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VENTURE<br />
Gaming<br />
HONE<br />
<strong>The</strong> art<br />
of driving<br />
without<br />
driving<br />
James Baldwin won glory<br />
as the World’s Fastest<br />
Gamer after sharpening<br />
his skills with sim racing.<br />
Here’s how you can, too<br />
VIVE, WORLD’S FASTEST GAMER TOM GUISE, MATT RAY<br />
Simulated racing is rapidly<br />
becoming more realistic:<br />
video games such as iRacing<br />
and Assetto Corsa feature<br />
laser-scanned recreations<br />
of famous tracks and cars,<br />
creating an experience ever<br />
closer to the thrill of the<br />
tarmac without the danger<br />
of crashing an expensive<br />
combustible racing machine.<br />
Blurring the boundaries<br />
further is World’s Fastest<br />
Gamer, a tournament that<br />
challenges the stars of<br />
esports to race real cars.<br />
Last October, 22-year-old<br />
James Baldwin became<br />
its second-ever winner,<br />
earning a million-dollar<br />
real-world racing contract.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Brit’s triumph came six<br />
years after he abandoned<br />
a career racing go-karts and<br />
Formula Ford cars because<br />
of rising costs and the<br />
realisation that he simply<br />
wasn’t good enough. Here’s<br />
how gaming got him there…<br />
Fine-tuning reactions<br />
A 2010 study by cognitive<br />
scientists at the University of<br />
Rochester found that action<br />
gamers were 25 per cent<br />
quicker at reaching a correct<br />
decision when analysing a<br />
situation. “My reaction time<br />
has improved from playing<br />
games,” says Baldwin, “and<br />
also my understanding of how<br />
to be fast – elements such as<br />
tyre saving, and extracting the<br />
lap when it matters.”<br />
“I pressed the throttle halfway<br />
and I’ve never been so scared”<br />
James Baldwin on real-life racing<br />
Baldwin began sim racing<br />
in 2017; two years later,<br />
he was handed the World’s<br />
Fastest Gamer trophy by<br />
his very first motor-racing<br />
hero, Juan Pablo Montoya<br />
Reality bites: Baldwin tears up California’s Laguna Seca circuit<br />
Clocking the hours<br />
When Baldwin plateaued as a<br />
real-world racer, it was a hard<br />
truth: “As a kid, you think,<br />
‘Wow, I’ve got enough to get<br />
to F1.’ <strong>The</strong>n you reach pro<br />
level, get beaten, and it’s like,<br />
‘I’m not as good as I thought.’”<br />
But today’s sims educate<br />
drivers on everything down<br />
to how tyres degrade under<br />
specific braking. “You learn<br />
without costing thousands<br />
of pounds of damage, and<br />
you put in more hours than<br />
on a track.”<br />
Acquiring confidence<br />
Racing sims can’t teach one<br />
thing: the psychological<br />
barrier of climbing into a real<br />
vehicle. “A dirt car doesn’t<br />
look that scary, but it’s 650kg<br />
with 850hp – a better power<br />
ratio than an F1 car. I pressed<br />
the throttle halfway and I’ve<br />
never been so scared.” He<br />
then did 70 per cent of the lap<br />
on full throttle. “Forget you’re<br />
going fast. Pretend it’s a sim.”<br />
Going with the flow<br />
Repetitive video games bring<br />
on an immersive ‘flow state’<br />
where highly skilled activity<br />
feels effortless, but Baldwin<br />
experienced the opposite<br />
during a race at Laguna Seca<br />
in California. “<strong>The</strong>re was an<br />
issue with my car. I could’ve<br />
got round that if I was in the<br />
present, but in my head it was<br />
like, ‘Keep doing what you’re<br />
doing, you’re going to lose.’<br />
I spun and ended up in the<br />
middle of the track, pointing<br />
the wrong way.” It was the<br />
wake-up call he needed to<br />
find his flow and take the win.<br />
THE RED BULLETIN 87
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