Team orange driver James Baldwin scored the first victory of the World’s Fastest Gamer #CaliforniaDreamin finals with a hard-fought win on board the Allinsports simulator using the rFactor2 software.
The ten gamers did battle under the California night sky with a spectacular backdrop of downtown Los Angeles.
Baldwin qualified on pole and took victory at Silverstone over Team blue racer and fellow Brit Sebastien Job and rFactor2 World’s Fastest Gamer qualifier, and fellow team orange member, Erhan Jajovski.
“It feels so good. It was close, and it was sweaty because it was intense,” Baldwin said.
“But, I didn’t even feel out of my comfort zone even though we were driving in front of downtown LA. I noted a few things I can take forward to improve still, because there were definitely a few things I was lacking—I even think Seb was quicker at a few points. But, I’m so happy with the result.”
Team orange leader and inaugural World’s Fastest Gamer Rudy van Buren was thrilled with the result.
“As expected, team orange wins the first sim challenge. I had three guys in the fight tonight, Jann Mardenborough’s Team Blue had one, and we showed them how it’s done.”
The gamer finalists earlier visited the “Batcave”—the spectacular movie location used for Batman, The Dark Knight. The gamers were pushed to the limit on physical and mental tests as part of their preparation by Formula Medicine—the motorsport physical and physiological experts.
Part of the test included a colour identification true or false test. Gamers are shown the name or the colour on screen, but the colour of the actual letters may be wrong. Each gamer’s physical data was tested including reaction time, heart rate and brain activity. The test trains the gamers and racers to improve their ability to race with a clear mind and not be mentally affected by set-backs or problems
“The physical challenges weren’t that hard for me because in school they put us through exercises like that, so I was prepared for the physicality of it. But, the mental tests were really hard,” finalist Johnathan Wong said.
“I struggled with one of them. It wasn’t because of the cameras or being in the Batcave, it was hard because English isn’t my first language.
“Luckily I went last so I was able to see the other guys do it before I had my turn. I’ll definitely be practicing that one!”
Recent Comments