Bono Huis signs for 2013

[Johannes Kunkel]

It is with great satisfaction that Precision can today announce the signing of triple world champion Bono Huis for 2013. The deal covers one year and will see Huis drive his fourth season for Precision in the FSR WC, the last three of which has ended in championships. During his time at Precision, Huis has scrored 32 wins, 22 pole positions and set the record of most victories in a season (14) in 2011.

The team is looking towards another fruitful year of partnership with the 18-year old and has high hopes of continued success with a possibly new simulator platform in 2013.

Bono Huis commented:
"I´m very pleased to extend my contract with Precision Motorsports. The last three years have been amazing and I can't ask more from a team. It was the only logical decision to stay and I'm looking forward to another year."

Team owner Johannes Kunkel commented:
"Signing Bono for another year was the only logical thing to do and we are happy he accepted our offer. It´s 3 years now since he joined Precision Motorsports at the end of 2009 and since then we had 3 fantastic seasons winning all 3 drivers- and constructors championships. Next year will be a totally different challenge switching to a different simulation, but we are very confident we can continue this success story for at least another year."

Team manager Ondrej Kuncman commented:
"Bono is the best simracer in the world and after winning 3 world titles together one could think enough is enough, but I think for both of us winning is quite addictive. With some natural exceptions we have a pretty good relationship and if we want to keep delivering what we have been delivering for past 3 years, it is only logical to continue working together and continue winning together. Whatever game is used next year, we will be up there, winning."

Precision Motorsports Press
Official Press Release
written by John-Eric Saxen
www.precision-motorsports.de

 

[Tume]

Huis is the Vettel of FSR

 

[Ron Squire]

the Vettel of FSR yet has the his version of Kubicas helmet

 

[David O'Reilly]

Vettel has a faster car than the others. Bono Huis has exactly equal cars and still wins 3 WDC in a row. Calling him Vettel is shortchanging Bonos achievements.
The filter of millions of dollars is also not applied so Bono must race the best available sim racers in the world regardless of their financial support hence a much bigger talent pool.
So in my book it is a bigger achievement.

 

[David Dominguez]

Vettel has a faster car than the others. Bono Huis has exactly equal cars and still wins 3 WDC in a row. Calling him Vettel is shortchanging Bonos achievements.
The filter of millions of dollars is also not applied so Bono must race the best available sim racers in the world regardless of their financial support hence a much bigger talent pool.
So in my book it is a bigger achievement.

A simracing achievement will never beat any real racing achievement. You are right saying that he uses the same car as everybody, and we can say he is the best, unlike with Vettel, due to different car performances. But we simracers don't face other problems, we can crash non stop without suffering any injuries, we don't have to spend 5h on the gym every day and we don't have the same pressure as them (performance, media, etc). Also we don't have all the best simracers in the world; there are a lot of fast guys more out of FSR, being "retired", or just playing other games, so at the end it's similar to F1. We have had an important amount of WT guys driving in WC, for example

So, what I mean is that yes, Bono's achievements are really impressive, but you can't compare them with real world achievements

 

[Tume]

I wasn't really comparing to real world achievements, just saying that Bono has most wins in WC like Vettel has in F1.

 

[Tommy Nilsson]

I used to drive go karts just like my dad did.
If we compete in rental-karts we have the exact same lap-times on every track +-1tenth.
But if i put him in any simulation he is a complete noob he would be doing like 1.20 in interlagos.

 

[David O'Reilly]

A simracing achievement will never beat any real racing achievement. You are right saying that he uses the same car as everybody, and we can say he is the best, unlike with Vettel, due to different car performances. But we simracers don't face other problems, we can crash non stop without suffering any injuries, we don't have to spend 5h on the gym every day and we don't have the same pressure as them (performance, media, etc). Also we don't have all the best simracers in the world; there are a lot of fast guys more out of FSR, being "retired", or just playing other games, so at the end it's similar to F1. We have had an important amount of WT guys driving in WC, for example

So, what I mean is that yes, Bono's achievements are really impressive, but you can't compare them with real world achievements

