What is sim racing? A champion racer explains

Racing has been of interest lately not only within the automobile and sports community, but even with casual fans who have developed a curiosity for the sport.

While for most, a chance to see a race in person might seem rare, one can dip their feet into the feeling of it with sim racing.

What is sim racing?

"It is a simulation of real-life racing," Matthew Ang told GMA News Online.

Ang, 22, is a champion sim racer, having won the AAP National Digital Rally Championship 2022. He also finished as first runner up in the GR GT Cup promotional class 2022 and first runner up in the GR GT Cup Sporting class 2023.

"So these softwares developed by companies, they make these ‘games’ that we like to call them simulations because they accurately or at least, as much as it can, do its best to mimic real-life racing in a sense."

One will not need to move in sim racing as they only need to sit while trying their best to immerse themselves.

Sim racing, however, tries to mimic elements such as car handling and tire grip as the simulations prepare drivers for real life racing as well.

However, Ang said sim racing is more than just a game.

"I think if there's anything that a newbie or someone who isn't aware of the sport should know it's that sim racing isn't just a game. I think a lot of drivers who jump from real real-life racing to sim racing tend to struggle because there are some differences."

These differences include speed, g-force period or acceleration due to gravity, and some equipment.

Aside from games such as iRacing or Gran Turismo, those interested to try simracing can also go to bars such as Korsa Pitstop Cafe in Pasay and Monza Barcade in Pasig.

Ang, however, wants to push more awareness for sim racing and is sharing his passion to his school, the University of Asia & the Pacific, where he founded the Dragons Motorsports Club.

His school organization is sometimes lent equipment by a racing club and students can try for free. He also gives lectures to those interested in sim racing and racing in general. "The reason why I pursued the club in the first place was because I wanted more people to love the sport. I realized now that the reason why a lot of drivers don't have the opportunities to pursue the sport here Is because not enough people watch," he said.

"I wanted people to care about it because a lot of people are risking their lives to pursue this sport and I think that if people really gave it a shot, if they really knew the story... we would love the sport. So one of the main purposes of my club is to give that opportunity, to give them the chance to be a part of the sport without having to spend much."

Ang is also sharing his love for the sport by organizing the Inter-University Sim Racing Championship.

"I realized that the reason why most schools don't have a motor sports club is that it's expensive and it's inaccessible to many so I told myself if I'm gonna do this for UA&P, why can't I do this for other schools," he said.

"We already have many clubs but [they] don't necessarily have the equipment or the means to showcase their skills and to really reach the opportunities the same way my school can so that's why I organized the entire thing. I knew the owners of Korsa and I knew that they wanted more people to try out the sport [so] It perfectly aligned with what we did."

"We minimize the costs for everyone, we look for ways in which we could pay off rent and pay off for the prizes and the efforts of everyone in the team so now they're fighting for a shot now."

The inter-school competition is held every last Wednesday of the month until May. Each team composed of three to four drivers from the same school can win from the PHP30,000 prize pool.

But why is Ang so passionate about sim racing and motorsports?

"I've loved racing my entire life and quite frankly, I've never gotten the chance to show it. I've never gotten the chance to pursue the sport," Ang said, adding this pursuit takes a lot of financial resources as well.

He took a pause from it but the anime 'Initial D' inspired him again to continue.

"As I did more research, I found that sim racing was a potential opportunity for me to, I guess, be a part of the sport and potentially get opportunities to race in real life. The moment I graduated from high school, I took whatever savings I had and I just bought my first simulator and in the first month of my practice, I practiced every single day, for three hours plus, sometimes six hours," Ang said.

Then came the first opportunity for a competition.

"Honestly, some people might find it unhealthy. Looking back, it really was, but I still loved every hour of it and when Toyota first launched the post about the GRT Cup, I told myself I'm gonna apply everything that I've learned the last two months. I just kept studying and studying. I've studied more than I've studied in my whole life."

"I did not regret entering it. I was so scared when I first signed up, I entered the Google form," he shared.

"When I first registered and I saw all the people who I was competing against I think it was about 120 or 130 people because there's a professional class, but like it's a different class and I was just jittering the whole night.

"When the green flag was raised, wow, I just just told my brain to shut up. It was thinking of all the ideas. What if someone crashes into me? I didn't think of any of that. I drove as fast as I could and lo and behold, I Was looking back in my rearview mirror and I found second place was five seconds behind me. All of my worries just went away and I just drove and I just enjoyed every bit of it.

"Obviously I was still scared. I would mess up but at some point I flushed out that excitement and when I crossed that line, I just knew I wanted to pursue this. I just knew I had a shot at pursuing racing professionally, I wasn't too far," he added.

His journey had highs and lows but Ang continued despite the setbacks.

Now, he is also trying his hand in real life racing.

Recently, Ang and his team placed second in the K-Cars 2 Hrs Endurance series, proof that sim racing can also help prepare an athlete in real-life racing.

Ang also hopes that more people get to experience sim racing and other people share his passion too.

"My goal is through the Inter-university competition, [to] get the stories of these drivers out there and just get people to root for them, root for their schools and see how entertaining the sport can be, how many different ways they can enjoy the sport because people love F1 here. Why not love local racing here?"

—JMB, GMA Integrated News