What to Expect from The SimGaming Expo

The countdown to gaming history has begun! In this electrifying episode, we're joined by George Anzaldo, the visionary founder behind the SimGaming Expo – America's first-ever major simulation gaming convention happening September 5-7, 2025, at the Schaumburg Convention Center near Chicago.

George reveals how this groundbreaking event has expanded to include over 50 brands and more than 40 physical booths since our last conversation. The expo floor is nearly bursting with simulation hardware spanning racing, flight, and farming simulators – creating an unprecedented gathering for enthusiasts from across the spectrum of virtual worlds. Most exciting? IndyCar legend and Indy 500 champion Tony Kanaan will be making a special appearance at SimuCube's booth, offering meet-and-greets and even announcing races!

The passion behind this venture resonates throughout our conversation as George candidly shares the emotional rollercoaster of bringing this dream to life. What began nearly two years ago as a vision to unite the simulation community has evolved into a massive undertaking with international participation. Despite the challenges and sleepless nights, his unwavering commitment to creating a space where gamers can connect, experience cutting-edge technology hands-on, and celebrate their shared passion shines through.

From the SimGaming Expo Challenge Series with its 600+ participants narrowed down to 30 finalists who'll compete live on the show floor, to dedicated VR experiences, panel discussions, and even Stern Pinball machines – this isn't just an expo, it's a celebration of simulation gaming culture. Whether you're a hardcore sim racer, a casual flight sim enthusiast, or simply curious about this growing world, the SimGaming Expo promises something for everyone.

Don't miss this chance to be part of history at the inaugural SimGaming Expo. Connect with the community, try the latest gear firsthand, and witness exclusive product reveals that will shape the future of simulation gaming. Use code CHICANE10 for a discount on tickets, and we'll see you there!

https://simgamingexpo.com/

Sim Gaming Expo Live Stream: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVseDUswfg8

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome and Introductions
• 1:49 Announcements
• 5:42 Main Discussion
• 1:21:48 Final Thoughts

Transcript

Jason: 0:34

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 Mr George Anzaldo, the founder of the Sim Gaming Expo. How is everyone doing today?

Jeff: 0:51

Dudes, glad to be back. Missed the last one. You guys took care of business, crushed it with the episode, but I'm back, ready to hit it hard here.

Jason: 1:00

Oh yeah, there you go, Eric George hey man.

Jorge: 1:03

Happy to have you back. Doing good man. It oh yeah, there you go, eric, george man, happy to have you back doing good man. It's crunch time, baby, but uh, we're hanging in there george, awesome seeing you again.

Jeff: 1:09

Buddy. Yeah, actually you look a lot better. I was expecting to see like bags under the eyes from lack of sleep and stuff, so it's the it's the extra lighting I think okay it's hiding hiding the stress marks but, uh, no, we're good, you know we're, we're, we're hanging in there and we're like two weeks away, basically.

Jorge: 1:26

So, yeah, countdown's on. Happy to talk with you guys again.

Jeff: 1:29

It's the final countdown.

Jason: 1:33

Let's go Hell yeah, man. I can't wait to get into this man, but let's welcome back Jeff Smart. Jeff, welcome back. I know you took a little mini vacation, a little one Maybe.

Jeff: 1:46

Welcome back, I know you took a little mini vacation, a little one Maybe, sort of Sort of We'll leave it at that.

Jason: 1:49

Yeah, welcome back, buddy. Great to be back with you guys. Awesome man, and I don't really have anything to cover. This week there's been a lot of news dropping, especially with Moza. Moza's been, it's Moza time, that's what that sounds like. So, but, eric, how was your week? You have any announcements, brother? Anything?

Erick: 2:11

nah, man doing good still, you know, grinding away on the YouTube channel trying to get that straightened out got to do a little racing little streaming.

Jason: 2:19

TechJet Gaming. Everybody. Go ahead and subscribe, support Eric Kelly. Also, make sure you follow jeff smart. You know jeff smart's been putting out content as well. And of course, mr george onzaldo that's uh definitely.

Jason: 2:33

This guy got billboards, bro, I'm telling you it's getting real, that's right he, he's going hard over there, but we'll get to him very, very soon. I can't wait. But for today's Simdustry News update I'll hand it over to Mr Kelly. We got some quick news to announce here to fire up the interview with George. But, eric, please, if you may, yeah, yeah, real quick.

Erick: 2:59

I want to touch on a new announcement. You mentioned Moza earlier. They are definitely flooding the streets. Yes, partnership, they have released another officially licensed wheel from porsche this another porsche wheel.

Jorge: 3:14

Oh my god, after the gt3rs you get a.

Jeff: 3:17

Yeah, you got a porsche I'm telling you, I'm still waiting on mine, but you know we'll talk about that later yeah, go ahead, buddy, sorry, oh yeah no, man, uh, that's, that's cool.

Erick: 3:30

I'm still waiting on my porsche man, so you know I know right make sure they.

Erick: 3:35

Yeah, we get them rounds in. But yeah, this wheel is interesting, so it's a like I say it's modeled after the gt3rs. It's a 330 millimeter um wheel. Uh, some decent materials being used in it, some microfiber leather. It's got a 2.99 inch display on it. Uh, supposed to be customizable. Uh, carbon fiber reinforced. Uh backplate. Uh, magnetic forged carbon dual paddle. So some premium materials here. Um one interesting note the display is actually 60 hertz. So that should be, should be interesting. Um, they said they kind of basically took that.

Erick: 4:11

Yeah, they said they took the gt3rs wheel and then kind of added in some sim specific, you know, additions to it. So should be, should be interesting.

Jason: 4:21

Um, yeah, looks good yeah, most volcors, I mean at least the basic ones, not the newer ones, but the ones that we've been using for years have always been uh, 30 fps, I mean. So 60 would be a nice smooth, uh display. You know, three inch display. Basically, I don't know why they say 299, just say three.

Jeff: 4:43

I mean right it-, right, it sounds better, I guess I guess Where's the measurement I know.

Jason: 4:49

Somebody's going to take a ruler to this.

Erick: 4:50

Precision or trying to Exactly, I don't know, trying to dodge something. So the worst case is actually not even 2.99. That's the stretch. The marketing material always kind of pushes everything to the limit, so Somebody's going to put a ruler or a caliper on it and be like it's 2.92 or something like that.

Jason: 5:10

Well, I'll say this Either way, I'm not sure if Moza is going to the SimGaming Expo. It would have been nice to have them there and display this on at least a prototype. Along with other wheels will see, because games con at the time of this recording is happening so we can't really update you in real time. News might be coming out right now, right now but I as we speak, yes, but but I got george here. He'll probably yell at me no, I'm just kidding, george. I love you, bro, I really do man.

Jason: 5:47

Man, this George, been being back and forth. Welcome back to the show. I've been excited, man. I wanted to get you on for, like the deal, what is happening a week and a half from now? Basically because by the time this thing airs it's crunch time. It's already crunch time, the lights are coming on, the ac is getting fired up, hopefully, and um and yeah, I'm excited. So I'll, you know, I'll, I guess I'll get right into it, man.

Jason: 6:24

So let's go from the very, a very simple question From the last time that you were here. Can you give us a break? This is going to be hard too, because you guys go on on the Instagram.

Jeff: 6:37

There's like announcements every other day. I know it's honestly like that. I get out of work and I'm like there's George again.

Erick: 6:44

George is at work.

Jason: 6:45

George is up. George, discord is green and it's three, three, four, five in the morning. He's up. I'm like George.

Jorge: 6:52

I may not be able to get them all done in time. To be honest, we got this queue going, which is a beautiful thing, but, no, a lot's happened since the last time we talked and, um, I'd probably say, to summarize it, probably about another 30 brands associated with the event.

Jorge: 7:09

You know yeah, we're nice. We're somewhere around 50 now and we've hit past the actual like 40 mark with regards to physical booths with these companies. But we've had other brands that are have been jumping in and providing support in different ways, whether it be software, hardware. Um, it's been, it's been really cool to see and then, finally, like, companies reaching out to us, which was just really really cool, and I can't wait to tell you a little bit more about that, cause this one's like hot off the press and we haven't announced it anywhere yet.

Jorge: 7:44

So, um, again, like as I mentioned before, I really truly believe that there's going to be like an action packed weekend and there's going to be something for everyone and definitely enough to to keep people busy and entertained all weekend long. It's going to be so much fun. Again, like this, this dream, this vision that I had, this, you know this again, this picture, how I imagined it, it seems like it's really coming to fruition now and I'm just so excited and I can't wait to welcome everyone to the show here when we open doors on September 5th.

Jeff: 8:21

I can't wait for you to open doors on September 5th either.

Jorge: 8:24

I know, it's going to be a lot of fun. Yeah, we're hard at work. As you mentioned, we're doing like our final preparations. We finally got our lanyards. Those were printed and those are ready to go.

