The Chicane Podcast

Building Your Dream Rig with RSS

• Track Ghost Sim Racing • Episode 55

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The sim racing world is on a remarkable trajectory, with the market doubling in size since 2020 and expected to reach $1 billion by 2030. At the heart of this growth are passionate entrepreneurs like Ian Stroman, founder of Ready Set Sim, who joins us to share his journey from casual sim racer to industry innovator.

Like many of us, Ian began with a Logitech wheel before diving into the deep end of high-performance sim racing equipment. Frustrated by the countless hours spent researching compatible components, he created Ready Set Sim as a comprehensive solution – essentially "PC Parts Picker for sim racing." His platform now consolidates hundreds of components with compatibility checks, comparison tools, and expert reviews to help racers build their dream setups without the headaches.

What makes Ian's story particularly compelling is his entrepreneurial spirit. Despite having no development background, he recognized a critical gap in the market and took the leap to create something genuinely valuable for the community. Ready Set Sim has now expanded beyond just component selection to include at-home installation services, allowing customers to design custom setups that professional installers will build right in their homes.

Throughout our conversation, we explore what makes sim racing uniquely accessible compared to other motorsports – the ability to drive the same tracks in the same cars as professional drivers just days after watching them compete. This connection between virtual and real racing continues to blur as more professional drivers emerge from sim racing backgrounds.

Whether you're a sim racing veteran looking to upgrade your rig or completely new to the hobby, Ian's insights illuminate the exciting future of this rapidly growing community. As he puts it: "When sim racing grows, we all win."

Ian Strommen and RSS info:

https://www.readysetsim.com/

https://www.instagram.com/readysetsim/

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61550885513787

https://www.twitch.tv/readysetsim

https://www.tiktok.com/@ready.set.sim

https://discord.gg/6ztAFrG5By

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

trophi.ai | Use promo code CHICANE12 to save 12% on your membership https://my.trophi.ai/get-trophi?via=CHICANE

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:

This episode is brought to you by Trophyai. 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 Ian Stroman, joined here by Mr Eric Kelly, jeff Smart and Ian Stroman, the founder and creator of Ready Set Sim, aka RSS. How is everybody doing today?

Ian:

Doing good, doing fantastic.

Jason:

Thanks for having us on, okay there you go, dude, I can't believe it's been a week since we just were on.

Jeff:

It feels like it's been like three days.

Jason:

You always, man, I'm telling you, am I making it up?

Jeff:

I mean, it just is Maybe Time's whipping by.

Jason:

He's now making nothing up. Dude Like how is mid-May here, or damn near mid-May already? Bro, may is flying, it was just Cinco de Mayo, like a few days ago.

Erick:

Just recovering still.

Jason:

Welcome. Yeah, I just want to say welcome, Ian, to the show. It's been a long while we've been speaking and trying to figure out a good time to get you on here, so I'm really excited to have you on here. Welcome to the Chicane Podcast. Welcome buddy. Yeah, man, how is your? I see your background, man. How's it hanging over there?

Ian:

It's good, like we were talking a little bit before the show, taking some time working remote, taking advantage of this opportunity, so spending the month in Japan, actually. So in Kyoto, I've got a cool Japanese sliding door behind me.

Jason:

Yes, I love it.

Ian:

It's been great. Congratulations, guys, on your one year of doing this oh wow, Thank you. That was awesome. It's fun to see your journey and the growth you've had and the guests you brought on, so I'm honored to be part of this.

Jason:

And look, we have another awesome guest just right after. He didn't make the cut. Man, I wish he would have made the cut so we could have thrown him in there in the announcement. But Ian is great, I'm excited. We're just going to go through a few announcements real quick. My shirt, sweetwater, I just got a gift from. I just want to do a quick shout out, not sim racing related. I'm trying to get him a rig and actually, if he's listening.

Jeff:

Who are you trying to get him into?

Jason:

I'm trying to get him a rig and actually, if he's listening to get a rig, so my guitar dealer that he works at sweetwater his name is daniel and I told him hey, I have a podcast and blah, blah, blah.

Jason:

But now it's an even better time because we have rss on the show and that is a massive tool that can help him get there faster. So we'll go, we'll go into the details, but but big shout out to Reed Daniel, if you're looking for a guitar, let me know, we'll hook you up. At Sweetwater they hooked me up with a free T-shirt. It's a. You know, it's really nice. So that's a. That's a. That's the first episode of the of the fiscal year for us. So, eric, how was your week, man? What you got for us, man, anything.

Erick:

My week was good Once again. The cheetahs whooped butt last week.

Jason:

The cheetahs. The cheetahs strike again bro.

Erick:

The cheetahs are on a roll man. Mother's Day was this past Sunday, so celebrate the wife, Enjoy yourself. Yeah, so that was great. She's happy. Wrapping up for this week. Well, prepping for this week, my birthday is Wednesday, so getting ready for that big 4-0.

Jason:

What are you trying to tell me, bro? 4-0, okay, 4-0 in the house, 40 laps around the sun.

Erick:

Yeah, what are you trying to tell me, bro? 4-0, okay, all right. 4-0 in the house, man, oh, the big 4-0.

Jeff:

Yeah, so you know just 40 laps around the sun yeah.

Jason:

It's down here from here.

Erick:

It's down here, Nah man, you know they say 40 is the new 25, man. So you know, I got to-.

Jeff:

That's a lot.

Jason:

I've been here. Hey, I say this, I take my 25 year old body but leave my 25 year old brain there you go.

Erick:

That's how you do it, man, but yeah, but that's uh, that's, that's pretty much been my, my past.

Jason:

Well, a happy birthday, a future happy birthday here on the show. We'll call them up and and and give them stuff about it later. Uh, definitely, but uh, yeah, man. What about you, jeff? How was your week?

Jeff:

good I have been.

Jeff:

I've been doing a lot of work on the rig this week I got my um my wind sim in, uh, the, you know, if you can listen, and I've been building, um, kind of like the for lack of better word the fuselage of a formula car kind of around the rig can't really see it here um, and then today, last two days I've been, I could not find a switch. And you know, like ignition and starter, the way I want it, like vertical amount, and most of them that you buy are horizontally mounted. So I just did some YouTube search and there's a dude out there I can't remember what it is, but he teaches how to do it and it was like $23 all in parts, like a USB joystick controller, some switches, whatever you want. And then, lo and behold, we got 3D printers and I just printed the size box and everything I wanted, wrapped it in carbon fiber.

Jason:

Ian, we just got 1,000 pictures right before. Yeah, exactly. There was videos pictures different angles.

Ian:

I was like, damn Jeff, my man is over there Selfie shots too, right?

Jeff:

Oh yeah, it's almost ready for prime time and I'll share them with the listeners here, maybe next week when it's about there there you go. The rig's a disaster right now. You put it all together and then you make it look nice. So we're getting there.

Jason:

But I've been busy working on the rig, not necessarily driving much this week. All right, that's what's up, man. That's, that's a. That's a great way to cap, to start the week, man, because, as we just started, so hopefully by the weekend, you know you're, you're good to go with that I'm pretty sure laps all right.

Jason:

So, ian strowman, thank you so much again. Welcome. Welcome to the show. We're going to get right into this man right away, Excited to have you on. We just want to know tell us a bit about your background. Where are you from? What's good with Ian. How about that what's good?

Ian:

with Ian. Thanks again, guys. Yeah, born and raised in beautiful, warm Minnesota. Warm in the summers, obviously, but no, that's where I grew up.

