What is simracing and why did I start with it? It’s short for simulated car racing, and by simulated it’s done with a computer. The object is to mimic the experience of driving a race car as closely as possible.
I started with this hobby back in 1995 if my memory serves me. It was the first time in Sweden you could buy steering wheels and pedals for your PC. I have always liked driving cars, and I think it was 1994 when I first tried to drive a so-called indoor go-kart. A colleague of mine invited me to join his friends. I won 
. Before this event I had only driven a go-kart once before. Outdoor and more than 10 years earlier. I remember I spun once, and it was with two other friends, and it was when we had motorcycles, 125 CC’s.
So not much racing experience then. I think my first sim was the F1GP (by Geoff Crammond)
a Formula 1 simulator, and I remember being fascinated by the fact that I could drive the racing line (wide in, hit the apex and wide out), I had to hit my braking points and not accelerate too early or too late. I’m pretty sure the first track I drove was Imola and I was alone on the track, in practice mode, trying to drive the racing line, memorizing the track, the points where to start breaking, the points where to start accelerating. The lap time getting lower and lower, which is a good thing in racing. I think I loved it, because the same year, 1995, Grand Prix 2 was released, again designed by Geoff Crammond, and I bought it.
At this time the internet starts to wake up and you could find hotlap competitions on this new thing. No prices, just glory and honour. I followed the real F1 circuit when learning the tracks in GP2, and when it was time for Suzuka in Japan, I found a hotlap competition for GP2, which had over 1000 registered drivers. Amazingly my best time on Suzuka was not far from the world record, or if I already had beaten it, I don’t remember. I beat it though and posted it, and it stood for a whole month. A driver from Japan finally beat it, but he was using a help in GP2 that later was shown to be an advantage. I drove with no helps activated whatsoever, true to the simulation of course. I see no point in using any help that the real drivers do not have. It’s a simulator for crying out loud.
Anyway, apparently I’m fast, and that’s probably one of the reasons why I like this hobby. If you’re good at something the odds are you like it.
There’s one really big advantage of simulated car racing – You can not die because of crash injuries.
