McLaren F1 driver Lando Norris: my racing simulator has a lot in common with a F1 open-wheel car 2

Professional racing simulators are undergoing the same rapid development as real Formula 1 cars. Their benefits for drivers are obvious, Lando Norris, who is a big fan of them, could speak about them…

That’s how Lando Norris, a 19-year-old driver who only recently enjoyed his Formula 1 debut for McLaren, commented on racing simulators. Lando has been a great lover of racing simulators since his childhood days, thanks to simulators he learned a lot about formula set-up and its control on track.

He likes racing simulators so much, that he started racing alongside Max Verstappen for the prestigious Team Redline in iRace races, where drivers from around the world can virtually compare their strengths and set new time records. It was during the iRace racing that Lando realized, that even drivers who only race in virtual races, have extensive knowledge of car set-up and race strategy. He also gained a lot of new experience and knowledge that he uses when driving in F1.

Tuned to the last detail

Modern racing simulators bring almost perfect driving simulation in a real open-wheel car. What the drivers learn during trainings in the racing simulator can be easily transferred into reality. “The simulator allows me to fine-tune many things about strategy. We spend hours and hours preparing and setting up the car, learning a lot about different cars,” says Lando, adding: “A lot of things correspond to a real Formula 1 car. You can play endlessly with adjusting chassis height, wings, tire pressure and many other parameters.” But it’s not just about setting up a car in the simulator software. Hardware is also important, i.e. racing pedals Heusinkveld Sim Pedals Sprint, steering wheels, steerings, seats and other parts of the simulator. They must also be tuned to perfection in order to bring real driving feelings to drivers.

We believe that driving in racing simulators will help Land Norris further improve his driving skills and we wish him luck in his further career!

PS: if you are a professional racing team or race engineer, that want to optimize the setup of any real racing cars (from Formula 4 to Formula 1, LMP1 to LMP4, GT2 to GT4 or WRC to R2), we have a perfect professional transient multibody dynamics laptime simulator for you – Chassissim. It even offers a Driver in the Loop simulator for drivability studies and driver training.