Chapter 132 - 57: Simulator

Chapter 132: Chapter 57: Simulator

On the evening of May 25, the new generation of drivers threw a party. They gathered together not to discuss racing or competition, but simply to hang out and shoot the breeze like a regular group of young guys.

The next morning, Wu Shi woke up groggily. He and Verstappen were crashing at Lock’s house. Drivers didn’t have much free time for entertainment, so waking up meant they had to return to Holland for practice.

Verstappen, however, was thrilled. He hadn’t driven a car in over thirty-six hours! His hands were itching! As a fellow gearhead, Wu Shi completely understood how he felt. After all, having just watched an F1 Grand Prix, his own heart was growing increasingly restless.

However, before they could head to the airport, Sid called.

"Hello, I’m just about to head back to Holland," Wu Shi said as he answered the phone.

"No, no, no, this isn’t about that. Turn around right now. I’ve sent you an address. Go there immediately." Sid sounded extremely urgent and spoke so loudly that even Verstappen, who was standing nearby, could hear him.

Verstappen made a surprised expression and signaled that he would head to the airport first.

Wu Shi flashed him an OK gesture while asking into the phone, "Why?"

"It’s Hamilton. Simon Fuller’s XIX Entertainment team just contacted me. You know, that’s Hamilton’s management team. They told me Hamilton wants to invite you over to his place for a chat." Sid was so overly excited that he was stuttering.

Wu Shi wanted to say that he actually had no idea who Hamilton’s management team was, but that didn’t matter anymore!

"Alright, I’ll head over right away!" Although he had no clue why Hamilton was inviting him, it didn’t stop him from going to check it out.

After calling an Uber, Wu Shi hurried over to Hamilton’s residence. The front door of the red-brick apartment was wide open, and at a glance, he spotted Hamilton sitting on the living room sofa. However, what attracted his attention the most was the massive simulator on the west side of the living room.

"Hey, Mr. Hamilton, I’m here," Wu Shi said.

"Welcome, young man from Hua Country. You’ve grown up so much in the blink of an eye." Hamilton stood up happily. He was dressed very fashionably, wearing a loose-fitting, flowing top with cascading sleeves and modified black cargo pants.

"Haha, I still remember the scene when we first met. It was an unforgettable moment in my life," Wu Shi said.

"Oh, it’s my honor. But I want to tell you that when you come to the paddock, you’ll experience another unforgettable moment of your life." Hamilton shoved his hands into his pockets and walked over to the simulator. "Come and see what this is."

"A simulator." Wu Shi naturally recognized the large contraption. In front of it was a surround screen composed of three massive monitors. The seat had a six-axis motion system, and the overall design was sharp and edgy.

"Yes, an F1 simulator. Come and try it out," Hamilton said straightforwardly.

"Alright!" Wu Shi didn’t ask why. He simply sat down on it.

"I’ve already adjusted the settings. If you don’t mind, you can stay here for a few days," Hamilton said.

As soon as the simulator booted up, complex parameter settings flashed across the screens before the starting grid appeared. Even though he had never been to this track in his life, Wu Shi recognized it at a glance. It was Neon’s Suzuka Circuit!

"Give it a try," Hamilton urged.

Wu Shi turned his head and glanced at Hamilton. He had already guessed what was going on, but he didn’t say anything, directly starting to drive.

For the first three laps, he familiarized himself slightly with the controls and asked about some buttons on the steering wheel—F1 drivers’ steering wheels were all customized, so only the drivers themselves and their engineers knew what some of the unmarked buttons did.

After three laps, Wu Shi drove onto the starting Great Straight. He pressed the DRS button, activated battery output, and engaged qualifying mode. The simulated engine roar blasted into his ears.

In eighth gear, he charged straight towards Turn 1, reaching an astonishing terminal speed of 344 kilometers per hour.

"Slide into Turn 1 in sixth gear. Keep downshifting and decelerating midway until you reach Turn 2 in fourth gear," Hamilton’s voice suddenly rang out.

Since Wu Shi wasn’t wearing headphones, he heard his words clearly and followed the instructions. After exiting Turn 2, he accelerated down a short straight before entering Turns 3 and 4 in fifth gear at around 240 kilometers per hour. During this, he had to constantly lift off and step on the throttle to navigate the continuous S-curves from Turn 3 to Turn 7.

"Accelerate out of Turn 7. You can push it to eighth gear, then flick it into Turn 8."

The scenery flashed past Wu Shi’s eyes. At over 280 kilometers per hour, he abruptly braked, downshifted, and turned the wheel. As he hit the apex of Turn 8, the car’s speed was still a blistering 240 km/h. It felt like the front of the car plunged into the apex in the blink of an eye. This was only on a simulator; if he were driving a real car, the G-force would have been incredibly uncomfortable.

Turn 9 was quite sharp, so he had to decelerate again, entering the corner in fourth gear at just under 150 km/h.

"You can keep accelerating down this straight. Your braking point is the apex of the faux Turn 10, preparing to enter Turn 11."

Throughout the entire lap, Hamilton stood by the side, detailing exactly how to tackle every single corner.

VROOM VROOM!

The race car’s engine roared as it crossed the finish line, and the final lap time popped up.

1:37.661.

"Not bad," Hamilton evaluated.

"Yeah, I feel like there’s still a lot of room for improvement," Wu Shi said. He obviously wasn’t quite used to this driving style, feeling at times that he hadn’t pushed the downforce to its absolute limit. Of course, many things in a simulator didn’t truly count.

"Last year, Weber drove a Red Bull car to secure pole position here with a time of 1:30.915," Hamilton added.

"That’s really fast, but this year’s cars are noticeably slower than last year’s," Wu Shi noted.

"Yeah, this is the first year of the hybrid engines. It’s completely normal that the speed can’t compare to last year’s," Hamilton said. Last year, he had taken third in qualifying with a time of 1:31.253.

Hearing this, Wu Shi remained silent and continued to sprint for another lap.

After watching for a while, Hamilton turned around and sat down on the sofa behind them. "If you want to drive it more, I’ll have someone give you a key. You can drop by whenever you’re free."

"Thank you so much for your generosity," Wu Shi said while driving.

"This machine is just sitting here gathering dust anyway. I rarely use it. You might as well use it to get used to things. However, I must remind you that a simulator is used to familiarize yourself with the track, not to tell you how to actually drive it in reality."

Hamilton had never been particularly fond of simulators. He believed that true data could only be gathered through actual track testing. Although he would complete simulator tests as required by the team, he didn’t spend his free time practicing on them.

"I understand, but regardless, thank you."

"Just keep driving here. I have to head out." Hamilton tossed down a key, informed the servant in the side room, and left.

Throughout their entire conversation, neither of them brought up why Wu Shi had been so abruptly invited over to experience driving the simulator.