TOM HAYES
SIM RACING
By TOM HAYES ESPORTS came to the spotlight primarily due to the presence of the COVID pandemic, and if some people were lucky enough, they took full advantage of it. That’s what local boy Jordan Caruso did during COVID, as he began to get heavily involved in sim racing. Now, Caruso is a World Champion sim racer, after winning the TAG Heuer Esports Supercup, which involved 30 of the best sim racers from around the globe. Caruso, originally from Traralgon, is no stranger to the car, with plenty of experience on the real track and behind a real wheel, dating back to his childhood. It all started when he and his dad went to watch his cousin race karts in Morwell. “I started in karts when I was seven (years-old), my cousin raced at the local track in Morwell, so we went down there to watch and dad really liked it,” Caruso said. “So he sort of bought me a kart and pretty soon after we were doing club days in Morwell and it escalated from there.” Caruso began karting in Morwell when he was seven, he progressively moved into cars, but when he was 14 or 15-years-old, Caruso discovered sim racing. It would still be a while until he would start to race competitively, but he would occasionally give it a go, as he was still too young for the real thing. “I’ve being sort of on and off sim racing since I was about maybe 14 (years-old), when I was about that age I sort of wanted to get into car racing, but I was too young. “Then I stopped for a while, but COVID coincided a little and a lot of people were getting back into sim racing, especially competitively. “I’ve pretty much been obsessed with it ever since.” The TAG Heuer Esports Supercup gathers the best sim racers from around the world onto the program iRacing, from which they tackle the tracks against each other, all online. Caruso has his own sim racing rig in his house in Caulfield, so he would race from home against others around the globe. “It’s a World Championship on iRacing … there were 10 rounds, so I think it started in some point in January, and there was a race every two weeks,” Caruso said. “I had three races wins, two pole positions, I think maybe like five podiums, but the biggest things was sort of like consistency. “Other people, they had some really bad rounds, in the second-last round I had a DNF, but up until then my worst position was 13th. “I was pretty consistent in the top five so pretty much the whole championship.” He had some memorable moments from the championship, but only a few stood out better than the rest. “There was one where I had pole (position) by a pretty big margin at Long Beach (Round 3), and that felt really good. “But, other than that I’d say sort of crossing the line in the last race knowing that I’d won. To view all of the details from the event, visit simracing.wiki/2023_porsche_tag_heuer_esports_supercup Practise for this sort event isn’t as laid back as you might think, there is plenty of money up for grabs, and it’s played on a world stage, it’s not as simple as playing a game as some might think. “On average, I do like four hours of driving time a day, and then there is a lot of data and analysis, figuring out the setup as well,” Caruso said. “The races were at really weird times, most of them were at 4:45 in the morning, because it sort of a European championship. “All the test races we did were always at five, six in the morning, so that kind of sucked.” There is other ventures on the table for Caruso, but for iRacing championships, this is pretty much the ceiling. “Within iRacing this is sort of like the most competitive championship there is,” he said. “I haven’t really thought too much about what I gonna do next, I just wanted to focus on this championship for now. “There are possibilities outside of iRacing, so like different sims, which I could potentially do next year.” Caruso is a part of the Esports team Altus Esports, who not only help him develop, but give him resources to compete at the highest level. “I race for Altus Esports, I had two teammates, I’ve been with the team for … I think it’s been a bit over two years now,” he said. “When I wanted to go into more international stuff, like the World Championship … I moved to Altus (Esports) and they had sort of more experienced drivers that I could learn off. “It made it easier to access the higher level sort of stuff.” Caruso is still involved in real-life racing, in fact he would’ve stepped into the car by now, and back onto the track. “For the most part I’m focussing on sim racing, but I am still doing the National Sports Sedan Series,” Caruso said.
