Berkley’s Sim Racing Facility Puts Cutting-Edge Tools in Hands of Car Racers

A state-of-the-art sim racing facility in Berkley gives modern car racers a new place to explore.

Russell Soto, a car and sim racer, is one of the coaches at Superlap, the first-of-its-kind sim racing arena in Metro Detroit.

"This is a training tool to help you be prepared for the real-life thing," Soto told 7 News Detroit in an interview. "If you're a modern racing driver, sim racing is almost essential. Even professional racing teams in Formula One or IMSA, for example, in the higher ranks, have sim racing, and just in general, it's become its own thing as well."

The founder, Dan Cycholl, created the Woodward Avenue facility, which features eight high-end racing simulators with four-point motion systems.

"We have kids as young as 5 or 6 using our kids' sim over there, and then we have adults all the way up to 75. I'm not sure if I've seen someone over 80 yet in here, but it's really for everybody," Cycholl said.

Although sim racing provides a lower cost to participate in compared with real-life racing, it has limitations.

"When you're driving a race car, especially around a fast corner, your car is going one direction, your body wants to go the other direction. There's a huge physicality to it, and you feel it through your core and your neck muscles as well. You don't necessarily get the same feeling from a simulator here at Superlap. We have motion rigs, which are really cool because you get a little bit of a sense of what that might feel like, but it's definitely not the same," Soto said.

Learn more about Superlap on its website.