The SimRacing Expo Podcast

Join Luke Crane on the SimRacing Expo Podcast for an in-depth conversation with Dani Juncadella, one of motorsport’s most versatile and candid voices.

In this episode, Dani reflects on his journey from late karting beginnings to winning Macau, becoming Formula 3 champion, racing in DTM, and ultimately thriving in GT and endurance racing.

He also opens up about the mindset shifts, setbacks, and turning points that shaped his career, plus what it’s like competing alongside Max Verstappen and working at the highest level of sim racing and real-world motorsport.

Dani’s also dives into his sim racing story, his path into iRacing, his work with Team Redline and Aston Martin, and the role social media plays in his motorsport life.

It’s an honest, funny, and highly insightful look at one of the sport’s most engaging personalities.

For our 25th episode, we're sitting down with someone who truly needs no introduction in the sim racing world: Aristotelis Vasilakos, better known as  @ArisDrives  and Chief Creative Officer at Straight4 Studios -  @ProjectMotorRacing .
With over a decade of experience shaping some of the most beloved titles in sim racing, Aris has been there from the early days of modding and community building all the way to working on landmark projects like Assetto Corsa and the Ferrari Virtual Academy.
His journey is one of passion, persistence, and a deep love for the craft, starting at just 14 years old, when games like Gran Turismo and IndyCar by Papyrus first sparked his obsession with virtual motorsport.
In this conversation, we go beyond the headlines and dive into the personal story behind one of sim racing's most respected voices.
Aris opens up about what shaped his philosophy as a developer, why Assetto Corsa has remained a community cornerstone for over a decade, and how the 2020 pandemic unexpectedly became a turning point for sim racing as a serious platform, not just a hobby, but a legitimate pathway into professional motorsport.
And of course, we look ahead. Aris shares exciting insights into what's coming at Straight4 Studios and where he sees the future of sim racing heading.
Chapters
00:00 Intro
01:13 How is Aris
01:25 Aris's history with Sim Racing
02:30 The one game he loves the most
03:17 Fondest memory of Sim Racing
08:00 Getting a job in Sim Racing
12:00 What makes Assetto Corsa so special
16:00 What Sim Racers want
17:20 ACC
20:57 Working for Straight4
21:30 What PMR needs to improve
27:30 What Straight4 are working on right now
34:20 Content creation
39:00 What is the state of Sim Racing in 2026?

In this episode we're joined by Nina Braack, Manager Esports at Porsche Motorsport and the woman leading the Porsche Coanda Esports Racing Team, Porsche’s official Esports works squad in international sim racing. With Porsche Esports, she uses Sim Racing to reach a young, tech‑affine community far beyond traditional motorsports, allowing fans worldwide to race Porsche GT cars digitally and experience the brand in genuinely competitive environments. At the same time, she thinks far beyond pure marketing: for Nina, sim racing and Esports are high‑performance sport, where talent, training, tactics and teamwork decide just as much as in real‑world racing.

Nina’s own path into Porsche Esports is deeply shaped by competitive sport. Born in 1993 in Frankfurt am Main, she studied, among other things, sport and event management and spent around ten years playing professional volleyball in the German 1st and 2nd Bundesliga before switching to Porsche Motorsport in 2022. This background in elite sport means she knows first‑hand what it means to train every day, deal with injuries and setbacks, and then at some point make the conscious decision to quit a professional career and reinvent herself, topics we dive into in detail in this conversation. Under her leadership, the Porsche Coanda Esports Racing Team quickly established itself at the top of the field, taking two titles in the Sim Racing top category ESL R1 as early as 2023.

Chapters
00:00 Intro
00:40 Nina Introduction
02:20 Rennsport R1
03:00 Professional Volleyball career
07:47 Dealing with setbacks
11:50 Quitting Volleyball
13:30 Love for motorsport growing up?
14:30 Getting involved with Porsche
18:40 Porsche Esports
22:50 Joshua Rogers going into a real car in British GT
27:25 Evaluation process
30:10 How Josh reacted to the race weekend
33:25 Sim Racing Esports
45:00 Where do you see Porsche Esports in 5 years time?
🗓️ Mark our SimRacing Expo's in your calendar:
SimRacing Expo Frankfurt, Hessen, Germany: 16.-18.Oct 2026SimRacing Expo Charlotte, North Carolina, USA: 21.-23.May 2027

Website
➡️️ SimRacing Expo Frankfurt: https://www.simracingexpo.de
➡️️ SimRacing Expo Charlotte: https://www.simracingexpo.com

✅ Get your tickets for SimRacing Expo DE or USA:
🇩🇪: https://ticket.simracingexpo.de
🇺🇸: https://ticket.simracingexpo.com🇺🇸

📝 Social Media
https://www.facebook.com/simracingexpo
https://instagram.com/simracing_expo
https://x.com/SimRacingExpo

🎧 Listen to our Podcast:
https://link.sim-expo.com/Podcast-YouTube
https://link.sim-expo.com/Podcast-Spotify
https://link.sim-expo.com/Podcast-Apple
https://link.sim-expo.com/Podcast-Deezer
https://link.sim-expo.com/Podcast-Amazon

