by Dean Chapman, Northern New Jersey Region PCA
Congratulations!
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, hopefully gleaning tidbits of information about their likes, dislikes, and equipment.
Originally published on the PCA Sim Racing Discord server, it is now going to be an on-going feature of the website!
I’ll endeavor to keep it fresh and consistent, smooth, and on track.
Sim racing is a thrilling encounter, there will be crashes, J hooks, and door-to-door battles.
Deans List will hopefully help you better understand your fellow PCA competitors and their humanity, you may even learn something!
Now, let’s fire her up and git going “cos if you ain’t first, you’re last”!
Our iRacers today include the notoriously fast and furious…
Bob Moore of New England Region PCA. Bob drives this sim rig and a “real” Porsche Panamera.
George Markadakis from Metro New York Region PCA. George’s Porsche is a 2018 GT3 Cup car.
Josh Vieira hails from the Potomac Region PCA. Josh wheels a Porsche 944 Cup car.
And the man on the inside, Billy Smith from Maverick Region PCA.
And now, the questions!
“What is your favorite car-specific movie or documentary?”
Bob Moore, “I’m enjoying the Road to Le Mans series that Porsche is doing with Michael Fassbender. His struggles with the GT3 Cup Car mirror my own. Endurance is another Porsche documentary that I think is particularly good. I also really enjoy the ‘Formula 1: Drive To Survive’ series.”
George Markadakis, “Ford vs Ferrari”
Josh Vieira, “Rush”
Billy Smith, “Rush”
What is your favorite movie with a car featured? For example, action scenes like from the James Bond series, Baby Driver, 6 Underground, the Mission Impossible series, Bullet, etc.)
Bob Moore, “Ford vs Ferrari. But another movie that stands out for me (it’s a bit goofy but the car is magnificent) is My American Cousin, starring a red 1957 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz.”
George Markadakis, “Talladega Nights! It was hysterical”
Josh Vieira, “The Living Daylights – Aston Martin V8 Vantage”
What equipment do you use for your sim racing rig? Please be as specific or brief as you like!
Bob Moore, “I design and build VR motion simulators with VR Motion Labs so I use a VR Motion Labs M1 3DOF rig (pitch, roll, yaw-oversteer) equipped with a Fanatec DD1, Heusinkveld Ultimate pedal set with a Valve Index VR headset. I have 32” triples on this rig as well but I don’t use them. VR is so much more immersive.”
George Markadakis, “Playseat Sensation Pro chassis, Fanatec DD2 wheel base w/ GT3 R wheel, Fanatec V3 pedals and triple 27” curved monitors.”
Josh Vieira, “Oculus Rift-S, Fanatic DD1, Fanatec Formula V2 Wheel, Simcraft Pedals, Sabelt GT-Pad Seat.”
Billy Smith, “80/20 Rig, Fanatec v3 pedals, v2 wheel base, Triple 27″ 1440p monitors, i5 8600 @5ghz, RTX 2070.”
If you could, what car would you like to drive? Any era, any value.
Bob Moore, “The McLaren Senna”
George Markadakis, “Porsche 935 K3”
Josh Vieira, “Gumpert Apollo”
Billy Smith, “Group C prototype, 962 would suffice.”
What’s your favorite non-Porsche iRacing car?
Bob Moore, “The Lotus 49. A pure analog race car.”
George Markadakis, “Mercedes AMG GT3”
Josh Vieira, “Audi R8 GT3”
Billy Smith, “Dallara P217″
What’s your favorite iRacing Porsche?
Bob Moore, “The 911 RSR is a joy!”
George Markadakis, “911 GT3 Cup”
Josh Vieira, “911 RSR”
Billy Smith, “911 GT3 Cup”
Do you have a favorite iRacing circuit?
Bob Moore, “Well, there are so many great tracks. But Imola and Spa are standouts for me.”
George Markadakis, “Watkins Glen International Boot.”
Josh Vieira, “Bathurst.”
Billy Smith, “Daytona or Road America.”
Shoes, socks, or slippers ☺ when you drive your rig?
Bob Moore, “I use Alpinestar 1KX karting shoes.”
George Markadakis, “Socks always.”
Josh Vieira, “ Sabelt Challenge TB-3 Race Shoe and Sabelt Hero TG-9 Race Glove.”
Billy Smith, “barefoot or socks.”
How long have you SIM raced?
Bob Moore – “I started using iRacing 5 years ago but I didn’t actually start racing until a year ago. It took me that long to feel confident enough to get out there on the track and race with others.”
George Markadakis – “About a year.”
Josh Vieira – “4 years.”
Billy Smith – “23 years.”
Is there another SIM car race platform you’ve tried? (Like?)
Bob Moore, “I’ve tried a lot of high-end motion rigs. I don’t really like the Dbox rigs because they feel too “floaty” to me and none of them include yaw or oversteer. That’s essential to mimic the feeling in a Porsche. So my favorite rig is the one I have.”
George Markadakis,“Only iRacing, haven’t tried any others.”
Josh Vieira, “Nope.”
Billy Smith, “None compares with iRacing.”
What are your most used steering wheel hot keys (mapped buttons)?
Bob Moore, “upshift/downshift, Crewchief status report, pit speed limiter, TCR on/off, radio push to talk, pit crew commands.”
George Markadakis, “Push to talk, look left and right, brake bias.”
Josh Vieira, “Pit Stop Fuel to the End”
Billy Smith, “brake bias, pit limiter.”
What’s your favorite tipple (drink)?
Bob Moore, “Cuervo Gold Margarita.”
George Markadakis, “Johnny Walker Blue.”
Josh Vieira, “Scotch.”
Given a few hours locked away, what would you prefer to watch…NASCAR, IndyCar, Formula 1, Rallycross, GT racing, other…?
Bob Moore – “Formula 1 and GT racing are favorites but I’m a motocross fan as well.”
George Markadakis – “GT racing.”
Josh Vieira – “European GT3 or GT4 Racing.”
Billy Smith – “F1 or sports car.”
Does SIM racing ’scratch your itch’ for car racing? Or would you always prefer to race in real life?
Bob Moore, “Sim racing certainly does it for me right now but I’m planning to attend some courses with Porsche Track Experience at Barber. We’ll see where that takes me.”
George Markadakis, “It does a good job of satisfying a need for competition but always prefer the real car!”
Josh Vieira, “SIM racing definitely scratches my racing-itch…. and now I have to get on iRacing nearly every night in order to get “my fix” ;-) “
Billy Smith, “Always prefer real life, if I’m not paying.”
If you were the boss at iRacing command, what new feature, improvement, race category or class would you make?
Bob Moore,”iRacing needs to add inclement weather; wind gusts, rain and snow, puddles. Make it real.”
Josh Vieira, “I would enable the servers to handle more than just 7 types of cars per session and then add more GT3 and GT4 cars to choose from!”
Billy Smith, “Improve loading time, improve a number of cars in a session (more than 7).”