Jorge: 8:40

So we'll actually be doing like a proper reveal here sometime very soon. So we'll actually be doing like a proper reveal here sometime very soon. Our badges are designed and those are waiting for final printing, but, yeah, it's going to be really cool. I love the design. I think it falls in line with our aesthetic and we were able to add, you know, like our sponsors and so, for example, like special guests, exhibitors, attendees and staff, like they'll all have their own unique, individual color and and design. So I, yeah, it's, it's really cool. There's so much um and it's a lot to unpack, but definitely I'm I'm happy to to be here with you guys again and answer all your questions and hopefully we can give everyone a great update on on the status of the show as, as we sit right now.

Jason: 9:23

I'm absolutely pumped for this. I can't wait.

Jason: 9:25

Are you really. I mean, I'll tell you, I can't wait. Time has moved along pretty quickly and, if you guys can catch my drift, the world's been changing, but then it seems like sim racing hasn't slowed down at all. We've had so many product reveals since you've been here. I know GSI is revealing something on at the show floor and they've been teasing it all a lot on their social platform. So if you guys are GSI fans I am and I don't even own a GSI, but I'm a huge fan of what they represent and I know the quality of their products. And to be able to witness a reveal of a product in person is very different than to see it in a video or to hear it in a podcast. So just keep that in mind to hear it in a podcast. So just keep that in mind.

Jason: 10:24

Before we move on, just a quick disclaimer. You do not have to be there all three days. So if you feel like you can't make it a Friday or something, don't skip out on Saturday and Sunday. They're still jam-packed events all three days. If you can only make one day, then make that time for that one day. I promise you. Um, um, we'll, we'll.

Jeff: 10:52

We'll talk to george if you're not happy, we'll pull them over, or something exactly definitely yeah, it just blows me away because you were brought up the lanyards and the badging and I'm like I didn't even think I wouldn't even have thought about needing badging and lanyards and didn't even think I wouldn't even have thought about needing badging and lanyards and all those type of things that you need to have a successful event. So, uh, yeah, yeah, as you said that, I was like, oh my god, like how?

Jason: 11:14

many swag bags that I gotta do it right, man. Yeah, do it right. Yes, that's, that's legitimate. I love it. And then that's memorabilia already right there yeah, exactly you official tissue then yes, I know it's, it's gonna be cool.

Jorge: 11:30

Yeah, we're finalizing our graphics as well. Like that's the thing there's. There's so much that you know I've been a part of and that I haven't really been able to share fully yet with everyone, that it's just like I'm just holding all this inside, like there's product reveals that I've been privy to, that I obviously can't share. And, for example, like sitting in in for meetings when some of the brands have been talking about their booths and kind of like the design elements and things like that that they they're trying to achieve. And but it's, it's, it's almost here and I can't wait for everyone to see it when they walk through the doors, I mean, I think you can breathe again, george, soon, trust me you'll be fine.

Jorge: 12:11

The lineup of uh exhibitors as you first walk in, I mean, I think people are just going to be blown away. I mean, those like, basically, are our primary like platinum sponsors and our major sponsors. They're, they're all lined up as soon as you walk through the door. It's going to be bam, bam, bam bam. So it's going to be, it's going to be sweet, um, and then it just it just goes on from there. We've got, as you mentioned, we've got a lineup of stuff. Our, our main uh competition area will have 15 fully decked out cockpits with a number of different things happening throughout the entirety of the weekend. We'll have our media stage, which I think we're just shy maybe like one or two presentation spots, I mean, and we're talking nearly almost like 20 hours worth of different different panels. And yeah, it's, I'm telling you, um, it's gonna be really, really cool. Um, I can't believe how all this actually came together. You know, I mean it it seemed like such a daunting task, but it we chipped away at it little by little.

Erick: 13:14

It's a daunting. Yeah, yeah, it's not. It seems like you know you're right you're right, I won't.

Jorge: 13:19

I won't downplay that. I mean definitely um, it's bad because you were you. We're not gonna let you.

Jason: 13:26

I know, I know you, you were, I'm telling you, when he first came on the show. It was a little different, right?

Erick: 13:31

there was more.

Jason: 13:32

There was more of a wishful, but now it's like you're in a great position right now you know what I mean. You're. You're actually, oh you know, pretty much fully booked out, you know, I would say you know, yeah, yeah, and for the first event, that's impressive already you know pretty much fully booked out.

Jorge: 13:45

You know.

Jason: 13:45

I would say you know yeah yeah, and for the first event, that's impressive. Already you know to have that much, you know um content and you know, have all these different, the different brands that that are coming in. They, I told you they might come in late. I mean, that's how it is, man. Man, some people just you're right.

Jorge: 14:04

You're right, I think, when I'm, you know, when you're going through it and you're, you know, you're, you're looking at the screen every day and you're seeing, like what you think it could be and it's like taking time.

Jorge: 14:16

It's really really tough, you know, and then, you know, sometimes those moments of of doubt or just fear of, of wondering, like, what's going to happen, like you know, what did we start, what are we getting ourselves into? But that was the thing that, regardless of those times and, as I mentioned before, like those roller coaster of emotions that I've been through over the last almost two years straight, I always kind of kept that, that vision and that dream in the back of my head and that's what really motivated me and pushed me to kind of keep moving forward, because I really do, you know, I, I just want to share this with everyone, for all of us. You know what I mean. Like, I think, equally, there's something that we all love about this that's universal, and and that's that's what I want to bring to the table and bring people together to enjoy that and do it here, because it's never been done before.

Jorge: 15:16

So, yeah, just, I think the responsibility of it all at times has really weighed heavily on me, but, again, like, that was also that, that extra drive and that motivation to just no, you're not giving up, you're going to keep working and you're not going to stop, because people are counting on you and and this is going to happen, whether, whether I like it or not, like there was no turning back. So my, my goal and my focus was to try to make it the absolute best event that I could possibly. You know that it could be, and, and I think I'm sure.

Jason: 15:50

First, year.

Jorge: 15:50

Yeah, I'm I'm proud of what we've done. I know that there's going to be things, maybe that little hiccups, uh, throughout the weekend, but it's obviously it's a very steep learning curve.

Jason: 16:04

And we'll kind of move from.

Jorge: 16:05

there 100%.

Jason: 16:07

The actual event has not happened yet. So that is the other, I guess you know. I guess the other side of the learning experience of actually running one of these is you have to go through it. You know you could prepare for so much right and you still got to go through with it before you could. You could prepare for so much right and, yeah, you still got to go through with it before you. Really, I guess it's just something that has to happen and it will happen and I'm pretty sure it's going to be awesome.

Jorge: 16:35

Yeah I'm definitely looking forward to it. The nice thing, like on the exhibitor side of it. You know these companies, they know what they're doing. They show up, they have their, their booths and their products.

Jorge: 16:46

Yeah, and and I think that happens very organically and naturally it's it's all the other stuff that has to get coordinated, like all these competitions, making sure that people are where they're supposed to be at the right time, and now we're adding broadcasts into the mix and making sure you know again like we're managing this schedule. We've got this streaming room for sim racing, there's a podcast booth and then, you know, we've got this just massive list of creators that we're making sure. You know what I'm saying Like we're bouncing them around and they're in their right spot at the right time. It's going to be maybe a little bit of like controlled chaos, you know, but yeah, like let it come, you know, and we're gonna, we're gonna make the most of it and I think, I think everything's going to be okay in the end. Yeah, right.

Erick: 17:36

Well, it'll be fun.

Jeff: 17:38

Yeah, I'm sure it's going to be awesome because everybody that's going there is going there for the same reason, because of a shared passion over it, meeting other people that are like-minded, you know. So I'm sure you're going to have hiccups, george, but at the end of the day, I am sure that this is going to be an outstanding success because everybody's there is. It's just a catalyst to bring everybody together to experience all these you know, everybody else's products and the discussions and the podcast and everything that involves around the sim racing or the sim expo is just going to be awesome.

Jorge: 18:13

The fun thing has also been just seeing the excitement from the exhibitors as well, because they've been to other shows. They have a good idea and understanding of you know what's a good show and and if something's being run well and and so it seems like you know people like they've, they've appreciated the way they've been treated and, um, they're, they're excited, they're excited for this one. So, um, yeah, I think everything's gone pretty smoothly in terms of those logistics and kind of stuff behind the scenes, where it it felt like a fairly smooth process for bringing exhibitors on board. And, yeah, so it's so far again, like the stage is set. You know, we just we just waiting for this final countdown. The final countdown yeah, I can't use that because that's copyrighted. I'm going to get the hell out of this show.

Jason: 19:11

But look it up.

Jorge: 19:12

It's a song from the 80s. You might have a suggestion Play that. Oh, I'm very familiar with it.

Jason: 19:20

Play it as we walk in dude the final countdown.

Jorge: 19:25

When I'm typing away at the keyboard and sending out my 100th email of the day or whatever, I've got the Rocky IV soundtrack blasting in the background. I've got Survivor. It's just like those motivational, like all the training montage music from all those epic movies.

Jason: 19:41

I use that to run, bro, when I go running on the gym.

Erick: 19:45

Gotta get that motivation in.

Jason: 19:46

It will definitely keep you going, bro, but let's move on to the next question here. But that's all awesome.

Erick: 19:53

I love it, yeah so I was going to ask I know you mentioned some things you were worried about were the room blocks in particular, anything that you were really worried about filling up? I mean, obviously, as soon as we heard about it we were like oh yeah, that's gonna sell out.

