Last night, 14-year-old Liam Dimock took home 25,000 euros in prize money. In front of an enthusiastic crowd in the America's Cup Race Village and thousands of online viewers, he sailed to victory in the first America's Cup e-Series. Now he and runner-up Robby Wooldridge even have the chance to enter the real America's Cup world.
Together, the two New Zealanders will compete against the Youth America's Cup winners from Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli on a real AC40 next Tuesday. The duel with Marco Gradoni and his crew could even offer a small foretaste of a possible America's Cup match between the defenders of Emirates Team New Zealand and the Italians. For this to happen, the latter would have to prevail against Ineos Britannia in the current final of the Louis Vuitton Cup.
"The whole experience was crazy. The grand finale was exciting, with lots of ups and downs, and anyone could win until the last race," said Dimock, who competed under the alias eSailingCentral. He can hardly wait to sail an AC40. Beforehand, the two e-sailors will complete three days of intensive simulator and water training.
From gamer to America's Cup sailor?
"The 'Gamer to Sailor' race is the ultimate proof of the e-Series mission," said Dan Bernasconi, Technical Director of defender Emirates Team New Zealand. After all, the computer game "AC Sailing", which is available free of charge, is based on his racing team's state-of-the-art simulator. The German Youth America's Cup Team, among others, also used this simulator in preparation for the races off Barcelona. They also only had three days of actual training on the boat before the first start. The same applies to the German women's team, who completed their first flight tests on the AC40 yesterday. The premiere of the Women's America's Cup starts on 5 October.
Three days earlier, it will have been shown to what extent the two gamers Liam Dimock and Robby Wooldridge can stand up to the super talents that Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli has in its team and whether the game can actually open doors into the world of high-speed sailing. Dimock is said to have already spent over 240 hours virtually on the AC40. However, he mainly gained his sailing experience with his parents and in Ilca sailing.
100,000 players sailed virtually for the America's Cup
Similar to the class originally known as Laser, it also had to beat off stiff competition in the America's Cup game to even qualify for the final event in Barcelona. In just a few months, the game was downloaded more than 100,000 times and anyone could take part in the e-Series. "The success of this first season is remarkable. We are incredibly excited to see what the future holds," said Grant Dalton, CEO of the America's Cup event.
The computer game "AC Sailing", developed by Emirates Team New Zealand, can be downloaded from Steam and Epic Games. The game is based on the powerful 'Gomboc' physics engine used by most America's Cup teams for yacht design and sailor training. At the heart of the game are the one-design AC40s, which players can take the helm of in various game modes, as well as real-life sailing locations such as the Cup area off Barcelona.
Technical details and system requirements for "AC Sailing"
To play AC Sailing, you need at least a Windows 10 64-bit operating system. In terms of processor performance, your computer should have at least an Intel Core i5-6600 (3.3Ghz) or an AMD Ryzen 5 1400 (3.2Ghz). This requires 8 GB RAM. Your graphics card should be at least as powerful as an Nvidia GTX 1060 6GB or an AMD RX 570 8GB. The game also requires DirectX version 11 and at least 10 GB of free memory. The game also requires an Epic ID account.
If you want to enjoy the game in optimum quality, the developers recommend the following slightly higher system requirements: Here, the computer should have 16GB of RAM and be equipped with an Intel Core i7-8700 (3.2Ghz) or an AMD Ryzen 5 3600 (3.6 Ghz). For the graphics card, an Nvidia RTX 2070 8GB or an AMD RX 5700XT 8GB is recommended for an optimal gaming experience. The DirectX and free memory requirements remain the same.