Ian:

I was about to say warm, I just you know people have this connotation about Minnesota, how cold it is, and they're not wrong 100% it's cold, so we try to warm it up about Minnesota. But again, summers are great, winters are brutal. So you get kind of used to hanging out at home in the summer and then in the winter going somewhere warm Florida, arizona, hawaii. That's kind of what we do Background for work. I used to work at my family business and that was awesome. My great grandpa started this business in the 30s and pass it on to his grandkids, my dad and my uncles, and now it's starting to work to the next generation. So that was really fun to be part of a multi-generational family business. But I kind of had this whole inkling along the whole time that I wanted to do something on my own. Everything I was trying to do at the business was like, well, what if I started another offshoot division or new product line or something we're doing? So I always had this entrepreneurship itch within me.

Jason:

To make your own thing. Right To make your own thing, yeah.

Ian:

I knew that I could make a name for myself out there, but just to kind of create something from scratch. So I was always trying to come up with ideas. In college I had this idea and this is I don't want to say it was pre-Uber Eats DoorDash or whatever, but it was kind of along the similar line. There's no way I was the first guy having this idea, but I tried implementing. That Did not go well. I think I had one customer and it did not end up well. I bought some of the wrong things. So you know, kind of always trying to find this stuff out, but it's a risk right To do your own thing.

Jason:

Oh, a hundred percent. Yeah, you won't know if you won't try. Man, that's a fact, right there.

Ian:

No, that's what I tell everybody. Now, if you have the ability to take a risk, you know, and yeah, I have, um, a wife and a newborn and a nine month old daughter, um, who's been, which has been awesome. But we, I knew that there's this unique time in my life and we're kind of jumping ahead into the sim racing a little bit, but, um, where I would be able to make the jump, and it's been, it's not been the easiest, but it's been something that I know that, no matter what happens 10, 20, 30 years from now, I'm going to look back and be. I tell myself I'm so glad I did that, because I knew I'd be kicking myself if I never took the jump to do something on my own. So, yeah, that's kind of where I'm at right now. I actually just we're just moving to Denver, colorado, where my wife is from, Currently homeless. We're waiting on all the houses to sell and get another house.

Ian:

That's kind of where we're at.

Erick:

I don't know how that goes.

Ian:

Let's go be homeless somewhere cool and different. So that's why we're in Japan.

Jason:

Denver is not a bad spot, bro, I'll tell you.

Ian:

It's not a bad spot at all. No, yeah, we love it out there and I'm a big outdoors guy snowboarding and hiking, hunting and mountain biking and all that too. Oh yeah, they have plenty of that stuff over there, trust me, yeah, plenty outside over there, so yeah, that's a little bit about me and I think it's what's good with me, and so this is kind of all I focus on now is my family and my two babies my real one and then this one buddy said there you go.

Jason:

So you're an inspiration already. Just by hearing those words, just the amount of pressure that must be on your back. Um, you know, with all that stuff going on in your life, and it's awesome to hear that people just go for it.

Jeff:

You know like there's so many people you talk to like, oh, I had this idea or I wanted to do this, but then there's very few people that actually take that leap and go for it.

Ian:

I tip my hat to you and I respect people tremendously that do that my biggest inspirations were obviously the people who've done it before me, whether it was my ancestors or I got really into like all this and we were seeing these trends in these movies and shows now about founders and their cool big businesses or whatever, and that just like watching those get me so excited and so, you know, I was like that's going to be me, you know, and 98% of businesses fail Right, but that's where I still kind of the part where it could work out. But also I knew that I will always be glad I took this leap of faith in myself and my skill set and learning along the way. So, yeah, it's been a journey and I recommend it. If anyone can make the jump that they should.

Jason:

There you go. And there's no better feeling that. That's a feeling of satisfaction, because you, you know that you've done everything. You're doing everything that you could possibly do to make this happen, and you can't. You'll never go back and say, well, I should have done this right, or maybe I should have done that, so hats off to you. That's a hell of an introduction, so over to the next question, eric.

Erick:

Yeah, so things that we love around, here are people that not only are interested in sim racing but, you know, decide they're going to help out the rest of us guys. Right, and you know, we know you're passionate. But tell us a little bit about how you got into sim racing.

Ian:

But tell us a little bit about how you got into sim racing. I think my story is pretty similar to a lot of people Grew up loving cars, loving racing games, right when I you know, it was the Need for Speed games.

Jason:

There you go Forza.

Ian:

Mario Kart, even Mario Kart 64. Like that kind of stuff.

Erick:

Hey, Mario Kart is cool.

Jason:

That's fun, yeah, yeah yeah it's a sim that red shell bro, that thing was homing bro even like the boat racing game.

Ian:

What was that?

Erick:

one um tropic thunder or hydro hydro thunder, hydro thunder that's a great movie though close up that movie did take me back to my life racing now I did love that um but yeah so the kind of the cars.

Ian:

And then my uncle used to race porsches in the gt4 class, which I thought was so cool and so always gripped around cars. I used to do these derby races up in northern Minnesota, which is for people that know, it's all farmland and country. It's not a whole lot there, but my grandparents lived in a small county at a big fair and they always had a bean track on a dirt road. So my uncle one of my other uncles was a mechanic and put these beater cars together and I'd race with 16 other rednecks. Yes, they didn't have they.

Ian:

The classes were all messed up. It was like v8s. So I was in an old like 88 cadillac, just a boat with a chevy like, uh, silverado lifted next to me, which it was chaos. I remember getting out of it. You know I'm 16 at the time, so it was the most fun thing ever and I had a huge gash on my arm because it cut through like the front end of the pickup, cut through the window and cut me open and I guess the guy was on. Um, some enhancements to help me race.

Jason:

He was no longer allowed to race.

Ian:

And also the car was a manual. I was driving I had never driven stick in my life, so I was like I had about 20 minutes to practice the stick shift.

Jason:

And.

Ian:

I remember just trying to downshift and just, oh, you can see the video of me. The neck was killing me. So much fun. So I'm like, but that thrill, like going max, you know, 35 miles an hour, but just that speed in itself and just you know, it's like in your first couple times sim racing you see the like, the lights going down and your heart is just racing, your goosebumps are going. I loved that feeling, um, and so that's what I want to get that again fast forward a few years, go to college and then, um, then they get married and I'm like you know what? I think I want to try actual racing because I'm just getting more and more into the, the real race, not even just the formula one or the nascar, but more the imza and the other gt3 classes. Like that's, that's what I really wanted to be a part of.

Ian:

Um, my wife said this 2023. So about almost two years ago now. She said well, why don't you try this sim racing thing first, to see if you'd like it, if you like racing? I'm like, okay, if you give me the green light on sim racing, then I'm going to, I'm going to go have some fun with it. And so, um, and I knew about it. I had a Logitech wheel, but I wanted to get the real deal. Um, and this kind of is led into what ready set sim was.

Ian:

But you know it's not easy finding the right components for you and what your budget is, what kind of racing you want. I knew I wanted to think long term. So what worked with what? What brand works well with together, what's good for gt racing but also could work well with formula racing? Um, right, and I just spent hours and hours and I'm not a researcher, I just wanted to race. You know some people love the search and the finding. I just wanted here's what I want to spend and here's what I want. So I found some guy on youtube. Uh, his name is sim racing den mike you know mikey small world his video and, well, his video was just awesome.

Ian:

So I'm like, okay, well, this guy looks sweet. All this video, I'm gonna buy whatever he has. Um, so it worked out really well. I loved his stuff, but I knew there had to be a better way, uh. And so that's where I'm like why isn't there some sort of configurator that gets to know me, my budget, my needs, my racing style, or some other consolidation tool that has all the brands, components and all their details about it and let's be kind of pick and choose, because I was doing it in Excel spreadsheet, which was great. But I'm like, if I'm going to do this like, this is so easy to do and it didn't exist. So that's where the idea of Ready Set Sim came alive.

