Credits IMAGO Marco Canoniero

Max Verstappen and his sim racing activities have been a topic of debate in the paddock recently. However, according to Formula E driver Oliver Rowland, Verstappen’s ability to race at the highest level, both on the track and in sim racing, speaks volumes about the Dutchman’s abilities behind the wheel.

Sim racing, in general, eliminates the limitations of real-world racing. A driver can jump into virtually any class of motorsport and learn many different disciplines. Rowland believes that owing to Verstappen’s versatility and consistent performance on the sim, he has established himself as the ultimate driver.

The British racing driver was quoted on X (formerly Twitter) as saying, “Max. This guy can drive anything. He does sim at night, Formula 1 during the day, GT3 on holiday.” Rowland, who has competed against the #1 driver in sim races, also praised the 26-year-old for his flexibility in terms of driving across a range of classes and series.

The current F1 grid is arguably filled with some of the greatest racing talents of this generation. And whilst Verstappen has been the benchmark for the field in the more recent years, Rowland believes another sim-racing Grand Prix winner is on the same level as the three-time world champion.

The 32-year-old explained, “To be honest, there are a lot of really good drivers out there and I think Charles [Leclerc] would be extremely good as well.” The #16 driver is also an avid sim racer. The days of the COVID-19 pandemic brought out this side of the Monegasque for the entire world to see.

Verstappen wants to make motorsport more accessible through sim-racing

Verstappen’s prowess on a virtual track is not an outlier in terms of motorsport. There have been many cases in real life where sim-racers have made a racing career out on the track. Jimmy Broadbent and streamer Super GT are two such drivers.

Verstappen himself is keen to get involved in the business of getting sim racers trained to compete at the highest level of real-world racing. His passion project, for a while now, has been to make a sim-racers-turned-pro GT3 team.

Motorsport.com quoted the Red Bull driver as saying, “If I do something, I want to do it right – I want to win with this as well. And it’s about creating a stepping stone from sim racing to GT3, so that you don’t have to only go through karting to get into motorsports, because that costs a lot of money at the moment.”