Have Your Say: What Do You Wear When Sim Racing?

Have Your Say What Do You Wear When Racing.jpg

Do you wear gloves or shoes while racing?

  • Yes, both

    Votes: 176 27.2%
  • Just gloves

    Votes: 185 28.5%
  • Just shoes

    Votes: 46 7.1%
  • None of the above

    Votes: 241 37.2%

  • Total voters
    648
Equipment is a matter of preference in sim racing. Usually, this refers to hardware like wheels, pedals or entire rigs, but opinions are just as diverse on what to wear during virtual excursions to the race track - which is why we here at RaceDepartment were wondering what our community prefers to wear while racing.

Everybody is comfortable in different clothes for different situations, with sim racing being no exception. Personally, gym shorts and a t-shirt are my go-to for maximum comfort and avoiding to become too hot during extended sessions. Two of the most debated pieces of equipment apart from hardware are gloves and shoes, however.

Usually, owners of alcantara wheels tend to wear gloves to protect the wheel's material from sweat and oils, but they are not the only ones: The increased availability and spread of direct-drive wheel bases has led to more sim racers wearing gloves for increases grip or even comfort.

Regarding shoes or racing boots, it is less about protecting the pedal's materials, but rather your feet themselves. Heavy load cell brakes need a lot of force to be pushed to their potential, which is easier to do for most while wearing shoes. I started wearing them as soon as I started using an H-shifter and heel-toeing on downshifts, as the latter quickly became uncomfortable or just plain painful in longer sessions.

As a result, not wearing gloves or shoes when racing feels weird these days - but that is just me. What about you? What do you prefer when sitting in your rigs? Let us know in the comments - we are looking forward to your answers!
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About author
Yannik Haustein
Lifelong motorsport enthusiast and sim racing aficionado, walking racing history encyclopedia.

Sim racing editor, streamer and one half of the SimRacing Buddies podcast (warning, German!).

Heel & Toe Gang 4 life :D

Comments

I wear Sparco boots as my pedals are stiff, never got on with gloves, wear various F1 baseball caps on special occasions
 
Premium
I cant imagine having hands and feet so soft a person can't handle the harshness of a set of toy pedals and a steering wheel.

It must be like having a disability .
Get pedals with realistic resistances and a wheel with realistic forces and you'll find yourself going with realistic shoes and gloves soon enough.

But I agree.. I drive with socks and bare hands. My "realistic" wheel+pedals are like my real Skoda Fabia, which I can drive barefoot and without gloves :D

For me it's more immersive to feel like driving my own real car which I took a driver training with, instead of a real sports car, which I never drove anywhere close the limit.
 
Gloves with the F1 V2
No gloves with the Universal hub with a Sparco 330mm leather rim on it. (if I switch it to the QSP faux Alcantara 280mm D-shape karting rim, I do wear gloves again.)

Gloves: cheap karting gloves. Who needs fire retardation on a sim rig :)
 
I cant imagine having hands and feet so soft a person can't handle the harshness of a set of toy pedals and a steering wheel.
I wear the gloves also to keep the alcantara or equivalent in good condition in case I want to sell them to side-/upgrade.

Little bit of immersion too.

Not to mention that, with my amazingly poorly isolated apartment and the current gas prizes, some sim racing with gloves and an HMD on is a good way to keep warm :p
 
Last edited:

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Article information

Author
Yannik Haustein
Article read time
2 min read
Views
11,960
Comments
115
Last update

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