Meet the team : Luca Masier
January 8, 2012So, remember Luca? Yes, the Italian maestro who tore up last seasons Pro Series! After a tricky Drivers World Championship, Luca gave us a quick insight into sim racing and how he got started:)
- How long have you been sim racing for? "I started racing off-line with the simulators in the early 90's and after a pause between late 90's and early 2000 I started racing on-line in 2004"
- Which sims did you start out with and what are you racing now? "The first one was the legendary indy 500 and my first on-line simulator was Nascar 2003. Now the only racing simulator that takes up my time is iRacing "
- Which has been your favourite sim? "Is not so easy to answer, many people think that the last in order of time is always the best, in my opinion is not always true. We must remember that with advancing years older technologies have advanced greatly, unfortunately, lately this has not been matched with a better development of simulators.
I think that until 2008 the best simulators, apart from a few cases, were still those produced through years 90 and early 2000. iRacing now I think is the best racing simulator on the market and is my favorite and I hope it always continues to evolve for the better."
- What has been your favourite car in sim racing? "Dallara Indy (iRacing) is the more fun and satisfying car I have ever driven in a simulator."
- Can you remember your first online race? "My first on-line race was at Richmond (with Nascar 2003) for an Italian League, I managed to take the second place in qualifying but i had an accident in race after only 10 laps.
I remember I really liked the atmosphere of the race and I enjoyed it very much."
- What has been your greatest race? "There were many great races to remember, the win at Monza that I got at the Italian championship in 2007 with GTR2 was very amazing because I was running with the less powerful car and was a truly overwhelming victory.
But considering the drivers that I faced and the difficulty of the simulator, I think my second place in the idwc at Infineon last season has been my best race so far."
- What are your aims in sim racing? "First of all the fun, after all we're talking about a hobby, without fun is not worth even prepare the races. Then I always try to do the best as I can, don't always succeed, but that is what I try to do, the ranking must be a consequence of your ability, should not be a thing to get at all costs. Seems easy in words, right ? :P
Last but not least, I always try to improve as much as possible (again... don't always succeed), because you never stop to learn."
- Any other quirky stories from sim racing? "One day my brother came to visit me while I was training for a race, he sat behind me and I started doing a few laps, while I drove I tried also to explain to him how was the track etc.
Then, after few laps, I turned my head toward him to ask him what he thought and he was asleep, snoring with his mouth open. The perfect example of how the sim-racing has sometimes the same effect as real races :)"
- Where do you think sim racing will be in 5 years time? "I sincerely hope that it can become a kind of sport, but I doubt that five years would be enough to see this hope realized. Keeping our feet on the ground, I'd like to see a more detailed simulation, not only in regard to the physics of cars and tires, but also regarding other important aspects for a more complete simulation.
Such as the changing conditions of weather and track, have a limited number of tires for the race weekend, have a most important consequence for accidents (for example, in the first qualifying lap you get out of track and destroy the car ? The qualify is over for you), being required to return to the pit to exit the car eliminating the odious "press esc to exit the car, have a budget to manage for the entire season and therefore have the ability not only to go fast but also to do less damage to the car.
In short, all those factors that a real driver should be able to handle, while a virtual driver can avoid. I believe that in five years we will see some of these things."
- What do you do in real life? "I try to enjoy all the little things of every day without thinking too much to the problems, at the end, each day could be the last"
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