Charles Leclerc once highlighted that he feels sim racing is tougher than real-life racing. Still, the Monegasque opined that sim racing won’t exactly give the feeling of actually driving a race car to the T, in terms of the G-forces that any driver would experience.
Back in the pandemic days, Leclerc did a lot of sim racing as part of the Twitch quartet which also involved Lando Norris, Alex Albon, and George Russell. So, he knows all the pros and cons of racing online in contrast with actual on-track action. Speaking on the Jay Shetty podcast, Leclerc has now highlighted the cons of sim racing.
The Ferrari driver stated how he also uses the simulator back at his team’s Maranello base. He mentioned how the modern-day simulator setups have evolved immensely in terms of the G-force feedback and giving as accurate of a real-life racing experience as possible.
However, Leclerc stated, “But you are only racing on your own. So, you cannot reproduce a race whatsoever. You are doing laps on your own”.
The #16 driver contrasted how the actual on-track experience of driving a race car has multiple facets that can’t be properly simulated online. Even back in 2020, Leclerc stated a similar thing, while mentioning how he felt sim racing is “tougher”.
According to RaceFans, he said, “Because we have the feelings of the car in real life. Here it’s a lot more mental”. While he opined that back then, the G-force feedback on a simulator was not as advanced, he still used to sweat a lot during online races.
Charles Leclerc returned to the sim with Twitch quartet mate Alex Albon
Charles Leclerc and Alex Albon participated in a special event for the launch of the F1 24 video game by EA Sports. The duo had to compete in the Ten Racers event around the street track of Monaco on the new game.
Apparently, this race event also had other sporting stars from the football (soccer) world and several content creators who engage in sim racing. The new F1 24 game has been a much-anticipated offering among fans with several new revamps and changes from last year’s edition.
Mainly the new edition will look to provide a more realistic gaming experience of driving F1 cars with several customisable handling features included. Leclerc would have certainly had his opinions on these changes after driving in the special event.