Jason:

All right, so, yeah, man, that's, that's, that's, that's insane, that's a cool story. Yeah, it's very similar to all of us in a way. That damn Logitech, I'm telling you they made so much money.

Erick:

You got to start somewhere, I guess. I'll say one thing though I'll say one cool thing about your story. He just kind of glazed over the fact that his grandfather raced GT4 cars, like just kind of like yeah.

Jason:

Yeah.

Erick:

Uncle grandfather raced gt4 cars like just kind of like yeah oh yeah, uncle, uncle.

Ian:

oh, I'm sorry we got uncle yeah just like yeah, no, we had real racers in my family no, big deal no big, casually, I remember you know he would put us and he had, he'd have fun porsches to drive and he'd be okay. If you're a head back, you know he put this in his, in his cars. You know, and it was that acceleration from you know zero to 100 and you know in three seconds it was. You can. From you know zero to 100 in you know three seconds it was. You can't replicate that In sim racing.

Ian:

It's getting close. But you know you can't replicate that. And the speed. But what sim racing is so great is that you know the more immersive it gets and it is getting so immersive like it is. It's getting close to that. You know, with some of the motion, even the buck kickers and the, the monitors, the vr is increasing it's. I think people are starting to realize how, um, they actually can't have that experience. You don't need to have 100, 200, 000 go get a car or join racing. You actually can't have that experience at home correct, that's true, yeah there's a lot of.

Jason:

There's a lot of sim racers that are getting picked up for real life racing now and they've never been in a cart period.

Jeff:

Yeah, so it's like every month there's a youtube video or series about somebody making the transition.

Ian:

I think, like I think I stumbled across uh max bringing one of his uh sim racing teammates into a real car yeah, in the g2 world challenge, and I think I don't know if he might have had a race yet, but that's just one of many. Like you said, it's super fun to see and I think that the teams are realizing there's a huge talent pool out there. It used to be just carters, but it's more than just carters. It's anyone who has the ability to sit in a cockpit and understand the racing mechanics, racing line, the physics and racing concepts. There's millions of people out there, not just a couple of that few thousand.

Jeff:

So good on the teams are figuring that out. It's way cheaper. I think that's what a lot of people are are realizing and then hating on the people that are. I think a lot of people look down on people that are just the sim racing and trying to make the transition whether it be jealousy or uh what, like you didn't do your time type of attitude and I think it's changing man yeah, and that's a good.

Jason:

That's a good thing you brought up jeff, because we we've actually mentioned that here on the show is that, in my humble opinion, you know, sim racers have way more track time than real life drivers I mean, think about it.

Jason:

You can jump in at any time, any time. You don't have to set up. You know tires and go on a track and get the team together. These, these guys, are learning the track every single day and they're learning the you know the, you know the different uh configurations. They can race it in the wet, they can race it in the sun, sunlight, they can race it at night. So if you're a real life driver, you have to, it has to work out for you like that. You know what I'm trying to say so I

Jeff:

think it's going to be nothing but become a more and popular thing, because it's just becoming so popular here about. You know, drivers, racers here, and they're just going from crossing over from sim racing to the real thing and they're competing, they're holding their own.

Ian:

Well, the Daytona 500 winner the last couple of years, William Byron, started on iRacing when he was 12. Yeah, he's one of the few current NASCAR champions, but you can't forget about Mr Byron. It's been fun to see his story and I've had the chance to meet him a couple of times. Just a real humble guy, real down to earth, and he was just like one of us as a kid with the Logitech just turning out and now he's-.

Jason:

I'm telling you, man, that Logitech Gets everybody apparently.

Erick:

Yeah, that's the rite of passage right there.

Jeff:

Speaking of Logitech here, what's your current setup and kind of what was your progression to that setup?

Ian:

Good question. So my setup well, you can look at Mike's old setup recently. But yeah, it actually it was a great setup because it allowed for a lot and allowed for. I knew that again I didn't want to have to buy a nicer part, but then like, okay, now I want to upgrade again. I just wanted to go all in right away and I think that was probably the most cost effective option to uh cry that way yeah finally somebody did it so the asr pro was what I started with the v1 um solid, solid setup, the Simicube 2 Pro.

Jason:

Yes, sir.

Ian:

You got the Simicube. I think one of their.

Jason:

I'm a Simicube fan.

Ian:

Yeah, it's good, and they just launched the refurbished program too on their wheelbases yesterday, so I don't know if you guys saw that, but that's.

Jason:

Asher did too. I saw a post from Asher Asher's doing the same thing with the refurbished thing. It's um, it's good it's.

Ian:

It's just better for, I think, for people looking to sell their components, people looking to buy components at a better price, um, and you know, we're seeing all over and I'll give this to kind of, we're looking to support with this, but you know, facebook marketplace is every day you're saying this guy's a scammer. This guy's a scammer, is this one? Yes, you know, facebook Marketplace is every day you're seeing this guy's a scammer this guy's a scammer.

Jason:

Is this one real?

Ian:

So they're looking for better ways, like to reuse this and to reuse the products. Yeah, the Cinecube 2 Pro Acetek, pedals, the Forte.

Jason:

That's quite the setup, dude to start off with.

Ian:

And you got the GSI, the Hyper P1, or which one, the Hyper Wheel, the P1, right, yeah, gsi, uh, the hyper p1, or which one, the hyper wheel, one of the?

Jason:

yeah, the p1. Right, yeah, the big screen, yeah, yeah that's a good wheel yeah, it's a. It was a sweet setup um, I actually just sold it moving across the country.

Ian:

So it's kind of an excuse to like, okay, I'll sell it. And then now I know I mean I don't, if I'm gonna get another rig, I actually probably want to do a whole lot different because it was so perfect. You know, the ASR Pro has a V2 that just came out a couple months ago some increased cord management and some other cool options there, so I might do something like that. Those active pedals though I don't know if you guys have tried them, but that's kind of like the new thing in the market that everyone's saying might be the future for sim racing.

Jeff:

Jason, you try that active pedal.

Jason:

See, I thought I was banned from talking about the active pedal. You know how many people commented on the video. So I do have the active pedal. They are awesome and I almost took the plunge and bought the ultimate version. And you're in Japan and, coincidentally, I was in Japan at the same time and we're not at the same time like today but around when the pro was coming out and I was talking to Michael and they just dropped the announcement and I was literally in Osaka walking around. He's like dude. They dropped the pedals and I bought them and he's like dude. I'm glad you waited because I couldn't tell you I had them, but I'm glad you waited. They're worth every penny. So if you um, I'm telling you if you already started with a high end setup you know, there's really.

Jason:

That is the next thing If you're looking for something more.

Erick:

Yeah.

Jason:

Both immersion and actually a tool, because it it stops you from getting on your knees and going under your rig and switching out a setup per car. You know what I mean. You can have a hundred pedals with a single pedal. You know what I mean With the push.

Ian:

I think that's probably a big selling point, you know, yes, so credit plus inracing, you can do an oval to a drifting, to formula.

Jason:

Yes, trucking.

Ian:

So you got to have your farming simulator too.

Jason:

I do play farm sim too. I dabbled in that yeah.

Ian:

But I think that's where it's. It's such a, it's such a great idea it was. You can ask to take pedals are great, but I just I never changed them, I just kept them all the same. So I had my formula pedals for gt and for everything else, and, um, you know, it was cool to see though, and I'm sure everyone has had this experience but going from the logitech and then getting kind of a higher end setup is, looking at your I rating, they kind of almost like shoot up a little bit, you know, and not to say that, um, the equipment makes you better, it doesn't necessarily make you better.

Ian:

You, you know one of our partners we sponsor, cam Eben, right? He's a top iRacer in North America, drives in a Logitech currently, and he has a 13,000, I think 11,000 iRating. He's top one in Formula in the North America, number three for GT, right, and so there's a lot to say about just the racing mechanics, but the equipment does make it more immersive, and it can help someone like me, who wasn't the best racer, but just kind of get that more immersive feeling and then race. You want to feel like you're driving a real car. You drive better when you're more immersed that way.