Well David its interesting hearing you almost talking down the achievement of winning the F1 SR WDC. But I still think you overstate the "other problems". For example pro athletes let alone F1 drivers don't do 5 hrs every day in the gym, its probably 2 hrs max and not every day. Apart from the heat , the noise, the G Forces and the danger the activities are very similar.
You also say that the achievement "cant be compared to real world". I disagree. They are both endeavours of skill and judgement undertaken by human beings investing many hours each week for the ultimate performance. Many humas are in the game but one keeps winning. Morand had speed too but if its easier than real life why did no one else beat Bono?
In some ways real world race driving is easier as you get much much more feedback from the chassis and other things (sounds, visual cues) (and yes I have done a little)
We have respect and adulation for the top f1 drivers and rightly so. But we must remember that they are humans and they put their trousers on one leg at a time.

I postulate that with 6 weeks of intensive in car training and a pre requsite of physical condition that Bono would qualify a top F1 car into Q2.

Is a chess grand master lesser or greater than an F1 driver? They are very different sports, but is chess any more real world than F1 SR. You sell your league short David
We will never know but we are both entitled to our perception.

 

[Xosé Estrada]

With

I postulate that with 6 weeks of intensive in car training and a pre requsite of physical condition that Bono would qualify a top F1 car into Q2.

There are so many other factors that making that assumption is, the least, incredibly optimistic.

Most aspects of the formation and skills of a real racer are not present in simracing.

Of course until you see it he has more potential of being a better race driver than any other slower simracer, but just until you put them in a real car and this other factors enter into play. Then things can change in other direction.

Simracing covers all the part of real racing that has to do with driving technique, but there is much more into play in real racing. Being an alien in simracing shows a better potential than any other normal person, that's for sure, but doesn't guarantee you will be an alien in real racing as well.

Comparing being F1 champion to FSR champion is something you can't do. I doubt you had any real racing experience, because if you do you inmediately see how similar and different simracing is to it at the same time

 

[David Dominguez]

I'm not selling the league (it's not mine) short, I'm being realistic. If I hate something is saying something that I don't really think.

As I already said, Bono demostrates that he is the best in FSR, there is no doubt about that, I think. But I can't simply accept that being a champion in simracing is a bigger achievement than being a champion in real racing. We love simracing, but we can't ignore what real racing requires, and that's not only talent. It's not the same driving at the limit knowing that nothing happens if you have an accident (apart of having some team manager shouting by TS), than driving at the limit knowing that you can suffer huge injuries, for example.

 

[Javier Alvarez]

Congratulations to Bono Huis and to Precision Motorsports.

For a begginer team owner it is habitual to dream... an email from a top driver saying that he is searching for more motivation leading a Driver's Academy in a new project... a real challenge. But suddenly you awake up .

Concerning your discussion, I am sure that most of you know the featured video related to the "World's fastest allien": An incredible faster simracer (without driving license in real life) who was invited to a real testing session:
http://www.positive-simracing.com/index.php/en/team-media-2/featured-videos

 

[William Levesque]

In Simracing you have all the racecraft stuff and the basics of racing. (In the future proper track rubbering and wear, aswell as weather)

In real life, you have all the above AND all the physical strains attacking your body, and actual danger... Also, you can't put 10+hours of practice on a single track, only a couple of sessions where you need not to crash and build the setup !

So if you are any good in maths, you'll see that the second option equals to a higher number of factors

Congrats to Bono, it'll be interesting to see how much the cards will change on a new platform !

 

[Andrew Ford]

Congratulations to Bono Huis and to Precision Motorsports.

For a begginer team owner it is habitual to dream... an email from a top driver saying that he is searching for more motivation leading a Driver's Academy in a new project... a real challenge. But suddenly you awake up .

Concerning your discussion, I am sure that most of you know the featured video related to the "World's fastest allien": An incredible faster simracer (without driving license in real life) who was invited to a real testing session:
http://www.positive-simracing.com/index.php/en/team-media-2/featured-videos

really enjoyed watching that. thanks!