Jorge: 20:11

But just kind of like, from your perspective, was that one of the things you were worried about oh man, yeah, big time yeah I mean because this is the thing, like when we signed with the convention center, we also signed for the room block and that's day one, you know, and we originally we did like a hundred, uh, hundred nights or a hundred rooms uh per night on like thursday, friday, saturday, so it's like if, if this didn't happen, they're like well, ge George, you're responsible for over 300 hotel nights.

Jorge: 20:50

So it's like all right, you're responsible, so figure it out, my trainer thought was like all right, well, if there's 50 exhibitors, then there's at least two staff members per booth and okay, we should be good, right. And then everything was kind of moving slowly and I'm like even the convention convention center was like are you guys good? Like I, you know it's the room blocks, like it's gonna be okay. And then, yeah, it really picked up and it's really cool. Like, actually, there's a graph like I can see all this stuff, and it was like kind of really slow and then it just it just you know, and and then it eventually filled up. And so I'm reaching out to the housing coordinators at the Marriott that's attached to the convention center and they added additional rooms for us. And then they kept adding. And then eventually they're like George, no, no, you, you have to, we have to make an addendum to your contract.

Jason: 21:40

You're, you're, you know there's, there's too many rooms we need to.

Jorge: 21:43

we need to make sure that you're responsible for that, like oh great. So then they they added another they wanted it in writing as well as they wanted yeah, so they added an additional 20 per night, and then they added more, and then, uh, those got booked up within like four or five days.

Jason: 21:59

So oh awesome yeah, we're, we've.

Jorge: 22:03

we've exceeded our commitments, and then five days.

Jason: 22:06

That's awesome, bro. Think about it, that's less than a week.

Jorge: 22:10

That's great. So it's, it's. It's there. Now there are some other hotels in the area, because right now the room block is currently full. You can still call the hotel at the convention center to check for availability, but there is also three minutes down the road there is a Embassy Suites Hilton, which is you could walk from there to the convention center. It's like a three-minute car ride. Now the thing is is there's a number of hotels that are in the Schaumburg area, but until I filled that room block, I couldn't advertise it because I'd just be putting myself on the hook.

Jorge: 22:47

No of course you got to fulfill the contract. Yeah 100,000%. We were able to take care of that, and now we're happy to be able to tell people that, yes, they're.

Jason: 22:59

Honestly, the prices of the rooms were pretty damn fair for the convenience of literally walking downstairs and you're in the expo. You know that's killer for me, you can't beat that.

Jorge: 23:17

I can't wait for everyone to see the Convention Center Hotel. It's amazing, it's modern.

Jason: 23:23

They got a bar too. I heard oh yeah, they got a bar. They got a a bar too. I heard oh yeah, they got a bar.

Jorge: 23:26

They got a restaurant. I heard it closes at 11. You got Starbucks there. I mean it's.

Jason: 23:32

Oh, perfect, that's it.

Jorge: 23:33

That's all we need. It's awesome man.

Jason: 23:35

It's got all the major food groups. Yeah.

Erick: 23:37

That's it.

Jason: 23:45

That's it, we got stuff for the morning and for the night. We're good, we're good to go.

Jorge: 23:52

Yeah, they actually have like a vending machine with everything every kind of toiletry, and they have everything there. It's a great venue. I think people are going to be blown away. To be quite honest, I mean, I know there's all kinds of convention centers. It's a great venue. Um, I think I think people are going to be blown away. To be quite honest, I mean, I know there's there's all kinds of convention centers, but I'm really fond of the schaumburg convention center. Again, I, I think I I couldn't have picked a better place to to kick this thing off.

Jason: 24:15

So I'm really excited to I, I agree with you and I I mentioned this um on I I forget which episode. It was, like maybe two or three episodes back. We actually made a mention of that Is that you're trying to strategically put this event into a place where it's not so bad for the European market to come over, because if you took it to Vegas, yeah, that would be kind of difficult, right, because that'll be even further or more expensive, or just harder yeah, now it's hard on us on hawaii it doesn't matter it doesn't matter where it's at if it's in hawaii.

Jason: 24:57

then if you guys want to listen, if you guys want to move the venue to hawaii, I'm telling you, man, man, we got some Aloha stuff here. You know we'll hook it up. So just an idea, yeah.

Jorge: 25:08

Well, my goal is, my goal is to completely sell out that place. You know, and maybe it takes us a few years and then we'll see what the future holds. You know, they have they have a whole, other huge like banquet hall, other huge like banquet hall. It's probably like another hundred thousand square feet, and then there's still an additional 33,000 square feet in the in the main exhibit hall where we're at. And then there's the whole hotel has like 500 rooms. So, technically, like, you know what I mean, but there's a lot of areas for growth. There's so many more smaller banquet halls that are anywhere from maybe like 800 to a few thousand square feet. There's a lot of room there. So it's definitely room for growth. But yeah, we'll see what the future holds.

Jason: 25:54

There we go, let's hope for the future. Let's get through this one. Let's have a blast and make it bigger next year. A hundred percent, a hundred percent.

Jeff: 26:04

All right, george, question for you. You just talking about rooms for the vendors to come set up. What other? What? Some of the updates when it comes to vendors, companies, guest speakers that you've had since you've last been on? You know, you don't have to give us, you know the date exactly of when you were on last, but just you know ones that have came out recently.

Jorge: 26:21

Yeah, the biggest one is tony kanan is coming to sim gaming expo indy 500 champion tony bro, so stoked about that.

Jorge: 26:30

It's wild it is. You know he's had a relationship with simucube and and a number of other brands in the sim racing space for for quite some time. But uh, yeah, he'll be collaborating with simucube and doing a meet and greet at their booth on Saturday at 2 pm and he'll also they're doing a cool time attack where Tony will set a time in the morning on Saturday the 6th and at they'll have the public, you know, setting laps and times and at like 415, he will actually present the prize and the award to the winner and he's also going to be a co-announcer for one of the IndyCar races that is happening in the competition area.

Jason: 27:15

So it's really, really cool. Let's go Tony, let's go man.

Jorge: 27:19

It's so cool. I mean he's a busy guy. You know, he's a really busy guy.

Jeff: 27:23

The dude's won the Indy 500. Oh, I know, yeah, he's a busy guy.

Jorge: 27:26

you know he's a really busy guy and the dude's won the indy 500 like oh I know, yeah, it's hard to wrap your head around and and season champion as well in indycar. So just it's really cool because, as I mentioned, I've been an indycar fan for many years, since I was a kid. So, like I remember, when tony entered the, the indycar series it was known as cart back back in the day, so I kind of watched him, you know, as he got his career started and I was actually there too when he won his indy 500. It's uh, it's really cool. And then during covid, you know, all the drivers were keeping themselves busy, sim racing and, as we talked about before, I used to run the lionheart racing series, which was an indycar league, and t during COVID came and hung out with us and he raced in a few races with us which was really special.

Jason: 28:10

That's awesome.

Jorge: 28:12

This now is kind of coming full circle, but I've really never been like in a true interaction with tony in person. It's always been kind of virtual.

Jason: 28:23

So again like this is going to be, that'd be the first for all of us, honestly, yeah yeah, so, so tk is coming.

Jorge: 28:30

Um, man, there's so much. Uh, we we just again. This is a like a first. We have not released this anywhere yet publicly hell yeah chicane.

Jason: 28:41

Chicane podcast. Yeah yeah Turtle.

Jorge: 28:44

Turtle, turtle Beach. Turtle Beach is uh is coming to the show. Uh, they are going to be supporting our PC gaming area with uh, basically seven full decked out uh combat and general aviation flight gear, as well as eight of their sim racing setups. So we're gonna have nice. And that opened the door, because now we got connected with dcs and there's also another creator. His name's baltic dragon. He makes custom third-party missions for dcs, so they're coming oh my god so we're basically know, as we get me a flight stick again.

Jason: 29:23

Yeah, yeah, did.

Jeff: 29:24

I get right into this at the perfect time.

Jason: 29:27

Yes, you did. We will cover that on the next episode, but. Jeff is definitely stepping in that in that world just a tad bit. So this will be good, this will be great.

Jorge: 29:36

So, so there's going to be a Turtle Beach takeover, you know, throughout the weekend at various times. So that's when you'll see Turtle Beach gear in that entire LAN area and we'll be playing a number of different games. So I think it's going to be awesome. Gosh who else man there's so many VPG Sim is going to be there. They're going to have a number of wheels.

Jason: 29:59

Hell yes, vpg. Shout out to VPG. They shared our last video. Thank you so much. I really appreciate very cool, very supportive of the show and I can't wait for that porsche wheel.

Jeff: 30:12

I saw some of the comments on the last video listen.

Jason: 30:18

I yeah, there's some things I need to reveal too, but that's going to have to wait, that's going to have to wait a little, surprise coming down VRS.

Jorge: 30:27

Yeah, vrs, they joined. Yeah, there's another motion platform company called Dof Reality. They're there. Sim department is co-exhibiting with SimCraft man. There's. It's a hefty list. Yeah, it's. You got to check out the website because there's so many. We've had a couple more publishers come on board. A big one, giant Software.