Jason:

I feel like the brake has done what I said, that you have multiple brakes on it, but it makes me trust the brake more because it's easier to hold pressure. You know, with a, with an elastomer, you know when you try and squeeze the break and hold it, depending on the life of that last uh elastomer, your, your foot can sink down or it can just be inconsistent. You know pressure wise, so that's why I like them. That's why I believe and this is my opinion, that's why I believe they will make you faster, because you can take this equipment, grow with it, and it's not going to um how do you say this? Wear out on you. It's electric. You know what I mean. Unless the motors go die on on me, which that remains to be seen, right, um, especially with the newer options that are out there, like moza, and then sim magic has one. So with the years we have to see how they hold up um, and that's that's something that remains to be seen, but so far they're great good so well, that's a good setup, man.

Jason:

I mean, that's a hell of a setup. Most people don't, don't.

Jeff:

That's a killer, killer, jump from the logitech from the logitech.

Ian:

Yeah, yeah it was, uh, it was fun. You know, the other big jump I had with my rating was logitech, but then putting the vr goggles on, that was actually a big jump to being able to actually start looking around the corners and get being more immersed.

Jason:

You're're talking to Jeff right now.

Ian:

My man.

Jeff:

Loving that VR stuff. What VR goggles do you use?

Ian:

This was two and a half years ago, so I was just using the Oculus 2 Quest, the Quest 2?

Jason:

Yeah, just the Quest 2. It's still good, it's still good, yeah, still good, yeah.

Ian:

What are you using, jeff?

Jeff:

uh, quest three okay nice I know man mike jeff that was his first headset I'm sorry, I'm picking on boosted media put out that new video about the um, the beyond two, and it's been chirping, chirping beyond, beyond two beyond two beyond two.

Jason:

Oh, he did. I haven't seen that yet, but yeah, he did. Chirping. Yeah, all right. So next question, which you kind of answered it RSS, right, ready set sim. So you touched a little bit about what it is and you know from an outsider looking in. There's always been a service that we like to compare it to and it's called PC Part Picker and it's kind of like it kind of resonates well with RSS. But I want to hear from you what is, you know, essentially RSS or Ready Set?

Ian:

Sim. Yeah, it's a hard. People who know PC Parts Picker it's usually what I go to PC Parts Picker for Sim Racing. Some businesses call it. This is an e-commerce consolidation platform and I'm like that sounds stupid.

Jeff:

What's a better way to yeah Say that three times fast.

Ian:

yeah, exactly, but that's essentially what it is right. And my first idea with with ready set sim was like I wanted somebody to walk me through it and there are consultants out there it's not new, um, but I also knew I wanted to do that scale and I wanted to. And this is when ai was really just kind of it is still growing. It'll be boosting up. Like, how can I combine artificial intelligence with sim racing to make it easier for people who go into sim racing? Because this sport should not be hard to get into, it should be fun, it should be exciting and it's still a passion and one of our mission statements is making sim racing more accessible, simplifying sim racing. So I started with actually, I made my own website and again, I am not a developer by any means, I'm business and sales and operations like all that. So I opened a Squarespace website and I felt so smart because I was able to embed a type form questionnaire into it. I thought I was like the next.

Erick:

Mark.

Ian:

Zuckerberg coding or something and people started using steve jobs.

Jason:

Yeah, I'm kidding again. I've watched those videos.

Ian:

I'm like this is me, this is my path to become the next zuckerberg steve jobs. Oh yeah, but put some cheap ads out there and people started using it. You know, I was like crap. People like they see a need for it, right, they see a need that. Hey, I'm curious, what should I get? I don't know where to look, don't know where to start. But I knew I had to scale it and want to make it big. So they kind of told me, hey, it's probably the right time to go hire a developer and hire the right team and get this done. So that was in January of 24.

Ian:

And we were really working on a kind of an artificial intelligence uh, you know, configuration tool quickly learned that that is not cheap, and I know this is cheap, but that was going to take a lot of money and a lot of data. Uh, people going through it, giving a lot of feedback, and I just we were going to be able to do it the right way. So then we pivoted and I got feedback from a lot of people in the community being like we just need a pc parts picker. You know, that's essentially all we need to start out, and uh, so then we kind of focusing on that where we consolidated hundreds you know hundreds of components into their indoor database and we started with just the main ones, you know cockpit, wheel, wheelbase, pedals, monitor, stand um.

Ian:

Even in that alone there's over 300 million combinations you could do with the sim racing setup which is just absurd, you know I haven't even thrown into there, like you know, the the shifters, um, handbrakes, button boxes, the different kind of chairs you could it's limitless, almost um. So that's like we knew we needed to have a tool for that and so, um, now we, we, everything I thought through is like what would I want? Again, someone who just wants to race don't, doesn't like their research, what information would I want? In there, we just added a comparison tool, so now you can compare wheelbase to wheelbase to wheelbase to wheelbase to wheelbase. You know, you can keep going through all of that, um we just added compatibility support.

Ian:

So now um for wheels to wheelbases. We'll be adding more beyond the road, but if you have a um moza wheel and a phantom tech wheelbase, it'll tell you, hey, you're gonna need this quick release and then this adapter too, in there as well, and you can add that to your build so perfect that was.

Erick:

That was the knowledge gap for those right.

Jeff:

The knowledge gap for wheel adapters and stuff is like well, it's kind of like the next thing.

Jason:

Right, you know, the next pc builder yeah how, how, if you know how we, if you put the, if you click on this, then you can't use that because it's incompatible. So you got to use this part it's kind of like that. I mean, it's really, that's really awesome. Again a tool I didn't have when I was works great when I don't when I was, when I was starting out myself, you know most of us.

Ian:

Well, you know, it's that's why most people just stick with one brand and that's that's great. That's what I did to start. I didn't know, but I think there's so many other options out there. If I really wanted to try this bavarian sim tech wheel with my semi-cube 2 wheelbase like how do I do that? Now, our, our website will tell you how to do that. And so we wanted to support and confidence with people too, like you're going to be all set with that. And that was the number one feedback I got when we first started this website.

Ian:

Matt Malone actually said, yeah, this product is great, but you know, compatibility is everyone's biggest question that we go to, even like the pro sim racers always asking the question what do I need to do? So we added compatibility support into there as well, and then we've just added all the other components right, we just added product categories for shifters, handbrakes, button boxes, chairs, monitors in there too. So we really wanted to make sure that people could build their full rig in here and compare it and see the price on there as well. So we're just getting started. You know, I feel like we're now just starting to hit our stride, where I feel comfortable, like you know what I would. I would actually use this tool, um, and I think it's. It's exciting for sim racing community and I think it's really exciting for the people who aren't sim racing yet don't know how easy it is to start sim racing. And we're going to help really grow this awesome community, because when it grows, we all win.

Jason:

Right, exactly. I do have a question before moving on Does it include data from SimHub? Do you have devices that are compatible with SimHub in there, because that's a big question as well the community may have? Is this real work with SimHub? Do you have like devices that are compatible with SimHub in there, because that's a big question as well the community may have? Is this wheel work with SimHub? Can I manipulate the LEDs? Is it compatible with DNR wheels?

Erick:

Yeah.

Ian:

For example, that's a really good question and currently we do not, but that is something that you know. We're listening to feedback from the community. We've been getting better. Yeah, I mean no.

Jason:

I'm just and that is something that you know we're listening to feedback from the community.

Ian:

we've been getting. Yeah, I mean, no, I'm just and that's something we for sure it belongs in there and I think that would be um a good addition to it. So yeah jason, you know you're a product tester.

