Meet the RaceDepartment Member With Over 100 Million YouTube Views in the Past 6 Months

Himura 01.jpg
RaceDepartment member Himura88 has a YouTube channel based mostly around Assetto Corsa that has amassed a staggering 125 million views.

When we think of the bigger YouTube personalities from the world of sim racing, most of us think of names like Jimmy Broadbent, Jardier, and Chris Haye. But there is another personality that has burst onto the sim racing scene in recent months that is poised to become the most popular sim racing content creator ever by the end of this year.

HimuraGaming started a YouTube channel 4 years ago and gained a solid following with his clips of car and motorbike sims. By the middle of December, 2020, the channel had over 100 subscribers and 70,000 channel views. Both figures are impressive, but insignificant next to what was about to happen to the channel in the next month.

By the second week of January, both the channel’s subscribers and viewer count had doubled, and by February both figures had increased 100-fold (~11,000 subscribers and ~8,000,000 channel views) versus December.

And the staggering progress and success of the channel hasn’t ceased in the months since. For those who may not be familiar with YouTube metrics and how these numbers compare to other popular channels, here are some points of reference:
  • Jimmy Broadbent is undoubtedly the biggest YouTube personality in sim racing, but in the last six months alone, HimuraGaming has gained 65% of Jimmy’s all-time video views
  • Many popular sim racing influencers gain 1,000 to 2,000 subscribers per month; HimuraGaming is meeting that mark each day
  • Over six million people watched videos from HimuraGaming on August 10th, which is equivalent to the viewership over many years for many of other top sim racing YouTubers
For those that aren’t familiar with Himura’s work, the newer videos are short clips of exotic sports cars, mostly recorded in Assetto Corsa. There are no voice overs or fancy edits, either. I reached out to Himura88, and here was the take on the success of the channel:

“So, my channel had like 1000 subscribers it was my second channel and one day I wanted to make a vid on Nordschleife with Nismo Boss Gt-R 1500Hp. I was a little fast and I jumped, and then the idea came to make a vid.”


Humble beginnings, to be sure. But things of course got even more intense for the channel after that.

“The video blew up everywhere... on Tik Tok I got like 50 mil views on that vid or something like that. On Facebook 30 mil and so on. And I gained a lot of subs and this is how it started”

The most popular comments on HimuraGaming’s videos share a theme of the videos looking realistic, and in some cases indistinguishable from real-life car footage. Thanks to some excellent graphics mods and 4k footage, the videos look extremely impressive.

So congratulations to Himura88 on the channel’s success, and we wish you all the best in the future of the channel. If you’re not yet subscribed, check out HimuraGaming on YouTube and check out his library of videos here on his RD profile page.

If you are a content creator yourself make sure to let the world know by adding your creations to /videos here.
About author
Mike Smith
I have been obsessed with sim racing and racing games since the 1980's. My first taste of live auto racing was in 1988, and I couldn't get enough ever since. Lead writer for RaceDepartment, and owner of SimRacing604 and its YouTube channel. Favourite sims include Assetto Corsa Competizione, Assetto Corsa, rFactor 2, Automobilista 2, DiRT Rally 2 - On Twitter as @simracing604

Comments

Premium
While I’m happy he’s getting subscribers and views, a lot of the videos showcase ripped content… and where to get them.

Not sure a Race Department article for this can be considered ethical, IMO
Hey John,

Like Bram and Steve have said, we appreciate you bringing this up. Of course, we don't want to promote ripped mods. The intent of the article was to celebrate the success of one of our community members.

I'm sure Himura has got the message from the various comments here that ripped mods aren't the way to go, so IF these are in fact ripped mods in his videos, I'm sure it will be rectified moving forward.
 
I've spent the last 3 years cataloguing every PC F1 (up to 2018 but will be going back to it soonish) and Rally game on my channel, but only have 400 subscribers!

I suspect it's down to my clips being 3 mins long, rather than the 12-15 min ones that seem to dominate my YouTube "things you might like" suggestions. Good stuff, YouTube algorithm!

