The current Coronavirus lockdown affected people around the world in different ways. And that includes all motorsport activities which have been canceled around the world. That measure left drivers like Bruno Spengler craving for a return to racing.
But he didn’t waste any time though and has recently joined sim-racing competitions. Since real-life racing couldn’t be done, a lot of racers, and even automakers, have turned to the virtual realm, which has seen a popularity boom like never before.
BMW had been investing time and resources into the field long before the COVID-19 pandemic, but with the current trends, it has decided to amplify its efforts. Bruno was one of the first to sign up.
During his stint behind a simulator wheel, he managed to become the first ever champion of the IMSA iRacing Pro Series. Speaking about sim-racing and real-life racing, Spengler wasn’t shy about pointing out the good and the bad in each:
“Sim racing is the perfect practice for me in this special situation, but also at times without racing in general. Primarily it enhances your ability to concentrate. Since my simulator is static, I don’t have the movements and forces that I’m used to in a real racing car. I only have my eyes on the screen, my feet on the pedals and my hands on the steering wheel to feel what the car is doing.”
“Without the accompanying movements it is much more difficult to stay focussed over a long period – particularly in hotly contested races like in the IMSA iRacing Pro Series and the DNLS powered by VCO. In addition to the excellent concentration training, in my opinion sim racing even teaches driving feeling.
Because the right racing line in the simulator is also the right racing line on the real racetrack I can take many of my experiences in the simulator with me into the real racing car,” he added in a recent interview.
Understandably, as exciting and as successful as his run in the sim-racing universe is, Spengler is still looking forward to racing in real-life conditions. The first chance he’s going to get will be in the IMSA which is scheduled to hold its first races at the beginning of July.
