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 27.1%

  • Just gloves

    Votes: 186 28.7%

  • Just shoes

    Votes: 46 7.1%

  • None of the above

    Votes: 241 37.1%
  • Total voters
    649
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
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

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I
just socks on my feet. ive found shoes dont slide along the gas pedal the same way it does in my real car, so socks work better.

i normally use a leather momo rim so bare hands are fine. but i do use gloves with the fanatec f1 rim so the alcantara stays nice.

oh and an oculus on my head of course. and dt770 pros on my ears.
 
BP
@Yannik Haustein your next poll should be: How strong do you run your wheelbase? It'll clear up a few things for sure if most people are honest. Simply list the max strengths of all FFB wheelbases made in the last 10 years (there aren't that many) and then ask everyone to select the max strength they use to do races (easily found out by using the percentage FFB). List them in groups of 2 or 4 (1 - 4Nm, 5 - 8Nm, etc)

Would be interested in seeing the results, but my guess would be more than half of the users, whether on DD or not, don't use more than 5 Nm to race, thus the lack of gloves.
 
Kyuubeey
BP said:
@Yannik Haustein your next poll should be: How strong do you run your wheelbase? It'll clear up a few things for sure if most people are honest. Simply list the max strengths of all FFB wheelbases made in the last 10 years (there aren't that many) and then ask everyone to select the max strength they use to do races (easily found out by using the percentage FFB). List them in groups of 2 or 4 (1 - 4Nm, 5 - 8Nm, etc)

Would be interested in seeing the results, but my guess would be more than half of the users, whether on DD or not, don't use more than 5 Nm to race, thus the lack of gloves.
Click to expand...
To be fair it's not like most modern racecars with PS output terribly much more than 5Nm sustained.

Also it's quite hard to get that data, usually it's not even listed if the torque for the wheelbase is instantaneous or sustained. Things will probably get very skewed around the 3-6Nm mark.
 
A
Sparco Gloves and Cart Shoes. My feet get cramped when barefoot, but I like the slicker/thinner sole of the carting shoes over my sneakers since they don't get hung up on the pedals so much. As for the gloves, I'll admit I'm getting soft as I age...
 
THK84
vannib said:
I honestly can't believe the overwhelming majority of people don't use shoes.
Click to expand...

Only have CSL LC set. Rubber on the brake pedal only. On max brake force config socks are perfectly fine.

And I've been doing it like this so long since I started, so using shoes feels very weird now.
 
N
vannib said:
I honestly can't believe the overwhelming majority of people don't use shoes.
Click to expand...
I'm surprised no one else is admitting to racing in bare feet. It's not so bad if you're not using the clutch. It felt a little odd at first, but I got used to it quickly.
 
Richard Coleman
When I'm sim racing I wear clothes and socks lol. The neighbours and flatmates would have heart attacks if I didn't hahahahaha
 
RCHeliguy
Premium
BP said:
@Yannik Haustein your next poll should be: How strong do you run your wheelbase? It'll clear up a few things for sure if most people are honest. Simply list the max strengths of all FFB wheelbases made in the last 10 years (there aren't that many) and then ask everyone to select the max strength they use to do races (easily found out by using the percentage FFB). List them in groups of 2 or 4 (1 - 4Nm, 5 - 8Nm, etc)

Would be interested in seeing the results, but my guess would be more than half of the users, whether on DD or not, don't use more than 5 Nm to race, thus the lack of gloves.
Click to expand...

Interesting.
I know a lot of people who wear gloves so maybe that skews my impressions.

I'm running about 10-12 Nm max, if you take my SC2 profile which is close to max and the iRacing NM ratio which takes it down to about half of that max value. That doesn't mean I'm experiencing 10-12Nm, but just that it could use up to that much if it needed headroom so I could still feel something with the wheel pretty well loaded up.

The only time I change that is if I haven't been driving in a while, but after I get some seat time, I put it right back there for all my driving.

Since hitting walls in a sim no longer hurts me from the wheel, there is little reason to dial it back. That was an improvement that happened in the last 6 months and has made all the difference at least for my wheelbase/sim combinations.

You could make a similar observation about wearing shoes. I wear driving shoes and have my brake set for about 55 Nm of force. I know many who run higher than that, but the people in socks are typically running lower force.
 
Last edited:
Mr. Malarkey
Premium
You mean some people wear something other than pajamas or sweats? You wear actual PANTS? :)

Bare feet or socks, here. I like being able to feel the pedals. But, to be fair, I drive my real car that way, too. I hate shoes.
 
BP
RCHeliguy said:
Interesting.
I know a lot of people who wear gloves so maybe that skews my impressions.

I'm running about 10-12 Nm max, if you take my SC2 profile which is close to max and the iRacing NM ratio which takes it down to about half of that max value. That doesn't mean I'm experiencing 10-12Nm, but just that it could use up to that much if it needed headroom so I could still feel something with the wheel pretty well loaded up.

The only time I change that is if I haven't been driving in a while, but after I get some seat time, I put it right back there for all my driving.

Since hitting walls in a sim no longer hurts me from the wheel, there is little reason to dial it back. That was an improvement that happened in the last 6 months and has made all the difference at least for my wheelbase/sim combinations.

You could make a similar observation about wearing shoes. I wear driving shoes and have my brake set for about 55 Nm of force. I know many who run higher than that, but the people in socks are typically running lower force.
Click to expand...
I run similar levels (between 8 - 11Nm on wheel, 50Nm on pedals)…but I’m well aware that we (guys that DD wheels in particular) are still in the vast minority, most people globally use a G29 or equivalent wheel…the DD users just tend to be the most vocal (Fanatec is changing that trend with the CSL DD). Which is why I call for a vote that ignores wheelbase to see if the two results will correlate. I had no interest in wearing gloves with my G27, but that changed after using the Fanatec CSW v2.5 at full power…hands would get irritated and wheels would get sweaty.

Your calibration method is interesting…my personal belief is even though most sims now have FFB protection for crashes, errors still happen outside the sun which can cause a wheel to get stuck in high speed rotation to lock (if a game or driver crashes…it’s happened to me more than once). Seems like unnecessary risk as well as limiting the FFB resolution to half its range. Compressing all FFB signals into half of the range I would imagine leads to a less smoother signal (in theory at least, compared to using the full range…such is the case in all digital media: audio fidelity, color resolution, etc).
 
Jason Chamberlain
Premium
I have the stiffest spring in my T-LCM pedals, so I really need shoes. I wear an old pair of canvas loafers with very thin rubber soles, so they grip well. But I need that little extra padding and stiffness for the pedals.

I just have a T-300 wheel, so I don't really need gloves. I prefer to be able to feel the buttons well with my fingers because I use VR.
 

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