
cycle because I really want to succeed.
32:02
I want to enjoy what I do.
32:04
Um, but you know, yeah.
32:06
If, if you can get an amazing result, you're not gonna be like, oh no,
32:09
I don't need that amazing result.
32:11
I'm just gonna let the other person win.
32:13
I don't need, no, you wanna do it.
32:15
Um, and, uh, not only in the Motorsport UK eSports series, but in
32:19
the series that I'd won the, the, in the week leading up to that, um, I,
32:23
uh, came very close to my first win.
32:26
Uh, or at least a first really good result, first podium in both those series
32:31
and then I keep losing them right at the end and I just convince myself, you
32:35
know, I've, I messed up, uh, you know, you're an idiot, that sort of thing.
32:40
And it's, uh, it's, it's very all consuming in a way.
32:44
Well, letting these things get to me and, uh, I know I shouldn't let it,
32:47
it's just what we do for fun after all, but, uh, you, you want to care, um,
32:53
and that's, uh, in particular the, uh, the, after the Suzuka race, oh, I'll
32:59
never lift this down, um, when I won, I was being interviewed afterwards,
33:04
I was, I was weeping, I was crying.
33:06
And, uh, and, uh, the commentators were quite taken aback by my response,
33:11
but they said it was great to see that you, that I cared so much.
33:14
Um, I also come in a lot of like, you know, hindsight is obviously so
33:19
2020 thinking that, uh, you could have done things so much better, uh,
33:25
in that moment, but you're, you're acting in real time and you can really.
33:31
overwhelmed with emotion and, uh, the best thing you can do for yourself
33:37
is take the positive that you definitely care about what you do.
33:42
Um, just.
33:44
And, and, and try and keep going, try and learn from it, you know, like again, the
33:49
Bathurst 12 hours last week, we were in third place and then this team, you're
33:53
like three seconds a lot quicker than us ended up passing us right at the end.
33:58
And yeah, it was gutting.
34:01
And I want to think that.
34:02
we'll look back on that in the future after having like a race win perhaps
34:07
in another special event and then we're like oh well that was just the look
34:10
the temporary low before the great high and but right now we're still
34:15
in that phase where we we're still having to wait potentially for that
34:18
and if it's ever going to happen so it's a It's the reality of what we do.
34:23
Uh, we, we, we really care.
34:25
We want to get the best results possible.
34:28
And sometimes it can just, uh, result in negative feelings, sometimes, uh,
34:34
self doubt and you can overcome it.
34:36
I know I have multiple times.
34:38
I know I will again.
34:40
Yeah, definitely.
34:40
We all get this moments in some racing and racing.
34:43
I get a lot of this, uh, this moments.
34:46
And I remember I was leading the Pascal stars race with GD for it was King Glenn.
34:51
Uh, and then, uh, I think there was mad Malone and Casey Kirwan.
34:56
Uh, they've been incoming and we just had like, uh, I know, maybe to go for this
35:01
race and unfortunately crash happened and I get involved into this crash.
35:06
I was really upset, uh, because it was leading literally like the whole race,
35:10
uh, most of the parts of the race and, uh, that was really upset moment for me.
35:16
But what I understand, uh, right now that.
35:19
Um, you know, I just I did my best and crash happened not because of
35:24
my fault, and I actually understand that that kind of things can happen
35:28
because we got people around us and people can make mistakes, something
35:33
can go wrong, like your connection can be lost or something like this.
35:39
So that's Just a part of some racing and not every time all
35:43
things go smooth as we want to.
35:46
And you know, I just, uh, always telling to myself that here's always another one
35:52
race, uh, which you can win probably, or you can, uh, get a really good result
35:56
and, and you just, uh, have to get.
36:00
The most experience from, uh, the race, which you did even here is a crash happen.
36:04
You still can go watch replay.
36:07
Um, maybe you could do something differently like to avoid this crash or,
36:11
um, like you're going to see on replay that nothing you can do and you're
36:15
going to feel relief because of that.
36:17
Um, so, yeah, my advice to everybody, uh, will be just, uh, calm down,
36:23
watch replay and just get, um.
36:27
All information which you can get from this incident, which happened to, uh, take
36:32
this experience with you to the future.
36:35
And, um, so yeah, I wanted to ask you, so what, what, uh, what's your advice
36:40
will be for some racers who struggle with, you know, some anger, some bad
36:45
emotions after races or like during races.
36:48
Uh, so what do you think from your side?
36:52
Well, uh, relying back to, uh, our Bathurst results, again, gutting, but,
36:58
uh, the fact is, is that the team that ended up beating us had actually started
37:01
on Paul, and so they lost three positions.
