Recently, I experienced racing from the commentary box rather than from inside the car while working with the VRRC Super Classic Formula Ford 1600 esports championship. It gave me the chance to see racing from a more observational perspective, rather than being fully immersed in my own race.
Compared to driving, commentating is far more relaxed, which allows you to see much more of what is happening across the entire race. It also lets you view incidents from different sides and encourages impartiality. As a commentator, you can’t afford to be biased — credibility depends on being fair to every driver involved. Because I wasn’t under load in the car, it was easier to follow battles as they developed and to understand the intentions behind certain moves rather than reacting emotionally in the moment.
Although commentating removes the physical and mental pressure of driving, it still brings a different type of pressure. You have to remain fair and balanced while choosing the right words as situations develop on track. The challenge is to be clear and informative while still bringing the race to life for the audience. With so much happening at once, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed, but staying calm and focusing on what the viewer needs to understand is key.
One of the biggest differences between commentating and driving is the loss of physical feedback. Without the feel of the car, I had to rely entirely on what I could see to interpret mistakes, judge grip levels, and understand how the cars were behaving. Visual cues such as small corrections, slides, or a car struggling to rotate become far more important. This improved my ability to read what a car is doing and to imagine how it must feel for the driver, which is essential when explaining it clearly to an audience.
Watching racing from this viewpoint has also changed how I think about racecraft. It has taught me to observe incidents with less emotion and to think beyond just my own race. Seeing how the race develops as a whole — and how drivers influence one another — highlights that sometimes working with another driver to catch a group ahead can be more effective than trying to overtake everyone immediately.
In the end, both perspectives matter. Driving gives you feel and instinct, while commentating develops observation and understanding. Experiencing both helps build awareness, racecraft, and a broader understanding of racing that you simply don’t get from being in the car alone.
https://virtualrealityracingclub.com/ff1600-super-classic – Esports championship
https://brscc.co.uk/formulae/geoff-page-engineering-super-classic-pre-99-formula-ford-championship/ – Real life championship