Jason:

Now you've just been hired no, hey, um no, but for real, like I didn't mean anything by it, like sim hub is a huge part of my rig and it's a huge part of Eric's rig and many sim racers, but then there's sim racers that don't really use it right. I mean, it's no secret, but it's becoming like a vital tool.

Jeff:

I mean it's a deal breaker for a lot of wheels. You know, like Simagic has that. Was it the FX Pro?

Jason:

Oh, go ahead, Jeff, tell them all about it.

Jeff:

If it was SimHub compatible, that would be the most popular wheel in the industry at the price point for what you're getting. But it's not SimHub compatible.

Jason:

I would get complaints from Jeff. Why isn't this wheel SimHub compatible? He wanted to buy one before he bought his SoulPack.

Jeff:

I'm so glad I didn't.

Jason:

And this is, I guess I mean it's good feedback for you. Ian, SimHub is a huge thing. It's, I know it's a paid subscription, but it's a one time. You know it's not like it's a, it's a reoccurring um, you know fee, if you may so, but what you're doing is amazing. What you're doing is a tool that didn't exist. That doesn't exist, that no one, no one else is doing Right. So if someone asks me or ask Eric or ask Jeff, what do you recommend I build, I'm going to recommend with you know, my own personal likes right. And then eric has his own take. He'll tell you to go sim magic all the way. Jeff's gonna tell you to buy a soul pack, but now you're talking about a tool that can compare all of it. So it's kind of that's, that's huge, that's a huge win.

Ian:

Yeah yeah, it's. I think it's gonna be great for for sim racing and as we get more people using it, we're getting more kind of data and we're not collecting personal data. We're collecting hey, how many people are clicking on this, how many people are including a sim magic wheel in there, so we can start tailoring like great, this is what we're seeing is popular um, and we see new products coming out here that I can't go too much into detail with you guys right now.

Jason:

Oh no, come on. Maybe the next time Come on, come on. We're going to start these shenanigans. So what you're saying is you get impressions right and how many clicks, or how? Many views and, I'm assuming, the data you get from the wheelbases. Where are you getting the actual hard data from Other than the spec sheet? Right, because everybody has access to the spec sheet, the internet. Does it come from reviewers? Does it come from have like a scale, like a rating scale per product?

Ian:

yeah, so we partnered with a few reviewers mike at sim racing, ending one of them oh mikey yeah so we that was important too is I didn't want to be the expert on sim racing products, I just wanted to have a tool to consolidate it. There are already so many great experts out there who have tried all the components and to really give an honest rating, you can't try two components because, yeah, I'd say yeah, my semi-cube two webase is the best because it's the only one I've ever used.

Ian:

Um mike, though, has used so many of them, so he can have actually give an honest opinion.

Jason:

Um so yeah that's a great point and a couple, a couple other reviewers.

Ian:

We're looking for more to join on as well, but they have just a basic three scale right. Three types Performance, quality and value and then averages out for an overall rating. So you can go on our website. You can filter through all the wheels by rating. It was the top one by rating, I think. Right now it's the Bavarian SimTech wheel. Mike really loved that one interesting, we had it.

Jason:

We had a. We just got a message, uh, about someone asking for advice yeah so I hopefully, hopefully, he hasn't. Uh, well, you should go watch our review.

Ian:

You know we should go to ready, set sim, click on the wheel, then go watch my extra view and then it's all good, but it's uh.

Jason:

No, I did I did. I did tell him to go over there because mike mike's a good friend of the show, he's a great and he's a creator that I trust now you mentioned. So you mentioned something that's kind of, um, I have my feelings about it, so you can try a hundred different wheelbases, but are you a sim racer or are you a casual? What kind of sim racer are you? Because to get the amount of feedback for you to be able to speak on a wheel, it takes quite a while. You know what I mean, so, knowing michael and, knowing his, um his content.

Jason:

You know, mike's racing with us every twice a week now. Um, he'll even race with you. Know, stuff that's he's testing. Still, um, you can't see it because it's low-key, but you know he'll tell us oh yeah, I'm testing, I'm testing something new. It's in, it's, it's uh, yeah it's kind of a secret, but yeah, shout out to Michael.

Jason:

Uh he's a great guy, friend of the show and I highly recommend uh his reviews. And if he's a partner of Ready Set Sim, that's already making Ready Set Sim uh a good friend of the chicane podcast, a hundred percent.

Ian:

Good, so everyone's friends in sim racing, right? No one ever yelled at each other on the track.

Jason:

everyone says well, wait a minute. Wait a minute. Now at the first turn I'm definitely yelling, I know just yelling, just don't hit anybody and I don't, don't give a yeah yeah it's pretty simple

Erick:

yeah, racing's not hard um.

Ian:

But yeah, I think that's kind of where everything we're doing is trying to really bring the experts in, bring the community, and our next products can be really community driven um as well as well. So we know that. Uh, how do people want to share their components? You know how do people want to. Hey, I got cut off by this guy named jeff, smart in front of me. What's he driving? And maybe they can find out what he's driving right, it's all using Visa VR guy.

Ian:

That's what they'll say. Oh, he's one of those guys, oh yeah.

Jason:

He's one of those guys Guilty as charged Stigma.

Jeff:

I think there's just a lot of opportunity.

Ian:

There's a lot of opportunity and the community is great. I've only been in sim racing seriously for for about two years now and the amount of people that have invited just me personally in part of these communities have been great.

Ian:

The amount of business support I've gotten from other businesses has been great and the amount of niche communities. One of our team members for Ready Set Sim. He applied for a role. It was great because he has an IT background. He's our system administrator, but he runs a large Discord. The 100,000 members focus strictly on Toge.

Ian:

If you know what Toge is downhill mountain racing oh the drift, yeah, I'm all about it. Oh yeah, Japanese downhill mountain racing. 100,000 people in this community focus solely on that, and it is so cool. There's a little niche there for everything right. I'm sure there's a little niche there for everything right, if you? Yeah, I'm sure there's a mario kart niche out there too for sim racers, but I haven't seen one. But I'm sure there is one.

Jason:

That's what's so cool about, about sim racing there's a big community with the jeff side of things. Definitely, people, yes, 100. I, I, I, um, I'm a fan of sr. You know Shutoku Revival Project. I always tell people to go over there and I think Jeff and Eric they like Nohezi. And what's the other one?

Ian:

Nohezi and I forget Push and Pee.

Jason:

There's so many.

Ian:

Yeah, the SRP Shutoku Revival Project. It's fun. We're in the cab in Tokyo. You see that rainbow bridge over there, Is it that?

Jason:

Yeah, it's one-to-one dude, it's one-to-one.

Ian:

Yeah, it's so awesome. That's awesome, rx7. I know what I'm doing.

Jason:

I'll pull the question right here. Yeah.

Erick:

But to your point kind of being new to SimRace and myself, that's one thing I always talk about is the community. Sim racing myself that's one thing I always talk about is the community. Is it's different? Like I'm involved in other communities that are not as welcoming, not as friendly, not as helpful. Uh, with sim racing, pretty much regardless of the platform discord, facebook, youtube, you know actually on track, for the most part it's it if you're, if you're there to have fun, then you're surrounded by other people that are there to have fun, as long as you make it past turn one, like Jeff says.

Ian:

That's a good slogan. You should make a t-shirt.

Erick:

I know right.

Ian:

Didn't that just?

Erick:

mesh well, make it past turn one. Hey, I've been looking for this for a year.

Jason:

You got to put it on the back. You got to put, make it past turn one so people miss it. Genius yeah.

Ian:

Made it past turn one. Drop a little genius, yeah, survive. Turn one, right yeah.

Jason:

Yeah, we'll make profile pictures on Facebook like a check-in.

