Injuries are part of real racing, although much less frequent than in previous decades. In sim racing, they happen even less - but if they do, they tend to be a bit bizarre.
Sim racing is completely safe, right? No dangers present in real life motorsport whatsoever, you are at no risk of injury when racing in your bedroom. But with the advancements in hardware, you would be gravely mistaken.
When attempting to capture the immersion of real life racing in your sim rig, there is only so much you can do before it becomes impossible to be any closer to reality. Some may knock sim racing for not being the same as real life racing, as there is no inherent danger.
Of course, it is true that if you crash in the game, you can press reset and carry on as you were - no fear of physical harm, no repair bills. But with powerful direct drive wheels and motion rigs becoming more and more commonplace, it is not impossible for sim racers to get hurt, and sometimes in bizarre ways.
Which is why we would like to know, what are some of the most bizarre sim racing injuries you or someone you know has picked up?
26-year old Kevin Siggy from Slovenia was part of the final 12 looking to win the championship. The event would consist of anywhere between four and nine races, with drivers who accumulate 170 points entering what is called 'Finalist Mode', thus being able to win the championship if they then won a race.
Siggy - who races for Team Redline, the same team as F1's Max Verstappen - was doing qualifying at Monza for the seventh race of the event. Redline teammate Sebastian Job had entered Finalist Mode two races earlier, and the Slovenian was trailing considerably behind. If Job were to win a race before Siggy could get to 170 points, the championship would be over.
On his one and only lap, Siggy made an error and incurred a slowdown penalty. Typically considered a very collected character, he had an apparently very animated reaction that was not caught on camera. He flung himself forward in his seat in frustration, and directly into the line of fire of the wheel.
Do keep in mind, this was a rather powerful DD setup, a VRS DirectForce Pro base with a motor capable of churning out 20 Nm of torque. If someone lets go of the wheel at any sort of speed, it can start to aggressively move side-to-side, a phenomenon many sim racers know as osicllation.
Attached to the base was a Formula Wheel, so you can probably imagine what happened next when Siggy's forehead came within inches to the edge of the wheel. Reacting to what the virtual BMW M4 GT3 in Rennsport was doing in-game, the edge of the wheel suddenly turned and smacked Siggy right in the forehead.
Getting medical attention immediately, Siggy was reportedly laughing and admitting how foolish he was to let that happen. He picked up quite the bruise as a result, but thankfully for him, it did not prevent him from continuing.
Heading into the final race, Siggy had gotten to the all-important Finalist Mode, as did Max Benecke who won the onsite event the previous year. If none of them won the ninth and last race, it would go down to points and the title would most likely go to Job.
But despite trailing the whole way, Siggy would go on to win the final race from pole with both his title rivals behind and seal the driver's championship. A bump on the head would not deny him the glory, and Redline would go on later in the event to win the team's championship too.
As you can see, it even happens to some of the fastsest sim racers out there. Of course, we certainly hope you never have, but if you have incurred an injury from sim racing, feel free to share your stories - particularly those that you can laugh at now when looking back.
That being said, take care when sim racing! And please - do not drive into the back of someone's car after they have finished the race and slowed down. On a DD wheel base, this is a perfect recipe for an unplanned trip to the ER.
What has been your most bizarre story pertaining to sim racing and injuries? Tell us the comments down below!
Sim racing is completely safe, right? No dangers present in real life motorsport whatsoever, you are at no risk of injury when racing in your bedroom. But with the advancements in hardware, you would be gravely mistaken.
When attempting to capture the immersion of real life racing in your sim rig, there is only so much you can do before it becomes impossible to be any closer to reality. Some may knock sim racing for not being the same as real life racing, as there is no inherent danger.
Of course, it is true that if you crash in the game, you can press reset and carry on as you were - no fear of physical harm, no repair bills. But with powerful direct drive wheels and motion rigs becoming more and more commonplace, it is not impossible for sim racers to get hurt, and sometimes in bizarre ways.
Which is why we would like to know, what are some of the most bizarre sim racing injuries you or someone you know has picked up?
Whack To The Head
We became curious about this when last week, the ESL R1 driver's World Championship final was underway on Thursday and one of the drivers competing picked up quite the odd injury.26-year old Kevin Siggy from Slovenia was part of the final 12 looking to win the championship. The event would consist of anywhere between four and nine races, with drivers who accumulate 170 points entering what is called 'Finalist Mode', thus being able to win the championship if they then won a race.
Siggy - who races for Team Redline, the same team as F1's Max Verstappen - was doing qualifying at Monza for the seventh race of the event. Redline teammate Sebastian Job had entered Finalist Mode two races earlier, and the Slovenian was trailing considerably behind. If Job were to win a race before Siggy could get to 170 points, the championship would be over.
On his one and only lap, Siggy made an error and incurred a slowdown penalty. Typically considered a very collected character, he had an apparently very animated reaction that was not caught on camera. He flung himself forward in his seat in frustration, and directly into the line of fire of the wheel.
Do keep in mind, this was a rather powerful DD setup, a VRS DirectForce Pro base with a motor capable of churning out 20 Nm of torque. If someone lets go of the wheel at any sort of speed, it can start to aggressively move side-to-side, a phenomenon many sim racers know as osicllation.
Attached to the base was a Formula Wheel, so you can probably imagine what happened next when Siggy's forehead came within inches to the edge of the wheel. Reacting to what the virtual BMW M4 GT3 in Rennsport was doing in-game, the edge of the wheel suddenly turned and smacked Siggy right in the forehead.
Getting medical attention immediately, Siggy was reportedly laughing and admitting how foolish he was to let that happen. He picked up quite the bruise as a result, but thankfully for him, it did not prevent him from continuing.
Heading into the final race, Siggy had gotten to the all-important Finalist Mode, as did Max Benecke who won the onsite event the previous year. If none of them won the ninth and last race, it would go down to points and the title would most likely go to Job.
But despite trailing the whole way, Siggy would go on to win the final race from pole with both his title rivals behind and seal the driver's championship. A bump on the head would not deny him the glory, and Redline would go on later in the event to win the team's championship too.
As you can see, it even happens to some of the fastsest sim racers out there. Of course, we certainly hope you never have, but if you have incurred an injury from sim racing, feel free to share your stories - particularly those that you can laugh at now when looking back.
That being said, take care when sim racing! And please - do not drive into the back of someone's car after they have finished the race and slowed down. On a DD wheel base, this is a perfect recipe for an unplanned trip to the ER.
What has been your most bizarre story pertaining to sim racing and injuries? Tell us the comments down below!
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