Technology has reached new heights in NASCAR over the past decade, and the introduction of simulators to practice for races is one of the key advances. These professional-grade machines help drivers get acclimated to race tracks and have improved a lot over the years. But they don’t come with zero downside, as Ryan Blaney recently explained.
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The 2023 Cup Series champion spoke about the usage of simulators on the Team Blaney Podcast and revealed that he doesn’t use them for races on ovals. For Blaney, they are of most use ahead of road course races. He said that they help him get acclimated to the bumps and braking zones at such tracks.
On the flip side, a driver could also hinder themselves if relying on simulators too much. Blaney said, “I think you can learn some bad habits if you’re fully trusting a sim. I mean, it’s just real life to sim work in anything. There’s always going to be a little bit of a disconnect, at least nowadays. Maybe 10 years from now, it’s going to be perfect.”
Blaney is someone who understands that simulators aren’t perfect and that they have to be taken for what they are. And so, he uses them as nothing more than a visual key. Even with such a careful approach, he faces trouble with them at times. He said that there are instances when the car goes one way and the screen doesn’t follow it immediately.
Such glitches affect the balance of his mind-eye coordination and force him to shut down the sim at once. He continued, “It doesn’t happen very often, but yeah, I use a lot for gear reference. Brake points I feel like get to be fairly similar.” The driver pointed out that he has been around simulators for nearly ten years now and that they’ve come a long way.
By his own admission, Blaney uses the Ford Performance simulator for hours ahead of races in road courses. The lack of enough practice time has only persuaded him to do so more in recent years. But where possible, he prefers studying data to prepare for races rather than getting in the simulator. He revealed the same in an interview last year.
Blaney said, “Everyone’s a little different. Some guys do SIM, others watch races, and look at data from last year. I’m more kind of a data guy than a SIM guy. But everyone’s a little different.”
Whatever his approach may be, it is working to his advantage. The No. 12 driver fixed himself a playoff spot this season by winning at the Nashville Superspeedway and is one of the favorites for the title.