37:03
We gained What, 22?
37:06
We started 33rd and I did the first two and a half hours and I was
37:10
really happy with my performance.
37:12
I ended, we were like 10th and throughout the race I was just like,
37:15
Hey, look, if we could just get a solid top 10 result, I'll be happy.
37:18
And then we got so close to the podium and it was just like, Oh, I don't know.
37:24
Should, should we be happy with that?
37:25
We should, we should.
37:27
Um, but yeah, I, I, I know that it's probably not great.
37:32
Coming from me, because I know that I still suffer sometimes with a lot
37:36
of the negativity and letting things get to me, but all I can say is, is
37:41
that the pain is temporary, but the fulfillment, the glory is permanent.
37:45
You know, we will always have an amazing result that you can
37:49
look back on no matter how.
37:51
close you were to an even better result, you'll still have performances
37:55
out there, uh, in races that you will be very fulfilled by and you'll
38:00
know that you tried your best and whether or not you get the result
38:03
or not, you, that's all you can do.
38:06
Yes, so you started butters.
38:08
Yeah, not from the first like top five position And I think it's
38:13
really important to then when you see you getting the podium.
38:17
I completely understand you that you like I want to get it and after this
38:22
you just Kind of reset your expectations of the race and you got the next goal
38:29
for yourself I mean when you're not reaching it, so probably you can feel
38:32
upset but You need to get through this emotions and I think it will be great
38:39
to look back at the race and see like, Oh, we started like, uh, from P 30.
38:44
Yeah, we gain a lot of positions.
38:46
We get to five and that's definitely great result.
38:49
And we can work on our pace for the next race.
38:52
So I think it, uh, It, it should be like this, at least from my side,
38:57
it's, it's always helping me because I got the same stuff as you, you
39:01
know, when you're getting the podium, you're like, yes, I'm going to get it.
39:04
And then you lose it in the last moment.
39:06
And you're like, oh, oh, no, that happened again.
39:09
Yeah, you know.
39:11
Yeah, and, uh, I do just want to point out, like, uh, my teammates, uh, their
39:16
names are Patrick and Julianne, and they were absolutely phenomenal, uh,
39:19
I, uh, I, I've got to put my, I was definitely the weakest link in that
39:23
race, I'd started quite early, I woke up after not much sleep, uh, we did the
39:27
Saturday morning time slot, and we When it came round to do our second round
39:31
of stints, I was completely out of it.
39:33
And so I just had to try and survive and then let Julien and Patrick do it.
39:36
If, if I, if I had ran to my scheduled stint time, we probably wouldn't have even
39:40
been in the conversation for the podium.
39:41
So, uh, yeah, I just, again, you, you want to have these positive
39:46
experiences with your teammates.
39:48
And in this race, none of us made mistakes, you know, like we, uh,
39:52
we're so like, as a team was so, uh.
39:56
We're focused on just making no mistakes, and if we do, we
40:00
just have to rebound from there.
40:01
You know, like, but in that instance, we got so close and
40:05
we may never get as close again.
40:07
But the fact is, we're doing it as a team.
40:08
This is meant to be a hobby.
40:09
It's an enjoyable experience for us.
40:11
And, uh, I believe in the importance of surrounding yourself with
40:15
like minded, good people who will accept you for who you are.
40:19
And that's also why I'm so.
40:21
Proud to be a staunch supporter of the Screen to Speed initiative because
40:25
it allows people from backgrounds that perhaps wouldn't be incentivized
40:31
into such an environment and giving them the opportunity to learn at
40:36
their pace without any, you know, pushback or discrimination of any kind.
40:43
Yeah, you know, some racing overall, I, uh, found out through the four or
40:47
five years of streaming and being in a racing and being a part of the community.
40:52
Um, it's really friendly and, uh, people just welcome you.
40:58
Uh, I've got some parts of the great Olympus sport team and,
41:01
uh, we actually started this.
41:03
Team from like three people.
41:05
Now we got just a lot of people.
41:07
So some of the drivers, I don't know, and never race with them.
41:11
Uh, and it's really cool to see that some racing growing and, uh,
41:16
definitely endurance racing is a part, um, which make some racing great, uh,
41:22
because this teamwork, which you're getting and you communicate with
41:25
people, it's absolutely priceless.
41:27
Uh, no matter what results you're getting, you just, uh.
41:30
Having fun with the team, you improving for the week, you practice together,
41:34
you can, um, compare your data.
