To perform well in Virtual Regatta, the Vendée Globe simulation game, several tools allow you to mingle with the best without necessarily having set foot on a boat. Anticipating winds, trajectories and programming your course will be your allies.
The 40 skippers of the Vendée Globe will not be the only ones to start the 2024 edition, Sunday in Les Sables-d'Olonne. There will also be hundreds of thousands of them embarking on the adventure by proxy with Virtual Regattathe most famous offshore racing simulation game which brought together a million people during the 2020-2021 edition. The principle is simple: after free registration, each participant obtains a boat and some credits to add some equipment. Options are sold to make it more efficient.
So how can you put all the chances on your side to win? RMC Sport gives you its advice.
A constant eye on the weather forecast
Once on the starting line of this Vendée Globe virtual, each boat will sail around the world with the same weather forecasts as sailors on the open sea. The first key is therefore to remain vigilant to the strength and direction of the wind to move faster or anticipate the windows that will allow it. These forecasts are updated four times a day. The idea is therefore to check the course as soon as possible after the updates to better adapt its trajectory.
Valuable tools like routing
Several tools facilitate these course changes, such as routing which allows you to program the direction of the boat over several hours. This is the technique of Philippe Guigné, founder of the game that he sold to 52 Entertainment in 2021. The entrepreneur remains an ambassador of the brand and will take a boat on the game without forcing himself to get up at night to change cap. “The last Vendée Globe in 2020, I did it a little seriously. I made an honorable score by finishing around five thousandths out of a million. The best players play very, very well. I play very 'à la dad', I use the routing in the game which is very well designed. I analyze it a little. I make some strategic choices then, I let myself be guided by the game. The game offers a router but e-gaming teams opt for other tools like Zezo or VRZen.
The importance of sails… and monitoring the competition
The choice of sails to optimize the boat's progress in strong or weak winds is obviously decisive. The site is also very intuitive and allows you to calculate the boat's speed by moving the cursor on the dial. The wet finger navigation technique also exists. In the virtual world, it is illustrated by the possibility of following in the wake of the best competitors. Competition is also boosted by inter-company challenges.
Follow the real race
Following the positions of the real race is also a fairly safe guarantee. “You will be faced with the same conditions, having to carry out the same reflections in terms of navigation and strategy,” explains Tom Gauthier, general manager of Virtual Regatta. “We are going to enter into a form of competition too. Everyone will be able to do their Vendée in their own way. Some people are more competitive than others and will look for navigation down to the last detail, down to the minute, and do things very precise way. They will certainly get up at night When we have our friend right behind and likely to pass in front, we are necessarily more vigilant. It is a game which awakens unsuspected competitive instincts in some people. is a game, so it is above all about having fun participating in the Vendée Globe.”
“It is above all a social game which allows you to get together with friends, friends, family, around a challenge which is this trip around the world.”
A luxury watch to win
The satisfaction of having concluded the World Tour is accompanied by that of having done better than your office neighbor and a member of your family. For the prizes, only the winner will be rewarded with a luxury watch from the Ulysse Nardin brand (race partner) worth 14,400 euros. In 2021, Jean-Paul Goudon, retired at 65, had won the Grail. A former engineer specializing in air and maritime navigation, member of an e-sport team (Esailing France), he had calculated everything to win the most prestigious virtual race in the world.
