At home, hitting top gear
CRASH, RESTART What it’s like for a Formula driver to switch gears and compete in E-races
nMUMBAI: “If you hit the wall in this race, you simply press the restart button and go again. In reality, well… let’s just say that’s not the case,” said Jerome D’ambrosio, the Mahindra Racing driver in Formula E, with a chuckle. D’ambrosio is talking about the difference between racing on the computer – which he has been doing ‘professionally’ of late – and driving a real car around the circuit.
The Belgian D’ambrosio, like all other Formula E drivers, is participating in the eight-week long ABB Formula E Race At Home Challenge, which began with the Hong Kong E-prix on April 25. Here too, he is equipped with a steering wheel and pedals and is competing against the men he usually competes against – virtual racing mimics many aspects of real racing, except one crucial factor – there are no consequences. “You don’t have the same adrenaline in a game,” D’ambrosio said.
“Neither do you face the same consequences. I had a lot of contacts in the virtual race that would’ve definitely put me off the race in reality. That didn’t happen in the game. So, I don’t think it’s really comparable. I’m not alien to it; it still has a wheel and pedals. But the perception is very different,” he says.
But it is still enough to keep his mind – and that of racing fans – occupied. The motor racing fraternity has been quick to switch tracks to the virtual domain in the times of a global pandemic. Everything from Formula 1 to NASCAR to Indycar to Formula – have tried to keep their fan base busy with online races.
“Virtual races are a great platform to provide content, put on some show in these times, and perhaps reach a different audience,” said D’ambrosio.
This is how it works in virtual Formula E: the organisers provided every participating driver a simulator seat with steering wheel and pedals, the latest gaming PC, monitors, headphones, and other equipment; all of these were shipped to the drivers’ respective homes. This virtual series follows a ‘Race Royale’ format, where the last-placed driver after each lap gets eliminated until the final 10 compete in the concluding lap to determine the winner and points are distributed accordingly. When it comes to equipment, sim racing is a hobby that can lead you down an endless rabbit hole.
The engine driving everything is a high-end gaming computer. Then there’s the seat, which mimics the driver position in a real race car. The wheel has ‘force feedback’, which means it offers the same resistance as a real steering wheel – the same goes for the pedals. If you want to go really crazy, there are simulation cockpits with wraparound screens.
Formula E’s Hong Kong race was beamed live on their website, Facebook, Youtube and Twitch accounts, and featured their main commentator in action as well. D’ambrosio finished ninth in his maiden attempt, while his Mahindra Racing team-mate Pascal Wehrlein got the hang of the simulation series faster and finished third. “This race was the first for me. I didn’t really grow up with this gaming-type racing,” 34-year-old D’ambrosio said. “It’s nothing like competing in a real race, but I must say I enjoyed it.” He was speaking over the phone from Lopud, a tiny island in south Croatia, where he has been held up for the last two months after the country enforced an early lockdown. Lopud is a dream island, with medieval stone houses, ruins of fortresses, incredibly clear seas, and no cars. No matter how high end the tech, a virtual race is no match for the real thing, even in the small details.
“In the virtual race you don’t see the depth in the image, so it’s difficult to feel how fast you’re going,” D’ambrosio said. “You don’t feel the car. You just have to sit back at the steering wheel.”
D’ambrosio knows what he is talking about after having driven in every Formula E race since the series started in 2014 – that’s 64 starts, nine podium finishes and three wins to boot. “To go fast in a real car, you rely on your natural sensors, and that provides you with information on what the car is doing and what it needs to do in order to go quicker,” he said. “What you have to rely on for more speed in a virtual race is different from the sensors you rely on in real cars.”
But the one commonality between virtual and real is the pro driver’s need for speed.
“The adrenaline of the competition is still there, if not the adrenaline of consequences. Also missing of course is the actual feeling of the sitting in a car,” D’ambrosio said. “But, even though you know you’re not actually racing and it’s not the real thing, you still want to go fast and do your best.
“At the end of the day, what makes a good racing driver is the ability to identify what is required to go quicker. We apply that to virtual racing as well. You still need to exercise your brain. That’s always a good training for when the season begins again.”
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