41:37
You can definitely find, uh, some moments on track, which you can correct because,
41:42
uh, someone in your team doing this, uh, sector faster than you, uh, and that's
41:47
definitely a good opportunity for you to grow, especially if you got, uh,
41:52
people in the team who faster than you.
41:54
Um, And I really miss this, uh, when I was doing the in real life races, so I
42:00
was doing karting, um, and I was doing formulas, open wheelers, and I'm being
42:04
alone on my own in track, and definitely the endurances and team racing, that's,
42:10
uh, the thing which, uh, bring a lot of people into racing, and I hope we're going
42:16
to see even more people in the future here, uh, and as you screen to speed doing
42:21
the great stuff, and, you know, overall.
42:24
I would say that sim racing environment is really friendly, really welcome.
42:29
Um, and, uh, even compared to in real life racing, because I had
42:34
some toxic moments, uh, like on the track and outside of the track.
42:39
Uh, so yes, sim racing is definitely more friendly place to be in.
42:44
Yeah, and on the note where you just say they're like, uh, I've, I've not been
42:48
involved in, uh, in real life racing at all, but, uh, I've been studying it a
42:51
lot because I've been wanting to write a series of books about like a, a, a kid
42:55
who goes on to become a, you know, an F1 world champion, um, and, uh, one of his,
43:00
uh, best friends in, uh, in my story is, is a woman, is a girl and, uh, I, you see
43:07
a lot, I saw a lot when I was, uh, going to karting tracks all over the country,
43:11
that sort of like the, it's a bit of a boys club, it's a father and son living
43:16
vicariously thing, and girls are often discouraged from, uh, being involved.
43:21
And that's what I feel like is so brilliant about what Screen to Speed do,
43:25
and all the other major communities out there where there are, you know, inclusive
43:30
environments, you know, for people who are, uh, You know, of different sex,
43:35
different gender identities, different, um, like sexualities, races, religions.
43:40
If it's a safe space for these people to be able to come in and feel like
43:45
they're not being, uh, you know, not want to be hostile towards them.
43:49
It's, uh, it's genuinely brilliant because then they feel like they're
43:52
in a, an environment where they, they can, they can flourish.
43:56
And, uh, and seeing so many people growing up, um, who are.
44:01
Actively discouraged from doing whatever it is that brings them fulfillment.
44:06
Uh, that's something that I've always really appreciated about all these
44:10
various community teams, like United Sim Team, for example, we are, uh, open
44:13
to anyone who wants to join and who wants to learn, who wants to, uh, have.
44:18
Um, fun with this, with this incredible hobby that we have, uh, it's, uh, it
44:23
just sucks that we live in a world where so many of these people both in
44:27
like occupations and also in hobbies are unfairly treated and, uh, and,
44:32
and Screen to Speed is doing a lot to, to, uh, uh, correct the course
44:37
for a lot of, uh, girls who never got that encouragement growing up.
44:42
Yeah, I think I agree with you with this, uh, that, you know, just no one
44:46
should, uh, discourage you to, to do what you want to do and what you love to do.
44:51
So no matter if you, uh, women or men, you, if you want to do some
44:57
racing, like feel free to do this.
44:59
If you want to, I know running, if you want to go racing, uh, just do this and
45:05
no matter what people go on to say to you and, uh, I find out that here is
45:10
always people who's going to support you.
45:12
So I had little incident in a racing.
45:15
Uh, some people just, uh, bully me in races.
45:18
They've been following me in every race, uh, and just, uh, Thanks to iRacing,
45:23
iRacing just, uh, submit my, um, reports to these guys, and, uh, this thing's
45:31
completely stopped, and I also met a lot of support at this time, uh, from
45:36
community, from Twitch, from iRacing as well, uh, many drivers, uh, who also race
45:42
in this time, there was, uh, IndyPro, uh, with me, they also started to, like,
45:48
protect me, so that was great, and, uh, definitely Screen2Speed give, uh, The
45:53
place where, uh, we can feel safe and, uh, we can also find other female drivers.
46:00
Who's, you know, who's doing some racing and you're like,
46:03
Oh, they doing some racing.
46:04
I can do this too.
46:05
So it's really cool, uh, to see more, uh, girls into this.
46:09
And we got, for example, the Porsche sports all stars this
46:12
year, and we got three girls in it.
46:13
This is me.
46:14
This is a store Malina Emery, and I hope we're going to get even more, uh, girls
46:19
into, uh, e sport events and, uh, So we'll, we'll have a, you know, like more
46:26
equal sim racing with a lot of girls and then a lot of, uh, guys also in it.
