Bringing Real Excitement To Virtual Racing

How the Supra GR Cup gives rise to Filipino e-racers, both amateur and pro.

There has never been a better time for Philippine e-motorsports than the present. Although the COVID-19 pandemic has forced organizers to cancel races and shut down access to motorsport venues, the fervor for racing remains alive and well among local motorsports fans.

Simulation racing games such as Gran Turismo Sport have been enjoying a spike in users, as motorsports fans realize that sim-racing has become the closest thing to actual racing they’ll get at the moment. Unlike real racing which calls for big budgets, virtual racing involves affordable and accessible gaming rigs and consoles—making it all the more irresistible. The playing field here is also somehow leveled, allowing more people to dive into the experience. Due to the absence of driving forces, real race drivers have to adjust while gamers are forced to learn proper racing techniques.

We’ve asked a selection of casual gamers and e-sports pros, all with varying degrees of real-life driving experience, to chime in on what got them into the sim-racing scene, and how they feel about the upcoming GR Supra Cup.

A lot of them are gamers first, racers second, but as modern computing power paves the way for more life-like simulations, simulation racing has become the primary means for training and learning. Akin to the aviation industry’s practice of using simulators to hone a pilot’s skills, today’s motorsports games have given gamers and sim-racers alike the closest possible experience to the real feeling of being behind the wheel, but with the safety and fun factor turned up a couple of notches.

EZ Ligaya, a well known figure in the local motorsports scene muses, “That’s the beauty of e-racing for me, we get to drive in race tracks across the world we normally would not have access to, drive cars we probably never would even see or touch, and not worry about getting hurt, damaging the car, or dying. Then again from the other side of the coin, we worry that a pure e-racer would not fully grasp the dangers of motorsport until that person's first real crash.”