The Chicane Podcast

Sim Gaming Expo Deep Dive with its Founder

• Track Ghost Sim Racing • Episode 51

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In this captivating conversation with Jorge Anzaldo, founder of the Sim Gaming Expo and owner of Immersive Entertainment Inc., we dive deep into the creation of North America's first major simulation gaming event coming to Chicago this September.

Jorge shares his remarkable journey from longtime iRacing member and league organizer to visionary event creator, revealing how his passion for simulation gaming fueled his mission to build something unprecedented. What began as a pre-pandemic dream has evolved into a groundbreaking 65,000-square-foot exposition encompassing all simulation genres – from racing and flight to farming and trucking.

The expo promises an extraordinary experience with features including a 15-rig competition area with spectator seating, manufacturer showcases with try-before-you-buy opportunities, dedicated streaming and podcast areas, and keynote presentations from industry leaders. Most compelling is Jorge's emphasis on community building – creating a space where online friendships can transform into real-world connections.

As Jorge candidly discusses the challenges of bringing European manufacturers to American shores and the countless hours spent coordinating this massive undertaking, his authentic passion for the simulation community shines through. His ultimate goal isn't profit, but creating an event where enthusiasts walk in and think, "whoever did this understands me."

Whether you're a hardware enthusiast looking to test high-end equipment, a content creator seeking to connect with brands, or simply a simulation fan wanting to be part of history, this conversation showcases why the Sim Gaming Expo represents a pivotal moment for our community. Use code CHICANE10 for 10% off tickets and join us for what promises to be the simulation event of the year.

Jorge Anzaldo Contact Info
Email: j.anzaldo@simgamingexpo.com
Website: https://www.simgamingexpo.com/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jorge-anzaldo-58778322b/
X: https://x.com/SimGamingExpo
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/simgamingexpo/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SimGamingExpo

Please e-mail the show for any questions, comments or stories/experiences at thechicanepodcast@gmail.com

TGSR/Chicane Podcast Merch Store!: https://trackghost-shop.fourthwall.com

Watch the show in video podcast form on YouTube at: https://www.youtube.com/@TGSsimracing

All my links: https://linktr.ee/tgssimracing

Affiliates and Discount Codes

Sim Gaming Expo I Use promo code CHICANE10 to save 10% on tickets. https://simgamingexpo.com/

Moradness by Daniel Morad I Use promo code CHICANE15 to save 15% off your order. https://moradness.com/

Intro/Outro Rights below:
Song: Low Mileage - Hold You [NCS Release]
Music provided by NoCopyrightSounds
Free Download/Stream: http://ncs.io/holdyou
Watch: http://ncs.lnk.to/holdyouAT/youtube

Jason:

The Hello and welcome to the Chicane Podcast, where we discuss all things in the sim racing world. I'm your host, jason Rivera, and I'm joined here by Mr Eric Kelly, jeff Smart and a very, very, very special guest today Mr Jorge Anzaldo, the founder of the Sim Gaming Expo and also the owner of Immersive Entertainment Incorporated. How's everybody doing today? Awesome, doing great.

Erick:

Doing good. There you go Yo, sir.

Jeff:

These are my favorite show we have guests on. We just get to hear their story in the sim racing world and just life in general, how they got to here. So, dude, I'm ready to get into this one today.

Erick:

Definitely.

Jeff:

Thanks for having me, guys.

Erick:

Thanks for coming.

Jason:

The pleasure is all ours, Jorge. Thank you so much for allowing the time. Of course you're in a different world in different time zones, so I really appreciate it. The honor is all ours and inviting the Chicane Podcast to the first ever Sim Gaming Expo in the United States. Sim Expo period Sim.

Jeff:

Expo period. It's got a nice little jingle to it First in history baby. Sim Gaming Expo.

Jason:

And you see Jorge, he's inside the expo he's got the background there he's got he's living in the expo.

Jorge:

He's waiting I'm waiting for you guys.

Jason:

Let's go man all right so, before we get started, just a few announcements. Uh, well, as you can see. Well, you probably can't see, but you know, know, I'm really tired right now.

Jeff:

Um.

Jason:

I opened up the merch store that everybody's been asking about, so go ahead and check links in the description.

Jeff:

Let's go.

Jason:

If we're going to go to the expo, we're going to go legitimate over there. That's what I said. We can't represent baby.

Erick:

That's it, straighten old chaser Love it. That's what I said. We can't Got to represent baby, that's it. Straight note chaser Love it. Hell yeah, and that's about it. That's about it for me announcing we have a merch store.

Jason:

Come if you want to support the show.

Erick:

Looks dope dude, you put a lot of work into it.

Jeff:

I'm sure it looks really nice.

Erick:

Great work, it looks awesome, man. Thank you. So else, eric, I think you got something for announcements today. Um, for me for announcements, they're pretty light.

Jeff:

um, I mean, I got another win in our racing, which is no big deal.

Erick:

Yeah, you know those just. You know just regular news. Now you know I got the first knock away, uh, so I'm not got more of them but I'll be max for stappen here soon. Hey, I'll take it, man, I've been called worse but uh, but yeah, man, just been been racing um full with the rig, um, enjoying myself and just the more hype that builds. We got, you know, new sim stuff happening. It's just great to be in the sim racing community, man. Right now it's a awesome time agreed what car and track.

Jorge:

What car and track did you?

Erick:

what so? So bmw, yeah, so so bmw m2 awesome yeah, this, uh, yeah, this sounds real familiar, not a question but uh bmw m2 and it was, uh, winston, uh, I think it was the grand prix layout. It's the, the big layout, not the small one. I don't know the. I think it was the grand prix layout. It's the the big layout, not the small one. I don't know the. I can't remember the exact name of it, but it's the one that that track is a pain, winston, oh yeah yeah, that's it. Look, that's.

Erick:

That's the first track I've had to go to youtube and actually like get some some pointers on how to, yeah, get some tips because you know when you're just racing it it's especially in the bmw man, in any little you know wrong turn because there's a lot of tight turns in it and so that bmw it likes to kick out and and slide. But the thing is you you have to slide it some to get around the track. Good, so you don't bog down. It's just a really technical it's a dance, bro remember yeah, yeah, it's a dance with her she, you steer with the rear yeah, I felt that, and there's one turn where you're pretty much like just in a slide just around the turn.

Erick:

Oh I know, stay, yeah, and it turns seven maybe yeah it's a nasty one especially when the tires start to go.

Jason:

But hell yeah, congratulations on the win. That's another win for Mr Kelly yes sir. Pumping him out. What about you, Jeff?

Jeff:

Anything you got for us, man Dude, I can't believe. I feel like yesterday we were just here recording the last episode.

Erick:

That's what it feels like.

Jeff:

You're like where did the week go? It was supposed to be seven days between then, I don't know. It felt like maybe three. I got maybe one or two races in. Like I said, life just crushed me this past week and I'm slowly recovering, so not a lot to talk about.

Jason:

That's okay.

Jeff:

We have those weeks, sometimes man.

Jason:

Sometimes life gets in the way and for our guest, I mean we I guess we can include you on this, man.

Jorge:

how was your week, Jorge. Welcome to the show. Yeah, thanks. Um, just busy guys. You know, unfortunately I've, I've, you know, it just is what it is. I, I'm doing all the work putting this thing together, and so my racing has, you know, taken a little bit of a back seat for the time being, which is no pun intended.

Jorge:

It's tough yeah yeah, but uh, I mean I think you put it best there Life's crushing me a little bit, you know, but uh, it's, it's good work. You know what I mean? And it's we're on a mission and that's right.

Jason:

When you want something, you and you want it. Bad enough, you'll, you'll, you'll find ways to get it.

Jorge:

I'm focused and locked in.

Jorge:

I mean, this is something guys that that has been dreamt up and conjured up way before COVID, like just things just snowballed into eventually what, what it is now and, um, I'm just glad to be in this position, um, yeah, it's just now. What we need is we need the help of the community just to really push this thing over the finish line. And I mean, can you you imagine, like this is the first year, like what we do here, the the, the groundwork, the foundation that we lay now is setting ourselves up here in north america for next 10 years yes, so it's 100.

Jason:

Yeah, I'm, it needs to happen.

Jorge:

Yes, yeah I'm kind of calling it. It sounds a little cheesy, but it's like a pilgrimage for all sim enthusiasts and especially for sim racers, you know.

Jason:

Like you just got to get here.

Jorge:

You got to get here, we got to show these brands that and it is. North American market is huge, but we have to prove it to them by showing our numbers.

Jason:

I'm pretty sure we can prove it to them with the pay statements and the shipping and the shipping from overseas. We can definitely, we can definitely put that through man.

Jorge:

So many great brands though, you know, and we're oh yeah.

Erick:

Yeah, oh, yeah, we're starting to put them on the board and yeah, we're.

Jorge:

We're looking forward to seeing their booths and what they bring to the table. And yeah, we still have four and a half months. So there's been some conversations.

Jason:

That's an eternity. Jorge, excuse me, that's an eternity.

Jorge:

I hope so, man, because it feels like it's flying by every day and I'm like what the heck is going on here.

Jason:

You got a decent amount of um brands coming through already. I'll tell you that.

Erick:

Yeah, we got some big names out there yeah.

Jorge:

Yeah, I think. I think ultimately, like we we have a good enough amount to say like, hey, we can have a a pretty awesome first year show, but that extra time, if we can just keep adding a few more, like I think we can surpass the expectations, and that's that's the one thing that kind of worries me is that I feel that the expect, the bar is set like super high and I just want to be able to give the people what they want.

Erick:

Yes.

Jorge:

That's kind of where I'm like kind of reaching back out to the community. It's like, guys, we can do this, but we need a little bit of help and and that's the thing, like yeah, I've been an iRacing member since 2013 what iRacer.

Jason:

Yeah, we got a real.

Erick:

Oh, yeah I mean long time motorsports fan um, yeah, like I said I mean, I was into gaming, from I mean, I'm dating myself.

