Working in "Sim Racing"

[tulloch100 4]

Hi there

 

Im 20yrs old from Sydney Australia and about 3 yrs i left school not really not knowing what i wanted to do with my life and ever since then iv been working retail (and as we all know is not that fun and doesnt really pay well) which is really not what i want to be doing for the rest of my life

 

Iv always loved racing and racing game since Gran Turismo 3 on ps2 and even V-Rally on the ps1 and since this yr i have now started to sim race on the PC (and i love it)

 

Iv been thinking over the last few months about doing a course at TAFE (College in Australia) that has something to do with sim racing maybe car design or track design or anything really and since Assetto Corsa is coming out i want to do something for that game but iv never done anything like this so i have no idea were to start. One thing that im worried about is that i am terrible at maths and im worried that could be a problem

 

iv worked a tiny bit in photoshop and i know the basics of video editing but I'm really just wanting to learn a new skill and learn everything from the start

 

if anyone out there could let me know what i should be looking to get into that would be great

 

thanks

 

 

[Darin Gangi 1,074]

Hi,

 

I got your private email, but will reply here in case someone else is thinking about trying to do the same thing.

 

I think your best bet, to get into the sim racing world, is if you know how to code, or you are an artist. Not being good at math, you should probably forget coding. So that leaves graphic design.. Are you an artist ? There's also guys like Stuart Cowie who started making tracks for rFactor and now makes a living doing that.  Here's a recent interview I did with him http://www.isrtv.com/interviews/catching-madcowie/

 

There's probably others ways as well, it just depends on your skill set, or what you are good at. . 

[tulloch100 4]

Thanks for getting back to me

 

iv never done and graphic design and i can't really say i'm artist i just wanted to learn something from scratch seeing what i could do

 

I'm looking at something like this (Certificate III in Design Fundamentals) since it has "limited or no vocational experience"

https://www.tafensw.edu.au/howex/servlet/Course?Command=GetCourse&TargetTab=1&View=&CourseNo=10408&tpInd=N&prevPostcode=&postcode=2093&sortPostcode=Sort

 

but at the end of the day im open to try anything out and see if i like it since im still young

[tulloch100 4]

I was talking to MAK-Corp (http://www.mak-corp.com.au/) on skype and they told me the best thing to learn would be how to use 3DS Max because thats what most of the moddable sims use when its comes to adding cars and tracks and they gave me a good website to try out and for $99 you haven't got anything to lose http://www.gameinstitute.com/game-development/game-design.php

[UNKLE 1,429]

Getting into the sim/gaming world can be tough.  In most cases it's about who you know and not just about talent.  I have a few friends in the game industry and it's tough, one started up their own business as graphic artists working on animation for the batman game, but the company folded as  the contracts dried up and then another works on small indie games.

 

I think the best way would be to get in with the indie/mod community while going to school and studying the aspects of sim/gaming you want to pursue. Another avenue to pursue is beta testing and work your way up from the bottom.  I'd recommend too that you keep an eye out for vacancies and see what qualifications and experience they are looking for.  If you look at the back of Edge gaming magazine for example you'll see lots of job vacancies.

 

One thing is sure, if you are successful be prepared for long hours and no job security - good luck!

[Thirsty 601]

Hey mate, well I wanna be careful about advice what to do about your choice of occupation.

My gut feeling is most of the guys working in that business didn't plan on doing that from the start. I guess they've just have strong interest, natural skills/affiliation and in many cases some sort of education in regard to that and somehow end up in that particular field.

I'm pretty convinced you gotta be very good if you want to make money with it as you compete internationally as far as I know and there are countries in the world where an hourly rate of $5 is good. Yeah, and these guys are smart and in many cases highly educated. Their local job market is tougher than ours anyway.

I believe an Aussie carpenter for example wouldn't want to work for the money 99.99% of all the programmer in the world in this industry are making....just an opinion.

[BitViper 25]

1.  I'm a software engineer with about 20 years experience.. the "Good with math" chestnut is an old one that just wont go away.. but what you will need is a good logical and flexible mind... A math background wont necessarily help but it wont give you a leg up either.. but having the ability to grasp abstract concepts; like math or logic, will help... I hold degrees in marine zoology and marine technology..and suck at math!

 

2. Working in the gaming field is horrible. Long hours.. small pay its not as glamorous as it looks. Most game developers that I know cant wait to get out.

 

3. If you want to get into game coding learn, live and breath C++. Its not an easy language to master, but it is THE language because its fast.

 

4. If your not deterred yet.. look into game design.. logic flow and continuity are huge. Racing sims w/ AI elements are implementing huge chunks of      code devoted to If this condition then do this.. else do something else...

 

Good luck