Couple of points...

as far as i'm aware, THe Skip Barber school are linked to iracing in a partnership. Skip Barber offers tutorials and both get exposure.
So I believe that video was intended to gain more exposure for both and get more people into Skip Barber schools and iracing. when the iracing guy asked a rhetorical quesiton along the lines of " will he make it in real racing, who knows?" i just felt this was a..."if you try iracing, it could be you in a real car racing!".

For me the piece only served to demonstrate the differences.
a guy who had been racing in iracing for years was 3-4 seconds slower than guys who had been racing little trainer cars for years.

now put him in an f1 car and in a few weeks he would make Q2 ?hmmm. Me no think so. only my opinion. nick hamilton managed a respectable 9th in hatchbacks after successful sim racing and a number of real life crashes in the build up.

I remember going karting for first time on hols. I work out. I'm fit, strong and young and i was surprised how much the karting worked my neck over 30 laps of a short circuit. so the physical strength and endurance for f1 would be immense and take months of certain training.

many of us race in sims because we love racing and we dare to dream. there's no harm in that and who know's? maybe some sim racers could make it in the big time.then again, as people have said, there's so many factors against. reflexes, setup and racing line knowledge are only part of being a top class racing driver...from what i've read/watched.

bono has done amazingly well and it's great having a benchmark. he has great skills
and hope this thread takes nothing away from his achievements. being a winner in fsr is a great achievement and hopefully nearly as fun as in real life. i've thoroughly enjoyed watching his battles with morand and ultimately, he was more of a complete driver.

 

[John-Eric Saxén]

You can't compare FSR with F1, the reason I disagree about however. Regarding the technical part, all you need to simulate an F1 car is a set of wheel, pedals and a PC running a decent simulation. Of course the simulations physics are not 100% accurate, but we can assume they are getting "reasonably close" with the computing power increasing all the time.

So then remains the G-forces. It is true that it takes a lot commitment to get physically fit, however, this is not a talent aspect, it's more a work aspect. We have seen pay-drivers in the past in F1 who were nowhere near on top physically, yet they were able to finish races. Today everyone on the F1 grid is very well fit, but that's still something anyone with dedication can become, it doesn't require any special talent.

What I think is the main reason you can't compare FSR and F1 is that, in general, teams are not run professionally in FSR. Very few teams and drivers have the dedication to push through the whole season consistently, I've noticed. And all those little things during race weekend, to optimize things like starts and pit stops, strategy, etc, there is no such attention to detail compared to F1. Otherwise I could only dream of finishing in the top 10 in WC consistently.

Anyway, this is not to take away anything from Bono. Since he always wins anyways, it is not possible to ask him for anything more. Driving-technical wise he is pretty much perfect, from what I have analyzed and compared him against some real F1 driver onboards.

 

[John-Eric Saxén]

Another technical difference I forgot to mention is that in F1, you drive the car pretty much based on input of how it "feels", in your spine. In sim racing there is no body feel whatsoever, apart from FFB, which is not too great in rFactor. That means you only drive the car based on visual and audio references. The feedback mechanism is essentially different. A sim racer has to compensate this lack of feel mainly from visual cues.
I think it's therefore quite uncertain that a sim racer with a great "visual feel" will necessarily be great at feeling the dynamic weight shift of the car, even if he could tolerate the G-forces. The same the other way around, a real driver could struggle in sim racing with the lack of feedback from the car with only visual cues.

 

[David O'Reilly]

With

There are so many other factors that making that assumption is, the least, incredibly optimistic.

Most aspects of the formation and skills of a real racer are not present in simracing.

Of course until you see it he has more potential of being a better race driver than any other slower simracer, but just until you put them in a real car and this other factors enter into play. Then things can change in other direction.

Simracing covers all the part of real racing that has to do with driving technique, but there is much more into play in real racing. Being an alien in simracing shows a better potential than any other normal person, that's for sure, but doesn't guarantee you will be an alien in real racing as well.

