Sim racing, or ‘simulated’ racing tries to reproduce the real world of motorsport as accurately as possible so the rest of us, who are not lucky enough to be able to compete in real life racing, can also enjoy the thrills and spills of the racetrack.

Some of the sim titles available today are better at realism than others. In fact, there are those that set out to be a fun and easy to play racing video game rather than an accurate sim.

These titles, perhaps, sacrifice some of the real world physics of car handling etc to enable the production of the game to be a little easier and to reach a bigger audience of general gamers.

But for those of us striving for as much real world accuracy as possible, there are a few sims available that try and satisfy those needs.

These sim racing titles use detailed physics engines to accurately simulate the behavior of race cars, including aspects like how the car feels to drive, how it brakes, tyre wear, fuel consumption, and aerodynamics.

The tracks are laser-scanned versions of real-world tracks and the more serious sim racers will have a special rig or cockpit, with steering wheel, pedals and racing seat for the feeling of more reality and immersion.

Most aspects of the car can be altered in game and knowledge of how a race car is setup in real life can be quite an advantage.

But even in these sims a lot of the races are run as fixed setup so thankfully, at least in these, knowledge of real life car setups is not so essential.

Some racing games are aimed at the console market and a lot of fun can be had playing these.

But the more serious titles will want to take advantage of the extra power a PC can bring. This is always a bit of a trade-off for both developers and users.

The latest CPUs, motherboards and above all, the latest and most powerful graphics cards can produce graphics and performance that could only have been dreamed of a few short years ago.

But not all of us can afford the latest and greatest of everything, and those people expect to be catered for as well.

But the developers are always pushing the boundries and want to be able to take advantage of the latest technology. So, there will always be the dicotomy of what can be produced by developers and what most of us can actually run.

Whether you’re a casual gamer or a motor racing enthusiast, the world of sim racing offers an exciting and immersive way to experience the thrill of racing in your own home.