Anyway, if anyone here wants to see clips of 130 F1 games and nearly 200 rally games (including stories about unreleased ones I got my hands on) then go have a nose at https://youtube.com/user/VirtuaIceMan
 
I thought it was about VirtuaSportsCars, thank god I was mistaken, it's slightly better thing. I hope you're better driver now since that awful Nordchleife lap with BOSS GT-R. For those who are talking about ripped content. Without ripped content AC would not be as popular as it is now (also most of online servers are filled with ripped content), these days everyone rips everyone unless you have trademark on your original work, so you can sue those who rips your work. And Himura, don't lie, you don't pay for RTM or EX mods. :D
 
I'll add couple more cents: It's the worst thing to be showcased to wrong public, which at this point is racedepartament full of boomers.
 
Last edited:
For those who are talking about ripped content. Without ripped content AC would not be as popular as it is now (also most of online servers are filled with ripped content), these days everyone rips everyone unless you have trademark on your original work, so you can sue those who rips your work. And Himura, don't lie, you don't pay for RTM or EX mods. :D

That is just sad, and it is definitely true. Without stolen stuff and takeover by moders AC would not be as popular, but it would also not be as mediocre as it has become. Popularity came with price of lowered class and increase of mediocrity. The AC I still have on my PC is pure real AC as it used to be, even more so I prefer oldest Kunos content, cars like F40 they didn't make themselves in the later years. Recipe of popularity does not include the best ingredients and that is universal truth.

P.S. buying ripped stuff is beyond stupid, unless you have a very good reason for that, and it still doesn't make such action good.

Ripped stuff must be free and bad quality ! :D
 
Last edited:
I dunno, most of the stuff being posted on RD barely even follows the KS pipeline. The only reason RD doesn't allow rips is due to legal issues. Nothing to do with purity or quality.
 
All this jibba jabba about rights - I fully believe in doing the right thing when it comes to not charging for something you didn't explicitly do yourself, and the right of attribution and always linking to whatever it is you're playing (if you don't leave a link to a mod underneath your video, you're kind of a chode) - BUT, and this is a big one for me, I also kind of ... don't have enough life left in me to have eight or nine separate sims and be mucking about jumping from one to the other because someone frowns on the idea of converting a car from one to the other. I'm sure there's a workable middle ground, but me I'm just a consumer, and frankly I'll leave it up to everyone else to figure out.
 
you can t put ads on tiktok insta or youtube shorts, also youtube shorts IS NOT monetized :) you don t gain money from yt shorts, tik tok vids or insta reels
Thanks for the clarification. They may not give you money from your YT contributions but they do gain something from it or else they wouldn't be in business. I hate to make it out about that but it is indeed a business and there are reasons why it works the way it does. Congrats on the success regardless of that!
 
I'll add couple more cents: It's the worst thing to be showcased to wrong public, which at this point is racedepartament full of boomers.
I hope RD isn't going to allow ageist passive insults like "boomers", as it's the most idiotic insult seeing as the "boomers" are a VERY specific generation born after WW2. I highly doubt there's too many "boomers" on RD, probably the majority of the older members are Gen Xers like me. It's rather like someone calling Millenials or Gen Z the "nappy/diaper brigade", I'm sure those of that generation wouldn't like to have their age demeaned in such a ludicrous slur.
 
I hope RD isn't going to allow ageist passive insults like "boomers", as it's the most idiotic insult seeing as the "boomers" are a VERY specific generation born after WW2. I highly doubt there's too many "boomers" on RD, probably the majority of the older members are Gen Xers like me. It's rather like someone calling Millenials or Gen Z the "nappy/diaper brigade", I'm sure those of that generation wouldn't like to have their age demeaned in such a ludicrous slur.
I m 33, how is that catelogate as ?
 
