Community Question | Do You Wear Gloves To Sim Race?

[Grudyjsy]

I don’t wear gloves but the guy i get to race as me does
But seriously I wear gloves.

 

[Nick Hill]

No gloves, but if I ever get a DD wheel, I'd reconsider I think.

I try to wear my racing shoes whenever possible, however. Strictly speaking, for sim racing, I am most comfortable (and probably faster) in socks, but then when I drive my Vee in real life, I have to adjust to the reduced sensation of the shoes. So, I try to wear the shoes while sim racing to help me stay acclimated.

 

[Lennart Groessl]

I don't for practice and faffing about but for actual races I usually do wear gloves as my worn off alcantara wheel gets really slippery when im sweating.

 

[UMC 22]

I generally don't bother. My T300's stock wheel is rubber so there's no need to protect anything, and the motors aren't powerful enough to require the extra grip gloves offer. Very occasionally I might on a very hot day, but usually a fan is enough to stop the sweat. When I do I use a pair of thin Traffi gloves which have rubberised palms. They actually do the job pretty well.

 

[MarkR]

No, never for racing games, there is no oil, track debris or weather hitting me at speed in my own house (unless the missus gets angry... )

Gloves are just track/racing protective equipment to me, there is they have to be worn (rules/karts etc) or it's sensible to for cars like the Atom or Caterham with no screen or heater. I've never worn gloves in any track day car with a screen either.

I can, just about, understand those who want to protect rims/suede etc with a thin glove but that isn't ever how I've looked at either real cars or sim racing gear, if I buy it I'll generally drive the wheels off it. All of my sim-wheel rims have had more than a real lifetime of wear by the time they are replaced.

I find it much more difficult to understand those who use real kart or race gloves for a sim wheel, surely you're just reducing the feedback you are paying for no real reason? If you're using Nomex gloves as I see some of the Youtubers do for pure marketing well...

If your sim racing gloves are made of the finest material and no thicker than the knickers a supermodel would wear for date night I'll let you off. Other than that, for sim racing:

 

[bgil66]

 

[madhopz]

Hands don't sweat. I have the Fanatec F1 2018 wheel which has alcantara, the Fanatec F1 2019 which has leather and the Fanatec BMW wheel which had alcantara. I have tried gloves and never saw the point to them. My grip is just fine without them. I know that you really are not supposed to wear gloves with alcantara believe it or not. Most people think gloves protect it. Nope.

 

[Paul Glover]

Yes, hands get sweaty and the oily residue will damage my beautiful wheels.

 

[David Peres]

I used to think wearing gloves to play a game was ridiculous, but eventually I started to get very unconfortable with how sticky and filthy my alcantara wheel was getting with all the sweat, so I started using my mountain biking gloves to sim race and now I can't go back.

So yeah, using gloves for me has nothing to do with immersion... it's all about confort and keeping my wheel clean.

Hands don't sweat.

Speak for yourself... It's very hot during most of the year where I live and sim racing makes me sweat like a pig, hands included.

 

[Ruttman98]

I bought some Alpine Stars karting gloves when I got my Ferrari 599 Alcantara wheel. They help protect the wheel and well as my hands.

 

[DrRob]

Gloves. It's the same for me as it is the cap for Stallone.

 

[LeSunTzu]

50cents painting gloves

 

[Cote Dazur]

Never.

 

[Chrhun]

Yes, I wear gloves (mine are Giro long finger cycling gloves). It works really well with suede and alcantara rims, providing great grip and keeping the wheels in better state.

 

[2112]

Yep. When I had my G27 it was not really an issue except for the hand sweat. When i got the formula rim for my fanatec I was developing blisters and calluses. I started with batting gloves but when they wore out I bought some padded work gloves from ACE. They are great.

I don't use them for the affect, I use them because they are practical.

 

[ears]

Gloves are for gardening and snowball fights.

 

[Steve Bird]

Yes, in endurance races. Basically to stop my sweaty hands destroying the suede on the wheel.

 

[JoaoCastella]

Yes What @Chris Haye said, to protect the wheel/investment

 

[michael conger]

Yeah I like to wear gloves not because my hands are sweaty not because I have a 30 nm OSW it’s just because I like to wear them and make me feel good make me feel like I’m actually a racer sometimes in some imaginary weird kind of way And for endurance races where I am in the seat for three hours I throw in a pair of shoes to. Now if I can just find a pair under $100 That don’t look like Paul’s in the picture at the beginning of the forum

 

[Stig Bidstrup]

No...
Never had any problems with guests seeing my steering wheel at the pc .
But wearing gloves using a toy steering wheel . I would feel like getting caught wearing ladies underwear .

Simracers getting very sweaty hands I do understand they use gloves.