Tapas with Pablo López

Loupes, Go Pro López. Pablo López. We have heard this name a thousand times among the spanish community. His background is awesome, full of achievements, being a pioneer in promoting, spreading and competing in the toughest simracing top levels. He develops an incredible and invaluable work for the entire iRacing community, helping, working and attracting a lot of newcomers to the service.

You can find Pablo’s videos, interviews, profiles, awards, contributions… all along the last 7 years. A long way finally renewed with a new project: IRT.

Q: What was your first simracing peripheral?
A: I started racing with a PS2 gamepad connected to a USB adapter on my laptop but my first simracing purpose only peripheral was a G25, then the pots went nuts and Logitech was very kind to send me a new G27 without returning the G25, I fixed the pots and sold the G25 cheap to a friend.

Q: How many hours do you train before a race?
A: Depending on the race, I like to jump and race without qualifying time and almost no training for the fun of it… of course being clean. For a world championship race every 2 weeks, the best is to practice like an hour everyday… depending on the motivation.

Q: What was the inflection point in your career?
A: For sure signing with Radicals and achieving the Pro License were the most remarkable for me… right now I am experiencing something similar after 7 months outside simracing, all good things inside Iberica Racing, winning the MoE 1000kms of Suzuka and doing good on endurance races, also with some real engineers testing telemetry… another level at the moment.

Q: Do you use your simracing skills for daily driving?
A: For sure, the most is the situational awareness skills I got from racing, I saved a crash last Xmas because I could avoid a car on my right side that didn’t saw me when I was overtaking in a double lane road… Also, I feel that the street cars on Assetto Corsa can teach you really well on how to catch a slide…

Q: Tell me your most hated track.
A: I don’t really hate a track, but I hate certain combos… for example an F1 at Phillip Island it is a nightmare.. or the V8 at Brands Hatch. 😀

Q: What do you miss in simracing today?
A: I miss more drivers, it is growing a lot but still a niche market. It is way better than years ago, people is more conscious and the competition at the front it is huge… but still we need numbers, I think this is way better than some eSports… much more appealing for the drivers and spectators.

Q: How much have you invested in your current cockpit?
A: Apart from my own PC, I bought my Sparco seat. All the other gadgets are coming from my supporters (IbericaRacingTeam, Zalem, Simulaje, SHH shifters, Sennheiser, Thrustmaster and DSD).

Q: Do you use Sims other than ir?
A: Yeah for sure, I like to try everything simracing related and the called “simcades”, I enjoy to try new things and compare the feelings and handling. Assetto Corsa and rF2 are my other 2 favorites and always will be.

Q: Show me your racing shoes.
A: Puma racing cat, 30 bucks on sale. Best ever for simracing and also for normal street use.

Q: What car would you like to race better?
A: A real car 😛

I want to thank Pablo the chance to do this, and of course his availability and his huge commitment to this growing community.