📍 Our Affiliate Partners
Alpinestars Sim Racing: https://link.sim-expo.com/Alpinestars-SimRacing-Gear
Asetek Racing Europe: https://link.sim-expo.com/AsetekRacing-EU
Asetek Racing USA: https://link.sim-expo.com/AsetekRacing-USA
Fanatec: https://link.sim-expo.com/Fanatec
Logitech-G: https://link.sim-expo.com/Logitech-G
MOZA Racing: https://link.sim-expo.com/MOZA-Racing
Pimax: https://link.sim-expo.com/Pimax-VR

Join Luke and Danny for the last chat before we're kicking off the SimRacing Expo in North Carolina, Charlotte.
Enjoy the talk and get to know some background information of how it is to build such an event from the ground up, with all of its struggles, challenges and opportunities.

🗓️ Mark our SimRacing Expo's in your calendar:
SimRacing Expo Frankfurt, Hessen, Germany: 16.-18.Oct 2026SimRacing Expo Charlotte, North Carolina, USA: 21.-23.May 2027

Website
➡️️ SimRacing Expo Frankfurt: https://www.simracingexpo.de
➡️️ SimRacing Expo Charlotte: https://www.simracingexpo.com

✅ Get your tickets for SimRacing Expo DE or USA:
🇩🇪: https://ticket.simracingexpo.de
🇺🇸: https://ticket.simracingexpo.com🇺🇸

📝 Social Media
https://www.facebook.com/simracingexpo
https://instagram.com/simracing_expo
https://x.com/SimRacingExpo

🎧 Listen to our Podcast:
https://link.sim-expo.com/Podcast-YouTube
https://link.sim-expo.com/Podcast-Spotify
https://link.sim-expo.com/Podcast-Apple
https://link.sim-expo.com/Podcast-Deezer
https://link.sim-expo.com/Podcast-Amazon

📍 Our Affiliate Partners
Alpinestars Sim Racing: https://link.sim-expo.com/Alpinestars-SimRacing-Gear
Asetek Racing Europe: https://link.sim-expo.com/AsetekRacing-EU
Asetek Racing USA: https://link.sim-expo.com/AsetekRacing-USA
Fanatec: https://link.sim-expo.com/Fanatec
Logitech-G: https://link.sim-expo.com/Logitech-G
MOZA Racing: https://link.sim-expo.com/MOZA-Racing
Pimax: https://link.sim-expo.com/Pimax-VR

We’re incredibly excited to welcome one of the Nurburgring Nordschleife’s most iconic figures and globally recognized automotive content creators in our sim racing podcast: Misha Charoudin -  @mgcharoudin 

Over the past few years, Misha has not only built a massive following through his content centered around the legendary Nordschleife, Motorsport, Vulcan Alpha but has also taken his driving passion to the virtual world by diving deeper into the world of sim racing.

Today, he competes alongside sim racing content creator like Jimmy Broadbent -  @Jimmy_Broadbent  and Steve Alvarez Brown -  @Super_GT  in the highly competitive Porsche GT3 Cup with Black Falcon and Fanatec.

In this episode, we go beyond the surface to explore Misha’s journey, from his early days in content creation to becoming a key figure in the motorsport and sim racing community.

We discuss who truly played a role in making the Nürburgring globally famous, how hard it was to get his career going, and what advice he would give to his 13-year-old self.
Chapters
00:00 Intro
00:34 Talking about the numbers
02:52 Does it feel like a job?
06:20 First lap around The Ring feeling.
09:45 Reliant Robin attempt
10:30 Sabine Schmitz
17:15 Favourite Sabine record
19:00 Favourite corner
21:00 Favourite car around the Ring
23:10 How has your content evolved over time
25:00 The arrival of Boosted Boris
28:10 Transitioning to content as Misha
30:10 Manufacturers not being happy with timing laps
31:00 Authenticity of your content
35:30 Sim Racing history
37:50 Sim Racing going towards Nordschleife license.
42:00 Dealing with real racing pressures
44:05 Impact of Max Verstappen at the Nurburgring
49:50 How good is Max?
51:00 Racing in NLS 'Influencer team'
55:10 Added pressure of racing as The Content creator team in the eyes of the media.
59:50 2026 NLS plans
01:02:30 N24
01:04:10 Vulcan Alpha
01:11:10 Advice for 13 year old Misha

🗓️ Mark our SimRacing Expo's in your calendar:
SimRacing Expo Charlotte, North Carolina, USA: 22.-24.May 2026
SimRacing Expo Frankfurt, Hessen, Germany: 16.-18.Oktober 2026

💻 Website
➡️️ SimRacing Expo Frankfurt: https://www.simracingexpo.de
➡️️ SimRacing Expo Charlotte: https://www.simracingexpo.com

✅ Get your tickets for SimRacing Expo DE or USA:
🇩🇪: https://ticket.simracingexpo.de
🇺🇸: https://ticket.simracingexpo.com

📝 Social Media
➡️️ https://www.facebook.com/simracingexpo
➡️️ https://instagram.com/simracing_expo