Jorge:

I'll what the hell, why not? I'll be turning 50 days before the event. So I mean, from like pong all the way through, you know DOS computers, pc I mean I played the old Sims from papyrus and all the way through, and then, like I said, I found iRacing in 2013. Um, yeah, and just never, never looked back. So this event definitely is the way I fans and and again, like this is this is like us, you know, all of us together, like what we can, what we can accomplish together, as you know, as a group, I think, is amazing, and that's how we're going to get it done.

Jeff:

Um, yeah, yeah so definitely a little bit of passion coming through there just a little bit bit. Yeah, man, I'm telling you, I think you're the right individual for this. Dude, you couldn't have said it better. Jason Couldn't have said it better. Yeah, he's the right.

Jason:

We got, you know, the right person is behind the race.

Jorge:

I caught that bug. I mean, you guys, I'm sure you've been there too when you first get on iRacing and you're just figuring everything out. But you're looking at the clock and you're driving home with the family and you're like, well damn, if I push it, I can get home in 15 minutes. I can jump on the next official race Like, let's go, let's go. We got to go Get in the car. Let's go get the kids.

Jeff:

I got to get back. I'm not saying anything, in case my wife listens to this.

Jorge:

I mean like I that was me for a real long time. And then, um I, I channeled that energy and I started my own league. I ran the uh, the Lionheart racing series for about 10 years and it was really through that experience that I was able to kind of look at the entire landscape.

Jason:

Oh, thank you, man. We talk about leagues on the show all the time. So you're, just you're just legitimizing that again, you know, reinforcing that.

Jorge:

So thank you so much. Yeah, the league format is is amazing um the camaraderie, and just you know what I mean. When you put yourself in that championship format, you start racing with the same people week in, week out. You could learn all their nuances. It's just, it's, it's. It's a beautiful thing and I love, I love a long drawn out fight. You know throughout the whole championship season.

Jason:

I love seeing the track and when you see the cars and they're following where they're supposed to be following. They're not all over the place only maybe, maybe I'm turn one, maybe, you know, maybe if it's like monza or something, then, yeah, there'll be cars all over the place. But then we kind of pack up and we see the replay and we just look at the. The race craft, right oh yeah race craft and door-to-door. It's awesome, it's really awesome no, it's, it's, it's fantastic.

Jorge:

But yeah, that, that experience, really, like I said it, it allowed me to kind of look at the industry under, under a lens. And when I looked I said wait a minute, there's. There's nothing happening here in the States. You know, with regards to sim racing, like that was all taking place in Germany and we do see a little bit of that now because the PRI show, I mean fantastic, they're doing a great thing, they have a section of their show dedicated to sim racing, but that show is closed off to the public and its premise, its main focus, is real world motorsports. So, you know, I of course, like we took a lot of inspiration for what was happening in in europe and I'm like, wow, okay, there's nothing here in the states. How are we going to make this happen? And then I also said, well, I don't want to just carbon copy, because I very easily could have said all right, us sim racing expo, let's follow the format.

Jorge:

You know adac version, yeah so I said no, how can we make it bigger? How can we do things a little bit differently?

Jason:

bigger. Well, I love it. That's the key word right here.

Jorge:

Let's make it bigger, yeah yeah, I'm like we've got flight, we've got trucking we've got, we've got vr, we've got everything.

Jorge:

And um, that's, that's my thing. When, looking at it, I said, said, well, what, what's the one thing that that ties us all together? I said, well, we all love immersion, we all love hardware, we love tech. You know, we, we, we love that feeling of being in the driver's seat or the cockpit. There's nothing like it. And um, yeah, I feel like there's just there's so much crossover. You look at companies uh, turtle beach, uh, thrust master, moza, logitech. They are making products for both flight and racing. You've got corsair and cooler master jumping in and making sim racing cockpits. I'm like, as, as you mentioned, eric, the time is now right.

Jason:

We we're in like the just the most amazing time for simulation and of course, sim racing, because that's been a passion for a long time, because we have the hardware, we have the technology for it and I want you to know this, Jorge, real quick. You mentioned that we're fans of tech. There's a little thing called CES that happens in Vegas, that is the biggest tech show in the world and it's held here in the united states of america. That's right, and if we can pull that off, then we can definitely pull off sim racing a hundred percent. That's. That's for damn sure, I agree and and that's.

Jorge:

That's a very interesting point, because I I visited ces. I mean, guys I've done oh man, I'm jealous, I've been touring.

Jason:

I know, I know tech gent would guys I've done. Oh man, I'm jealous, I've been touring. I know tech gent would kill to go to CES.

Jorge:

Yeah, I've been touring the circuit, man, and I'll tell you there were brands that represent sim, racing and other forms. But it's like I mean, yes, they're getting a lot of exposure, but it is one thing in a whole sea. I mean, the CES is huge, it's big, it's a lot, yeah, so, so. So our show gives an opportunity for those companies to to take center stage and really to be, you know put, have the spotlight put on them, and that's that's our aim, like the whole vision of this show is, is just to prop up and see this entire industry and community grow. That's what we want, man. We want to see people coming out and hanging out and having fun and seeing all the tech and just again celebrating and just seeing this thing continue to grow and blow up. I mean, yeah, obviously, you know I'm psyched, Jorge, I'm telling you we haven't even started the interview we're diving into it.

Jason:

You're locked in, man yeah we're diving in, so let's go ahead and start with the interview. I really appreciate you coming on the show and I can see the drive already.

Jeff:

I think all of us can Dude passion just pouring out here it's contagious though I'm telling you I love it.

Jason:

So, Jorge, for the first question, you're putting on a sim racing expo. I mean, you said that you're Well. The question here said that you must be into sim racing. We already answered that you play iRacing.

Jorge:

Tell us about your.

Jason:

Yeah, og for real, and you don't look a day of 50, man, you're doing good for yourself.

Erick:

That's what I was going to say, man.

Jason:

Appreciate that man.

Jorge:

That threw me off Appreciate that man I told you that threw me off.

Erick:

I was like 50? Okay, bro, not getting pretty soon. Look when you watch it back, look at my face when he says he's 50.

Jorge:

Like the shock on my face.

Erick:

Jorge, I don't know what you're doing, man, but you're not stressed enough, man.

Jorge:

It's the weird lighting. That's what it is. It's hiding all the wrinkles and the gray hairs I can't see any of it, man so good on you.

Jason:

Jorge, Tell us about your background, how you got into sim racing and what's your current. What's your current setup?

Jorge:

Yeah, oh, absolutely. Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah, um, just been a long time gamer, um, from the early days of of of Pong man, you know I I played like through all the consoles and through the DOS era and PCs, and you know I played a lot of the early racing games, just always been a huge motorsports fan and so naturally I gravitated to racing games and then, of course, into the simulation side of things. As I mentioned, joined iRacing in 2013 and really just never looked back. I, I absolutely love what, what it represents, the realism and the fact that, again, like, where else, myself and the rest of us, like, am I ever going to drive 230 miles an hour going down the front stretch at Indianapolis? Probably not, you know, but but this is where we live out our dreams, you know, and and our, maybe, for you know, our fantasies, but it's, it's not just a game.

Erick:

You know, it is so, it's so real to us and we take this stuff so seriously.

Jorge:

Yes, there is. Of course you can do it, you know, as a hobby, but for most of us the majority of us I this is this is truly a passion. Yeah, so, with regards to my setup, I've been running a Sim Experience AccuForce Pro V2 for a long time. I have a custom wheel from Turn Racing. I'm running some Fanatec V3 Inverteds.

Jason:

Okay, old school yeah.

Jorge:

Yeah, and yeah, I'm running a triple monitor setup, trips 27s. There you go, yeah, so it's a modest setup. I, yeah, I'm running a triple monitor setup, trips 27s.

Jason:

There you go.

Jorge:

Yeah, so it's a modest setup. I mean I'm definitely due for an upgrade, admittedly, you know. I mean it is what it is.

Jason:

The simulator works right, yeah, and you're fast on track. Yeah, that's all that matters really.

Jorge:

I mean I'm good average I guess, but I don't know. You know like with my league I had some decent finishes, but we man, those guys are fast Road courses. You know I could get my way around a road course after. You know plenty of practice.

Jason:

I'll tell you what, Jorge. Some people have more time than others. You know what I mean Exactly. You know, Jorge, I will say that.

Erick:

Yeah, there's a lot of people that are faster than me, but nobody has more fun than me.

Jason:

I love that. There you go. Okay, that's a great way to put it, jeff well said straight no chaser on this game podcast.

Jorge:

I love it, just love everything about you know this, this community and what it, what it brings. I know personally for me that was one of the things that was the most rewarding about running my league or just being on. Iracing is just that camaraderie and that shared passion amongst other motorsports fans and racing enthusiasts. There's nothing like it. There's nothing like it.

Jorge:

And that's what we want to capture and what we want to bring to the Sim Gaming Expo in September. We want that just on a bigger scale and think about the relationships that have been formed and created through through just online gaming but of course, you know, through the sim racing community and other sim genre communities. Like there's people and guys I heard it in your last show like you guys have known each other for 13, 14 years and like, yes, that the fact that this show I've never seen, eric this is gonna.

Jason:

I love that man. I was gonna.

Erick:

I was gonna say that man that was yeah man, y'all trying to make me get emotional on the show man.

Jorge:

I'm telling you, and it's real bro this is real that's the thing you know, like, for example, just with with the league format, there were guys that didn't know each other and they lived in the same town and then they joined the league and then they found out wait, what you're from, where, what, oh damn, you know. And then now they're they're lifelong friends. They've been friends ever since and just it's just, that's awesome.

Jason:

There's nothing like it yes, I tell you what. And and you can ask um eric kelly. You know he's a creator and on the tech side, and the difference between our community and that community is 100,000 times. He could tell you Eric please.

Erick:

That is where my deep appreciation for the SimRacing community comes from, so the Facebook group that Mike from the SimRacing Den is a part of Jason's a moderator in.

Jason:

Michael being in that group. Shout out to Michael.

Erick:

Being in that group. When I first joined it, it was at around 80,000 members and it blew up to well over 100,000. And they will not tolerate you talking shit about anybody. Nope, being anybody Toxic In tech. It is so toxic it's impressive sometimes. The things that people manage to be offended about when you mention their device of choice iPhone, samsung, android.

