…except we all have our own variation of what that “same thing” is.

Some people want to race at night, in the rain, at Spa. That’s cool.

However, after about three minutes, Indy Cars at Talladega would likely be more fun for longer periods of time. iRacing has the data to prove this.

Where am I going with this?  It’s simple: We all want to pretend we’re driving cars that we’ll never get to drive.

I cannot tell you how many times I have driven down the highway in my VW GLI – a glorified family sedan, pretending I was rowing the gears on a Group C racer down the back straight at Daytona.

On the other hand, your fantasy may be making the first turn at Monza your personal demolition derby.

This is why there are several different developers fighting for your hard earned money. This is why the big name electronics companies like Logitech, Thrustmaster and Fanatec are pumping out peripherals for us. This is why Micheal Main quit his job and now makes a living off of selling computer electronics, Sim Rigs and pedals. This is why the iRacing Hardware forum has hundreds of upstart guys following in his footsteps, for better or worse.

iRacing, Kunos, WMD, ISI and Sector 3 are tasked with helping us reach our pretend race car dreams. However I think some (not all) forget that we hold the power as sim racers. Without us, our criticism, passion and desire for fun would they be here?

Online racing, more specifically racing sims, seem to have the same intensity of internal politics as their real world counterpart. Speak poorly about my game or don’t like my content? Ban. Say something about the officiating or sanctioning body in real life? Suddenly the fire bottle is the reason you failed tech inspection.

Consumers should be informed; I want all the information I can get regarding something before I dive into it. Typically, I don’t go to the supermarket and buy a bunch of crap just be cause it’s there. Shiny press releases and hundreds of “reality check” YouTube videos edited to hell to make the videos line up mean nothing if when you finally fire up the game, and it drives like it has McDonald’s trays on the rear end as if I’m some edgy teenager trying to impress his equally retarded friends to kill a Tuesday night.

I’ll admit, I consider myself to be a fanboy of Assetto Corsa. However I’m not thrilled that online aspect is typically a mess and a step backwards from the rock-solid functionality of ancient titles like rFactor. I have bashed iRacing in the past, however I will admit nobody does mulitplayer better than iRacing. I’ve spoken to Tony Gardner over the phone and he’s actually a pretty cool guy, and I’ve shot the shit with Aris from Kunos through private messages; another awesome dude. They share our passion for Sim Racing, which is always encouraging. They aren’t in this to break sales records or establish a brand. They love this as much as we do, and they realize they have the talent to build the field for all of us to play on.

I spent years cussing Sebastian Vettel as a Ferrari fan, now I am rooting for him each weekend. As much as I prefer Assetto Corsa, another could take their place if AC doesn’t keep up.

My fantasy world? To wake up and find out AC and iRacing now work together, Kunos runs the physics and iRacing runs the competition.

Please don’t forget why we are here. To have fun.