All this jibba jabba about rights - I fully believe in doing the right thing when it comes to not charging for something you didn't explicitly do yourself, and the right of attribution and always linking to whatever it is you're playing (if you don't leave a link to a mod underneath your video, you're kind of a chode) - BUT, and this is a big one for me, I also kind of ... don't have enough life left in me to have eight or nine separate sims and be mucking about jumping from one to the other because someone frowns on the idea of converting a car from one to the other. I'm sure there's a workable middle ground, but me I'm just a consumer, and frankly I'll leave it up to everyone else to figure out.
And that’s fine, no different than bootlegging a movie, or getting a knock off pair of sneakers from Ali Express in my opinion. But my biggest pet peeve is guys cluttering the forums with “my Forza rip” doesn’t work right, or it’s missing this, or that…

Is it fair that the more knowledgeable modders here have to provide support to these basic conversions that originate from Facebook groups or YouTube links? It’s often the case I’m afraid.

I don’t frown at the idea of converting a car, I just can’t stand how poorly they come out.
 
Premium
Born 88 so you're a millenial (Gen Y) I believe.
No idea how trustworthy the source is, but it should look something like this:

  • Baby Boomers: Baby boomers were born between 1946 and 1964. They're currently between 57-75 years old (71.6 million in the U.S.)
  • Gen X: Gen X was born between 1965 and 1979/80 and is currently between 41-56 years old (65.2 million people in the U.S.)
  • Gen Y: Gen Y, or Millennials, were born between 1981 and 1994/6. They are currently between 25 and 40 years old (72.1 million in the U.S.)
    • Gen Y.1 = 25-29 years old (around 31 million people in the U.S.)
    • Gen Y.2 = 29-39 (around 42 million people in the U.S.)
  • Gen Z: Gen Z is the newest generation, born between 1997 and 2012. They are currently between 6 and 24 years old (nearly 68 million in the U.S.)
  • Gen A: Generation Alpha starts with children born in 2012 and will continue at least through 2025, maybe later (approximately 48 million people in the U.S.)

Source: https://www.kasasa.com/articles/generations/gen-x-gen-y-gen-z
 
Hey John,

Like Bram and Steve have said, we appreciate you bringing this up. Of course, we don't want to promote ripped mods. The intent of the article was to celebrate the success of one of our community members.

I'm sure Himura has got the message from the various comments here that ripped mods aren't the way to go, so IF these are in fact ripped mods in his videos, I'm sure it will be rectified moving forward.
It's not "if", it's "yes, RD is promoting a guy showing ripped mods and sharing them"
almost all of the hypercars are RTM / Simdream levels of cars ripped from CSR2 and such.
It's obvious, we are numerous people here pointing that out since the article came out, and Himura is still in the front page of RD.
Either RD stays true to their ToS, or they allow that clearly.
 
Last edited:
Well obviously not the original intention of the OP, but I'm delighted about the healthy discussions and clarifications the tread has brought.
A healthy society, defending real modders' properties and work, addressing the real thread of rippers and their "fantasy" sites, earning money on other persons hard work.
In fact not so long ago the person behind the OP was under real attack himself from such rippers, getting away with even getting the persons YT channel banneda couple of days, so to my imagination, if one should be aware....
Apart from that, congrats to the newly successfull youtuber for lurking even more ppl into our sim world.
So in tribute I'll try somehow to do my next sim race with the screen turned 90 degrees.
 
Last edited:
man, youtube is weird. one video has 1k views. the next, 20 million. then 1k again. idk, dudes grammar alone makes me want to jump off a bridge. i wish him well, but pass.
 
Hi Mike,

A strange article. It's not because a youtube channel makes lot of view that make great content.
I look this channel and the content is not so interesting.

" How many LMP1 & Lm Hypercars Cars can i overtake at le Mans with F1 2022 in 22 laps" i don't care ;).

I follow your channel Mike because your content is interresting lot of analysis, reflexion a real informative content that is not the cas of this channel.

Have a good day.


 

Latest News

Article information

Author
Mike Smith
Article read time
3 min read
Views
15,044
Comments
67
Last update

What would be the ideal raceday for you to join our Club Races?

  • Monday

    Votes: 30 16.1%
  • Tuesday

    Votes: 24 12.9%
  • Wednesday

    Votes: 27 14.5%
  • Thursday

    Votes: 26 14.0%
  • Friday

    Votes: 67 36.0%
  • Saturday

    Votes: 104 55.9%
  • Sunday

    Votes: 75 40.3%
Back
Top