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Lewis Hamilton talks about the sim racing phenomenon and says he doesn’t find driving in the simulator to be beneficial for him.
In the absence of the real thing, several Formula 1 drivers and teams are participating in online sim racing events, but Lewis Hamilton doesn’t share their enthusiasm for virtual racing.
“I never drive simulators, very, very rarely,” explained Hamilton.
“With simulators it’s very, very difficult, because the movement is never perfect. It’s something they constantly try to improve on.
“Obviously if you’re at home with a simulator the seat doesn’t move, and your mind is telling you that the car’s moving, but you’re not getting any cueing of movements.
“You have to kind of override your mind and I don’t really like doing that and going through that process. Then you get in the real thing, and it’s completely different.
“I don’t find personally any benefit doing the simulation thing, but the actually fun gaming side of things, when you get to play with friends and people online, that’s a plus stage.”
However Hamilton has a long-standing sponsorship deal with Sony and their Gran Turismo franchise of racing games.
“Gran Turismo and Sony just sent me this whole set-up. I grew up playing Gran Turismo, and spending hours earning the money to buy all these cars, and it was really a great opportunity to do something with them.
“So I’ve been working with them the last couple of years, and I got to do this challenge, beat my time kind of thing. I’ve been racing myself, trying to beat my own laps.
“It’s been frustrating as hell, because my laps were pretty decent I think,” concluded the 34-year-old.
You can listen to Hamilton talk about this and a lot more on Mercedes’ YouTube “In Conversation With…” series.