Posted in: eSports, Games, Indie Games, Video Games | Tagged: AC Sailing, America's Cup, barcelona, Emirates Team New Zealand

We Tried Out AC Sailing For Ourselves In Barcelona With The Pros

We were flown out to Barcelona to try a new kind of sports game, as AC Sailing is out on PC for free, with an esports series on the way.

This past week, we found ourselves in Barcelona, Spain, to try out a new video game, as AC Sailing has set a course for PC along with an esports series. We were invited by Emirates Team New Zealand, developer and publisher of the new game, to the coastal city for a special look at the video game at the America's Cup Experience, the official exhibition hall for the 37th competition, which will be held in Barcelona between August and October this year. The location served as a proper kicking-off point for an official video game based on the competitive sailing sport, which was released completely free on both Steam and the Epic Games Store for anyone to pick up.

The way this game was created is a story unto itself, as this was originally a simulation for real-world sailors who compete in the Cup to train themselves in New Zealand. It wasn't an overnight thing, as it took years for them to perfect the system. Which included loading up the correct dimensions for their yachts into the system, then creating the mechanics of how the foiling yacht actually operates, followed by water mechanics, adding in weather variables, and testing the system over and over until they had what was one of the best simulation systems devised for a sport. Over time, they perfected it to include the areas and courses they would be competing on so they could best train for that exact condition without having to pay to fly a team and their boat to the location and train. Considering New Zealand has won four of the last eight competitions, I'd say they made a pretty solid simulator.

When we arrived in Barcelona, we were given a full presentation and demonstration of the game, as ETNZ set it up so you could race these yachts in real races, set in the actual locations some of them have been held at. This included the Balearic Sea and the sight of the 2024 competition just outside the Experience. AC Sailing was designed so that you could take this on as a single player using a keyboard and mouse, a game controller, or a full racing rig. The last of which they had on full display at the event. These are the same setups they use when training athletes before they head out onto the water, many of whom tried the simulator before and could attest that its as close to having the real experience without being on a yacht.

During the launch event, we got to see an eight-boat race with several players using Logitech G racing wheels to command their boats. This included a mix of esports players and IRL sailors as we saw Olympic Gold medallists Dylan Fletcher and Ruggero Tita, World Champions Liv Mackay and Erika Reineke, upcoming athletes Morgan Lauber and Alexandre Kowalski, Spanish Olympic medallist Jordi Xammar, and from esports team Unicorns of Love, Lukas Mohr. The eight sailed on the Barcelona course, showing off strategies for sailing and how best to use the boats based on the wind and positioning of the craft. The race was fun to watch, but also all in good fun, as some of them showed off just how fast the boats could get in the right circumstances. It also showed the potential of what we'll see when the America's Cup E-Series takes place, but more on that in a moment.

When the event was over, we had a chance to try AC Sailing ourselves on stage and experiment with it using a proper racing wheel. We got helpful hints from a real pro, as Dylan Fletcher gave us the basics of how to operate one of these boats in a quick rundown. We also had help from ETNZ CEO Grant Dalton, who shared with us that one of his big goals with the game was to make it so that anyone could learn the sport and, eventually, be able to control and sail a boat in real life. Because let's be honest; there are a few hurdles you have to overcome in order to even want to do this on a hobbyist level, let alone a professional athlete going into competition. The game definitely has an interesting learning curve.

The key that we learned to this is figuring out how best to balance using the wind to your advantage with the sails and how best to course correct with a combination of the T-Ridder and the Lifting Foils. Using a wheel helped greatly, but even with my experience in racing games over the years, I was not prepared for some of the changes you need to gauge for. Sometimes, you have to control that wheel with the slightest touch, or you lose all momentum. Other times, you'll have to course correct and end up capsizing in the slowest, most embarrassing way possible. That said, the appeal is here as I immediately wanted to learn how I could improve and gain an advantage to soar through the current and turn on a dime. Seeing as how this is a free game, I would recommend it for anyone who wants a challenge and thinks they're the best driver ever. AC Racing will humble you in a moment, then make you want to master it immediately after.

All of this served as a preamble for the upcoming America's Cup E-Series, which they will launch this year as a global competition for players of all kinds to compete in. The finer details of when the competition will start and how people will qualify have not been revealed yet, but it sounds like the goal will be to have players qualify for a tournament over the summer, eventually leading to their own championship game at the America's Cup Experience this October before the finals of the real world Cup take place, with a prize pool on the line for the finalists. In any case, it was a brilliant event for AC Sailing, as it is now available for anyone to play for free. Best get your practice in now!

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