[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?

[Vracer111]

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?

Realistic driving simulators definately help out with driving basics on track. GTR/GTR2 is the best simulator for modern production cars and is excellent to learn turn-in approaches, threshold braking, and line experimenting. Force-Feedback is excellent and you can actually feel what each corner of the car is doing somehow under braking, accelerating, and cornering. Would not consider time spent with GTR/GTR2 a waste of time at all! To get the most use out of realistic driving simulators the following would be what you would really want if you are serious:

1. Computer capable of running sims
2. Matrox Triple Head to Go with 3 19" LCD monitors for proper field of view
3. Track IR for situational awareness and looking ahead....
4. Logitech G25 Controller (proper wheel diameter and great FFB)
5. Adequate racing seat
6. Good speakers (subwoofer to transmit vibrations for addional input)

One of the best GTR2 videos i've seen for how it drives: GTR2

A little feature I really like about GTR2 is sun glare when you set driving time to sunset/sunrise times...nothing like being blind going into a corner to test if you have your braking points and apexs down... the glare off the track surface adds that little extra bit.

In addion to GTR/GTR2, Netkar Pro (formula car simulator) is considered one of the best racing sims available... NetkarPro

P.S. If you want to try a fun one out for free try Blimey's BMW M3 Challenge (from the creators of GTR, GT Legends, GTR2...) M3 Challenge.com Just have to remember it's a street car on street tires...

This post has been edited by Vracer111: Dec 3 2007, 12:32 AM