EVERYONE who has spent hours playing racing games has always wondered if they can translate their skills onto the track.
And who better to ask about this topic than two-time and reigning rally world champion, and EA Sports ambassador Kalle Rovanperä.
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With season 2 coming to EA Sports WRC it will bring with it the addition of the Central European Rally.
The Central European Rally is known as one of the toughest courses for rally drivers to face, so we asked Rovanperä what makes it so difficult.
He tells us: “I would say it’s definitely quite a difficult, difficult rally.
“The biggest challenge is that you are having quite high-speed stages on tarmac, with a lot of cuts and pollution on the road.
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“So the grip chains are really big. You have a lot of high-speed, big brakings, and you never really know how the grip is. That makes it really challenging.”
So naturally we wanted to know if he has any advice for all the rally players who will be taking on the course for the first time.
He says: “I think on this one, you really need to listen to the pace notes quite well to be quite sharp on those.
“And yeah, try to have the setup of the car and the driving style really focused on good brakings and exits of the junctions, because there are a lot of them.
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“They seem simple, but you can still gain or lose a lot of time on them.”
Rovanperä isn’t the only famous driver who is an ambassador for EA Sports racing games.
Another world champion driver, Max Verstappen, is also an ambassador for EA’s F1 games, and a massive fan of racing in games as well as on the track.
We wondered if Rovanperä has ever played these serious online racing games.
He explains: “Yeah, I’ve also done something like this. I’ve had some races in games, but then I have done some simulators too, like Max.
“That is quite a high level. That is the people who are really spending a lot of time there.
“So even if you’re a professional, you really need to put some time and work into it if you want to be fast. It’s quite cool. It’s challenging, and it’s nice.”
But how does WRC stack up against the real thing?
He tells us: “It’s really nice. The new physics are definitely much better and much more realistic.
“And yeah, I would say, when I can jump from the real car and drive the game, with a similar driving style and similar effort, and be fast straight away in the game, it means that it’s realistic.
“You can use the real stuff – what you know from the real car – in the game.
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“So that’s what I enjoy the most. It feels realistic, and I can straight away be quite OK in the game, trying to push with a good pace.”
Written by Georgina Young on behalf of GLHF.
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