46:31
Yeah, on the note that you mentioned there about, uh, those people that were
46:36
being horrible towards you, um, as a team, United Sinti, we run, uh, pride flags on
46:42
our car and I'm very proud to, uh, to, to don those flags, even though I'm not
46:45
LGBT myself, but I have had instances of people seeing that, like, for example,
46:51
this point last year, I think the week before the first 12 hours, uh, uh, there
46:55
was a community, uh, call, uh, I won't say their name because it's not a fair
46:58
reflection on them, but one of their members had actually, uh, seen a car that
47:03
me and one of my other teammates, Bill, had been driving with a pride flag on the
47:06
spoiler and went to try and take us out.
47:09
Um, and, uh, I, they didn't know that I was in their discord because I was
47:13
going to do a net four series with them.
47:15
And I saw that and, uh, reported them and they, well, They got
47:19
disciplined, but, uh, unfortunately that is just a rare case of people,
47:24
uh, being punished for what they do.
47:26
And recently I had someone try and take me out in a, in a sport car challenge
47:30
race after being in voice chat saying, why have you got a pride flag on your car?
47:33
It's disgusting that the, the people, uh, who feel comfortable.
47:38
treating others in such a, such a way.
47:40
And, um, we have a long way to go, but starting off by having
47:44
inclusive community teams like ours and, and organizers for events like
47:49
Screen2Speed go a long way into helping correct a lot of these, uh, issues.
47:57
Oh, yeah, I think, you know, just, uh, when you meet one negative
48:01
person, uh, you got like, uh, I know, 10 good races and you meet
48:06
this one person and just completely ruin your mood, uh, just because we,
48:11
we people and we can be really, uh, you know, sensitive in some moments,
48:15
uh, and, uh, it's absolutely fine.
48:18
Um, right now, just, uh, trying to do.
48:20
Not really paying attention to this, uh, people because I always, you know,
48:25
got like iRacing support next to me.
48:27
I got the community support next to me and, uh, whatever they going to do,
48:32
the bad things, uh, they going to be like reported and iRacing going to deal
48:37
with them, uh, anyway, because, uh, so usually I just see that, uh, um, I'm
48:43
going to speak about erasing because I'm most of the time in this simulator,
48:47
and, uh, I see that, uh, you know, I'm like, not meeting this people anymore.
48:53
So maybe they got some kind of break from erasing or something.
48:56
Uh, so yeah, that's a good thing that we got a community of holes, uh,
49:01
trying to, uh, Keep our hobby safe from this negative toxic people who
49:06
just, uh, you know, coming and trying to destroy someone's fun, uh, instead
49:11
of having fun with, uh, everybody.
49:14
Um, so yeah, just don't understand these people really,
49:17
because like, You got hobby.
49:18
You can have fun with it.
49:20
You can have fun with people around you.
49:22
Why care about like if that's a girl Run next to you or car with a pride flag.
49:29
So yeah, I just don't understand these people but they are part of this
49:33
world unfortunately or fortunately and We got everything in our hands to
49:40
you know, make more safe environment for ourselves Um, you mentioned
49:48
that you've been critical about, uh, I racing, um, pricing structure.
49:52
So can you tell me more about this?
49:54
Because I'm really curious.
49:56
Uh, you said that, um, you know, uh, like some content not using in
50:01
a racing, um, going to tell that.
50:04
I really don't care about this, because, uh, you know, people just, uh, race
50:08
what they want to race, like, GT3s, I know Formula 4, Formula 3, uh, and,
50:14
uh, yeah, we got some cars, uh, we got some content, which, not using a lot,
50:18
like, I know Formula 1, maybe, or, um, Mission R, Porsche, uh, no one uses that.
50:27
So I just, I'm just really curious about this.
50:29
So why you care a lot about this?
50:33
Right.
50:33
How long have we got?
50:34
No.
50:34
Okay.
50:35
Um, so specifically for me, it's more about the tracks.
50:38
So for example, I picked up Frookstern and, and, uh, Cadwell
50:41
Park and Knock Hill, for example.
50:43
Um, let's just use one particular series, um, Formula Ford, uh, 1600
50:48
Set up which Motorsport UK eSports have recently just entered into a
50:51
partnership with and subsequently I've mandated a majority British tracks.
50:56
And I honestly as as much as I get people's grievances with Removing
51:00
the community inputs from that.
51:02
I I think that it can still work But unfortunately for me the issue
51:08
becomes that I racing are as much as I like them They are completely
51:16
disconnected from the community.
51:17
They think they can price a very, like, take Cardwell Park, for example.
51:21
Not, it would not be compatible with GT3 cars.