Ian:

Are you okay? Yeah, survive, turn one, I'm okay, man, we made it through Daytona's first turn, which is deadly.

Jason:

I just found out about that one that was really dangerous. Want to have a live coach available on demand. With Trophy AI, you'll be able to practice with Manso AI at your convenience A real-time coach in your headphones to navigate and guide you through the track, helping you achieve race pace. Guide you through the track, helping you achieve race pace. This tool is awesome as it provides full brake, throttle and steering telemetry on screen with a live review getting you ready for your next big race.

Erick:

Check links to trophy ai in the description and also use chicane 12 in all caps for a 12 discount yeah, but uh, so you know, just speaking more about RSS, I know you talked about trying to incorporate more AI and just more user feedback, but what is, I guess, what are some of the like next major goals you have for RSS? Like, where do you see it in five years? Just kind of position in sim racing it in five years?

Ian:

just kind of position in sim racing. Yeah, thank you, that's a good, good question. Um, really, what I want, ready set sim to be is kind of to be the number one tool that people use to start their sim racing journey and then continue that journey right. Um, you know it's it can feel lonely sometimes in sim racing if you aren't able to get plugged into community. Um, we talk about how great the communities are, but sometimes it can, um, it can be tough to uh, tough, tough to find them, and I know a lot of people like don't know what, um like even what discord is when they're starting out.

Ian:

So we wanted to create we're currently creating guides and tools like help people who have no idea about any of this tech stuff at all. We actually just launched a new service a couple weeks ago at-home installations. Again, they exist already, but we also wanted to be a tool that's going to support people that way. A lot of at-home installation services only allow turnkey builds. We have a partnership where we're able to do it, where you can pick any components you want. You can still design your own, put your. We don't. You're not going to pay any markup on that. You buy them yourself. We'll come to your home and install it for you, give you a training session and everything in there as well. So we're trying to be an all-encompassing help everybody wait a minute, wait a minute wait a minute.

Erick:

I gotta, I gotta slow that down one second now.

Jason:

You said that you provide.

Jeff:

Glazed over that.

Jason:

Building services yes. Does that apply. Is that including Hawaii, because we're, on some lower 48 problems over here, man.

Ian:

No, we are lower 48 positive. We love lower 48.

Jason:

All right, all right, so Northern Alaska might be a little tough.

Ian:

Where have you went?

Jeff:

What are some of these builds that people are doing for that type of service, if you don't mind me using that word?

Ian:

We just launched it recently. People are already engaging, looking to build, looking to do that. It doesn't happen overnight no one buys a rig overnight, as we all know but we're already engaging in consultations planning it out for them. I have one customer who's looking to. He wants a chopper sim and a racing sim at the same time. So we're looking at it's going to be. His budget was $80,000, $75,000. Oh, Like it's going to be.

Jason:

His budget was $80,000, $75,000.

Erick:

So oh yeah those things get up there.

Ian:

They have, you know, the six ranges of motion, the I don't want to give it.

Jason:

I say yeah, roll pitch yeah, all of that.

Ian:

Yeah, I mean that's cool. So we're seeing a lot of that, you know, and we have installers all around around the world, Over a hundred countries. What was that?

Jeff:

I said I'm drooling over here. You're talking about like eight pitch this and chopper and racing. That's a yeah.

Jason:

Like in one shot.

Erick:

Yeah, that's a dream setup.

Jason:

I wish man?

Jeff:

Yeah, it is. He ain't start with no Logitech.

Jason:

You imagine, you let them in, you let them in the house, and then you're like, oh yeah, I'm going to go for lunch with the wife, I'll be back.

Ian:

And when I come back home there's like two rigs set up.

Jason:

It's always better to ask for forgiveness. I like brought it up. She goes don't race first. I like this guy. You gave it to me. You deal with the consequences later.

Ian:

That's it. I can't return this 75 000 simulator. What am I going to do? Throw it away.

Jason:

They gave it to me. What do you want?

Jeff:

me to do.

Erick:

I can't be responsible now it's cheaper than the porsche, so you know this is not by much, but it is yeah yeah yeah technicality but?

Ian:

but like you're asking, eric, you know, like, long term, I think we're always going to be looking at ways that's really going to make sim racing easy. Um, we're bringing in partners to and help with more detailed tutorials, and there's already so many, like you said earlier, jeff, like you can go through the YouTube trails or the Reddit, you know, um, deep dives. But like we wanted there to be one single source of information from experts where you can quickly find everything. So, once we get a lot of this information, these guides, tools, we're going to incorporate AI into a lot of that too, and it's going to make it so much easier just to find things, get the answers.

Ian:

You need really simplify everything within sim racing. It is getting easier, but the more and more that's coming out, it kind of can get a little more complicated too. So, um, we really wanted to be uh, and we plan on being, the single source of information people to start sim racing and keep sim racing, as well as when they want to move on from sim racing or change to like hey, I want a new rig, how do I get rid of my old components? I'll sneak peek to what is coming on the road, but I'm ready to, you know, offload these, this equipment too. So um a lot to be to be coming, but in a one sentence answer it would be um kind of the main tool for all sim racers, for all needs.

Jeff:

I've got a quick question for you you know, I spent the last couple days on your site and do you guys have a PC portion? I didn't think. I don't think I saw one on there.

Ian:

No, we're in touch, Just maybe just a.

Jeff:

you know that might help too, because if I didn't have, you know, jason, I'd be lost on like as a baseline, you know, graphics and card and all that other stuff for you know frames per second with whatever you know resolution you're using and right card and all that other stuff, for you know frames per second with whatever you know resolution you're using and things like that.

Jason:

So this is a great point. You know why? Because when you, when you go on these websites and they tell you to build the pc, they're giving you frame rates for games like fortnite or call of duty they're not talking about sim racing. They're not talking about you running a triple monitor setup. So that's another big thing that needs to be looked at, because you know having the right processor is key with sim racing you know what I mean.

Jason:

And having the right um bandwidth with usbs. I always talk about bandwidth, think of people, think it's number of usbs, but it's not the number, it's the bandwidth. That way, you want to run all these screens and you want a future-proof rig. You want to run motion pedals. What have you? I thought I was going to have only four devices. I ended up with 32. I don't know how it's just things get out of control. You know what I mean.

Erick:

Yeah, I don't know how it's just things get out of control. You know what I mean. Yeah, I got four things put into my PS5, man, come on.

Jeff:

Here we go, it can be probably overwhelming, though, with just how deep rabbit holes go down with each devices.

Jason:

How many motherboards are out there?

Jeff:

Yeah, to your point. You kind of got to draw the line somewhere and do that well, I imagine, before you branch out.

Ian:

But it's, it's so, yeah, it's so easy to um want to just spread your wings right away and like, oh, it was captured all. And as an entrepreneur, that is the number one thing you want to do every single time is chase that, chase that, chase that. But I read a book and one thing it really mentioned. And for someone like me who's kind of a just go go, go see and chase, and also someone who has a goal but not shifting, a lot of people think an entrepreneur or a startup should be like a rocket ship. There's our goal to the moon. Let's calculate every single way we're going to get there. But it's something you know. Nothing ever goes according to plan never, especially in a startup. So if one thing goes wrong and you're way to the moon, you can't adapt, you're screwed. It said be like a porsche, be like you're on the road. You're quick, you can turn, you know you want to get to the finish line, but make sure you stay on the track and stay on track with what you're doing.

Jason:

That's a good way of putting it, yeah that's it kind of remind myself of that of all times.