Comparing being F1 champion to FSR champion is something you can't do. I doubt you had any real racing experience, because if you do you inmediately see how similar and different simracing is to it at the same time

You are welcome to your view Xose, but your assumption in bold is incorrect. I am by the way a little surprised that you decide to attack my own experience as an issue rather than debate the subject. I have raced real cars (from 250 up to 400hp sports cars)on real tracks in sprint events with transponders, podiums etc as well as endurance karting. I have also competed at an international level in alpine skiing incl Downhill racing so I know what danger is and what fitness is too.
Are we not forgetting about the PS3 GT5 contest winners that podiumed at Lemans too?

So guys you may want to talk in absolutes here but I am sorry but here there is only opinion, not fact from my side and from your side. But as good as the top F1 stars are they are just another human being just like you are and in sport if you think of them as anything else you will never beat them.
Did we just try to blur the line BTW between real and virtual racing but get stopped

Edit Jean Eric I agree wth your points on feel and other feedback and in fact refer to it in my previous post.
In my view (and in my personal experience) all that makes real racing easier.
Which leaves basically fitness and fear as the limiting factors.
Anyway I respect your views gents (except Mr Fords which I cant read as I have him on ignore) but stand by mine, peace out.

 

[David Dominguez]

Are we talking about GTA winners like Lucas Ordoñez, Wolfgang Reip, etc who had already real racing experience?

 

[Tommy Nilsson]

Imo the biggest difference in driving in real life is the headmovent.
looking/moving in to the corner and something i did in the corner was leaning my head in to corner.

 

[David O'Reilly]

Are we talking about GTA winners like Lucas Ordoñez, Wolfgang Reip, etc who had already real racing experience?

I guess we are talking about him David, follows a quote from edge online.
According to them he did not have racing experience before.
I suppose though whether he did or not is not the key issue. This discussion started with my first assertion that was 3 WDC in absolutely equal virtual cars is greater than than 3 when you have the fastest car in real world racing (BTW Sir Jackie Stewart has spoken on the real world side of this and dowmplays Vettels achievement a little).

The second part evolved from a comment that "you cant compare them" and that essentially there is little or no predictable performance correllation. On that I argue there is a great correlation. I say that the PS3 GT Academy experiment does support my position.
Home >
News >
GT Academy winner makes Le Mans podium
GT Academy winner makes Le Mans podium

Comments 0
Nathan Brown at 04:43pm June 14 2011

It appears videogame skills translate to the real world after all: Lucas Ordoñez, the first-ever winner of PlayStation driving contest GT Academy in 2008, this weekend secured a podium finish at the Le Mans 24 Hours race in France.
Three years ago Ordoñez was an MBA student whose experience of the race track was limited to Gran Turismo. After setting the fastest time in the GT Academy time trial, he won the 2008 competition, and came second in the real-world GT4 Championship in his debut season.
Last Sunday, he and his Signatech Nissan team-mates finished in second place in the LMP2 class in the famous race, despite suffering two punctures over the course of the day.
"It was a day when all of my dreams came true," Ordoñez said. "Three years ago I won an amazing prize but never in my wildest dreams did I think it would take me all the way to the Le Mans podium. It will take a while for this to sink in for me but so far it is the most amazing feeling."

 

[David Dominguez]

Lucas Ordoñez spent a lot of years doing karting before the GTA. He stopped because he ran out of money, as it usually happens, but he was vice-champion in Madrid and he also took part on some spanish national karting championships.

And the same can be said about the last winner, Wolfgang Reip, as I said. I can't talk abot the other guys because I don't know them, but when 2 guys with real racing experience have won it, it must mean something...

Just use the example of GTA. Have you seen what do they need to do? They have physic, mental and driving tests. And then they select the best. They don't select the fastest guys on the game, that's only one of the requeriments, therefore we can't say that it's more difficult to be a 3 times DWC in simracing, when we have less variables in play.

Then you can say that Vettel has a super car, ok, he has, but if he is there is because he was also one of the most successful drivers of the Red Bull program. And they have a lot of talented kids there...