15-02-2025
Gibson Southern Students use iRacing to fuel their future
FORT BRANCH, Ind. (WEHT) – From the high banks of Daytona to the dirt at Eldora, students at Gibson Southern High School are getting a real-life taste of motorsports through a virtual experience. Freshmen Jacob Long and Miles Wilson train on the iRacing simulator up to four days a week.
'I've always wanted to be a racecar driver since I was a little kid,' says Wilson, 'just watching NASCAR with my grandpa.' Long, on the other hand, has dreams of becoming a motorsports engineer. 'That was a big part of it,' explains Long, 'just knowing how these things work and how they react under certain conditions.'
Students are racing against others across the world. In January, students competed in the virtual 24 Hours at Daytona, and in early February both Wilson and Long finished in the top five in the Daytona 500. 'Me and Miles just kind of worked together and I ended up in fourth and he ended up in second,' says Long. 'It did help me a lot,' explains Wilson, 'because the value of teamwork that we did with it was just, it was a very friendly atmosphere around this place.'
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The iRacing simulators and the rest of Gibson Southern's e-sports department are also opening new opportunities for students. 'When I was growing up,' recalls E-sports Coordinator Ryan Osborn, 'my mom was like, 'Oh, you know video games will rot your brain'. No, now they'll pay for college.'
Osborn says students are being eyed by college coaches for potential e-sports scholarships. The iRacing experience is not just fun and games, it is teaching students the ins and outs of motorsports, like teamwork, focus, and discipline. 'It's definitely not what you'd expect from, like, a computer game,' says Wilson.
'Everybody comes in and tries, like, 'Oh I want to sit down and try it',' says Osborn. 'And it's hard not to sit there and chuckle, because they think it's a video game, so when they get in, they smash it and spin, crash, all that stuff. There's a reason professionals use iRacing to practice, hone in their skills.'
Osborn hopes to grow the e-sports department showing other gamers, and future racers, what their future could hold.
Gibson Southern Students use iRacing to fuel their future
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