51:25
You know, I wouldn't, and subsequently not prototypes either.
51:27
It wouldn't be compatible with even, maybe GT4s is like the fastest
51:31
car that can really race there.
51:33
Um, and it's going for 14.
51:34
95 as is the traditional iRacing track cost.
51:39
Um, but then you've got tracks.
51:41
Like Alton Park and Snetterton which are higher in profile because I think most
51:44
sim racers know them because they're in ACC uh in the British GT Championship and
51:49
uh They they are base content in iRacing.
51:52
I'm not as much as I would love to say Everything in
51:54
iRacing should be base content.
51:56
We're not in an ideal world However, they need to realize
52:00
that not every track is worth 14.
52:02
95. Like, there's a reason why I saw a meme recently from Apex Racing Team.
52:07
I races when they're told to race something other than Spa, Monza,
52:11
Daytona, Road Atlanta, Road America.
52:13
Why should I?
52:14
Why should I?
52:15
Because no one's, no, as a result, no one is really Parting with the cash to
52:21
race a lot of these more obscure lower level, um, tracks that aren't compatible
52:26
with a lot of higher powered cars.
52:27
And as a result, Motorsport UK Esports Formula 1600 Open Trophy,
52:33
bit of a mouthful I know, uh, is very rarely going official now.
52:37
And they even went off their way to pick tracks that are not in the UK,
52:40
but are also Very low in terms of participation, like Zolder and Saxon
52:44
Ring, and it's just like, it's like you want the series to fail, it's like you
52:49
want people to see all of this content that is rarely ever used elsewhere, and
52:56
to then not bother, because you've got a fixed set up, uh, formula 1600 series.
53:01
Uh, with a lot of old base content, so why should you then bother trying to
53:05
buy this track for a series that won't have more than four signups, you know,
53:10
because then the races won't go official.
53:11
So then what's the point in doing them?
53:13
Um, in my opinion, iRacing need to take, uh, their heads out of their, I won't
53:21
say where, and, uh, then realize that not every piece of content It should
53:28
be priced the same, you know, if you, I mean, look, if you had the idea to
53:34
go either spa or Cadwell Park for 14.
53:38
95 and you had neither, what would you go for?
53:40
You don't have to answer that.
53:40
It's spa.
53:41
You would go for spa, wouldn't you?
53:43
Because it's more compatible with more cars and it's one that.
53:46
So many people will love to drive and so that leaves Cadwell Park out to dry Like
53:51
there's a reason why the, you know, that French track, Leatherman It was added
53:55
and then the season after it became base content So anyone who bought it then to
53:59
feeling a bit rightfully annoyed that the track is they're not getting their
54:03
money back for it And so Yeah, it's just, it's just frustrating because I love
54:09
iRacing, I love driving it, but when certain pieces of content never end up
54:13
getting used after you've already paid for it, and in officials anyway, you
54:17
might go out of your way to coordinate with other communities and leagues that
54:22
use the content, but the majority of people in iRacing are racing officials.
54:27
And if they can't get into a race with a certain piece of content, then they're not
54:31
going to buy it because it was never used.
54:33
And then subsequently the tracks are never used because no one buys them.
54:36
And, uh, so yeah, it's, it's a source of frustration for me.
54:39
And I just hope one day iRacing will start tiering the cost of their
54:44
content, um, depending on what they think is going to be successful or not.
54:49
Well, um, I think in my opinion, uh, we, we got the same prices for tracks, uh,
54:54
just because, uh, racing doing the same job for, for any track, like, doesn't
54:59
matter if it's Spa or Cadwell Park, uh, they're going to, like, get the laser
55:04
scan, get all objects and everything, so, uh, in terms of, uh, simulator,
55:09
uh, they're doing the same job, uh, for each track, and I think it's kind
55:14
of, I know not fair, but it's okay.
55:17
Like if it's cost like 15 for each track, it's okay.
55:21
Uh, like, uh, for example, if we're talking about ovals and ovals, uh, we
55:26
got some tracks, uh, which costs like 11, I think, and, uh, some other tracks,
55:30
uh, cost a bit more, uh, so they, uh, got different prices for short tracks.
55:36
They usually cost, uh, less than, uh, big speedways.
55:41
Um, and.