Jorge: 30:50

They're going to be physically exhibiting, which is super cool oh nice, yeah, makers of Farming Simulator and, as you know, they're working with Straight Force Studios. They're coming out with a new sim title which is going to be really, really cool. Um, man, just uh, it's like it's it's hard because there's been so many. It's like trying to keep up. Oh, toby, toby, uh, who makes the eye tracker?

Jason: 31:13

5 is going to be toby eye tracker the wireless yep, so they came on board that's good for truck driving. That's what I used to use it for yeah, I mean it's, it's pretty cool oh you look left and then the whole camera moves.

Jorge: 31:25

It's kind of dope how can I forget this one podium, one podium. One's gonna be there, there would you say?

Jorge: 31:31

you say podium one yeah, yeah, we. We worked hard in terms of outreach and then a while back it didn't seem like it was possible. But they've collaborated with corsair and that was enough to to be able to get them to attend. So I'm so excited that Podium One is coming and it sounds like Corsair is like stepping up big time. I mean, they're going to have, along with Podium One, they're sharing like an eighteen hundred square foot booth. It's going to be massive. Oh wow.

Jorge: 32:02

Yeah, race Data ai is coming out. Um gosh that's. Let's see, this is like oh, and here's another one, that's rocking and rolling man skilarki electronics uh, they actually, they're really, really big in the high-end uh flight sim department. They actually have a full airbus cockpit like they're bringing this.

Jorge: 32:27

I mean it's a two-seater, that's it's got everything high as high end as you could go. I mean it's it's beautiful and we're so excited to have them because again it like it brings a little bit more diversity to the show. Um racing fuel simulators. They're based out of switzerland, they're teaming up with omp, like come on oh, I'm an omp fanatic too. I love all this stuff they're going to be displaying some of their seats, I'm told as well as oh yeah merch. But yeah, see, controls is coming this is a massive opportunity.

Jason: 32:59

I have to mention buying a bucket seat and finding a place to try these.

Erick: 33:05

That's nearly impossible, it don't exist.

Jeff: 33:06

You bring up an excellent point.

Jason: 33:08

You have to have a Sparkle dealer, or that's if you want to go with Sparkle, right. But what if you want to buy something different? Or what if you want to test the difference? Right.

Jeff: 33:20

Or just sit in a molded seat Right. Is this what it's cracked up to be?

Jason: 33:24

Yeah, is it?

Jeff: 33:25

by the measurement.

Jason: 33:26

Because they'll give you dimensions, but that doesn't really. Sometimes the body is not 100% shaped the same. Everybody's different. You might have some a little on this side.

Jorge: 33:40

It might be uneven.

Jason: 33:42

That's a great point, though, man.

Jorge: 33:44

We've got two others. We've got two others. So, everyone was kind of asking where's the VR? Where's the VR? There's a VR guy in your logo, but you don't have any VR.

Jason: 33:55

So I said, all right, I'm going to get you some VR.

Jorge: 33:57

So we've got a company they're called VR Villa, and so they We've got a company they're called VR Villa, and so they they travel to a number of different cons and expos and things like that. So they're coming and they're going to have a basically like 1400 square foot booth with an additional 300 square feet, and so what they are going to do is they're going to have upwards of, I think, 28 VR stations where they'll have a number of different games that are going to be played over the course of the weekend. So there'll be standing stations as well as a few that are sitting. But, yeah, people are going to be able to experience VR. They have a fleet of, I believe, metaquest 3Ss and just a number of different games, so people are going to actually be able to experience VR.

Jorge: 34:45

And then also, too, like it's cool, because I was thinking and that was one of the questions like people are coming with their families or with younger, younger kids, and you know these motion Sims and maybe some of the equipment is just it's just not not suitable for them. You know, you, you think of the direct drive wheelbases with all the torque and you know you don't want some small child to have some kind of injury or something. So, yeah, this VR area is a place where, you know, younger kids could still come out and have a lot of fun, as well as like our PC gaming area. And then here's another one that's also very family friendly and we were super excited about Stern Pinball is going to be showing up at our show and bringing a number of games. Yeah, I mean, it's not necessarily simulation, but it is definitely, you know, themed in terms of gaming. That's okay, man, I'm a big pinball fan.

Jason: 35:42

Listen it's all right to throw some things in the mix, yeah yeah, so so stern pinball, yeah, welcome aboard, listen yeah and I want, I want to say this rocket that's it because we headed to the moon baby.

Jeff: 35:56

I'm gonna state the obvious here.

Jason: 35:57

But this is a. This is a racing simulator. That doesn't mean that it has to be only racing. You can attach anything you want to this and you can run flight simulators. You can run truck simulators like me. Jeff's getting into flight sim, now he's getting into combat stuff. You can even do farming on this thing. So don't look at it like it's a rig and it has to do one thing. That is false. Okay, so that's excellent news. I'm pretty sure we left out a few, because the amount of posts that I've seen since you've been on the show because you came on at an early time.

Jason: 36:36

Yeah, that's way more than this, but I think you hit. I think you got the heavy hitters. You know you that's, and and that's the important thing is to to get those out the way. So, tony, I can't wait to meet you. Tony, yeah, if you're watching this, so cool.

Jeff: 36:50

Jason and and george to those like a lot of those partners that have that are going to be there, have pushed out new products in the last couple weeks. Oh yeah, you know so it's another opportunity to you know, touch, feel, see, check out.

Jeff: 37:04

It's not old stuff that we're looking at Ask the people questions about it and not just watch some YouTube video of somebody that probably got the product for free. Wouldn't dare say something bad about him Not that I'll do that, but you know at least you're talking to him, feeling the object asking questions.

Erick: 37:20

He questions though.

Jeff: 37:21

Yeah, yeah, you know so it's perfect opportunity for that too.

Jorge: 37:25

Absolutely. And and what better way to really let your voice be heard to these brands, especially if you're a fan of that brand and you? You know that's the way to do it. Get there, tell these, tell these companies like, right up front, and that's that's what they want.

Jason: 37:58

They want that direct feedback and there's nothing, like you know, a true's just an example, right? So, uh, I'm excited. I'm excited just as much for the flight stuff because again, there's always new things coming out and something might be more compact or something might create like a way to fold it out the way so you can go back to racing and when you want to go flying you just go like that. Or you know, I've seen many iterations of tricks, tips and tricks on the internet, but to be able to touch it and see it and try it, it's. I can't state it enough, man, that you can't this. It's just go. Please go to the expo, Hang out with us, but let's keep this going. Switching gears I know I'm all over the place, but so, George, how tell me about this cup car? You know the cup car racing. How did that shape out in person over there in Chicago, man? How did that shape out in person over there in Chicago, man?

Jorge: 39:02

Yeah, yeah. So this is something that we've been working on. Now there's a number of different competitions that are taking place over the weekend, but this one's our flagship competition and it is the SimGaming Expo Challenge Series presented by Simucube, and so it started off. It was open to everyone on the iRacing platform. So, basically, worldwide, we ran a time attack for two weeks and we had about 600 people place times. Now, from there, we said, okay, we're going to have some online qualifiers. We'll take the top 75 fastest people who had confirmed tickets or, if they were from outside of the us, that they had confirmed travel plans, and then we took those 75 and we hosted a three race series, basically, where we had 25 in each heat, basically, and then we took the top 10 from each of those races and those 30 are comprising the field for the in-person tournament at Sim Gaming Expo.

Jason: 40:06

Nice bro.

Jorge: 40:07

Yeah, and then you'll see these guys battling out all weekend long.

Jason: 40:12

Yeah, and you know the cup car man, that's my weekly.

Jorge: 40:16

Yeah, I love it, and we did it at Daytona.

Jason: 40:20

Daytona too. Yeah, I know.

Jorge: 40:23

The race is produced. I mean, you got to see it. There were some photo finishes.

Jason: 40:28

My lap times ain't fast enough. I know I look at my cup card.

Jeff: 40:33

I'm in the wall.

Jorge: 40:36

These guys. When they were racing, they were fighting the spot to not want to be in is 11th, so the guys in the front be in is 11th, so the guys in the front if they coasted. Yeah, if they coasted they would have been fine. No, they were battling like wheel to wheel the whole time. Nobody there were, no, you know, nobody held back and they put on some awesome racing which, yeah, we might have a clip to show you guys. Oh, you do All right, all right.

Jason: 41:02

All right, let's wait a minute, it's showtime I'm ready for that it's showtime.

Jason: 41:07

Want to have a live coach available on demand. With Trophy AI, you'll be able to practice with Mansell AI at your convenience A real-time coach in your headphones to navigate and 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 the live review getting you ready for your next big race. Check links to trophy ai in the description and also use chicane 12 in all caps for a 12 discount let me, let me, uh, let me get this one out of the vault for you guys.

Jorge: 41:41

Here you see.

Jason: 41:42

Look, we got a third co-host here, george Ansaldo.

Jorge: 41:47

All right, the founder, you tell me when it's time to press play and I'll hit you. It's time, bro. All right, here we go. Here it is.

