Doing some laps in your socks while gripping the wheel barehanded is what a lot of sim racers do. However, for long sessions and for racers that are a bit more serious about their driving, we recommend some gear to not only improve your driving but also protect your gear and yourself.
Gloves
Gloves are highly recommended for long sessions. It protects your wheel from sweat and grime, looks after your hands by reducing the chances of blisters and helps a bit with your actual driving by improving your grip on the wheel.
There are lots of gloves available that are recommended for sim racing at varying levels of price. For example, Logitech offer the Trueforce Racing Gloves for £23.99. They look great and have mainly positive reviews. Based on the reviews, these gloves should work fine, but we recommend something completely different.
We use a pair of golf gloves for our sim racing. They are very thin, quite grippy and breathable. We don't feel sweat build inside the gloves and the thinness still gives a good feel through the wheel.
The added bonus is that since there's so many varieties available, you can shop around and get a really good deal on a decent pair. The ones we use cost approximately R250 (13€) for a pair and work fantastically well.
You just need to make sure to buy a mating pair since most golf gloves are sold for one hand only. The ones we use are similar to the ones pictured below:
Shoes
A proper racing boot is not a cheap option and is therefore not an option for a lot of sim racers. However, similar items can be had for a little less money if you know what to look for.
You need something with a thin sole for good pedal feel and with proper heel protection since you'll be placing a lot of load on your heels over a long session.
Puma make a range of shoes that we think are great for sim racing. Their Speedcat range meets all of our requirements and can be bought for as low as £45. This isn't exactly cheap, but if you only wear them for sim racing, then they should last for many years.
Final thoughts
These two apparel items that we recommend for sim racing are based on our own experiences. You may have different ideas or suggestions from ours, and it would be appreciated if you could add your opinions in the comments.
However, there are other items you can add, like socks, for example, but we feel that these are even more personal and should be left to individual taste.
If you take your sim racing seriously and if you race a lot or have long sessions, then we think that a decent pair of gloves and shoes is a must-have.