55:43
Yeah, for Road Chorus, speaking about, uh, tracks, uh, which people don't use,
55:48
uh, often, yeah, so, we, we see a lot of people, like, in GT3s, running the
55:52
Monza, Spa, I don't know, Road America, Road Atlanta, but not a lot of people,
55:57
people running, uh, like, Saxon Ring, as you said, um, the reason in it, I
56:02
think, because people just limited with, uh, practice time, probably, and they
56:08
probably don't have, uh, a lot of time to, Home Learn new tracks, which we got
56:13
in a racing and they just, uh, you know, jumping tracks with the know pretty
56:18
well, because many people started a racing many, many years ago, um, like in
56:23
2012 or even in 20 something like this.
56:27
So they just, uh, kind of don't want to.
56:30
Um, you know, spend time to learn new tracks.
56:33
Uh, we're learning new tracks as a content creators, uh, because we want
56:37
to show new tracks to communities.
56:39
So maybe they're going to run them in some events in leagues, uh, whatever.
56:45
Um, but yeah, the reason why people not using content in officials,
56:49
um, especially new content and some complicated tracks, uh.
56:54
Like Saxon ring, uh, for example, I think that's, uh, just because people,
56:59
uh, get used to race road, Atlanta road, America, because they familiar
57:04
with this tracks and, uh, that that's definitely not about the price.
57:07
And I don't think the price going to change anything because, uh, you
57:11
mentioned also letting on circuit.
57:14
Um, so it was.
57:15
for the price and then they made this free and for the free
57:19
track also no one raised this.
57:22
Oh yeah, you're right.
57:23
You know, that's not changing really anything.
57:26
Just because people get used to these tracks, they really like this.
57:31
favorites, uh, favorites and, uh, tracks which we, we all like, and
57:36
people like to see you racing, like, Road Atlanta, Road America.
57:41
If it's, if it's going to be, you know, all 13 weeks with Road America, people
57:45
going to race it, and then people going to watch streams, you know?
57:51
Yeah, yeah.
57:52
I don't know, I just wish that a lot of people would get, maybe if they did,
57:56
like, package deals you know like a few other sims do where they create packs
58:00
of the maybe like a a british track pack for example for iris and you could
58:05
have like brands donington uh and then maybe like these obscure ones like uh
58:11
fruxton and cadwell you know just just to like have it on on there so that
58:15
people would give it more of a chance you know because otherwise you just see
58:18
a load of dead series and maybe the the community is just spread way too thin
58:22
across different tracks and different disciplines and I don't know I just I
58:28
just want to be able to know that I don't won't have to go off my way to to find.
58:33
Uh people to then do race these tracks with because there are some amazing, um,
58:39
tracks out there that just aren't getting the love like, uh, Barber is another one.
58:43
I'm going to be picking that up ahead of next season for the IndyCar
58:46
race, but I just feel like for the regularly scheduled series.
58:51
that Barbara won't get a lot of signups, maybe.
58:53
I don't know, I've checked what signups they get in other series.
58:57
And Saxon Ring as well, I've specifically asked the guy who's heading up the
59:00
sports car challenge series, like the, you know, the forum leader, I
59:05
don't know, community manager, there we go, to make sure that Saxon Ring
59:09
gets included on the season three schedule, or at least have the option.
59:12
There, uh, because I do want to get it.
59:14
I do like the track, but yeah, it's just about if I'm going to get my money's
59:18
worth and at the moment I'm definitely won't be, I have to be careful with, and
59:22
meticulous with what content you pick up for iRacing because, you know, with
59:27
how expensive it is and I limit myself to six pieces of content every season.
59:31
So that roughly comes up to about 300 before a subscription.
59:36
So yeah, it's, it's, it can get exhausting, but I want to
59:40
make sure that whatever I buy, I'm going to be able to use.
59:43
Yeah, I understand you that, uh, for some people, everything
59:46
definitely can be expensive because you have to pay for a subscription.
59:49
You have to pay also, uh, for tracks and, and cars, uh, which you want to drive.
59:54
Uh, what I suggest to people that if they want to try it,
59:58
Here's always a good discount.
59:59
Uh, if you starting the new account in a racing, uh, you can stick, uh,
1:00:04
with a free contents, we got them to, uh, with all three tracks and we
1:00:09
got to mix five, four more, one 600.
1:00:11
So when I started our racing, we had only mixed.
1:00:14
License.
1:00:15
Uh, right now we got a lot of more options for that.
1:00:18
And that's a really good thing, which I racing doing, in my opinion.
1:00:22
Um, because it just opening different categories for people.
1:00:26
So you didn't have to raise MX five if you want to jump into formulas and you just.
1:00:31
Can raise formal, uh, V or formal one 600 and then jump forward into
1:00:37
the formal license, which is great.
1:00:39
And if you're getting like five items, you get 20 percent discounts usually.