Jason:

Oh, that's me, that's Eric and I in a nutshell, oh, I mean it is it's.

Erick:

It's impressive how, just how normal and commonplace that type of interaction is with people you don't even know, right, just for strangers to just like just shit, talk each other over what device they bought. It was different, or you're not even saying anything negative to them, you just. You just made a choice different than their choice, and they are just yeah, they judged you based upon your purchase okay, that that's the beauty of of our, our sport right, because you can.

Jorge:

You can buy a 350 wheel and pedal set and you can kick the crap out of other people on track.

Jason:

Exactly, exactly, preach it. Preach it.

Jorge:

Yeah.

Jason:

Hear it yeah.

Erick:

But, even, but, even in the community, the, the thing you would think that the fast guys would be, the like, be the loudest ones, or to be the most obnoxious ones, but they're usually the most willing to help. Like, oh, obnoxious ones, but they're usually the most willing to help. Like, oh, like they're the most humble guys. It's, it's really just like a foundation of just enjoying and appreciating.

Erick:

You know what we're doing because at the end of the day well, I can't even say this anymore. It used to be at the end of the day we weren't real race car drivers, but you have real race car drivers. You might be driving next to one on a track now, which is is which is crazy.

Jorge:

But you know, even then, sorry, go ahead.

Erick:

Oh no, I was good. Yeah, I was just going to say things.

Jorge:

Things are changing, though. Look, look what's happening. We're going from from E to real, you know, look at prodigy, there's, there's just so much good stuff happening right now and yeah, but, but no, I think, I think, honestly, our community again like you know, sim racing is is considered niche. You know which, I think term kind of bugs me a little bit, because yeah, ok, fine, call us niche, but we're a big community, you know and we're so many great people.

Jason:

Well, I'll tell you what, Jorge. You know. Jeff sent us a picture. Remember that picture, jeff, about the setups with mercedes.

Jeff:

I think it was that they created a setup oh no, for red bull was red bull red bull took a their their p cup champion, the porsche cup champion, and put him behind a real car and he made it like he was yeah comparable lap times in an older f1 car to the dude that was driving it. Yeah, it's amazing.

Jason:

Yeah, and they based the setup based off of the setup that was being used in this.

Jeff:

Dude and all his coaches that were in the cars as he moved up was coaching him. Dude. Shit on this kid all the time because he didn't put in his time and spend all the money and all that other stuff. Yeah.

Jorge:

It's a testament to how real yeah, spend all the money and all that other stuff and yeah, it's a testament to how real you know.

Jeff:

Yeah, a pointing case, right, right, yeah, man.

Jason:

Right, so that's what's up then.

Erick:

Yeah, but so, Jorge, um, I'm just thinking the CIM Expo is in Chicago. What made you pick Chicago to have it in? I know you mentioned just trying to, you know, establish a foundation for the future for the CIM Expo. Why Chicago?

Jorge:

Yeah, well, probably the biggest reason is because I'm born and raised here.

Erick:

Um yeah, that makes a lot of sense now.

Jorge:

I mean logistically I think it's it's perfect Cause, for example, you know the the convention center is about 45 minutes away. It's it's actually inside a suburb of Chicago. It's Schaumburg Illinois. It's about 20 minutes west of Chicago, O'Hare. But I think again, like we've settled on just telling everyone Chicago, because if I say Schaumburg Illinois, a lot of people might be confused Like wait, what? So you say Chicago? Ok, yeah, I got it Chicago. But also, yeah, I got it chicago. Um, but also I mean again, like its proximity to o'hare international airport is a major shipping hub, so companies who are shipping in their goods and booth materials, things of that nature, it's it's a perfect spot also for international flights.

Jason:

There's yes, one of the biggest airports.

Jorge:

Yes, yes yep, and we know there's a lot of major brands that are from the UK and Europe and yeah, and then also Chicago's centrally located we're in the Midwest, so it's like I think it allows the most amount of people to travel within a particular radius, like we've done. You know, like our research and everything and people said majority of people said somewhere around like a 500 plus mile radius is the max that they would drive.

Jason:

Not for.

Erick:

Hawaii man, no, I know Flying.

Jorge:

Yeah, no flying. They're going to fly from a distance.

Jason:

We're coming from Hawaii. Dude, that's a 12-hour stint for us. No, I'm telling you guys.

Jorge:

You guys are awesome, man, it's just yeah. Like I said, I can't thank you guys enough. You guys support I get there at 5.

Jason:

Am man, I don't know how I'm going to pull through. We'll pull through, yeah.

Erick:

Don't worry. Hey, I have a red bull to name one. There you go, red bull. Yeah, there you go.

Jeff:

Yeah.

Jorge:

No, a pain, but you know what? I think it's going to be worth it. I think it's great.

Jason:

I think O'Hare is a great airport. I've flown through there many times. Like you said, we do have the option, even from Hawaii, to get straight flights into O'Hare, which is crazy.

Erick:

And affordable too.

Jorge:

Our venue also has a hotel attached to it. It's a Marriott International. Oh yeah, you can ask Jeff about that. That helped.

Jason:

Yeah, we are familiar, jeff got that ultra platinum status up in there, okay, yeah.

Jeff:

I'm a Marriott member. I appreciate you picking it over Hilton. Okay.

Jorge:

Yeah, it's great and I think it's again. I've been in the facility many times. It's very modern it looks great.

Jason:

I saw the pictures. I've been urging everybody to go ahead and secure a room now Because yeah, the block is very limited and I'll tell you why, Because this is a first-year event and any rooms that don't get reserved, they come in after me for them.

Jorge:

So yeah, yeah, we uh, yeah. As the promoter. Yeah, I mean when you, when you do a room, block you, you're agreeing that this many rooms.

Jason:

Oh, wow I didn't know.

Jorge:

So we were very conservative with those, with the numbers that we took.

Jason:

So there was like a hundred on your shoulders, a hundred for.

Jorge:

Thursday, a hundred for Friday, a hundred for Saturday, and then the like three days before, three days after, the room rate is still, it applies, but those we didn't add extra rooms to the block, um, and some of those are even actually reserved for sponsorships and things like that. So the rooms will fill up and once they fill up we have the, we have the option of creating another. But, again, like we wanted to get you know, those first 300 nights taken care of and then from there we can reevaluate. But yeah, if you want to stay on site, definitely book early and secure your spot. But I will tell you, the convention center is in the middle of an entertainment district. There's many hotels, restaurants, shopping, nightlife. It's beautiful.

Jason:

I know they got a top golf there. Yes, here's the other thing.

Jorge:

Eyeball.

Erick:

It's a it's.

Jorge:

They're actually working on it right now. I don't don't think it'll be done in time but they are building an Andretti carting and games 90,000 square foot facility.

Jason:

Oh, it's basically in the in the parking lot right next to Jeff right now.

Jorge:

Wow, yeah, so it's so close that I'm told they're building a pedestrian walkway from the parking garage structure to the convention center.

Jason:

That's awesome.

Erick:

Maybe next year we're going to be all over that.

Jason:

If that's open, yeah, so yeah definitely next year.

Jorge:

for sure It'll be there Now.

Jason:

Jorge, you need to tell them September, that's it let's do this.

Jeff:

Yeah, it's going to be huge if you go, you're going to want to stay at the same place that the place is being held. That's where the majority of people stay like. One thing is is the convention and the expo right, but when it shuts down for the night, you still want to be around the people that are passionate about the same thing with you are and go to dinner whatever it is, and just meet up with them and just be able to walk with everybody to the same place and stuff.

Jeff:

If not, be like oh, I got to shoot back to my hotel change shower and then I'll meet you there. What time Text me.

Jorge:

No, you just say I'll meet you in the lobby in 15 minutes and boom, you don't you know, so people just stay there. Yeah, we're trying to put together like an evening social on saturday night. So there you go, we'll see I'm. I'm working with, uh, the, the coordinators there at the venue, and so fingers crossed, guys, but that's kind of what I'm. We're trying to cook up. Here is just just a nice evening social. Everyone can grab a drink enjoy each other's company.

Jason:

They got my man working 24 hours man, I'm telling you, we just.

Erick:

I like it though.

Jason:

That's a lot of moving parts, man. That's what's up, man.

Jorge:

And a small team. We're moving the needle forward every day, and that's the good thing. But, yes, I won't lie to you and say that I haven't sometimes been at my desk for 18 hours, um, where I wake up at?

Jason:

I text you the other day and I said, Jorge, it's late as hell in hawaii. Yeah, why are you green?

Jorge:

yeah you need some rest.

Jason:

Man didn't I not tell you I was like Jorge, get up, get some rest, dude for real, yeah no, absolutely.

Jorge:

And like. Here's the other thing like because there's so many, uh so many companies that are based out of europe, a lot of times, like their morning is oh, that's starting at three and five zones. So it's it's to the. It's to the point now where this I have a new internal clock. I wake up every night around oh, you're a vampire now yeah this is this is a regular time for you.

Jorge:

A day walker I wake up at three in the morning, I'm like oh is there, you know, is there a another email that I have to respond to? Like so?

Jason:

again like there's.

Jorge:

I'm telling you guys, if and again it I I took this on, but I willingly took it on because of how much I love this stuff and this community. But yeah, there's, there's days where you know I'm dying and it's like do I, do I? Do I sit here and relax or do I get my butt up because I got to push out another, another email? Or I'm like let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go.

Jason:

Like yeah, you have to drive thing is over. Yes, yeah.

Jorge:

When you have to drive to do something, you find energy somehow somewhere. We seriously, it's too important, yes, too important. Um, I think again, like the future is in our hands and, um, I don't know, man, I guess at this point, like I feel, like I have, I mean I do, I have a responsibility to, to give this my absolute best. And uh, yeah, guys, I mean I won't say that I don't need help, because I definitely need help, um, but I am, yeah, man, I'm giving it my all.

Jason:

So I'm just we can definitely do. We can definitely.

Erick:

Yeah, we can see it, we can hear it, I could, yeah, yeah, we appreciate it feel that, yeah, it's crazy, it's, it's it's gonna be, it's gonna be fun man, it's gonna it's.