Ian:

Um, knowing that there's a long list of things that all sim racers need and would like, or new sim racers. Like when I bought my pc I don't know anything about pc I went to a service online hey, I want to start sim racing. Build me me a PC and I'll buy it Again. It's a little bit more expensive way to do that, but there are more affordable ways. We want to support people in that too. So, pc we are in talks with a couple of PC manufacturers Like hey, how can we either offer PCs in their website that are detailed for sim racing it might be a big part of it, but, like you said, maybe more of a guide or a system or, hey, I think there are services that work out that well. My PC run this game well, right Is there a website for that.

Jason:

Correct A couple of sites like that, but not in general, but not for triple screens, right.

Ian:

Yeah.

Jason:

You know, we're rendering.

Jason:

You're rendering a game three times or you know it's unpredictable because, when I, you know, when a game is not really designed to do that, other than games that are designed right iRacing and um acc, ones that have that support, that are optimized so that way they can utilize the hardware, and that's when the game runs great because it's coded for that. Um, yeah, so that's the caveat, right. I mean you can, you could take it. You could take kind of like what I did with jeff and eric. Well, eric's. Eric kind of went his own path because he he's been building pcs for a while too. But with Jeff I had to tell him man, listen, if we're going to do something, we need to build something at least mid to high tier, because I don't want you to regret this two years down the road.

Jason:

And then you have a PC that can't keep up. And now he's doing VR and his VR headset works fine, which made me happy because I'm like cool man, we built something solid and he can use however he wants to use it, and that's kind of the. That's a gray area, man, because there's no data point I can use, other than if we're looking at teraflops and system memory and how machines work. To keep it simple, then I'll tell you we should be good.

Jason:

I can't guarantee it, but I'll tell you we should be pretty good and we haven't had a problem like that. Um, especially nowadays, modern PCs uh um if you're on the AM five platform.

Jason:

I believe any AM five platform should handle sim racing just fine, um, even even on the high settings, um, or even the ultra settings, you know. And if you have a single screen, that's less less stress on your machine. But you got to think if you have plans on adding two other monitors, then you have to build something that's capable for that extra power later that you're going to need. So, along with all the windows bugs and all with all the NVIDIA surround nonsense that we go through there's so many caveats, bro, there's so many variables, right, so many wrenches being thrown at you, it's hard to just say buy this, you're good. There is a learning curve with computers. Even if you didn't know how to build one, you start racing. You're gonna learn how to use a computer, you're gonna learn yeah, you're gonna learn how to maintenance your machine and I've learned that the hard way.

Jason:

Yeah, never thought I'd be uninstalling you know graphics drivers on a thursday night putting his computer up in the safe mode or cleaning out his registry, things that a normal user doesn't do, you know what I mean so, especially someone that just wants the sim race. They don't care about all this other pc stuff. You know what I mean.

Ian:

So that's me okay.

Jeff:

Yeah, I'm with you, dude, but I've learned that it's much like a car. You know there's maintenance that you have to do on it to make sure it's running optimally.

Jeff:

You know, just like a car oil changes and maintenance that you have to do on it to make sure it's running optimally, just like a car Oil changes and tire changes, and go on forever. I got a question I want to talk to you about. What do you see the future of sim racing looking like? Speaking of the future, does Ready Set Sim have any plans on attending the expo in chicago? Yes are you gonna be? There I'll have to, not to put you on the spot, but what's up?

Jason:

in chicago um looking forward to being there uh excellent yes I'll be there um oh, man, we get to meet you man. That'll be awesome. Man, I would love to to to shake your hand, because I think you're doing some. I think you're doing some next level stuff and I appreciate that the reason we were bringing all these ideas because we're excited because did something like that didn't exist, you know yeah I mean that developed.

Ian:

You know that's kind of cool uh yeah, yeah, it's kind of surprising, but I learned why. I'm like why has no one done this before? But it was not cheap and not easy. You know, to do this, to do it right. You know, um, we actually I should mention this earlier. Um, I'll answer your question, jeff, but there was someone who was doing something very similar to mine and he actually had a better product than mine. Um, and I found it through a reddit thread and I reached out to him. The company was called SimRacing Connect and I was like, hey, let's have a call.

Ian:

You know, and like everyone in Sim not everyone, a lot of people in SimRacing, a lot of Europeans. And so I thought he was going to be a French dude or something. And he was a college kid at Texas A&M and I'm like, what? This is sick. We hit it off real well. And we hit it off real well and I'm like, why don't you just come work for me? You know he was, he's a developer, really smart, bright kid, really cool guy, good, sim racer. And I'm like I don't know development, you know, I know business, I know how to grow it. You be my IT or my CTO, it technology officer. And he's like, absolutely, so we worked that out and so that's been an awesome enhancement. So now we have me kind of on the business side, and he's done a great job of really revamping our backend and really growing it in so much faster. Previous developers were great, but I'm trying to teach them sim racing. They're trying to talk to me in code Doesn't work out too well.

Ian:

So now I can just tell him hey, let's see this, what do you think about that? And he just, it goes fast. So, jack, jack, stacy, he's great, and you'll be seeing us two together a lot more over the next few months. So, future of sim racing I digress, I think, and I kind of touched on this a little bit too. I think we're seeing right now COVID was a big part of it how sim racing kind of blew up a little bit. People were stuck in the home, and then it was pretty fun to see. I think NASCAR did a sim racing event, and then F1 had their guys do an F1 event, but all sim racing because no one could actually race, and so I think that people are like oh, this is really cool. Started sim racing. We're seeing, recently now, more and more products coming out, because technology is getting better and the demand is there. I was at the Sim Racing Expo in Dortmund in the fall, and I was kind of shocked and like this is it was absurd how many new products and brands are coming out here right now within sim racing wheels, wheelbasesbases, pedals. Which goes to show, though, is that people are seeing that there's there's a huge market out there that's been untapped, and that main one has been the us, and I think we're seeing now it's really going to explode here what that means for current sim racers.

Ian:

In the future of it, I want sim racing to be mainstream. I want it to be like oh, I have a golf simulator at home and I have a sim rig at home. Right, everyone has definitely having golf sim leaders at home, um, or some sort of part of it, you know, and it's not as surprising used to be. I want sim racing to be the same way. There's hundreds of millions of automotive sport fans and car enthusiasts out there, um, just as much as it probably is with golf. The difference is, with golf, I can watch rory malkin, rory win the masters, and I can go golfing later that day. With sim racing, I can't do that, right, I can watch. That's an awesome analogy yeah, I love golf.

Jason:

We're big golf guys. Yeah, yeah, um and that's really.

Ian:

I can watch Max race at Spa or someone you know, William Byron race at Daytona, but now I actually can go do that, Like oh, that was really cool. I'm going to go try that line that I saw Max do in that overtake, Like that's such a cool thing that we can do now. People don't know that you can do that.

Jeff:

Like I'm driving Imola this week in the Mercedes car, just like they are this upcoming week.

Ian:

It's awesome, right, but?

Jeff:

your analogy was spot on, where you can go watch golf, but then you can't go back. You know and do it yourself. Um or you, excuse me, you can, but with the simulation you can't. So super cool yeah.

Ian:

And so that's where I think it's going to be. I think it's going to be more mainstream. It's going to hope I don't think it's gonna get cheaper per se. I think there's gonna be better options at a lesser price, you know, but there's gonna be better options at a probably better price as well. So, um, I think it's we're gonna see more professional, uh real life drivers come from sim racing like easier saying. I think it's gonna happen more and more and they're figuring out kind of the science like how do we physically train them? That's kind of the biggest thing to be able to race in a 401 car or in a gt3 car.

Jason:

Even so, um, I think that's the biggest challenge right there is the physical side of it.

Jeff:

That that's I still think that there's got to be the point. I'd love to talk to somebody that has done the transition because, at the end of the day, like you can drive it and getting around the car, getting around the track is one thing, but ultimately being ultimately responsible for half a million dollar piece of equipment is another thing altogether. That has to weigh on you. You know, from a mental portion. Not getting hurt, yeah, that's one thing, but then, like, hey, if I screw up, like there's a serious chunk of change that somebody is on the hook for.