1:00:46
And if you got If you own 40, uh, items on your account, uh, you're
1:00:51
getting forever 20 percent discount.
1:00:54
So I got this on my account, uh, because I bought a lot of stuff and everything.
1:00:58
Uh, so it's really cool, uh, because it, it just, uh, really nice to see discounts.
1:01:03
And, uh, you can buy one car with a 20 percent discount as you used to,
1:01:09
um, you know, put the kind of bundle with the five items to get this.
1:01:13
Um, it's really good.
1:01:15
So I hope they're going to improve this and, uh, more people will come
1:01:19
to iRacing and race in this, uh, great simulator and, uh, have fun in officials.
1:01:25
So I'm with you in this, uh, definitely it should be, you
1:01:28
know, more open for everybody.
1:01:30
And I think iRacing, uh, recently, like, Last two or three years, they did
1:01:35
good job with, uh, um, rookie series and, uh, involve some, all free content
1:01:41
into this, uh, because it's great.
1:01:43
You can just jump, try it.
1:01:45
If you don't like it, you just don't have to buy tracks.
1:01:48
Don't have to buy, uh, cars because you got an opportunity to try it.
1:01:53
And another, another car that I'd like on the notes of cars, uh, Renault Clio.
1:01:58
Uh, don't ever see that going official for the most part and I've, and I got
1:02:02
it for, you remember the, uh, in 2024 season one or 2023 season four, they,
1:02:09
uh, did the weekly challenge, which going back to what I was saying earlier
1:02:12
about versatility, different car and different track for every, every week.
1:02:16
And I got it for that.
1:02:17
And then I rarely ever use it now.
1:02:18
And I just, yeah, I, I understand iRacing's model of trying to like maximize
1:02:24
profits, but maybe if they lowered the price of certain content that.
1:02:27
isn't getting as much love, they might be able to guarantee a bit
1:02:31
more people get it and hopefully then it will be more worth it.
1:02:35
Yeah, we'll see what will be in the future and definitely we, we can't do anything
1:02:40
with their, uh, you know, pricing, uh, because we were not working in our racing.
1:02:45
So hopefully we just, uh, being as a sim racers and part of community, uh,
1:02:50
going to hope that our racing going to grow and, uh, going to hear community
1:02:54
also, uh, and maybe get involved more free content also, um, maybe, you know,
1:03:00
I think it will be a great idea to make our racing free for weekends, like,
1:03:05
uh, some, uh, games in steam usually, uh, doing this, uh, free weekends.
1:03:11
It's really cool to try for some people, uh, without paying even
1:03:15
for three months a subscription.
1:03:17
Um, so yeah, we'll see how future will be for sim racing.
1:03:21
Um, let's talk about your future.
1:03:24
So what's your plans for, uh, sim racing for this year and, uh, for upcoming years?
1:03:32
Uh, well, I'm definitely at a point now that I'm very
1:03:35
satisfied with all that I do.
1:03:37
I, uh, have, um, a lot of, I've, I've seen the, uh, the announcement for
1:03:42
a lot of the, uh, the annual series.
1:03:46
That's going to be like, for example.
1:03:47
Tomorrow I'm going to be doing the IndyCar iRacing series around Sebring,
1:03:51
um, which, uh, I didn't do last year.
1:03:55
Um, I did do like the Road America, Laguna Seca, Long Beach races, but I
1:04:00
didn't do Sebring because I didn't have a good idea as to what all that was.
1:04:04
Um, And then there's also like the, the creventic series.
1:04:08
Uh, we did the spa race at the end of last year, which, in which we've
1:04:12
got, uh, I think we finished eighth, um, which I'm really happy about.
1:04:16
I want to try and do a lot more of those.
1:04:18
Um, and, uh, I do a lot of the, well, GT endurance, IMSA endurance, IMSA sports car
1:04:24
endurance challenge races on the weekends, obviously all the special events.
1:04:28
Um, and, uh, I also plan on doing, uh, last year I did.
1:04:33
Four solo, uh, five solo races in the Nürburgring Endurance Championship.
1:04:37
One in each car class.
1:04:39
Um, And with varied results, and I'm looking forward, especially this year.
1:04:43
Now that the BMW M2 has been added because that that car is absolutely brilliant.
1:04:49
And I know you were in a race with me recently in the M2 at Laguna
1:04:53
Seca held by Ells again, and it was, uh, very enjoyable, even
1:04:58
if it was quite tricky to drive.
1:05:00
So, when we can put an open set up on that, it's going to be, I'm really
1:05:04
looking forward to seeing how that goes.