Jason:

Yeah, like I said, we, it's gonna be epic, it's not gonna be fun. It man, it's going to be epic, it's not going to be fun, it's going to be epic, it's going to be amazing.

Jeff:

I hope you get to enjoy it. I'm really nervous that you're going to be stressing the whole time to make sure. Last second things and if there's anybody at this thing that deserves to have a good time and soak it in and enjoy it, dude it's definitely you.

Jorge:

I hope so, and I do feel that there will be some moments where you know I can just be me and be the fan for a little bit, but I'll be running around with a clipboard, Jorge.

Jorge:

No, I mean, yeah, I'll definitely, I'll find some moments to enjoy it and I mean it's it's kind of like my, my thing, where it's like you know, I'm ultimately um, I'm doing this for me, you know, like what would I want to see? Like what are the cool things that I want, you know? But that's the other part to it.

Jorge:

It's like it's not just my vision and that's why, like connecting with you guys and so many other content creators who you know what I mean. Like you guys also, you have your finger on the pulse of this community and that's what we want. We want that feedback, we want to know what do the people want and again, when? When I have that knowledge, then now I have, I have the, the ammo to to, like, try to give the people what they want. Yeah, deliver, you want to?

Jason:

deliver. That's what you want to do.

Jorge:

Yeah, what they want, yeah, deliver, you want to deliver. That's what you want to do. Yeah, yeah and um, yeah, it's, it's, it's gonna be cool. Man, I just like I said I I want it to go by slowly. I know everyone's like super pumped because I want, I want to use like every last minute that I can to just, oh, we want it to be september already we were just talking about that.

Jason:

we were like why is it in september? We don't want to throw away the summer, Well, but here's the yeah, here's the thing.

Jorge:

Like I originally I was trying to do it earlier. It wound up being a blessing in disguise. Like I originally. I'm like I went to the venue. I'm like, how about April? And they're like we're all booked. And then I'm like, give me may. Just kept going month after month after. I'm like what do you guys have available? They're like we have september. I'm like, mark it down, because I'm not going all the way to 2026 like this thing you know was already we've been conjuring this stuff up for years now.

Jorge:

I'm like, and then, of course, like, when covid hit um, things got put on the back burner. If again, if there was any mistake on my part, it was not keeping my foot on the pedal during COVID, but again, at that time, I mean, we didn't know what the world was going to be.

Jason:

I don't think so, Jorge. I think it was good that you waited, because COVID boosted sim racing yeah, you know what I mean. If you would have had an expo before COVID or during or not during, but like just before it. Yeah, we had sim racers out there. It's always been here, but it's never the level of what it is now.

Jorge:

You know what I mean.

Jason:

Well said. And the many different companies back then. You didn't have that. You had what Fanatec, maybe you had Logitech. You didn't have all these companies that just came out of nowhere, like SimMagic and Moza is a new company. They didn't exist. They weren't making hardware like that during COVID. You know what I mean.

Erick:

Especially at those prices, you got a lot of people that have some nice hardware now that didn't exist back then. I think, yeah, timing is everything.

Jason:

There's a time and place for everything. Jorge, I think don't kick yourself too much for that one, but but, jeff, I think you got the next question, brother, so yeah.

Jeff:

Jorge, you kind of alluded to it quickly about some of the other expos that have been out there. Have you been to any of them and you know, if you care to share what you've learned, what you're trying to prove upon of those, if you could talk to us about you know?

Jorge:

how those have influenced what you would like to do. Yeah, absolutely so. One of the first events that I did travel to was the Flight Sim Expo, which does take place here in the States. Oh yeah, yeah, so yeah, great, great show.

Jorge:

Oh I bet I would love to go to that one, yeah it's a lot of fun, um, and they, they're, they're doing, you know, they're doing a great job, and so we, we definitely took a little bit of inspiration from there. I think, um, my takeaway from there is is that a lot of it was focused on commercial flight, and so then I said, well, you know, let's, let's try to focus on the combat aviation and and see if we can, you know, again, like, just mix it up and try to separate ourselves a little bit and do something different. Also traveled to Germany and attended the Sim Racing Expo, and that was an event that I hadn't wanted to go to for a while.

Jason:

Oh, that's awesome.

Jorge:

The ADA, yeah, exactly yeah absolutely Met with a lot of companies, did some networking there and learned, learned what the brands, what they want, and they did. That was one of the big takeaways. They said that the North American market was a very important revenue stream for them. And, uh, and again, that just solidified the idea that, yes, you know this, this needs to happen here. Um, and then I also traveled to Simformula Europe in the Netherlands uh, last year and again, another great show um put together by. Uh last year, and again another great show um put together by a. Just just a great team. Um got to meet with them in person. Um, yeah and again, just that was the other thing. I think just my being out there, that's what turned the tide in our favor with bringing a lot of the companies.

Jason:

Oh, yeah, come over some so far put a voice. You put the face to the yeah definitely.

Erick:

Yeah, yeah, and they saw you were serious about it.

Jason:

Yeah absolutely.

Erick:

Yeah.

Jorge:

Yeah, and then we, we did, we did CES and also PRI show. So, yeah, a lot, of, a lot of great things. You know, each show has their own unique qualities and I think, yeah, I mean, of course, I mean I won't deny and say that we didn't take a little bit of, you know, a little sprinkle, a little pinch from each one and just try to, like I said, at the end, we, you know, we put our own creativity on it and and again, did, did what, what we could to make it different. And I think we did, because this is the first time where all genres of simulation are being celebrated together under one roof. Admittedly, you know, sim race we're a little heavy on the sim racing side, which you know. It's not a bad thing.

Erick:

No complaints, no, no, I mean you're on a sim racing podcast.

Jorge:

And again, like naturally so, because I think that's where I built up the most level of trust and when I'm talking to these companies, it's kind of like we're speaking the same language. But you know, for those people who have said, oh well, you know it's got so much, but it's like wait a minute. No, sim racing is a major and a huge community and, yes, we're so passionate about sim racing but we're also into other forms of sim. So you bring that 100. Yeah, you will get the reach um for those other genres. For example, like we are in talks with giant software and hoping that they will sign but farming simulator and we've talked with the guys from I love farm.

Jason:

Sim, if you got a rig, listen to me carefully, everybody. If you have a rig and it's an 80-20 rig, it can be whatever you want it to be. Yes, it doesn't have to be a racing machine. You know, what I mean. I'm pumped. I drive trucks on this thing, I fly on it. Just the other day I did an 80s stream. I didn't tell many people, but it was kind of prompt too.

Erick:

whatever, Truck stream.

Jason:

You know this is a predominantly racing machine. But then I'm driving a truck with some crazy expensive pedals on it. You know so it and a crazy wheel and a crazy wheel, and you can use those same pedals as rudders. I know some people frown upon it, but you can do it. You know what I mean. It's it's the. The options are limitless. I just wanted to say that.

Jeff:

I'm excited to test out some of the flight sim stuff. That's something I've always wanted to. Just check it out.

Jason:

Jorge, you better make sure that we got motion.

Jorge:

Did you guys see sim craft? Sim craft is going to be there in there.

Jason:

Sim craft.

Jorge:

Woo.

Erick:

Let's go.

Jason:

Let's do it and you might need to talk to the guy and turn it up, you know, for the adults that are coming. Oh yeah, oh yeah.

Jorge:

But with regards to flight through our partners at Alexander PCs, who is they're providing us with like 38 gaming PCs for our competition?

Erick:

area for our land gaming area. So anyway, they're bringing a company called uh invictus and uh alert 5 design.

Jorge:

So they're gonna have like a full f16 like replica cockpit with all that jeff, all the gear. So are you bro, yeah, yeah, yeah so that's sick there'll be some. There'll be some flight and um yeah, that's probably.

Jason:

That's probably why you named it sim gaming yes, because yes I. I had a feeling I was like sim gaming. Huh yeah, sim gaming is uh, all of them. You know what I mean.

Jorge:

Yeah it was. I'm telling you it was the hardest thing because I I'm of the camp. Trust me, I'm of the camp. When, like I'm on, you know I racing or whatever, and they're like, oh, the game, I'm like it's a sim. You know, like I I'm of that camp, that like no, and they're like, oh, the game, I'm like it's a sim. You know, like I I'm of that camp that like no man, it's a sim.

Jason:

Like, yeah, I get it oh, those are fighting words, it's a game.

Jorge:

No, I know like it's it's a game, but in my heart I'm like I I view it as as a sim. So, like, it was difficult. I'm like, how in the heck do I try to bundle all this stuff together? You know, and I and I'm like well, there's games for VR, but you know, we're on the sim, I'm like. But there also is that argument that like, even like, for example, like iRacing, it is a game. You know at its core because you're playing it.

Jason:

I'm like it is a video game. Yeah, I'm like we don't like gaming.

Jeff:

I am simulating driving a car using that program. Right yeah.

Jorge:

So I just I'm like you know what, let's go sim gaming expo.

Jason:

Um, we, you already gained some points on the chicane podcast, just for being an iRacing, that's it Exactly.

Jorge:

Awesome.

Jason:

Mad respect. We just went over to iRacing guy just last episode, which is kind of crazy.

Jorge:

Love the IndyCar. I mean I, oh Indy, Look at that. Oh yeah, yeah, wheeled the Lotus 79 in our retro series and, yeah, also did quite a bit of oval racing in the DW12.

Jason:

So those were kind of. I'm a GT guy man.

Jorge:

Yeah, oh, no, yeah, our last year. So you guys know the whole situation with motorsport games and iRacing losing the IndyCar license for about a year. Yeah, think about what it did to my league Couldn't broadcast the IndyCar man, so we, actually we went sports car racing. We did the BMW, the hybrid and also the GT3.

Jason:

And so we had our own sports car series. So you had a multi-class, or you had like a multi-class, yeah, multi-class.

Jorge:

And it was pretty sweet, man. We actually got hooked up with the BMW Performance Center. They provided like driving experiences for both of the championships.

Jason:

Hey, listen, we're going to need links to this leak down below. I know we're in the GRL but there's options out there.