Ian:

It's. That's the biggest thing too, I think, with with all sports. Right, there is the physical side, but there's the mental capacity that a lot of these experts have. And you talk about golf. Golf is a good analogy for that. I can make all those shots that I say this, I can make those shots, right, but can I do it day in, day out, over and over and over, and no, like I'm never even close? Yeah, I can hit a 150 yard shot within a foot of the hole, one out of every thousand shots, right, so it's, it's not about the physical capacity. And same thing with racing, right, it's what makes some of the best of the best so good. They're just machines and they the pressure they can put it away. That's including the racing. But then, yeah, you have a half a million dollar machine that you're responsible for now but I think it just what I know.

Jeff:

I keep you know, uh, expounding on what you said, but I think you said you made an awesome point that the untapped market that is, you know, north america really. Um, you know, if sim racing was a stock, I think you'd be crazy not to buy it with.

Ian:

You know just the trajectory that it's going as a whole, yeah, especially with it becoming much more popular here in north america yeah, I think the stats I've been seeing and it there's a lot of variable stats for what was the component revenue in the world in 2024. And everything I've seen I might get attached to this, but it was about $500 million is what I was seeing.

Ian:

Jeez Off from $250 million from 2020. So it's doubled since 2020. It'll double again, but it'll take a little bit longer. So they're expecting about 2030, 2031 to be at a billion dollar market. That's just components. It doesn't include software and everything else that goes with it. So people are bracing for it and there's a few leaders for the at home sim racing components, logitech being the number one. As much as we talk about the other stuff, logitech still dominates the at-home sim market but people are trying to kind of compete with them, which has been great. Thrustmaster is trying, you know, and some other Moza is putting together and Fanatec are putting together better starter kits. So they're getting close. But I think what's going to happen is that it's going to be easier to start, but then it'll be easier to make that that jump makes sense.

Jason:

Yeah, 100 man. Wow, all right, ian, I just want to say, man, that's, that's, that's an incredible, incredible thing you're doing and you're working on um. I'm already a huge fan.

Jeff:

It's awesome to talk to somebody that has such knowledge, just the business side of it, of like the numbers you were talking about you know that stuff is. I wouldn't even know where to begin to try to track down some of that information and it's just, it's cool to hear, to talk to and and I mean that's on top of you know, hearing your story and your passion for sim racing.

Ian:

Yeah Well, thank you. I mean again, you guys have done a great job of creating a community and your conversations are I've been fun to listen to and I've learned a lot from you guys, right again, I appreciate that. Still need a sim racing, right, you know, and I gotta pick your brain more on the pc side, because that's that's a whole other world, right?

Jason:

but it's so ingrained with sim racing so it's so important to us well, that's why's why this is, this is why I believe we have the greatest community right, because we're all here and we all can always get together. I mean, I'm telling you I've had more help. I'm not a know-it-all man, cause when I was starting out, I I had to get help too. You know what I mean.

Jason:

To start building my own stuff and I knew a thing or two of kind of what I wanted. But then I went through maybe five or six no five bases, I want to say, before I landed on a semi-cube. I kind of wish I went straight to the semi-cube, um but I didn't have a hard time.

Jeff:

I had somebody that was a pro at it just down the road. I mean I wish I'd never met him, cause I'd have like gold plated walls and stuff. But yeah.

Jason:

So Jeff, um, jeff didn't know me fully, so he wasn't prepared. I, I, I, I got him, but when he saw the, when he saw the receipt, he was like damn. I was like don't worry man.

Ian:

You won't regret it.

Jason:

Yeah.

Erick:

You won't regret it. Worth it, yeah, you won't regret it Worth it.

Jason:

But you're doing something that's even if you said before, you said it was being done before or somebody had some sort of version of it. You got to look at your thing as the evolution, the future of this ecosystem that you're trying to build I would even go as far as tell you if you have people installing, um you know, rigs and and equipment, I would just straight up open, open up retail at that point and just keep it all in-house.

Jason:

That way you can get you can get the sale from retail. The setup can automatically talk to a computer. That will put all the items in the cart. And when they hit checkout, there's a button that says do you want us to come into your house and build this? Yes, that's kind of where I would. Oh, I see. Well, I'm just saying it's an idea, it's an idea that's going through jason's head. You know what I mean. So great idea um, I just think about practicality, right.

Jason:

So I think that I think that you're a super bright and smart individual. Um, you know what you're doing. Um, you have the right creators. We're a fan of uh, we're a fan of two of those that you mentioned. So, yeah, hats off to you.

Jeff:

Jason, to your point. It's good to see that our sport or our hobby is in good hands, people that are passionate about what they're doing. Everybody that gets on is just so passionate about what they're doing, and it's good to see.

Jason:

Right and happy. Does it not make you happy? Because, yeah, absolutely, it makes everybody happy. It's like, oh snap, we have a tool and I'm so excited to tell you about it. Right, yeah, I'll call you up on the phone and say, dude, you gotta drop what you're doing, forget about this meeting. Hold on, go to this website real quick and check out this link and look at what this guy's doing.

Jason:

And then we found the love of 3D printing. Right Now we got Jeff sending us a hundred thousand messages and he's carbon fiber wrapping and he's showing it so it can glow in the light. It's just this whole community right? This whole community as a whole is full of love. It is, it's full of love and I'm just, I'm excited. I'm excited. I can't wait to see what you do with it, ian. Honestly, I can't wait to see this develop, and I mean it's developed, but I want to see it develop more.

Jeff:

To the moon.

Erick:

Yes To the moon. That vision is crazy right now the vision.

Jason:

He's got the vision. Yeah, 100, um so well. I appreciate your work yeah, yeah, yeah.

Ian:

No, it's people like you who why we do this, and we know that. Um, it wouldn't. If it was just me and not the community, I, I wouldn't be able to get this done. I won't learn enough. I wouldn't be able to morph it to what we need current sim racers and what future sim racers need. So, again, we need more people like you too in the communities, spreading the love of sim racing. We appreciate that, is that a word? Sim, missionaries, sim missionaries 100%. Sim missionaries.

Jason:

Yeah, all right, I. I think this concludes the the the interview portion. I will do a round table with the gents. I have nothing more. Uh for ian, I think I just want to thank him personally for coming on the show again. Yeah, um, it is a whole, nother different time over there. I can't even pretend well, I don't even know what time it is over there but thank you.

Erick:

So much for the weekend. It's a weekend.

Jason:

So thank you so much, and I really hope you enjoy your time out there. I love it out there. Yeah, just take it all in, dude. Just take it all in before your next big move. Take advantage of it, guys. You got anything, eric Jeff, what we got for roundtables.

Erick:

For me, nothing. I definitely want to thank Ian for coming on and sharing the story with us. We always love when we have guests that come on, especially people that are making the sim racing community better and just kind of forging a path forward and bringing everybody else along with them with their passion for sim racing. We appreciate it and appreciate you supporting us, supporting the podcast.

Jason:

Oh yes, Thank you for being a listener and follower. Appreciate you, man.

Jeff:

Yeah, just to polish off what everybody else said Best of luck on your move to denver. Uh, you know, congratulations with your little one and uh, best of luck in the future and, if you know, if you need anything, we're just a phone call away.

Jason:

Your friend of the show thank you, appreciate it hey, denver's not too far from hawaii man, so the lower 48 problems don't apply. Okay, all right, well, ian, thanks again. I really appreciate it. Thank you guys so much. And yeah, check out Ready Set Sim Links in the description. We will leave all the links to his social platforms as well, and Instagram and all those goodness, and with that, guys 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