Jason: 41:52

I'm ready, but wait, we need to share that first.

Erick: 41:56

Share that gaming you know what I'm saying.

Jorge: 42:02

Wait. So there we go. We're good, we're live. This is the recap from our round two. This is your Sim.

Erick: 42:06

Gaming Expo Challenge series presented by.

Jorge: 42:10

SimCube Top 10 today and you will get yourself eight shots of Neonism. He nailed those paints.

Jeff: 42:20

It's like Crofty 2.0. Wow.

Jorge: 42:27

And the race to Schauberg. So we had, we had cars designed sponsors as you'll see.

Jeff: 42:35

The rest of the sponsors yo I'm hyped to see this race in person, bro this reminds me of the opening scene in the movie F1.

Jason: 42:47

BPG just announced the wheel to this car too. I can't wait.

Erick: 42:53

Oh wow, that was crazy Okay.

Jason: 42:57

Oh, no, oh no Accent.

Jeff: 42:59

That's what I said.

Jason: 43:00

Wow, this is iRacing. No, axing, that's my son. Wow, this is iRacing, bro. That's insane how they were able to get the cameras I wish I had I know.

Jorge: 43:16

It's just speed reels.

Jason: 43:18

Share me these cameras man Speed reels.

Jeff: 43:25

They're making this video makes driving this car look easy.

Jason: 43:29

I look at this car and it's in the wall. That first turn on this car is Dude, this is fire, it's a fast-ass track too. Yo Yo, this is Bro dude. This is fire. It's a fast ass track. So this is very professionally done and I believe this video, the races are on. They're on. They're on a youtube, right we there is a youtube link I can we'll post that in the description below, so you guys can check out the actual race. It's actually broadcasted, right, it's?

Jorge: 44:04

yeah, it was. It was on iRacing's uh youtube page yes, that's true, it was it was very, it was a very, very proud moment.

Jason: 44:13

Again, like I didn't see it like this, though. The trailer, that's kind of sick. You know I didn't see it like that.

Erick: 44:18

Yeah, that's the recap.

Jorge: 44:19

We we did. These guys did actually make a like an opening for the broadcast for us as well. But yeah, you know, I ran leagues for 10 years and we had like three and a half months in the off season. Now, yes, I potentially could have had more time, but the reality of with everything else going on, me and the other guys that were helping me, we put that together in like three and a half weeks. That competition, the whole, the whole thing like planning it out and um it. It was a lot but, um, thankfully, everything turned out okay, like that morning. You know, I hadn't I hadn't launched a session in a while because I haven't been running my league for almost two years. I'm like I checked the weather settings and the setups, yeah.

Jason: 45:05

You went into league mode, you went into league.

Jorge: 45:07

I'm like there is no way that this broadcast is going live and someone's going to say man, the cue sets in the race what, what you know, or the wrong fuel, or you know this was an excellent idea because this streamlines the the process.

Jason: 45:24

Like you already know who qualified already. You know it's already, it's on camera. We know who they are, so it's kind of it'll be smooth sailing, you know, instead of doing it there.

Jorge: 45:29

I think that's, that was a good call you know we got some custom trophies made up for this thing, so we're gonna have yeah, some custom trophies. I mean, there's some sick prizes there's gonna be a set of uh, active pedals for the winner, and then there's going to be a GSI wheel for P2, and then it's a. Sim Lab P1X Pro for P3.

Erick: 45:54

That's just for that competition.

Jorge: 45:55

That ain't no slouch of gifts. Gsi is also. They have their own competition. It's the Open Wheel Invitational and they're issuing three. Their own competition it's the open wheel invitational, and they're issuing three wheels for for that podium. And then we have mx5s. It's the husinkveld sprint cup at sim gaming expo and they're giving out pedals for theirs. And then on friday we have a time attack that's open to the public and that'll be another sim lab p1x pro. So we've got. We've. Like I said, the competition area is the rig, the p1x pro. So we've got we've.

Jason: 46:23

Like I said, the competition area is the rig, the p1x pro. Oh my god, it's stacked. Oh, and guess what?

Jorge: 46:27

I get to with some volunteers. We get to build about 20 of them this weekend yes, that's a lot of fun, I I I wish I was there for the amount of. I know I need some help. I need, I need more help.

Jeff: 46:40

My knees are feeling that, just as you say it.

Jorge: 46:43

So we'll have some pictures for you soon, but yeah, no, you know what it's, yeah.

Jason: 46:49

I'm calling it our Builder's Guild in our Discord.

Erick: 46:52

The Builder's Guild.

Jorge: 46:55

The Builder's Guild. It's going to be fun. Yeah, I mean, come on, where are you going to see all that hardware? Definitely I'm not leaving that place without photos like.

Jason: 47:06

No, bro, trust me, it's going to be like.

Jorge: 47:09

Indiana Jones warehouse at the end of the movie when they're pushing the arc back. You know and you see, like all the yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Jason: 47:27

So, yes, we have plans on covering the entire thing too.

Jorge: 47:28

So, and I'm pretty sure all the other content creators there's going to be content on this. That just me. People are going to know what they missed out on Dude. That's it, I think, honestly, the real benefit. I mean, of course, like for the exhibitors being there, but they're probably going to have a lot more after the event because all the interviews and the product reviews and and then the companies like you said that were on the fence, or they didn't quite understand or they weren't sure because and admittedly that's fair, because we haven't had a year prior to this, we don't have images and video and all this footage, and so it's really hard to kind of tell that story.

Jason: 48:00

It's hard to present something when you don't really have anything but uh but, but after this first one, man it's, you're good you're golden, it's gonna be crazy yeah, georgie, don't forget about us no, oh you're kidding me

Jorge: 48:12

no, no, no, I'm kidding I couldn't do that no, I mean, you guys have been so awesome, um, just helping to push the word and again, like when it when we've talked about this before.

Jason: 48:25

I told you, george, I'm not giving you 30 seconds, I'm giving you a full. We're about to hit the hour right here, so we're going to keep rolling. We're going to keep rolling until we're done here I appreciate you guys.

Jorge: 48:36

I mean this, yeah, you guys have really. I mean, when you go back to what I was saying, like what I wanted for this thing to be a community-driven event, I mean it doesn't get any better than this and the support that you guys have shown this expo, because it's not only benefiting me but the whole entire community by letting people know about this thing. So it's beautiful, man, and I really thank you guys. It's, it's been, it's been an honor, you know, and and I and now I feel like not feel- but it's true, it's like I've.

Erick: 49:17

I just made three new friends, you know, and we're going to have a drink together.

Jason: 49:20

It's you're going to meet us, bro, you're going to meet us.

Erick: 49:23

Let's go, man.

Jason: 49:25

You know what I'm saying. We're going to go over there. We're going to maximize this weekend. I promise you that we're going to maximize it to the fullest. I can't wait. I get to meet Eric that I've been talking to 15 years, 25, 30, 40 years. I didn't know when this was.

Jeff: 49:42

That's wild. I still can't wrap my head around that.

Jason: 49:45

I love it, though you should see Eric and I, we tear each other up over the text.

Jeff: 49:50

Oh, bro, and Jeff is like bro, I'm like, I'm back out of this. Eric's my dude.

Jason: 49:58

We could do that because he's like a brother to me, so I can't wait to meet him. Could do that because he's like a brother to me, so I can't wait to meet him. I can't wait to meet Danny Newman, michael from the Sim Racing, all the fans you know how many fans we got posting in here that want to meet us.

Erick: 50:12

That's going to be crazy.

Jason: 50:14

It's going to be crazy. It's going to be crazy. I'm going to try my best to make time for everything is what I'm worried about the most, right.

Jorge: 50:24

Yeah, I agree, and that's that's where I think you know, depending on what your agenda is for the weekend, you can probably see a lot with a single day pass, but I definitely think like at minimum two day, but of course I'm biased day, but of course I'm biased a full, a full weekend. I will definitely allow you time to, because you might, you might be just hanging out and having fun, like conversing with your friends for a couple hours and you're like, oh wait, I didn't get to try, I didn't go check out that you know that equipment. Like wait, a minute, I got, okay, I'll catch it tomorrow, you know. And basically you kind of map out your, your weekend and get your game plan.

Jorge: 51:00

so so you don't feel you don't feel rushed or or feel like, oh man, I'm I missed something or I could have seen that. But I, I, you know, I was checking this out here. You know, this way, it kind of gives everybody, you know, the the full weekend to kind of see things at their own pace.

Jeff: 51:15

I mean, you could spend a day just talking to other people yeah, that are like-minded. Oh, you know, I have a. I have a Sim Lab rig, you know. Oh, you do too. How was your setup?

Jason: 51:24

You know, like just other people, not even the vendors, that's it man and I'll tell you guys, you know we keep mentioning time and timeframe and this was one of the questions and I'll just I'll just address it here right now, because George and I spoke about this. You guys, any of you can join the sim gaming expo discord channel and george has all the links in there um to find out when things are happening. So you can go in there and kind of gauge where you want to um, if you want to do a time attack or if you want to do. You know he has a map on the website as well. You can see where everything is at a bird's eye view simgamingexpocom. So we'll move on with to the next question, georgie, because if not we're gonna be here for hours, bro, we're gonna be here and I will stay here it's a white time, bro, but but let's move on to the next one.

