Video games to prepare for historic F1 races
The AGS racing team is no stranger to racetracks. Making its first appearance at Charade for the Super Show, the French team familiarized itself with the track through video games.
AGS had brought beautiful mechanics to the Charade circuit. Jacky Ickx’s Ford GT40, an Oreca FLM09, and an AGS JH24. And for the first time, this single-seater was treading on the historic 8-kilometer track. The team based in the south of France had to prepare for the event accordingly.
They then recognized the track thanks to video games. « We use Assetto Corsa. But iRacing is also pretty good », says Simon Bax, driver for the AGS team. « It pretty much reflects the truth most of the time. However, for Charade, it’s more complicated because it was modeled by players and not developers. »
If the main layout is the same, there’s nothing like a walk-through to analyze it more closely. « The corners are tighter in reality. At the connection point to the old layout, there are bumps. Therefore, we raised the car by two centimeters. »
AGS also uses this video game to prepare its races throughout France. « You can adjust the gearbox and choose the gears. » But for Charade, no specific adjustments because this day was dedicated to demonstration. « We are behind a safety car, I would have liked to accelerate a little bit, jokes Simon Bax.