My Simracing History
How it all began?
Whilst I was still at school (late 1990s) my parents bought their first PC for work. The spec of the PC was low (386sx), hard disk space (40mb) and RAM size (1mb) was limited. This was my first introduction to using computers, it inspired my imagination of what could be done. This lead to me focusing my education on Computer Studies, turning away from the Art & Design sector.
Microprose Memories (1991)
Friends around this time would be interested in the Amiga and I was able to try Geoff Crammond's F1 Grand Prix for the first time. Many fun days were had "hot-seating" in that game with friends. The game then got released on PC (4 floppy disks) and I had to get it straight away. One slight problem was, my parents PC didn't quite have the RAM and memory required to run the game. Problem solving with many different boot disks would begin to squeeze as much memory out of the computer as possible. Eventually after finding the correct configuration, the game ran for the first time!!
I was hooked... even my school friends got in on the action with hot-seating games during lunch breaks at school. From there it was editing files, emulating the real world grid, changing names & paintjobs and 100% distance races all on keyboard.
Then came Grand Prix 2 and a PC upgrade from my parents was very welcome to be able to run this game. By this point I was off to college and able to make my first websites on the subject of these games. "Neil's GP2 Page", "Neil's GP3 Page" and "Neil's Racing Sim Page" were created (not really that original with my website naming back then!). The internet in it's 56K infancy made updating these websites difficult but it didn't stop the hunger for information about simracing.
By From ImageShack., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=20110016
Introduction to online racing (1999)
Off to college in 1999 and studying Computing lead me to owning a PC to use for the course. Between lessons this was also used for gaming and what would be my first taste of online gaming. College friends happened to buy a PC Gaming Magazine and on their demo disc was a game called "Grand Prix Legends" by Papyrus. Watching the car in the demo race around Monza and see the suspension move was a revelation for me (the crash physics were good fun too!).
So down to my local Electronic Boutique video game store to purchase this game based in 1967 (way before I was born!). This lead to many hours with friends crashing these cars over LAN (Local Area Network) gaming sessions. I happened to search for ways to play this game online and down the rabbit hole of online racing I went. Days spent on VROC and IRC, college work got in the way! I managed to find a league in my timezone called UKGPL and competed in my first ever online race on 22nd November 2000 in a Ferrari 312 at Kyalami. It did not go well, with crashes and a little bit of lag I finished 11th. I missed the next round at Monaco but then after lots of practice for the next race at Zandvoort I had an epic fight to come home with the victory. This was Season 3 of their league, they are still going and have now completed more than 39 seasons.
In this time I would also dabble with NASCAR racing, playing leagues in such games like NASCAR 3, NASCAR 4, NASCAR 2002 and NASCAR 2003. Simracing modding was already starting to pickup. I also did a little painting along with other community members, creating a website called "The Days Of Thunder Project" based on the Tom Cruise movie.
In 2004, I had back surgery which changed my perspective on life and gaming in general.
Leagues and mods (2005)
In 2005, ISI (Imagespace Inc.) released their "Open Racing Simulation" rFactor which had modding support. The world of different cars and tracks opened up before me thanks to this game inspiring many modders out there to create content. After 94 races in the UKGPL league and getting to Season 12 in 2006 I moved on to other games. With the amount of cars and tracks available, league racing picked up and I was able to make a lot of friends (many of them I still know).
Spoiled for choice? (2006)
Modders for rFactor and NASCAR games suddenly saw they could go pro and the simracing game library grew exponentially. Along came Simbin with GTR, GTR 2, GTR Evo & Race 07 all based on the ISI gmotor engine. I again took part in online racing leagues using these games. Even with the amount of games available in the simracing genre, we still weren't "mainstream".
Start of Simracing E-Sports?
During my time away from virtual racing I was able to take part in live broadcasts for a league called "Gentleman's Racing Club". I was the director in control of camera switching and video presentation.
I relished the opportunity to create professional looking intro videos and buildups during the races.
These races featured many of the drivers that are now professional e-sport racers and commentators such as, Jack Nicholls (Formula E), now are part of real racing commentary.
Simracing Sabbatical (2008)
I was becoming burned out on sitting behind a PC racing virtually. I saw an advert in my local paper which advertised the opportunity to get taught how to ride a Speedway bike. This happened to be not far from me and I had always followed Grass Track and a little speedway since I was very young. Going to many events with my dad and I considered the riders that took to the dirt to be my childhood heroes. So on a hot day in July 2008, I put my leg over a speedway bike for the first time and it consumed my interest for the next few years.
I also raced at amateur level between 2011 to 2013 whilst raising money for charity.
Returning to virtual racing (2013)
After my speedway antics were over (temporarily) mainly because of financial difficulties, I returned to the virtual tarmac. League racing in rFactor with friends rekindled the interest in virtual racing. In 2013, my interest was about to peak even more with the release of rFactor 2.
Since then the wealth of content by very talented modders (many of which still around from the first game) kept my interest in simracing. I briefly took to the real track again for speedway in 2016 (suffering an injury from a crash) and a return in 2017.
Quarantine and Covid (2020-2022)
At the start of the lockdown period I needed an outlet. My streaming of simracing content was due to increase. I upgraded to a simrig rather than sat at a desk with a more expensive wheel and pedal setup (Thrustmaster PC and T3PA pedals). I also came back to iRacing (I had raced on the service when it started in 2008 but my interest waned). Lockdown led to many real racers trying out what had been my hobby on and off for the last 20 or so years. I even got the opportunity to take to the track with some of them while on stream. As expected I soon found myself wanting a less toxic racing experience (sometimes due to playing with randoms and their ease of access to voice chat).
Since then I have found friends from previous leagues and reconnected through streaming and online racing. I created and raced in what was my most ambitious simracing stream to date which was my Formula 1979 Season raising money for "Rethink Mental Illness". The series ended in January 2022, meeting my funding goal with a dramatic season finale.