Jorge:

Yeah, it's currently on hiatus. Um, you know what I think, if that says anything a little bit more about me. Um, you know, I, I just I tried to run it at as high, of high, as high of a level as I possibly could, and it was something that you know. I did have a team of admins, but I just and it was something that you know I did have a team of admins but I just I had to be at the helm. I couldn't just like let someone else take over, which I could have, but you know what I mean. Like just that, I just had to be there and so, like that like kind of attention to detail and I don't know if you want to call it like being nitpicky and just kind of holding like the league myself, everyone that driving in it, everything to like a higher standard. I think pride in ownership.

Jorge:

Yeah, man, that's what I'm trying to bring to the table with this thing, and so I've I've put that pressure on myself to you know, like we talked about before, to delivering, and I just hope that, uh, I hope that I can come.

Jason:

Jorge, you will, Jorge, you will buy it by. By what we're hearing here, this event is packed. You know what I mean. It's already packed.

Jeff:

Yeah, dude, I thought it was here.

Erick:

No.

Jeff:

It's going. I mean yeah, it's rising yeah.

Erick:

I'm telling you.

Jason:

I'm telling you when people listen to this. Oh man, I can't wait I.

Jason:

I can't wait. I can't wait. So that brings me to the next question, which is kind of related, right, Jorge. So I, you know we went over the expo from a gamer side or from a, you know, from a, I guess, a civilian side. Right, we're just looking at the website and then you let us know who's coming. But has there any been, has there been any updates since? Or is there any like how many people are attending, how many who's coming? Do you have an updated list that we can talk to about? You know, in April I know June could be different, I know July can be massive. You know things can change here and there.

Jorge:

But you know, as of right now, um, what are we looking at? Uh, Jorge, yeah, well, our, our hope, you know, our, our goal, our projections, is that we would have somewhere, you know, at minimum around 2,500 attendees, and we, we, feel 2,500, we're hoping for at least 5,000, you know, over the course of wait a minute.

Jason:

are you gonna sell um? What do you call those? The fast passes? You know the studios, so we can skip the lines.

Jeff:

Yeah, I ain't got time to wait in line for the motion.

Jorge:

The numbers are very humble right now. Jorge, you need to talk to him.

Jason:

You're like hey man, when you see these three, I'm just kidding, oh for sure, Like hey, these guys right here is what I'm in for. I'm kidding. I'm kidding.

Jorge:

You know. But yeah, I mean the goal is we want to continue to round out the exhibitor list and I think when we're somewhere around maybe 25, 30, that's when we're really going to start to kick up all of the advertising. We've started to do a little bit of paid advertising. The tickets everything is up and active and live on the website. Now you can purchase your tickets, you can book your rooms.

Jason:

Yes, you know, everything is in guys, please use code chicane 10 in all caps. Thanks to yours truly, mr Jorge. Thank you so much you're welcome if you want those tickets and, like we said before we've mentioned it many times it's the cost of a video game for three days of action packed. We just heard more stuff that we didn't know exactly so let me let, let me let Jorge finish here, yeah I mean, she came in there, you go there, you go use it use it often.

Jorge:

Um, yeah, no, I mean, we we are going to really ramp up the advertising, probably within the next couple months, and we know that people traditionally they kind of wait, they wait a little bit to the last minute, of course they do yeah, we're going to see those numbers increase as we get closer. But with regards to exhibitors, yeah, I mean we've got conversations ongoing. Yeah, I mean we've got conversations ongoing. We actually looks like we're close to finishing a deal up with Sim Lab. Who would be providing the cockpit?

Jason:

Sim Lab Nice. What do you think is back here? This is a Sim Lab rig, right?

Jeff:

here yeah.

Jason:

Look, we got two of them. Sim Lab can you hear us?

Jorge:

So yeah, fantastic company, Huge fan. Obviously super happy to get their support. Yeah, just it's tough because I don't want to say, and then like, if that company doesn't follow through, but we've got some things cooking up for you and there'll definitely be some more exhibitors before this is done.

Erick:

Awesome.

Jeff:

That's dope man Awesome.

Jason:

Yeah, my heart is pumping pumping dude.

Erick:

I'm telling you, the more we talk, the more I'm like man. I'm trying to get together on camera, man. Yeah, it's like man. It's still still just April.

Jason:

It's only April it's mid April, we're two seasons away from this man, I think almost.

Jorge:

I feel like it's the 11th hour, you know, and like it's happening tomorrow, but you know I know Jorge you have a lot to do, don't be afraid to take a good night's sleep here or there. Yeah, yeah, eventually things catch up.

Jason:

To me, it's like this pizza, man. That's what we're going to be eating, oh yeah.

Jorge:

That's the other thing, man. No-transcript for 49 years and, um, you know, I don't. I don't walk out the door like looking behind my shoulder and I'm not in fear for my life. Like Chicago is a, it's a great city. Like any big city, yes, there, every city has certain problems Of.

Jason:

Yeah, this is this is a fantastic place to come and visit. It's it's, it's a different area.

Erick:

This is yeah, and chicago you're talking about is a way different chicago way like if you're talking south side, you know it's a very small you might not want to go down there.

Jorge:

But you know, but down in schaumburg like it's yeah and exactly that's something, you don't even have to step If that's your thing, where you're like oh, if there's something you don't have to go there. Right, exactly. So I definitely want to address that, because I don't want people.

Jason:

And I'll follow it up too. Jorge, you know O'Hare is home of the United States Navy. All US Navy sailors come through those gates If you think that that airport or that area is dangerous. I mean they wouldn't risk their military force coming through there. I mean that's just a fact and it's an international airport. There's a ton of security. You get in your Uber, you go down to Schaumburg and you meet up with the chicane podcast and, Jorge, there you come hang out.

Jorge:

That's it, that's right, uber and you just throw your luggage in the back, or you you make the guy do it whatever, and come on over and the last thing you know that I thought I would mention too, is that, like from from the fan, from the actual, like the sim racers perspective I mean you, I know we love to upgrade our equipment. One this is definitely an opportunity where you can try before you buy, and then the other yes, like try before you, oh my god, yes that we've used yeah

Jorge:

yeah, and and for those, for those people who you know they're thinking well, man, if I don't go there, well, you know, I can buy, I can save up more for the next set of pedals, or whatever it's like. I completely, I respect that position, but also, where are you going to go and see all this stuff and meet up with your? This is an experience. This is what it's about. It's about the experience, and it is priceless.

Jason:

So, um, this is what it's about. It's about the experience.

Jorge:

It's unique man and it is priceless.

Jason:

And it's the cost of F125. That's right.

Erick:

Which is what we have preached here many times.

Jason:

Forget about it, just come over, meet us, hang out with everybody, meet your favorite creators. It's not just the Chicane podcast. We got Mike from the Sim Racing Den that's going down there, he's flying from Canada.

Jeff:

Yeah, the pedals, the new wheel can wait another couple months.

Jason:

First of all, $75 is not going to get you anywhere near any set of pedals.

Erick:

Yeah, it's done.

Jason:

you know, right now that's like the tax.

Jorge:

Yeah, might be able to win some, because Hussinkveld's going to provide us with a few prizes GSI, a couple wheels.

Jason:

It looks like there might be a set of active pedals from Simucube.

Jorge:

All this will be officially announced, but there's some prizes in the works.

Jason:

We got some behind the scenes now on the show.

Jeff:

Exclusive.

Jason:

This is a worldwide this right here.

Erick:

This is the hook. You had me at a, had me as I have so many to choose from.

Jason:

Jorge, I don't know You're making this really hard for me right now.

Jorge:

We haven't even talked about the competition area yet.

Jeff:

I know, I know, I didn't know there was a competition.

Jorge:

Yes indeed.

Jason:

That's our biggest biggest activation.

Jorge:

Oh yeah, you have a big map that says esport area. Is that what you're talking about? Yeah, yeah, so that that's where we plan to have a total of 15 sim racing cockpits set up and we'll have bleacher seating from anywhere between 250 up to 500 people.

Erick:

Um, we'll have announcers, bro. That's why you're not getting no sleep, okay.

Jorge:

We'll see if we put 500 people in the seats, but I think we could, you know why not? Yes, we can, and the goal is we want to showcase sim racing. Yeah, we're going to have competitions and things of that nature. But we want to show how awesome virtual motorsport is, and so we want to do MX-5s. We want to do some IndyCar Let awesome virtual motorsport is, and so we want to do mx5s. We want to do some indycar, let's do some nascar, let's, let's mix it up.

Jason:

Nascar, there you go everything. Let's throw a truck training, whatever it is man like we want?

Jorge:

we want to showcase it like, yeah, we'll, we'll likely have like, um, you know, like a time attack thing where, yeah, everyone, like even people who aren't into sim racing, that'll work too.

Jason:

The time attack you know that way that you post your time and then you can kind of look at it later, and then you can walk around and then you look up on the screen or something See Jeff and P1. Like, ah, I can't have that.

Erick:

The bragging rights man.

Jason:

Come on, I can't let them do that to us. Yeah, all right.

Erick:

Oh.

Jorge:

Then we'll have competitions throughout the weekend. We've got big plans.

Erick:

Those are the brands GSI wheels on those rigs.

Jorge:

Husink Veldt pedals.

Jason:

The Sim Lab.

Jorge:

Corsair peripherals Keyboard, mice and headsets.

Jason:

Stream deck.

Jorge:

Wow.

Jeff:

There's a goal. This ain't no rinky-dink rig that they're just setting up for everybody to use.

Jason:

Yeah, yeah, this, this is exactly what we needed is to have you come on here and explain the where your head is at is in a thousand places, oh brother yeah, it's enough your head is in a thousand, but that's thing. There's not many people that can handle that. You know what I mean. That can put it all together and push it out. You know what I mean. So you can't put this on a flyer. You're writing a book to list out all the stuff that this thing is all about. It feels like it.

Jorge:

I've got two binders just of notes and everything that I've been writing down.

