1. Visual Ability. Great hand/eye coordination and spatial cognition. (see Note)
2. Skill Development. Through learning and practice.
3. Good Judgement. Intelligent management of risk.
4. Acceleration Sense. Physical ability to sense and react to three dimensional acceleration.
5. Money. To buy the best equipment and hire the best people to help/support you.
6. Courage. Willingness to take risks despite danger of serious physical harm.
In iRacing, essentially a video game, only the first three categories listed matter. There is no three dimensional acceleration sensation, and attempts to simulate the sensation with motion feedback are not in real time. Money, while not irrelevant, does not matter much as some of the fastest drivers use very simple and relatively inexpensive gear. And, courage matters little when there is no physical danger or cost--just hit the reset button and everything is new again.
Note: Visual Ability includes the mental capacity to make quick decisions and fast/accurate response movement of both hands and feet to visual cues.
So, in iRacing, "What it Takes to Win" is:
1. Visual Ability. Great hand/eye coordination and spatial cognition. (see Note)
2. Skill Development. Through learning and practice.
3. Good Judgement. Intelligent management of risk.
Everyone has an equal opportunity to develop good judgement. They also have equal opportunity to learn and practice, except there is some unequality in the time available to do so.
What makes the BIG difference between iRacing drivers is Visual Ability. This ability to the greatest extent is a "gift" and its level varies greatly among the human population--much like height. And, it sadly diminishes with age after age 30. It's distribution curve is similar to below and is very similar to the distribution of iRating in iRacing. A large group distributed around an average with a small percentage with huge advantage/difference.
So, why is it "fair" for these gifted drivers to have a virtual monopoly on winning in contests with less gifted drivers? Nothing wrong with the exceptionally gifted competing with other exceptionally gifted--that is the essence of professional level competition. But, at amateur levels, where people with a wide variance in gifted ability compete, some sort of adjustment is needed. (In professional racing, it is often Money that determines the winner.)
That is the concept of PURSUIT RACING or BOPT that we will use in the RACE4sport Fair Chance League. The difference in gifted/inherited Visual Ability is compensated for by giving those with lower iRating a head start. So the race result is determined by Skill Development and Good Judgement.
This is obviously attractive to the lower iRating drivers. But, what about the drivers with iRating of 5000 and above?
The answer to that depends on why the gifted driver enters a competition. Some have a goal to demonstrate that because they are more gifted, they are "better"--winning or finishing "high" affirms their status and lifts their self-esteem. Others have a goal to "overcome" difficulty and prove that they are better not just because of their inherited giftedness, but through their own individual effort--sort of like the young men that inherit wealth or privilege from their fathers, but what to prove they can make it "on the own merit". These are the gifted drivers that will find the RACE4Sport Fair Chance League to provide one the most satisfying iRacing experiences available.