Jason: 52:22

Who's got the next?

Erick: 52:23

one, yeah, yeah, I got a another question. So, um, I know we kind of mentioned the importance of this event. It's important to you. That was kind of one of the things that resonated with me. Um, the first time we met was I could see the passion, I could see the just like the authenticity behind your desire to just share, you know, just sim gaming and sim racing with as many people as possible and bringing everybody together in the US. But my question is what does like a successful event look like to you at?

Jorge: 52:56

this point. I stand by that answer. And and that is just seeing people walking through the door and and and having a good time, seeing smiles on their faces, seeing seeing the businesses that you know that, that that invested the time and the money and the energy to come here, that they're they're gaining value from from being here and they're getting the leads and they're they're getting the sales and and just and just again seeing this community come together and ultimately, it's just being able to do this again and bring this back for everyone to enjoy year after year. It's not a one and done. I'm pretty sure that's never the plan, no, no.

Jason: 53:39

So it needs to succeed. It will. I want it to, I want it to be excellent, I want it to be great. I want to have and it's not an I, it's a. We would love to have an expo in the United States that we can rely on right, that we can trust, that we can say hey man, we went this year and it was amazing. Imagine what he's going to do this. What is he going to do next year, like, or he's going to have a bigger place.

Jeff: 54:07

I'm already thinking, you know, bringing my kid to the next one, Cause he's starting to get into you know doing it. You know, and yeah, so I'm all on board for you know, if we can keep this train going, keep it going, man, keep it going.

Jason: 54:20

The markets are definitely not slowing down at all. We just had announcements, so many announcements, this last week. I don't even know where to begin Like and, and they're just reveals. They're not even. We don't even know pricing. We don't know nothing, but we know that there's things being built as we speak.

Erick: 54:39

You know what I mean?

Jason: 54:40

Everybody's cooking, there's investment going into the hobby, still Heavy investment.

Erick: 54:47

There's actually Heavy competition.

Jorge: 54:50

Yeah, there's something that hasn't even been hinted, that's actually going to possibly be unveiled there. George, don't do that, I'm not telling you.

Jason: 55:02

I'm not telling you, don't bring it up, you brought it up. That's not in the show notes. Come on, you said you wanted surprises.

Jorge: 55:13

You're going to see some stuff.

Erick: 55:14

Go ahead and get that monkey off your back, man. All right, I guess you guys are going to see some stuff.

Jason: 55:16

Hey, go ahead and get that monkey off your back, man, all right. I guess you guys are going to have to go to see what George is talking about.

Jorge: 55:21

Yeah, come check it out, we'll see.

Jason: 55:24

It sounds like he is itching to just say it.

Jorge: 55:26

Oh man, yeah, I can't, I can't. Okay, you can Probably an NDA or something. Yeah, Absolutely.

Jeff: 55:36

Touching on that, george, and I'm just kind of kind of dovetailing to the next question here with. That is, for, from your perspective, you know, the grand plan. What is it that you are looking forward to from this expo?

Jorge: 55:50

Wow, yeah, Um yeah, Succeeding to the point where we can do it again. You know, again, it's just as I mentioned before we we've done a really good job bringing the exhibitors in and you know we're, the numbers are OK on the attendee side, but we need to grow those numbers to to be financially stable, to again to keep bringing it back. So that's kind of where I would say hey, you know, but in terms of like for me myself, I just want to see that the event goes smoothly. You know, I hopefully can put out small fires. Nothing's perfect, George, Remember that, yeah.

Jason: 56:33

I know, I know, I know you got it. You got to go in like yeah, with a clear mind that I you might have to. You know there's things that you might have to handle yeah. You know, maybe being the being, the owner of this, the founder, the man in charge, is just the way it is. It's just the way it goes, I know.

Jorge: 56:52

I think a lot of that is is kind of built into my personality where I usually put a lot of responsibility on my shoulders. Maybe it's a little bit. You know the paramedic in me.

Jason: 57:04

Yes, I was going to say that.

Jorge: 57:06

Responsibility and some high stress moments.

Jason: 57:08

Yes, so remember the paramedic rule, and you know what that is it's me first, me second and me third. You know, those are the three safe gotta make it home gotta make sure, you gotta make sure she comes home, that's right, yeah so, yeah so but uh, yeah, I I mean, I don't know. I just I feel like I have this responsibility and I just don't and good luck sleeping, yeah, the last three days before the event, because I won't be able to.

Jorge: 57:37

Well, hey, four days before the event I'm going to be celebrating my 50th, so there's so many firsts oh man. First expo, first time I'm turning 50.

Erick: 57:47

Okay, okay.

Jason: 57:50

This is revealing information. I mean, come on, george, I don't care, you don't look 50.

Jorge: 57:53

I'm 50. I'll be 50.

Jason: 57:54

You don't look 50. I'm 50. I'll be 50. You don't look 50. And we said that the last time, and you still haven't changed a bit and it's been like 11 months. I don't know how many months.

Jorge: 58:02

It's the lighting. I'm telling you, it's the lighting.

Erick: 58:04

I don't care.

Jorge: 58:04

The lighting.

Jason: 58:06

Yeah.

Jorge: 58:08

You know what I mean. I've got maybe five more years till I retire from my current job with the fire department and again like this is what I want to do moving forward. There you go, man. I absolutely love it Look how much you've done.

Erick: 58:30

Yeah, you're making a hell of a mark, man.

Jason: 58:31

You've made the hell of a leap without nothing to back it with. You know what I mean. And it's coming together. I love it, it's coming together.

Jorge: 58:41

Kind of again like going back to my backstory, you know, as I mentioned, like watching IndyCar from a very young age, and that was before the internet, you know this was when there was TV guides, you know, and trying to find out when the races are happening.

Jason: 58:57

TV guide what is that. Come on, George Old hat.

Erick: 59:01

The ones that came in the mail.

Jason: 59:03

Come on, man. But growing up we used to get the TV guide, but we didn't have a TV. But we got the TV guide. You know you didn't need a TV. No, you got the TV tv guy somebody out there's watching 2020, growing up like I didn't.

Jorge: 59:23

I didn't have friends or family that were into motorsports, so it was something that was kind of very like personal and I didn't really have anyone to share that excitement with. And that was, honestly, one of the things that I found when I joined iRacing and, you know, meeting and creating friendships with people who were also like passionate motorsports fans, that's what drove me to create my league. And so it's like just when I, when I look back to like, how did all this start? Where was the first spark? And it was me as a kid sitting in front of that TV watching the Indy 500 for the first time, and like then, and even like when I joined iRacing, I never, never, would have imagined that, you know, 40 years later, whatever, that I would be doing something like this. And so, again, that's where it comes from, like wanting to share this with everybody.

Jorge: 1:00:16

It was from a very young age and, just again, being a motor sports fan and then finding, you know, over the years, and you know, simulation gaming and sim racing, it just it just put me on this path. So I don't know, you know, I, I accept the challenge. You know, again, it was like this thing where nobody was doing it. So it's like, all right, then then I'm going to do it, like let's just, let's do it.

Jorge: 1:00:41

Um, and I threw myself into it Not not foolishly, because again, like we were looking and researching and doing all this work to almost two years before COVID even hit, and then that kind of put things on the back burner and then it was like, no, this thing is not going to wait any longer, like let's do it. But yeah, this is really again just wanting to share that love with everybody. Um, that would be success for me if I, if I'm able to, you know, kind of give people that spark or or they can share in that excitement and the same you know feeling and thrill that I get when I'm on the SIM or when I'm watching a race in real life. If they can get that too.

Jason: 1:01:24

I'm pretty sure that's going to happen there yeah.

Jeff: 1:01:31

I'm sure most of us are going to leave saying hey, I'll see you next year.

Jorge: 1:01:33

That's it, that's what that's, that's the tag, that's the tagline. That's what would be success for me if they say that.

Jason: 1:01:41

I'm pretty sure they will. I'm pretty sure we all will. All right, Georgie, we got two more for you.

Jorge: 1:01:47

Okay.

Jason: 1:01:48

The last two here. What are some things you've learned? Planning an event of this size, I guess perspective, you know what I mean um size perspective, if that makes sense oh that's a good one. This ain't no bachelor party here, yeah yeah, this is not a this, you know yeah, I.

Jorge: 1:02:12

I would say that this ain't room 220.

Jason: 1:02:15

Yeah, and that's your room.

Jorge: 1:02:16

Yeah, things that I've learned is definitely you have to be flexible, you have to understand the position that you're in, especially again, like with us being a first year show. I think if I was a stubborn type of person, this thing wouldn't have happened. Um, you know, um, so flexibility, I think is is one of the things. Another thing is, um, ultimately, that you know you have to do the work. You know it doesn't come easy. Um, I'm I'm new to business, you know. I mean, I ran my league as a business, but this is business on an entirely different level.