Jorge:

Yeah, no, it's been a wild journey. But I'll tell you just kind of like the micromanaging aspect, I got a lot of that from running my league and it really put me in a position to learn networking and kind of start to get that little bit of business savvy again. I mean, it was a grind just seeking out sponsorships, trying to grow the league every year, every year, and you know we'd send out hundreds of emails and maybe get responses from like 10, and then you know it narrows down to five and then maybe you get like two sponsors for that season and so we're basically applying like a lot that we learned there into this. Just on a bigger scale, I could tell you, instead of like 300 emails, we've sent out about 3,000.

Jorge:

And again you see we've got like 20. So it is a numbers game.

Jason:

You better put those on the books. Man, Keep track of all of these fingers man, they're like iron.

Jorge:

They're strong now from all the calluses on your finger yeah, that's right um, but you know what I mean. This is, uh, it's, it's, it's just, it's important and um, you know, again, like I, I just, I don't know man, like again, like, if I didn't mention before, you know I'm a paramedic, I work for the Chicago Fire Department. I have that kind of oh, thank you.

Jeff:

Helper. Thanks for what you do. I appreciate it.

Jorge:

I mean it's been a great career, but I think it just it tells a little bit more about me that I have, that I'm a people person, you know, and I like to help you know, and this is this is my way also of like giving back.

Jason:

So in a lot of ways, like I feel, like I'm trying, just by running a league too. I mean paramedics, a great thing. Don't, don't get me wrong.

Jeff:

It's a hard. Yeah, if there's anybody I want driving that ambulance, it's somebody that's a sim racer.

Jorge:

You want to hear it.

Jason:

You want to hear the best about it, absolutely.

Jorge:

You're going to love it. So, like you know, we have certain routes.

Jason:

He's trail breaking out of the door that we take to the hospital.

Jorge:

Down down, down, down. There are certain routes that you know we'll take to get to the hospital or whatever, and it's like you know, yeah, I'm hitting that apex, you know, I'm just like when. I look at the road, like I'm seeing the track, I mean it's, it's so bad, Like you say, for example, like I'm I'm walking the ABS, yeah, the freaking the balance on the car on the ambulance.

Jason:

So, we need to shift the weight.

Erick:

So the funniest thing we talked.

Jason:

Well, jason talks a mess about gt7, but that's literally something you can do in gt7 drive an ambulance down the tokyo expressway see drive an ambulance on the tokyo expressway yes, I mean it's, it's, it's ingrained in my soul.

Jorge:

You know, I'm walking down like a flight of stairs and the stairs like wines or whatever. Like I'm, I'm like walking it, like, oh, I'm like, oh yeah, I'm taking the turn at, you know, the hairpin at long beach and like just, you know what I mean, just in my every day like it just it's, it's, it's, it's in my heart yeah there you go definitely it's in his blood yeah, man, I found myself trying to do that, you know occasionally okay people probably look at me what is this guy doing?

Jason:

you look at the lines and you're like, nah, I'm trying to take care of the wear on the car.

Jeff:

I shaved a tenth off that corner. I'm telling you alright, alright alright, this is way too.

Jason:

We're having way too much. Alright, eric, you got the next one up. Man, what's up?

Erick:

so, like Jason said, you got your head in 10,000 places. You're trying to tackle pretty much every.

Jason:

Like Jason said, you got your head in 10,000 places, you're trying to tackle pretty much every I said a thousand, bro, now you went up.

Erick:

Like Jason said, you got your head in a million places, right?

Jeff:

It's going up.

Erick:

So, but and trying to tackle like just the monumental task of trying to represent pretty much every form of immersive gaming, right, yeah, not just sim racing, because like, like you said, like we're sim racers for the first couple times on the flyer, like my brain just said, oh, sim racing expo. Not even like I had to catch myself and say sim gaming and then the more I learned about I'm like this really is just everything. But are there any things that you're planning afterwards, right, any after shows or meetups or things like that?

Jorge:

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So we're right now. We're currently working through trying to get something for Saturday night. Um cause, again, like our show hours, friday is is 12 to eight.

Jason:

So that's I mean thank God man. Yeah, I get in at five in the morning, and when I saw 12 o'clock.

Erick:

I was like.

Jason:

bless you, Jorge, God bless you. Get a few hours in.

Jorge:

Saturday uh, saturday will be 10 to six and Sunday 10 to five. So we we felt Saturday would be the best day, um day, for a meetup. But again, there's so much space on the exhibit hall we actually have 65,000 square feet of space. So also our main event, our media area, the stage, that actually will also be another gathering place for people, so there's definitely inside the floor will be tons of space for people to meet. We actually have a number of what we're calling like breakout rooms or separate, like convention halls, which we could also use for specific groups to have their meetups. So that's something that they would have to, of course, like coordinate with us and then we can provide them with access to that space so that they can, you know, get their groups together. But, um, officially, yeah, saturday, we're trying to do that because we also we're we're looking to provide some business to business opportunities for the companies, because, again, I mean, adding more value.

Jorge:

the more value we can add for exhibitors, the more likely that they will come. So that is something that we're trying to do. We're trying to bring in distributors. That was something that I learned from my trips out to Europe at the other sim racing events is that the companies they want to get connected to the distributors, but also to the content creators. So that is also why we've really made a strong effort to connect with as many of creators as we possibly could, because we know that this is this is what the exhibitors want. But there's definitely going to be a lot of time for meetup, but officially we're trying to do something for Saturday night, yeah.

Jason:

I'll be, excited. I'll be looking out for this I mean, I hope it comes in a form, in an announcement, maybe on a loud speaker, don't nobody go nowhere.

Erick:

We got some barbecue and I'm just kidding, I don't know Some deep dish.

Jason:

We got some wings. I'm not leaving, that's right. All right, jeff, what you got.

Jeff:

What you got next for Jorge. You told us that you're going to have the eSports little section where people can kind of get after it. Is there anything else that you have planned besides just the walk around? You have speakers, et cetera, people coming as a keynote speaker. Yeah, tell us more.

Jorge:

Yeah, absolutely so. We will have our main event stage, which will be a 40 by 80 foot area, so we plan to have, basically, chairs set up for approximately about 200.

Jason:

We'll have a main stage. Yeah, yeah.

Jorge:

We're hoping to have like a nice main screen. If not, we'll have a bunch of monitors, but also, you know, av equipment. We'd like to have that area live stream. But yes, we do have a schedule of events which we will publish as we get a little bit closer. We're filling up those time slots now understand, we have yeah, we have some 60 minute time slots.

Jorge:

So, for example, I can tell you that um simucube will have a keynote address, simcraft will have a keynote address. The sim pit is going to do like a four-part series the Sim Pit yeah on the history of sim racing. So going from like early arcades to you know the modern day consoles, you gotta be here.

Jason:

If you're a sim racer, you gotta be here. Look at this.

Jeff:

How are you going to be like I want to go here, I want to go do this, I want to do this.

Jorge:

I'm telling you it's going to be wild, but yeah, we'll have stuff going on for the three days, so it's going to be Friday through Sunday.

Erick:

Yeah.

Jorge:

Yeah, we, yeah, we're we're getting it done, but, yeah, it's going to be awesome and as more companies come on, like we, we are providing that space for them to talk, Even again, like Daniel, Daniel DNR. Like I said, hey, come. And talk about it Daniel Newman Racing. Yeah he won't have a booth this year, but I said you know what, Come and talk about your stuff. Get up on that stage brother, and yeah, get your word out there.

Jason:

So again like going back to what we were talking about. I know you listen to the show, daniel.

Jeff:

Yeah, dnr Dude, he's another guy like you, Jorge, where the passion just oozes out of him.

Jason:

Yeah, you're laying it on real thick now.

Jorge:

That's another saying that's another.

Jason:

Chicane podcast thing.

Jorge:

We want to give these brands whether they're exhibiting or not, a place to expand their reach Of, of course. So this is the place to do it?

Jason:

yeah, definitely, we'll be running around with you.

Jorge:

Yeah, definitely love it so yeah, you know what you asked about activations. Those are a couple other things. We will have a LAN area for gaming with 15 stations which is being supported through our partners at alexander pcs. They, they basically build custom pcs. Their partners are corsair, uh, and corsair is going to provide us with the peripherals, um, for that space. So that's that's where you know, for example, you might see some farming sim, maybe some trucking sim, where you know, it's rumored we might get our hands on some moza equipment so we can set up the wheels in that area.

Jason:

What about 3D printing man?

Jorge:

Yes, and you know what? Again, the Sawyer Guys episode on 3D printing.

Jason:

Thank you, Jorge. Thank you yes, yes, yes.

Jorge:

Absolutely, and it's such a huge component, you know, and yeah, we've been in talks with Creality and fingers crossed.

Erick:

We are hopeful. It's a good brand.

Jorge:

Yeah, that that follows through. I've met with them in person several times and it looks very positive at this point.

Jason:

Oh, that's what's up, man.

Jorge:

Yeah, looking to be maybe about a 20 by 20 foot, so about 400 square foot. That's fine as long as you're there. Yeah exactly, exactly. So, yeah, yeah, we'll see what's in store. We've been talking with them about all kinds of really cool ideas and activations. But, yeah, 3d printing again. As you guys know, there's such a huge component of diy yeah, look these lights above my rig.

Jason:

I just printed those. Those are custom made lights.

Erick:

You know amazing look, look at look at jeff's equipment.

Jason:

You can service your rig.

Jeff:

That's what you got to understand don't tell your wife about it, because yeah, they gave it to me yeah yeah, that's right.

Jorge:

Occasionally I gave it to me I love that skit man.

Erick:

Yeah, I have a roll of pink filament for a reason. Yeah, it's not for my stuff, it's a backup man and tell and it's, it's.

Jason:

You know, 3d printing is is great for sim racing. It's, it's, it's great for sim racers. But then it becomes like an appliance like you can apply many things to that. It's just when you get your hands on it is when all the ideas start to come.

Jorge:

Yeah, you know so this is this is one of the big hang-ups in getting them involved is they want to. They want to know what do the people want. So if you, you know the listeners out there, give us your ideas like what, what do you want to see printed? What projects are out there like, let us know, because creality wants to if you look at my rig back custom dash yo yes

Jeff:

I have cup holders.

