by Dean Chapman, Northern New Jersey Region PCA
Congratulations! Welcome to our SIM Racer Special Edition!
You have found yourself on the pole position at the Dean’s List!
The Dean’s List is the place for me to ask questions of fellow PCA Sim Racing competitors and sometimes Real-life Pro’s, hopefully gleaning tidbits of information about their likes, dislikes, and equipment.
I’d like to thank David Williams VRS Resident Pro driver for taking the wheel of today’s revealing edition.
For those of you currently running the RUF, you will certainly know David from his blisteringly fast, baseline setup, track sessions, telemetry, and video track walks. And those that are not, you’ll doubtless recognize his name for the time he has put in behind the wheel of various other models of Porsche and the like, as you’ll likely discover as you flip through the set-ups, in Virtual Racing School.
So, without further ado, nervous lollygagging, and toe-tapping brake warming antics, let’s get some fast lap times in…
Today’s special guest…
“Tell us a little about yourself?”
David Williams, “Pro Sim Racer For VRS COANDA SimSport, Design Engineer And Driving Coach for Virtual Racing School.
I’ve been trying to be a competitive sim racer now for nearly 15 years, during which time I’ve racked up many 3rd and some 2nd places in major competitions such as GT Academy, Intel GP, ADAC Trophy, Porsche Summit among others. A win in a major solo championship still eludes me though!
I also had a large role in the mechanical design of the newly released VRS DirectForce Pro pedals and have coached hundreds of students on the VRS platform.”
“What is your favorite car-specific movie or documentary?”
David Williams, “I’ve still yet to see Ford vs Ferrari (shocking right?) despite the good reviews, but I have seen Rush and thought it was brilliant.”
“What is your favorite movie with a car featured? (i.e action scenes: James Bond, Baby Driver, 6 Underground, Mission Impossible, Bullet, etc)”
David Williams, “Hmmm, I’m gonna go with the Mini Cooper’s from the original Italian Job.”
“What equipment do you use for your Rig? (Be as specific or brief as you like)”
David Williams, “I use the VRS DirectForce Pro wheelbase and pedals, with an Ascher F64 rim, triple ASUS 27 gaming monitors and a prototype VRS Aluminium profile rig.”
“You are developing some new equipment for VRS…tell us about them?”
David Williams, “The DirectForce Pro pedals have been released recently so go check those out…
https://virtualracingschool.com/academy/hardware/vrs-directforce-pro-pedals-pricing-and-availability/
but we’re also working hard on a new Formula style wheel rim for our wheelbase.”
“If you could, what Car would you like to drive? (Any era, any value)”
David Williams, “I doubt I could get anywhere near it’s potential, but it would have to be a mid 2000’s V10 F1 car. I’ll go with the McLaren MP4-20.”
“What was your first real-life car?”
David Williams, “An MGF. Mid-engined baby sports-car. It was good fun, and saw quite a few track days!”
“Do you like to drive fast IRL?”
David Williams, “I like driving on track for fun yes! Sim racing is the pinnacle when it comes to competition (in my opinion), but nothing can beat the raw sensation of hustling a real car around a track.”
“What’s your favorite non-Porsche iRacing car?”
David Williams, “I’d probably pick the F3. I wish I had the chance to race it more.”
“Do you have a favorite iRacing circuit?”
David Williams, “I actually like most tracks on iRacing, but Spa, Silverstone, and Donington are probably my favs because they all have fast and flowing corners.”
“Shoes, socks, or slippers when you drive your rig?”
David Williams, “Race boots and motocross gloves (thin and light ones) are my preference.”
“Is there another SIM car race platform you’ve tried? (Like?)”
David Williams, “I raced Live for Speed for a few years in the early days, and still have a lot of affection for it despite not playing it much at all in recent years. Mostly fictional cars and tracks, but at the time the physics and multiplayer experience were amazing. I’ve also tried rFactor 1&2, Raceroom, AC&ACC, Gran Turismo, Forza and many others.”
“What are your most used Steering Wheel Hot Keys (mapped buttons)?”
David Williams, “Aside from pit limiter, brake bias and black box controls, I use a clear penalty button quite often in practice when testing track limits!”
“What do you drink in-car during longer, mult-hour race events, and do you eat at the rig?”
David Williams, “Water mostly! I don’t really eat many snacks, although a Snickers bar is hard to resist sometimes.”
“How many hours per week do you train?”
David Williams, “Driving wise probably an average of 10 hours, plus another 10 studying and analysing driving and setups.”
“How many hours racing per week?”
David Williams, “Including my Monday night VRS stream, probably around 5 hours.”
“Do you have seasons/ months where you race more / less?…What are the reasons?””
David Williams, “It really depends on when the major, top level championships such as the Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup (PESC) or the BMW GT Sim Cup are running.
There’s basically at least one major sim racing event across the various sim racing platforms every week in the year, so it’s typically a case of doing as much as you can – which means missing out on many things in actuality, so you have to pick and choose what is considered the most rewarding.”
“Given a few hours locked away, what would you prefer to watch…NASCAR, IndyCar, Formula 1, Rallycross, GT racing, other…?”
David Williams, “Bit of a boring answer but I’d have to say F1. It’s the pinnacle IRL”
“If you were the boss at iRacing, what new feature, improvement, race category or class would you make?”
David Williams, “I’d have flat spots, tread temperature and its relation to grip modeled more accurately.”
Thank You, David! Good luck with winning a big one, and I cant wait to see the new VRS hardware… Until next time!
Read other Dean’s List Installments here!