Unreal Racing with Logitech

While motorsport is a wealthy person’s hobby, sim racing allows more people access to something that can be as good as the real thing. We talk with Logitech’s NZ manager to find out what it’s all about.  

Once thought of as a silly hobby, sim racing is now at the forefront of motorsport at both the professional and recreation levels. We sat down with Jamie Hall, Logitech New Zealand’s new Country Manager, to talk all things sim racing, and check out the brand’s head office in Auckland.

With a background in the technology industry, Jamie brings a lot of experience to his new role at Logitech, but it’s one of the first times in his career he’s been able to blend it with his passion for racing. 

And he’s no stranger to a cool car, Jamie has owned a raft of interesting vehicles over the years, including rotaries, 4x4s, and more recently a Mustang. His current family wagon is a Subaru Levorg which basically sits on the tarmac thanks to an impressive airbag suspension system. And while we could have spoken about our shared love of modified vehicles for the entire afternoon, I figured we better get the shop talk out of the way before jumping on the racing simulators. 

Q: Why does car culture matter as much as the racing itself? 

A: “Gran Turismo is the best example of this. It’s not just a racing game; it’s a car culture platform. You’re collecting, building, and celebrating iconic machines from every era. JDM classics, American muscle, European icons. The game respects your collection. That emotional connection to the cars is what separates it from everything else out there.” 

Q: How close is sim racing to the real thing these days? 

A: “The gap has never been smaller. Drivers like Liam Lawson and Scott McLaughlin are using sim rigs during the week to sharpen their craft at the top levels of IndyCar, NASCAR, and Formula 1. The technology is genuinely driving skill development in professional motorsport now.” 

Q: Is real motorsport becoming less accessible for everyday people? 

A: “It’s getting harder, honestly. Compliance with modern safety regulations, the cost of gear, fuel prices, even at a grassroots level the barrier to entry keeps rising. Sim racing has stepped in to fill that space. You can build an incredible setup in your garage or spare room and get a genuinely great driving experience without spending anywhere near what track time would cost you.” 

Q: Can you actually learn real driving skills through a sim? 

“I can speak to that personally. I learned to drift on a G29 at home, just me and a wheel in the lounge. Then I got into a real car on a skid pan and found that the inputs, the timing, knowing when to load the wheel and catch the balance transferred directly to a real world situation.” 

Q: What happened to the sim racing boom that came out of COVID? 

A: “The mad rush for entry-level gear has settled, but what’s replaced it is more interesting. Consumers now want quality. Direct drive technology that was previously only available to serious pros is now accessible to everyday people at a realistic price point. The market has matured, there are fewer units being moved, but people are investing in much better gear.” 

Q: Where is sim hardware heading in terms of design? 

A: “Modular is the direction. The idea is you buy the base unit once, and then you build around it. Different wheels for different disciplines. A round wheel for drifting, a flat-bottomed rim for circuit racing, you just plug straight in and you’re in a completely different experience. It makes the investment go a lot further.” 

To round out my time at the Logitech head office in Auckland, Jamie and I jumped on the simulators. We were racing with the RS50 wheelbase, which is a 8Nm direct drive system. This was mounted to a Playseat Trophy Edition with RS pedals. Considering how we’re now in the Formula 1 season, it only felt right to load up F1 2025 on the Xbox for some laps of Albert Park.

As expected, the Logitech system provides an immense level of feedback from the direct drive’s force feedback. Aside from the obvious traction level and cornering cues, I was particularly impressed by the communication of different surfaces on the track. It wasn’t just the rumble strips that could be felt, but also the regular road markings are communicated through the wheel, it’s impressive stuff.  

After a couple of qualifying laps where Jamie outpaced me by a couple of seconds, I was skeptical going into the main event. Unfortunately for me, a spin at turn 15 on the first lap proved costly, and was left out of Jamie’s DRS range for the rest of the race. While a P2 finish is nothing to sneeze at in the real world, I had to hang my head in defeat leaving the Logitech offices, in the hope I’ll get a rematch with Jamie at some point in the near future.