1:05:06
Um, And as far as everything, I, I, I do, I wouldn't mind trying to
1:05:10
branch out a bit more to other sims.
1:05:12
Um, I, uh, I, I'm getting very comfortable in iRacing and I know I shouldn't be
1:05:17
through my own philosophy doing that.
1:05:20
Um, and I've got, uh, well, my teammate Patrick.
1:05:23
And wants me to do more LMU stuff.
1:05:26
Um, he's only just recently succeeded in bullying me into his, uh, community
1:05:31
where he's doing a, a 100 minute race around the secure outer layout.
1:05:35
'cause they've just added all the alternate layouts into LMU.
1:05:38
Um, and, uh, and I would love to do Sophie's in chat now, and I'm,
1:05:44
I'm really worried that this is gonna seem like I'm calling her out.
1:05:47
Would I really want to try and get the, the whole a CC.
1:05:51
Based Notch life for 24 hour race off our back because I've been I'm hoping
1:05:57
that Luffield Motorsport will be Starting, we'll be doing that again.
1:06:02
Um, and, uh, I'm just praying that we will have the team for it
1:06:06
because, you know, we don't know.
1:06:09
We did the Nurburgring 24 on iRacing last year.
1:06:12
We're going to do it again this year.
1:06:14
And we're, um, I'm looking forward to it, but ACC.
1:06:19
You know, people have been wanting Nordschleife on there for years,
1:06:22
and then they finally get it right when ACC is kind of dying off.
1:06:27
I just want to do one, and uh, you know, any, any endurance event, and
1:06:32
also plan, uh, plan on doing a lot of long haul sport, uh, formula car
1:06:35
races, like I said there with IndyCar.
1:06:37
Also, the um, vintage Grand Prix Tour that's starting up with the Lotus 79,
1:06:40
that's, I'm picking up the car, look, I've already test driven it in demo drive.
1:06:45
It's very, very fun.
1:06:47
I would, I would recommend it to anyone.
1:06:50
Just want to do as many long haul races as possible, be as successful as possible.
1:06:53
It's something I need to do.
1:06:55
It's just, I've, I've rested on my laurels for so long with regards to
1:07:00
these high level sim racing events.
1:07:02
I'm just really, really keen on, on doing as much as I can in this little time.
1:07:09
You got really good plans, uh, for this 2025.
1:07:12
Wish you good luck with all your races, uh, hope you're going to
1:07:15
get podium, uh, and good result.
1:07:17
Um, main thing just, uh, I think be focused on your own pace
1:07:21
and, uh, trying to, uh, like.
1:07:26
Getting experience step by step, uh, and the last one, uh, I would
1:07:31
like, uh, you to give advice to new sim racers, uh, like new girls, uh,
1:07:37
boys who's coming into sim racing.
1:07:39
So what will be your advice for them?
1:07:42
Uh, definitely get surrounded by a lot of, uh, people that you can trust
1:07:47
and that have your best interests at, uh, at heart, make sure you don't.
1:07:52
Just surround yourself with people who will not be afraid to, uh, criticize
1:07:58
because that's how you improve.
1:07:59
Um, so, yeah, very much, uh, it's important to have the right people
1:08:06
around you, uh, ones who can be quite tactful, but also that will be able to
1:08:11
make you as great as you can, basically.
1:08:14
Um, uh, just before we end off, I assume that was the last thing going to ask.
1:08:18
I just want to get this in before we finish.
1:08:21
Leibov, um, you may recall an event we did together called
1:08:24
race Chella also by El Zindriani.
1:08:27
Um, that event, I actually went into voice chat after, after we finished to
1:08:32
say that it was very starstruck to have been racing with you, um, because I'd
1:08:36
become such a fan of yours after Porsche e sports all stars and, uh, to now know
1:08:42
that I've just been interviewed by you.
1:08:44
It's kind of like a weird subversion in a way, like you would think, you would
1:08:48
think that I'd be the one interviewing you for Overtale, but you're interviewing me.
1:08:52
Um, yeah, I've, I've been a big fan of yours for a long time and it's a
1:08:56
privilege to have been interviewed by you.
1:08:58
Thank you so much.
1:08:59
It was nice to meet you.
1:09:00
Definitely.
1:09:01
I had a lot of fun to talk with you and, uh, it was fun.
1:09:05
Thank you so much for being here.
1:09:08
Yeah.
1:09:08
So wish you good luck.
1:09:09
Yeah.
1:09:10
Wish you good luck.
1:09:11
Thank you so much for being with us and, uh, see you guys.
1:09:14
Thank you so much for watching another one.
1:09:16
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