Jason:

I have have a mouse thing that connects to my 8020. That's all 3D printed.

Erick:

All of it Nice. I found this dude Button box held on Look, this is the button box.

Jason:

Yeah, go ahead.

Jeff:

Yeah, I found this dude on YouTube this past week about he printed a Porsche cup in pieces over the course of like three weeks, like the whole dash yeah, okay, yeah, we might exactly how it is.

Jeff:

We'll send it to you, Jorge, so you can hit them with out there that people are out there that want to do that stuff um, but maybe we'll talk about that as a topic next week in detail yeah, that's not, yeah, we could put that out and and that way you have something to show and and it'll be great for the show as well to showcase. But the community. I mean, it's only getting more of a thing now. Well, look at.

Jason:

Picorni, right, picorni. Their whole website is straight up 3D printing and it's all sim racing gear, wheels, 3d rep.

Jeff:

Yeah, I'm going to do that eventually.

Jason:

Yeah, I'm thinking about it too. You can print out actuators. You can print out belt tensioners. You can print out a shifter, which I'm working on. One of our guests, Vlad from GRL, shout out to Vlad. He showed off a fully 3D printed shifter that has a clutch lockout and everything it's amazing.

Jeff:

I mean it's only becoming more of a thing, at least in sim racing, you know, in life in general.

Jason:

I was going to say in life, like the, Jetsons who was saying that?

Erick:

Exactly that was me. Yeah, yeah, like you wake up and it's just there, but then I found other things you know in the house.

Jason:

Like I wanted to mount my my uh quest vr. That's a 3d printed mount back here by my wheels. I don't know if you can see, I don't know, I don't know where it is.

Erick:

It's back there. Yeah, even these are floating shelves that are 3d printed, those shelves.

Jason:

This is 3d printed, so I mean, if you want to give them a reason, right. If you want to give them to see the value in it, it's yeah, it's not. Sim racing is a great way to sell it to them yeah, but once. Once the person figures out that he can do way more stuff he or she can print out way more stuff they're gonna start buying filament you look at it, you look at the world differently.

Jeff:

Like we built custom-made speakers and mounted them on the wall in our in our living room, because I was like, oh my god, I don't have to shop at amazon anymore. Like I can make these things yeah, it's literally a different view of the world as a consumer, it's literally a tool like I.

Erick:

So I changed my streaming setup and my mic used to be on a big long boom arm that was in the shot and I'm like I really just need like a small short something to put my mic on and I literally printed a thread adapter to go from a quarter inch to a five eighths so that my mic would sit on there and it printed in like 16 minutes. I'm like, oh, I need that, wow, for like two cents probably worth the filament. It's just like your world opens up.

Jason:

Yeah, your mind changes when you have these machines, because the possibilities are limitless. And when you tie that with the software and the fact that you can take something and make it yours, you know, I know, we're going down a rabbit hole.

Erick:

We're headed down the 3d printing slope.

Jason:

But I want, I want your, your friends at creality to see this. Yeah, I want them to know that there's a market for them absolutely, and and there's a market for them, ready for the taken? Because no, no other. I don't think any other 3d printer company is like advertising sim racing with it or building things you know like that's related to our hobby. And if they would like to sponsor the Chicane podcast, you can let them know. To email thechicanepodcast at gmailcom with any questions, comments or concerns.

Jeff:

Anyway, Jorge, they might as well put a sponsor for the expo if they're going to come too, there you go.

Jason:

That too, there you go Exactly there you go, yeah, some filming here, some filming there.

Jorge:

That's it so some of the other activations that we'll have is we'll actually, well, we'll have a podcast booth, which, through Elgato, will be. You know we'll have some equipment in there. You know, we'll have some equipment in there. And so, again, like, the idea with that is basically the the booth will be on the show floor and it'll have walls, but the walls will will have clear panels. So we're kind of going to try to dress it up and make it, you know, look like a have a studio.

Jorge:

Look to it yeah, so different podcasts.

Jason:

I'll bring some stickers and slap them on the wall.

Erick:

So Cain's podcast was here, he's a free t-shirt man.

Jorge:

And then, finally, we'll actually have a streaming room for sim racing. So same thing, basically, like a 20 by 20. We'll have the identical equipment that you'll see on the competition stage. We'll have that in its own separate room, and so content creators will be able to come in test out gear. You know, just stream if they want to live from the show floor. I think, yeah, I think it'll be, you know, something different, something you know maybe they haven't seen in other shows, but All right, Jorge.

Jason:

So for the next question here, and this is this is you know, you went over so many things that my head is literally spinning on. Now I'm going to go to sleep thinking about all right, so, all right. So we got to make a schedule uh, 15 minutes here and we got to go over there. You know what? I mean Like we're going to have to have a whole itinerary planned out.

Jason:

And um, but other than that, I know you have your goals and you're very passionate about, uh, this, this event, and, and it's been in the works for a long time. Um, but what are you looking forward most about this particular about in the three days? Like, what do you what is the most important thing? Like what do you, you know, what is the, what is the most important thing? Like what do you, you know, what is the? What is the one thing that you look forward to most out of this expo?

Jorge:

I want people to come and be happy and see stuff that they're passionate about. I want them to walk in the door and when they see everything the lights, the sounds, the wow, yeah, that- they said that, they say to themselves man, whoever did this, they did this for me and they get me, they understand me.

Jorge:

They understand that they say to themselves man, whoever did this, they did this for me and they get me, they understand me, they understand what I like, and I want them to just come and just hang out with their friends and just have a great time. That's what I want. I want people to come and be happy. That's really what it comes down to, man.

Jason:

I wasn't ready for an answer like that. You know I was thinking something totally that's, and that's incredible.

Jorge:

That's incredible and if, uh, and if, like, the businesses can flourish and people can have a good time. And you know, we, we, we do oh, business come on, Jorge that we do it again the next year in the next year, like that business is business.

Jason:

You know that yeah well when people like something. They're going to trust me. They're going to find a way.

Jorge:

I guess I'm coming from the perspective of just like, when you think about the financial cost that these companies are incurring to come all the way from Europe. It's not just the booth, it's their team and the accommodations and flights and just the whole package. It's, it is, it is a big commitment. And that again goes back to me where it's like damn, I got some pressure on me because you know these, these people have put their trust in me. Now I need to deliver. And that's where, when it's like the weight of the world, it's like weighing me down on my shoulders, and that's where I'm like guys, I need some, need some help, you know, from this community, to like let's do this together, like that. That's where it comes from Because, again, like, there's so much at stake and if we do this the right way the first time, we're going to be able to do it again year after year after year, and that's what I want, I want.

Jason:

I just want us to just keep, like I said, when people come and be happy, I want that same feeling to happen year after year. Um, yeah, so that's that's the great answer. I love it. That's. That's. That's amazing, and I think you, I think you're you're going to find that, with everything that you spoke about today, that's not going to be hard to achieve at all.

Erick:

So, so what you remind you know, what you remind me of, Jorge, you remind me of before. Uh, when we're doing the pre-show and we're trying to come up with topics and going over questions and jason's like yeah, we gotta make sure we got enough questions, and me and jeff are kind of like we're we're gonna meet time, man, we got plenty of plenty of content Like this ain't going to be a problem man and he's like, oh yeah, but I want to make sure we got it.

Jorge:

This is week by week bro.

Erick:

Yeah, it's like every week, and every time we finish the show, jason's like man. What the hell, man?

Jason:

We went an hour and 30 minutes and Jeff was like, yeah, we could have went longer.

Erick:

you're going to feel like that, but but also I want to say that I appreciate that you're the person that's putting this on yes, because he's the right man you're the perfect person because you can hear that your goal, ultimately, is to just share your passion for sim racing and just simulation in this genre with everybody else and not just to come in and you're not looking at this market as a way to make money, which I think would be uh, you know what would kill it. Like your passion is literally what's driving you. You're spending 12, 18 hours at the keyboard, like the sense of responsibility, like that nobody else, for any other reason, would put in the time and the effort to make this as great as it's going to be, like like we know it's going to be great already thank you, thank you guys.

Jorge:

I mean yeah, I definitely. Um, yeah, I I mean just I feel like, yeah, man, I'm doing this for the right reasons and it really is. Again it's.

Jason:

It's it's about like sharing all this stuff together you're truly the right person, Jorge because you're appreciate that you're you're a sim racer, first and foremost yeah, and I highly respect creators or or whatever you know. Business, whatever, whatever it is, whatever kind of guests we have. Yeah, you know, what brought us here today is sim racing. That's what got us all in this studio right now. And now you're trying to do something. You're trying to take that and expand it and show basically the world about this hobby and show them how fun this can be you know, if you really want it to be right, and it doesn't have to be racing.

Jason:

It could be trucking, it could be taxi cab simulator, it could be. There's a lot of bunch of stuff that that you know, that's out there now that you can use hardware and peripherals, and this is a place where you can come and put your hands on the gear, which is an option that I didn't have when I was getting into this hobby.

Jorge:

Oh, my God, totally right, and think about like the-end gear that's out there right now.

Jason:

Oh try.

Jorge:

You watch the review and you're like okay, but you order that and that's your wheel or that's your set of pedals, if you get it and you're like, well, that's your stuff.

Erick:

That's it.

Jason:

You know what I mean? Yeah, good luck sending that back to your guy. How much that's going to cost?

Jorge:

Yeah, it wasn't the right diameter. I didn't think you know. No, that's like no, bro, that's your wheel, You're going to enjoy it.

Jason:

Well, if you look at, reviewers right just, and not to bash them. You know I have my preferences here, but we are straight. No chaser. I will tell you how I feel. And reviewers are majority of them. They're salesmen. They're trying to sell you a product, they're trying to give you the pros and cons, but then those pros and cons are not my pros and cons, they're not Jeff's pros and cons. You know what I mean. To find out what you like about something is to test. It is to put your hands on it.

Jason:

You could tell me that this is the greatest pedal in the world, and I can hear that from every single creator. But when it gets here into my house and it gets bolted on, that's when I know if this is right for me. You know what I mean. So having an expo or having an event that you can test out this stuff at a fraction of what they cost, yeah, oh absolutely.

