Exit from the long and straight start-finish stretch, down the left-hand bend and then directly up the 18-percent incline along with a right-hand bend. What may sound like a fluid string of single track elements, is actually the famous “Eau Rouge” corner combination on the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps. Among experts, it is considered to be one of the most demanding combinations in motorsports. On our photo, we can see the Eau Rouge just as we know it: The field like a string of pearls, dynamic and quick – fast-paced across the curbs through the chicane.

Yet now, the drivers aren’t sitting in the race cars, but in sim racing rigs. What we see is a photo from the Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup. Throughout this virtual race series, teams and drivers deliver an intense battle for victories and successes on virtual likenesses of the racetracks. Even if all races take place virtually, the SimRacers have to face the same challenges as drivers in reality – and display the same emotions as their colleagues during victory and defeat. It is also the moments filled with emotions that unite virtual and real motorsports.

After all, the question is: Just because the race is virtual that doesn’t mean the emotions are less real, right?