Community Question: Do You Listen To Music When Sim Racing?

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Do you listen to music when racing?

  • Yes

    Votes: 23 19.0%
  • No

    Votes: 74 61.2%
  • Sometimes (please explain in the comments)

    Votes: 24 19.8%

  • Total voters
    121
Engine notes are music to motorsport fans' ears, but when sim racing, some prefer to listen to actual music. We want to know: Do you race with or without music?

Fans of racing and, by extension, sim racers often point out the sound of certain cars as one of their best qualities. Sure, the upcoming Aston Martin Valkyrie LMH car that is set to join WEC in 2025 looks cool, but most discussions include the wailing sound of the V12 that many are looking forward to.

And many of us just enjoy a quality engine noise when in the sim rig. However, in long races, even the engine noise can become repetitive for some, and there are sim racers out there who prefer listening to music in such cases. Do you as well? And what do you listen to? Let us know in the comments below and in the poll above!

OverTake Community Playlists​

If you do listen to music when racing or want to try, we have a recommendation for a starting point: OverTake is now on Spotify, and the reason is the "What are you listening to?" thread on our forums. Started in March of 2008, the thread has amassed over 7,200 posts as of November 2024, with plenty of music mentioned by you, our community.

Accordingly, our community manager @Christopher E has taken on the monumental task of going through the thread and assemble playlists for different purposes using the songs you mentioned in the thread. There are playlists for quali laps, race pace, free roaming and oval racing which are all still in their early stages, but being added to constantly, and this is just the start!

We intend to keep growing the playlists based on what you post in the thread. Head over to the forum thread and share your best picks by linking a Youtube video.
Let us know which playlist you think your picks best fit into by tagging your post with any of the following:
  • TheLeftTurn - (Folk, Country, Acoustic)
  • RoamFree - (Atmospheric chill any genre)
  • HotLap - (Anything off the wall goes!)
  • RacePace - (Fast paced, Hard rock, Metal)

SpotifyOverTake.png


Let us know your go-to tunes for when you are in the rig in the forum thread and in the comments below!
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About author
Yannik Haustein
Lifelong motorsport enthusiast and sim racing aficionado, walking racing history encyclopedia.

Sim racing editor, streamer and one half of the SimRacing Buddies podcast (warning, German!).

Heel & Toe Gang 4 life :D

Comments

OverTake
Premium
Personally, the engine is perfectly fine when I hop in the rig. Nothing sweeter than a nice-sounding race car trying to blow out your ear drums :D
The only exception is free roam stuff, but that doesn't fall into the "racing" category, I guess. A nice Synthwave playlist or some chill Blues Rock like The Black Keys just enhance the experience a lot for me when just cruising in a relaxed manner. Although just flooring it to some Thrash Metal can be immensely fun as well!
 
It really depends on what I play.

If I take a race car for a spin (e.g.: a Group C prototype in Le Mans) the music stays off and I only focus on the engine notes and the feedback of the car.

But if I'm in a mood for a more casual drive (e.g.: SRP's beautiful C1 loop in Tokyo, driving a late 90s, early 2000s JDM car) then yes, music sometimes adds to that fast paced, yet relaxing night drive experience.
 
OverTake
Premium
But if I'm in a mood for a more casual drive (e.g.: SRP's beautiful C1 loop in Tokyo, driving a late 90s, early 2000s JDM car) then yes, music sometimes adds to that fast paced, yet relaxing night drive experience.
Nice thanks for adding that. I've also started experimenting with free roam AC tracks and music is immersive.
 
Done it before will do it again, like coast run in AC, does not mean you listen to it 24/7.

Tell me how many times you come home from club, rave, whatever with car full of peeps and music that loud you can't hear engine revs ? :whistling:

P.S. Another good one is Beam lends itself to music nicely.
 
Last edited:
Not to mention radio is very proper, don't put them in vehicles to look at.

Ah now there is a mod I may not have heard of :cool:
Canned radio tracks that lets you add your own music tracks in between announcer comments.
 
Last edited:
OverTake
Premium
Not to mention radio is very proper, don't put them in vehicles to look at.

Ah now there is a mod I may not have heard of :cool:
Canned radio tracks that lets you add your own music tracks in between announcer comments.
Not 100% sure about it, but I believe one of the older GTA games had that. Might have been a thing in the PC version of San Andreas :O_o: The possibility to add custom tracks was there at least, and I'm pretty sure they added announcements/talk segments/commercials somewhere down the line. Pretty nice detail if you ask me :)
 
Always, I even have hotkeys so I can control it while ingame (pause/play and skip to next track)
 
I tend to use music in various forms when sim racing. If I’m just chilling aiight it’s whatever the playlist goes thru. But if I'm wanting to learn a track, I tend to keep a specific song on repeat to help me learn that track. Bit of a science thing I learned back then. Something with the BPM/Wavelength of certain songs helps with remembering key elements. Good example, Spa with the song Fuxxwave (Slowed+Reverbed) has a near identical wavelength for most of the track. Helped me remember the layout, apex’s and braking points of Spa.
 
Sometimes yes, if im only having a bit of fun and not taking it too seriously, i do like a good melodic house mix or maybe some rock if taking a muscle car out on a freeroam on AC. I reckon about 25% of the time i will listen to music.
 
Premium
It happens, when I just fiddle around, but mostly not :)
But I have a streamdeck with music controls so I can adjust accordingly when needed
 
Last edited:
Not when I race, but when I drive in AC on free roam tracks i sometimes put on some music/radio.
 
Premium
Honestly depends on my driving that day/moment.

Am I racing/qualifying/working on a setup in practice? No music

Am I just doing non-fasts laps on nords or some random track in a non-racecar Porsche, VW, or Audi to decompress? Yes, music most certainly and loud
 
Music and racing go hand in hand... Heavy Metal and hardcore sim racing ain't for those casually interested in either music or motorsports...
 
I don't mind popping in the old Daytona USA or NASCAR 99-2000 songs (or similar) every once in awhile, punk rock as well.
 
Premium
Nope, Not going to ruin my music listening experience by mashing it with the noise from a game and putting it through a crappy set of headphones.
 

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Author
Yannik Haustein
Article read time
2 min read
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545
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Last update

Shifting method

  • I use whatever the car has in real life*

  • I always use paddleshift

  • I always use sequential

  • I always use H-shifter

  • Something else, please explain


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