How Big is the "Real Factor"?

News came out recently of TORA (an online racing association), gain full recognition from the MSA as a club. This means it is the first, and only such racing organisation to do so.

This is frankly incredible news for all sim-racers out there. It would finally seem that real-world motorsports bodies are starting to pay attention to the wealth of talent that is out there floating around in the form of electrons.

I say this, being an enthusiastic sim-racer myself. Laugh you may, but taking the mickey like that is exactly the thing I'm talking about - those kind of attitudes are finally starting to change.

I have always thought that new technology would eventually be recognised as being an integral part of society, and the fast growth of resources such as the internet has only proven my point.

The fact is that sim-racing is often highly realistic. Remember, we're not talking Race Driver GRID - we're talking serious, hardcore stuff here - sims like Forza, rFactor and iRacing. Indeed, iRacing is used by several real-world racers, such as Dale Earnhardt Jr. And its not just him, either. Drivers in the F1 world, such as Lewis Hamilton have admitted to indulging in such pastimes. Clearly, sim racing has had something to show for itself.

Indeed, this is a monumental step for the entire "sim" genre, and to an extent the mainstream videogaming community. I can now say with fair confidence that I can see a world where games become an integral part of mainstream culture.

Or perhaps they already have.

Consoles like the Wii (sorry!) and the Playstation or XBox have revolutionised the gaming world in general. 20 years ago, playing games was a little off the wall, a little nerdy, for want of a better term. And now things have changed on their head, and no-one has made any sort of comment about it! These things just gradually become integrated into our lives. This sort of thing fascinates me - this has just happened, without any kind of resistance.

This leads me onto my next point. How long do you think real-world racing will last now? With our primary fuel source fast running out, and the sport being seen as increasingly environmentally unfriendly, and its image fast degrading, how much longer will we see the BTCC around our favourite club tracks?

I ask, because I'm sometimes in that situation where I'm in an online race which is so exciting, so full of drama, and has so much overtaking, that I wonder:

Does the real thing still cut it?