Jorge: 1:03:00

So when it comes, to the trade show industry. In my opinion, it's a very, very not secretive, but it's kind of like an elusive world where there's not really a textbook per se and there maybe aren't as many people out there that want to give away their tips and tricks because it's competition. To be quite honest, you know, Um, and that's not what I'm here for. I'm here to expand the growth of this community and industry. Um, obviously that's a natural part of it, but we're just trying to make the best show that we possibly can. But yeah, I would say, you know again, just, you know just resilience and doing the work and being flexible, Um, I'd say patience, yeah, yeah, you know patience is a big one because there's a lot of things, there's a lot of things that you didn't know were going to happen, were not going to happen.

Jason: 1:03:58

So it takes a lot, you know, when you invest money in something, and the not knowing is a big thing, right? So I mean, and it's really hard to be patient, I mean it really is.

Jorge: 1:04:11

I think the other thing is finding ways to stretch a budget when there isn't a big one, you know, and making it work, you know. Again, I guess that goes back to making it work.

Jason: 1:04:23

That goes back to patience too, it has something to do with it too, you know because, you got to that?

Jason: 1:04:29

yeah, it's a big one, that's a big one. But I think, man, listen by everything we've heard. But I think, man, listen by everything we've heard, the last two episodes that we made about Sim Gaming Expo, it sounds like there's been a lot of patience Because staying up late, you know where you could have just said I'm going to sleep and I'll deal with it tomorrow. You said no, I'm going to deal with it now, I'm going to work on this. That's patience and that's discipline and that's taking the responsibility and owning it, and that that takes a lot, you know. It takes a strong mind to deal with that.

Jason: 1:05:06

So I appreciate it, man and um there's a lot riding on the line, you know. Like I said, we'll cry later. Camera We'll hug we'll cry. I'm good at this.

Jorge: 1:05:20

I won't tell you that there haven't been moments. I know, George, when I've said it's an emotional roller coaster it's scary too right, it's scary.

Jorge: 1:05:34

Yeah, we'd have a great day where we'd have a cool announcement or something positive happen, and then the next day it was like we'd get, we'd have, um, you know, a cool announcement or something positive happened, and then the next day it was like we'd get a no, you know, and then some we'd ride high. And then it was like, man, this up and down like this is just insane. So, um, again going back to what you said, patience, so we, we kind of weathered that storm and then, slowly but surely, in times where I was not patient, you know, I I struggled with that because the clock was ticking the whole time, and it's like dates are not, we're not postponing this thing, but we have to work, we have to get these brands in here, but we, and time is- something you can't refund, you can't turn it back Once it's gone it's gone.

Jorge: 1:06:15

That's it, oh you signed.

Jason: 1:06:16

Oh, that's it. Oh, you signed, oh that's it.

Jorge: 1:06:18

They have that date. They have the date too, george. Yeah, when I put my pen to the paper with the convention center, that's black and white right there. There's no turning back. Yeah, the penalties for cancellation were probably two or three times what the convention center cost plus the hotel rooms.

Jason: 1:06:40

Yeah, so there's a lot of pressure.

Jorge: 1:06:42

Yeah, it was full steam ahead. That's wild, yeah, yeah.

Erick: 1:06:47

You weren't going to sleep in that. Anyway, I'm not a gambling man either.

Jorge: 1:06:50

You know that's I'm not. I just I like what I have and I want to keep it in my pocket.

Jason: 1:06:57

You believed in something. That's what you have. That's what this is about. You believed in it.

Jorge: 1:07:01

But this is the biggest gamble. If you want to say that I've ever done in my entire life and I've never worked on anything harder, I wouldn't say that I would say this is the biggest investment you've made in the community. Well, yes, yes, that's what I would say. I love that.

Jason: 1:07:15

You're right, this is an investment, because you are investing in the sim industry, all of it Future. It's a perfect time In the United States, in the US and for the world too, because we all love everybody. You know, some might come out of respect from time to time time, but we love you. You know what I'm saying, guys this.

Jorge: 1:07:38

So this thing is turned into somewhat of an international show I we've had.

Jason: 1:07:43

That's what I'm saying.

Jorge: 1:07:44

Like you know people are traveling outside of the us. A number of them there's probably.

Jeff: 1:07:50

I'm in hawaii. Yeah, we have a number of visitors or uh listeners that are coming, that are uh overseas yeah.

Jorge: 1:07:56

so yeah, it's maybe something like well, if you add like the exhibitors as well, it's probably somewhere around 100 maybe-ish. You know, I mean when you think of the exhibitors, that's international. Switzerland, Netherlands, Germany, England, Finland.

Jason: 1:08:18

That's half the damn continent right there. Yeah, the two.

Jorge: 1:08:24

You got to upgrade the model now.

Erick: 1:08:27

Yeah.

Jason: 1:08:30

Yeah, make sure you guys bring converter plugs, because in America we use these two prongs.

Jeff: 1:08:38

They don't have three or four or five, those like that's a good shitty ones.

Jason: 1:08:41

just remember, man we, um, they're gonna, we don't have those adapters because we don't really. I'm I'm just saying, you know, go on amazon, you know I'll leave you the affiliate links. No, I'm kidding, I'm kidding, I won't do that, but you guys go ahead and find one, all right, man. So, for the last question, mr Kelly, what we got Bang.

Erick: 1:09:04

Yeah, man, just wanted to. You know you mentioned how big of a deal this is to you and how it feels like a gamble. But to Jason's point, this really is an investment and you know it's really. You know you and everybody around you coming together to pull the event off. Is there anybody that you know you haven't really got a chance to thank or want to take some time to thank or shout out or anything like that.

Jorge: 1:09:31

Yeah, yeah, absolutely, yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think well, with regards to the event, we've had a tremendous amount of help from Impact, simsport and Hyperion Racing, so members from their teams have stepped up. Nathan and Corbin, they've I mean, they're, they're responsible for the success of that challenge series with the Porsche, because they backed me up like no one else, um, and then again, like the people who you haven't heard or seen of yet, that will be there.

Jason: 1:10:08

So we've got oh, so it's people that are coming, huh, yes so we're digging into it a little bit.

Erick: 1:10:13

Man digging into it. Yeah, time to man. I wish we had more time to work on him.

Jorge: 1:10:16

Damn, give me more time to work on him. We can get a Freudian look at this. Let's work the brain.

Jason: 1:10:22

We've got Morpheus hooked up. That's what we're doing. We're breaking the mind.

Jorge: 1:10:26

His name's Dustin Allis. He's going to be our director for the weekend, so he's coming. We have a team of four uh, iracing members that are going to be working that competition stage. We've got a slew of announcers, um, that are going to be assisting us. There's, there's a lot of people who've contributed in in a number of you guys. Thank you for helping promote this thing. I mean, you guys help generate ticket sales and just again like getting the word out there. So it's, everyone is kind of put in. You know a little bit here and there and then our pleasure, bro yeah, thank you.

Jorge: 1:11:05

And the other thing is we wouldn't promote something we didn't believe in.

Jason: 1:11:09

Just so you know. That's how the chicane podcast rolls I'd even mention it here. You know if we didn't believe in it.

Jorge: 1:11:16

Thank, you, man. The other thing is all those people who helped me admin the past, and you know present where we left off, but all those individuals that helped me run that league for that period of time at that level. It was a lot of work, that level it was a lot of work, but they, honestly they, they helped put me in a position where it was like you know, wait a second what else?

Jorge: 1:11:41

is going on in this, in this industry, I think we can do something different. Um, and and as we talked about before, things just kind of snowballed, but a lot of people have have supported me and it's um, you know, it's been, it's been humbling, you know, and and I again, like that's why I kind of go back to feeling this weight of responsibility to deliver for everyone and not not let people down, um, but yeah, it's, it's, it's been awesome, but we just yeah, like I can't thank everyone enough, really is what I'd like to say and you all know who you are, you know those of you that have helped, um, and I appreciate all right yeah, no, I'm pretty sure you, you'll be thanking my wife person.

Jorge: 1:12:26

She's when you see, of course, the wife good save, george, good save.

Erick: 1:12:32

Oh yeah, she's the real mv mean she.

Jorge: 1:12:35

she's watching the video Like she will, she watches, she watches, but um. I mean she was told you.

Jason: 1:12:42

George, you bet I'm kidding.

Erick: 1:12:44

I'm kidding.

Jorge: 1:12:46

Yeah, she, she was there supporting me from the very beginning throughout my entire like iRacing journey and um, you know, sim racing and running a league is uh, it's not just like a 30, 30 minute commitment once a week. I mean, it was literally like a second day job and easily just let me do my thing, you know, and then again like with this idea, this was more than just oh, I'm just I'm gonna be on the sim for x amount of time.

Jeff: 1:13:10

this was months, yeah, yeah and months and months so financially tying to you, to it too, but uh but that's because she, that's because she believes in you, bro, that's exactly what it is she.

Jason: 1:13:24

She knows what you can put out and she's there to support you and that's, yeah, that's all you need, brother, right there you know, I, I obviously uh so shout out to george wife yeah, you know, on the Chicane podcast.

Jorge: 1:13:37

Thank you, honey, a better half 27 year anniversary coming up Good for you Tip my hat to you. So again like another milestone here.