Jorge:

And the other thing I was going to say is that, as you know, as a consumer being there in person, they want, they want all of our feedback. Yes, so you, you actually have, you have an opportunity to shape the future of sim racing, like be a part of that. You know, like give them the feedback, let them know, you know directly face to face, like what, what it is that you want, what things that you feel should be improved, like that's something that, again, that is of value, um, to those, those businesses, and then also it's like it's part of the experience of coming yeah, and one thing that I just thought of it's a rare opportunity to sit in a rig where you have, you know, houston Field pedals, set up by Houston Field.

Jason:

Oh yes, yes, Good point, eric.

Erick:

Or semi-cube pedals set up by semi-cube Right, so I might have that same product at home. That's a great point but getting a chance to see the actual manufacturer come and set this up the way they're the expert, Getting the experience set the way that they envision it or want you to experience it that's rare.

Jorge:

If you have questions about their software, because there's so much tuning now with everything You're talking to the engineers in person.

Jason:

The guys that created this stuff.

Jeff:

Yeah.

Jorge:

It's huge.

Jeff:

All right, Jorge. One last thing. I know you've been starting this for a while and not that we're looking to 26, but maybe we're looking a little bit to the Expo 26,. But what would be something that you didn't get to do this time? But if you had next year to do over, you'd roll it in.

Jorge:

Yeah, good question. Um, well, I could tell you that we'll actually have a hundred thousand square feet next year. Um, so that is one thing. Now we have extra space. Um. So I would say and we still have time left but I would say I'd love to have a little bit more flight love to diversify things a little bit more. We're still lacking a little bit on the VR side. We do have some stuff, but I do want to mix that up.

Jorge:

But you know, I think there's other areas that we can also branch into, like, for example, there's the RC hobby and there's a company called VBR Playground that you're actually in a sim racing cockpit and then you're, you're, you're driving the RC cars driving on the track.

Erick:

So with that much, extra space we could.

Jorge:

We could actually set up a track. You know we could have that there. You know it's a really good question, I guess because I'm so focused on this year. But um I would say yeah, I think for next year my goal would be to get all those companies that were sitting on the fence or saying, you know like, we'll see how you do this first year and then check you out.

Jeff:

So my thing. I hope you crush it and wish they were here and they regret it too. They regret, they regret it.

Jorge:

I hope so too, but we'll be definitely happy to have them when they're ready.

Jason:

Of course.

Erick:

FOMO is a real thing.

Jorge:

We're not saying that? Am I sounding like a businessman? Am I starting to get the? Am I learning? I'm learning little by little. Yes, you're legitimate, don't worry about that, I want you to regret it, but we also want you here, so we'll forgive. But no, I mean, yeah, we just want to pack the house because of course it just adds to the experience for everybody and it provides more return on investment for those companies. Of course, but yeah, I think that's the goal for next year is increasing the exhibitor count, increasing the attendee count.

Jason:

I think that's great to hear that you're not just trying to do one and done, you're trying to bring this, you know what I mean. You're already thinking ahead and you're already looking at more space before this one is even that's kind of impressive yeah, oh yeah.

Jorge:

And I'll tell you, I think we're going to be in a good position for year two because the amount of work that was taking place on the backend it took pretty much all throughout 2024 into the fourth quarter. You know we were doing basically the uh, the attendee and registration portals. All that was built from scratch, you know. Oh yeah, no foundation is what you're saying, nothing like. So basically it's it's a software that is licensed to us and it is it is it's like a blank canvas. They're like here you go All right figure it out.

Jorge:

You know, like they help a little bit but yeah, I mean, like what, each page, every step of the process, like that's all stuff that we had to figure out. You know myself, like what is all this supposed to say? What does it look like? So that? And then the website and social channels and trying to get the discord, and like all this work, all this work, all this work.

Jason:

So you have a discord is what you're saying.

Jorge:

We do. It's a little messy. We're cleaning house right now, fixing it up so that it's Okay. Yeah, it's actually like I boosted it to like level 14. So we have the ability to have like all the bells and whistles and features because it's for the show. So I'm like, of course, but admittedly like I need a little bit of help to kind of add those.

Jason:

Yeah, Discord is a beast of its own. Yeah.

Jorge:

So we're getting it situated, but I think over the long haul it'll be a great place, it'll be a great channel for people to connect Right, yeah, connect.

Jason:

Oh, that's awesome man.

Jorge:

Yeah, next year, basically. Basically it should be a lot easier one, because hopefully we'll be able to sign those companies, the companies like we were saying that were maybe just financially they couldn't do it, or they were sitting on the fence, whatever the reason was. Maybe we have then proven ourselves, we have the metrics. We can say, yes, we had this many exhibitors, this many attendees. Here's the numbers. What do you say? And hopefully that the answer would be yes, and then we add those on and then it's just like let's go yes, I, I, I, yeah, I believe, I believe that you're going to be very successful at this.

Jorge:

Thank, you, I can definitely guarantee that um I need that I need that, because I'm telling you guys there, there've been so many days where I'm telling you, right now it's just like these peaks and valleys, peaks and valleys, and so I get like this great news, and then the next day it's like maybe something fell through and then, like you know, so it's just been this up and down, and some days are more stressful and more or more exciting than others, and we're just looking for that nice steady curve, that upward slope, where it's like everything is just going well and we're there. You know we're there, but yeah, it just it's, it's been a bun and it's been a roller coaster. I don't know how else to explain this man, it's just, it's been a it's and there it's.

Jason:

I've gone through every emotion imaginable. No, I I probably. You know, I can imagine that I don't yeah that's, that's a heavy lift man.

Jorge:

That's a very heavy lift yeah, but uh you know I've got the support of of my family, thankfully, and the people behind me and obviously the community and that has been the difference, and again just hearing you guys believing in me and what I'm doing.

Jason:

It's uplifting man and it's giving me that extra motivation to boost Because you're doing it right man, you're doing it correctly, and for a sim racing expo in the united states for it to be this large. And the first one is already impressed. I'm already impressed, like I'm impressed.

Jason:

I was impressed two weeks ago, but now I got impressed again today, like I don't know how you impress somebody that's already impressed. I just no, I'm being serious, I'm not. I'm not making it up like, yeah, you're to have the control of this many different pieces of the pie, is no, it's not a slouch man at all. It's not a slouch. So it's coming together all right. Well, gentlemen, this is I. I've had way too much fun on this one. I always do, and it kind of sucks to let them go. But we must close this down. I'm going to do a round table. I'll start with Eric, if you have anything else for Jorge, before we close on this one. Before we close on this one.

Erick:

Nah, man, just I'm going to take a page out of Jason's book. Man, whenever you can close your eyes for a second, take a power nap or something, man, because just but before just having you know, planned events myself, I thought I knew how stressful it could be. But hearing the ambition that you have and the goal and the pressure and responsibility that you've taken on with this man, I just tip my hat to you and appreciate everything you're doing, man.

Jorge:

Thanks, Eric, Appreciate that man.

Jason:

All right, jeff.

Jeff:

Jorge team. You know, when there's somebody that was put in a specific place at a specific time to do something, Jorge, you were put at this time and this place to execute this thing, and we're lucky that you're so incredibly passionate about this thing we called sim racing. The event's in good hands, dude. Get some sleep when you can. I'm super pumped. I can't wait to meet you in person, but the event's in good hands. Thanks, Jorge.

Jorge:

Appreciate when you can. I'm super pumped. I can't wait to meet you in person but, uh, the event's in good hands.

Jason:

Thanks, Appreciate you, man. All right, Jorge, uh, on behalf of the chicane podcast, I would like to thank you again for making the time out of your extremely busy. I had no idea how busy you were.

Jeff:

I don I feel bad now that we asked about the show.

Jorge:

I almost feel bad. It's been awesome. I'm so happy to be here.

Jason:

Yeah. So I'm excited to see the results unfold in front of you, and I'm also excited to meet you in person and to shake your hand and to thank you personally.

Jeff:

Buy you one of those birthday drinks. We gotta get them to go Share a bourbon.

Jason:

I'm ready, I'll be, ready, don't worry, we out there.

Jason:

So, we'll take care of them. But what you're doing is great. You're doing greatness. You're following the same passion this show follows and it's about the community and it's about helping the community and expanding within it. But you're taking that and you're elevating it to like over 10,000, you know what I mean. So I want you to, I want you to take care of yourself. You know what I mean. I don't want you to burn yourself out because, as a creator and Eric and now we're all creators, now Jeff has his channel.

Jason:

As a creator, you sometimes do. You'll have those days where things just don't work out and you're tired and fun and it gets heavy and it's like but I want to get it done and it's not working out and sometimes it really helps to just step away from it. You know, just just for an hour or two, or take a, take a nap, whatever it is, um and find back. You'll come back and you'll find that it's not as bad as you thought it was. You know what I mean and you find that energy to keep going. So I'm really inspired by you. I appreciate and respect you very much and I can't wait to meet you. So thank you so much for coming onto the show and giving us the warm invitation to the expo and hooking us up and to all you guys out there. Man, she came 10, she came 10 to get you 10% off. So thank you so much.

Jason:

Jorge.

Jorge:

Yeah, thank you guys. I really appreciate it. Jason, eric, jeff and, yeah, the whole chicane podcast crew. You guys are awesome. I'm again, I'm looking forward to meeting you and everyone there and, yes, I I want to shake your guys' hand and again, thank you so much for your support and your kind words. It really means a lot and, yeah, let's, let's make history, guys.

Jason:

Let's do this together.

Jorge:

Let's make it happen, yeah, yeah.

Jason:

Thank you so much, guys. No, no, thank you, Jorge. Thank you, Jorge, jeff and eric, and to all you viewers and listeners out there, will I see you at the sim gaming expo that's happening in september. Please, I want to see you there. Let's go. We're gonna have some fun. It's gonna be jam-packed, you know know. So, and with that, guys, please have a great start of your week. Thank you.

People on this episode

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Jason Rivera

Host
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Erick Kelly

Co-host
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Jeff Smart

Co-host