[1997TA]

I am fairly new to the road racing arena. Would practicing road-racing via realistic video gaming at home help my driving skills? Or, would it be a waste of time?

[Teutonic Speedra...]

I think it helps when using the more realistic games. I have GTR2 but with just a laptop it's not the best. I've been researching some simulators lately....as I'm not sure how long I'll be doing the real thing for and some of them seem pretty cool/realistic. I've had a hard time getting the Watkins Glen download to work....the car gets stuck when driving through the pits. That would be a cool comparison if I could get it to work.

I'd like to build a home-grade simulator (seat, pedals, wheel, speakers, LCD, etc.) in the next few years. I've played older TOCAs, but I'd like to try the latest one. I have a copy of Ferarri F355 Challenge (5+ years old and hard to find). Play that one with all of the driver assists turned off and you will experience car control issues just like a real one.

Some of the more expensive simulators, ie: $10k plus may give you some more of the motion and physical effects.

I don't think I'm the best of drivers, but I had plenty of video game experience before I ever tracked my car, and I progressed from beginner to instructor level rather quickly, and some early instructors said I had "natural" ability. Yeah....but then I got to a certain point and like to take the car home and am a big wuss on the brakes......just a tad too early.

This post has been edited by Teutonic Speedracer: Nov 27 2007, 05:36 PM