Jason: 1:13:47

I wish you many, many, many, many more brother.

Jorge: 1:13:49

Thank you Many more. Thank you, I appreciate that.

Jason: 1:13:53

All right, guys, I am running out of time to see if I can pry anything from George he's been a tank so far yeah.

Jeff: 1:14:04

You guys want to. We'll just have to patiently wait.

Jason: 1:14:07

Yeah, we'll have to wait, it's not much longer, it'll be here soon everyone.

Jorge: 1:14:14

And yeah, we got to keep a little bit of suspense for you, but I think I think it's gonna come and listen, you know, because these people are putting together, you know they're taking time to put together these presentations with slideshows and all of this, and we'd love for people to come and take a break, you know, grab a soda or a snack or a drink and just come and watch a presentation or a discussion panel. I think there'll be a lot to take from these presentations and I think it'll be a lot of fun. And just again, just to also support those people who've put the time in to do those things, so that's kind of one ask that I guess I would maybe ask the community like, hey, come and watch some of the guys racing and come and watch a presentation or two, so that you know, we fill these seats for these people who have put a lot of time and effort to making these presentations.

Jason: 1:15:33

So yeah, 100 percent, Definitely 100 percent. Guys, do we have any round tables for George? That was my round table and I want more but I'm going to have to wait. So anything guys, Jeff, Eric.

Jeff: 1:15:51

I think I said it last time, but there are a few people that were put on earth and for a reason, and then follow through with that reason. So, uh, my man, you were put here to do this to lead the first one, cause it is a monumental task and, um, the SIM expo is in good hands.

Jorge: 1:16:10

Yeah, thanks, jeff, and I, I mean again, I, I appreciate those words and, you know, just having the faith in me from what you've seen and and believing in me, um, that really means a lot because it it's been, it's been a long road and, uh, again, I just can't. I can't, honestly. It's. It's like I said, it's surreal that we're here, but, um, I'm excited, I just want to see everybody, man, I just want to hang out and, um, and be me. You know, just be a fan. I mean, of course, I'm going to be working, but just be be that fan. That that turned his first laps on iRacing in 2013. Again, you know, and jump on the sim and hang out with friends and and do all of these things. I mean it's, uh, I've been, I've been longing for that for a long time. Um, you know, again, even even when I was running my league, it's a different perspective because it's like, oh, you're, you know, you're the owner, you're the one that's, you know, controlling the rules and it's very different.

Jorge: 1:17:13

It's yeah, so so now that that's been set aside for the time being, like it can just be george again hanging out with his friends. You know it there's. You know what I mean. It's just it's a different, it's a different perspective and I'm I'm excited to, you know, embrace this kind of new chapter and, and I think at some point we'll maybe get back to league. I put 10 years into it. I hate to just see it fade, but you will, but for now, like this is uh, you are writing way.

Jason: 1:17:47

You are writing the standard. You know the standard for the first year and I'm pretty sure you'll know where to take it and how to get things. And you'll be a pretty sure you'll know where to take it and how to get things and you'll be a little, you'll be a lot more relaxed. Uh, next, go around, because you know, um a lot. You learned so much you know in the in these past months and you've been through a lot of stuff and you can kind of um take a different approach, or you kind of know what to expect. Um, and I think you're in good hands. Um, again, the chicane podcast is here to support in any way it can. We can't build rigs because we're all the way in Hawaii. So I wish you best of luck.

Jorge: 1:18:30

Thank you, thank you. So, I do.

Jason: 1:18:32

I do want to say that, um, you know, george and I, we we speak from time to time and I try to break him away from the all serious. I'm like, hey, man, let's just have a conversation. And I really appreciate that, because George is a real person, he's a real sim racer and I think that just with those two keys alone, you know what's best for a gamer. It doesn't have to be sim racing, it could be flight sim. You know what's best for the gamer and you know what's best for the community. It's because you are the community, you're one of us.

Jorge: 1:19:11

Thank you.

Jason: 1:19:11

It's not some business guy that drives a Ferrari. I mean comes up and is like, oh yeah, let's invest in this because we can make some money here. No, you are someone that came from the hobby and is elevating the hobby and other hobbies and merging them together in an event that's never been done before in the eyes of the entire world. So that's a lot of props, man. I don't think I'll be able to top that. I don't know so Rob Markman.

Erick: 1:19:45

Yeah.

Jason: 1:19:46

It's been. It's honestly, george, you've been an excellent friend all the way since the first time you sent me a message and we all messaged each other and we got together and sat down in here. It's always. I'm pretty sure, when these cameras go off, we'll be in here for another 15, 20.

Erick: 1:20:02

I promise you.

Jason: 1:20:04

The B-sides of the Chicane Podcast. But I just want to say thank you so much for coming on the show, because supporting you and supporting this event is relatively simple for me, because it's an event that I support 100% and I believe in it, we believe in it, the team here believes in it 100%. I mean it's exciting. I'm excited to be there. We are zero profit with tickets. So if you guys, this is your last chance to start thinking about whether you want to go or not, and you can still use chicane 10. You can use any code, any code out there. I don't care if it's July 10 or July 15. It doesn't matter. We just want you to go and enjoy yourself and experience it with us. Have an experience with sim racers and have experience. Meet friends. It's a good place to meet. Maybe you'll find the league there. Maybe you'll try out a flight simulator and find out that yo flight simulator's kind of sick. I might see what options I have.

Jason: 1:21:11

And that's the place to do these things, because I can talk to you all day in front of this camera about how nice something is, but nothing beats hands on experience, nothing, I mean. This applies to real life too, you know. You go for it to go look for a job. Hands on experience prevails. That is a fact of life. You could study all day, you can go to Harvard of life. You could study all day, you can go to Harvard, but maybe Harvard might get you in it. You know what I'm saying. Maybe let me tone it down a little bit.

Jason: 1:21:50

Real world experience, Let me say about it. But yeah, experience means a lot. I am living proof of this, but that's a conversation for another time. Jeff, Eric George, thank you so much for being here, Jeff. Welcome back. Uh, George, anytime you want to come on the show, even if it's to chit chat, bro, we would love to have you here. Um, it would be nice, thank you. And if you do open up a league, let me know. We'll promote that here too, I might. I might find the way to squeeze some time for that.

Jorge: 1:22:19

I know, uh, jeff, you like open wheel stuff. That's what that was my. Here we go, orte, bro indycar talking about lotus 79.

Jason: 1:22:27

Bro, the lotus 79 is dope, it's.

Jorge: 1:22:29

I'll give it a go you gotta, you gotta watch our old races, man. It was the lionheart retro series and we utilized the Lotus 79 as a throwback to early 80s IndyCar. So we ran that sucker on ovals and road courses, so we put it everywhere. Yeah, I know right, but iRacing, give us a cart. Where's the Lola? Where's the Penske? Where's the Raynard? Until then we ran the Lotus 79.

Jason: 1:23:01

So I always said yeah, hey name cross. Spread the word for me. Spread the word for Georgie. Listen, he hear a lot of clear.

Jorge: 1:23:11

So be careful, because I've always said if they come out with the Lola, lola or you know, again even a reynard, I'm like you're probably not going to hear from me ever again because I'm going to be on the sim driving there, you lost me bro I'm lost awesome freaking machine man. I again like that. That's, that's my era man. That's yeah, it's a hundred percent different IndyCar.

Jason: 1:23:36

Honestly, we need more Formula and Open Wheel. So Formula needs some love. You know, I think GT3 has gotten a lot of love lately, so hopefully we can only hope for the best. You'll hear about it here on the Chicane Podcast, I'm pretty sure. I'm telling you guys, if you have any questions for George or for any of you guys, send them email to thechicanepodcasts at gmailcom or leave a comment below.

Jason: 1:24:03

Check out the simgamingexpocom. Also. Check out the social media. Join the Discord, because that is going to be the primary ways of communication that I'm being told in the past during the event. So it'll be nice. If you can't make it, then I mean at least join in there and you can kind of stay up to date on what's going on. And again, thank you so much, george. You've been an excellent, excellent friend, excellent support towards the show as well. We do notice the things that you've been doing for us and I really appreciate it from the bottom of my heart. Yeah, I can't wait. By the time this airs we will be in range of. I'm going to have to start packing soon, can you believe?

Jorge: 1:24:52

it man, yeah man. Oh, my goodness, let's eat some pizza, man. Let's go get some pizza, that's it.

Jason: 1:24:57

Let's get some deep dish you say when and where.

Jorge: 1:25:01

Yeah, yeah, moretti's, it's right around.

Jason: 1:25:03

It's very close. Ferris Bueller's Day Off on Netflix, guys, if you want to check out Chicago.

Jorge: 1:25:07

Staple. Staple who know after?

Jason: 1:25:18

you watch it, they're gonna.

Jorge: 1:25:18

That's the joke that instead of the sausage king of chicago they're gonna.

Jason: 1:25:21

There you go. I'll be the sim racing king of chicago.

Jorge: 1:25:22

Yes, hopefully we'll see. We'll see after uh september this year's seven.

Jason: 1:25:26

So that's it all right, guys. Well, thank you so much and have a great start of your week. Thank you.