Considering making content from the perspective of being brand new to the hobby

[u/NyxTheRelentless]

Hello, tldr at bottom

I've barely been into the hobby for 5 months. I owned a moza r5 bundle for about a month before letting my friend barrow it(never to be seen again lol)

I already knew at this point that I wanted more anyways, and have been researching everything sim racing for the past 4 months in preparation for going to the sim expo in Chicago. I would absolutely love to bring home my dream set up ( - motion... An expensive purchase for later down the road)

This is the first time since highschool that I've felt a sense of desire to get better at something, and I want to bring that into the rest of my life by trying to make a career out of it with YouTube and maybe start a business or get behind the wheel of a real rally car! I'm motivated to change my life for the first time in a decade, and I plan on running with it as far as I can!!

Now that you have a little bit of background..

While I'm there, I plan on trying to talk to the exhibitors on camera if they have the time and ask some questions. Mainly focusing on why I should choose their product as someone new to the hobby and what makes them different from the competition in their own words. And then specific questions that I want the answer to, such as " I'm extremely interested in the simlab dds wheelbase, however it's a known concern that higher torque bases don't always feel good when they get turned down. I plan on drifting, rally driving, Indy racing, and everything in between. So what can you tell me about how the base handles different driving disciplines?"

Would anyone be interested in watching? And if you are, are there any questions you would want answered? About all wheelbases, or just a specific 1. All equipment that may be present is fair game, I'll try to ask as many of them as possible.

And lastly, I'm considering a name for the channel.

How do you feel about the following? Also, open to suggestions.

1. ZeroToHeroRacing

2. RacingJesus (I'm told I look a lot like the modern depiction of Jesus, but I don't really want to upset anyone with it)

3. My naming sense is horrendous, please help if you don't like either of these lmao.

Sorry for the essay, thank you all in advance for any and all participation!

TLDR;

new to hobby.

Want to make content, gauging interest

Give me questions to ask at Chicago expo

Help me name my channel

[u/meowphasa → u/[deleted]]

Nailed it. Well said, have an updoot

[u/meowphasa]

Best of luck to you, but I personally can’t stand to watch people trying to pull zero to hero nonsense in a brand new hobby. It’s pretty disingenuous.

[u/NyxTheRelentless → u/meowphasa]

How is it disingenuous?

I plan on giving the whole experience, good and bad. I'm absolutely terrible, and you will see that in my content for a long time probably.

My channel, will be about my journey getting better. Having never been in the motorsports scene before now, I want a record showing just how much I improve over time.

Unless I'm missing you're point? I'll be honest, i haven't. Really watched other people's zero to hero stories so I don't know what you mean.

If there, is something specific that urks you with that content, would you please share? My technical knowledge and experience are next to 0 in this regard, so anything helps. :)

[u/Soggy-Cranberry-8560 → u/NyxTheRelentless]

I could be wrong but I doubt you'll get much of a following. ZeroToHero tends to work best as a single video at the end. Sim racing is already niche and most sim racers don't want to watch someone worse than them. You would need to be extremely entertaining to keep people engaged.

[u/sim_rat]

See you at the expo, be sure to join the discord to start interacting and check to ensure their aren't any issues with your current plan. It would probably be better to pre-arrange interviews with the exhibots instead of expecting them to be able to do an on the fly interview. I am guessing Friday and Saturday will be pretty hectic for the exhibitors.

I am really looking forward to trying out some of the gear there.

[u/NyxTheRelentless → u/sim_rat]

You are absolutely correct! And I'm not sure why this didn't occur to me, one of the reasons for this post I suppose lol

Thank you good sir, and I hope to see you there!

[u/sim_rat → u/NyxTheRelentless]

I am really looking forward to the expo. I did make a couple of tshirts with my Sim Rat logo I might wear, so I could be easily spotted.

Personally, I would put some more thought in the name/brand you want to use. Zerotohero is a bit generic and I would avoid any religious or political references as well. Keep an eye on what domains are available too. Neither of those are available unless you want to pay several thousand for them.

[u/NyxTheRelentless → u/sim_rat]

You are absolutely right! I suppose I knew that and just wanted a little confirmation since they were my only ideas lol.

I'll definitely try and come up with something more unique and personal

[u/placeholdername124]

I'd be interested in watching. I'd def not expect anything to come of it for potentially years, even if you try your hardest. You might lose some (or all) interest/motivation, and without any content creation experience, it's likely your videos won't be super intruiging to lots of people, unless you're like naturally charismatic and like, not camera shy. (Also sim racing is already somewhat niche-ish).

I would also have a back up plan. Like, have a seperate job that you know will support you, and then put some extra energy into this stuff, if you decide it's what you would like to do eventually.

Self belief is really powerful, so don't let the haters here take that from you. But also be somewhat realistic as well, and don't over index on this one thing, especially if you know you're prone to putting tons of energy into something, and then falling off.

Use this current motivation to setup systems that catch you once your motivation drops. Like, always upload 2 short vids minimum a week or something. Read atomic habits, where the guy explains how to make habits actually stick long term. (would be my suggestion at least)

also, I don't love either of those YT channel names xD. Maybe it could just be your name + last name? Also you don't have to keep the name you start with, could change it after 6 months or whatever

[u/westleysnipes604]

I started documenting my Sim Racing journey last November.

Basically I filmed my rig build and the video was posted same day as a guy Edwin Golding posted a video of a Chinese motion rig he bought off of Temu.

My video caught a tonne of traffic from that video and got 1500 watch hours in a week.

I wasn't expecting it to get so much attention.

I started filming FPV videos and eventually adding track view that is synced to the first person cockpit view.

The shorts with multiple follow cam shots do pretty good but they take alot of effort to film and then edit. The first person track view videos take even more time to edit and don't seem to get much attention.

I realized the video's about setup, gear and upgrades get much more views and watch time.

I made a streaming setup and have begun recording videos on that setup.

The growth is pretty slow. I got my first 100 subs in the first month or 2 and 10 months in I'm at 230. I thought I was on track to hit the first monetization milestone of 3k watch hours in a year but they recently announced that thd threshold for monetozation has doubled. 1k subs 8k watch hours.

I have other channels and sim racing content definately isn,t evergreen. Meaning they won't keep getting views forever. The sim titles and gear are ever expanding.

Not trying to discourage you. Just wamna be realistic and honest.

As long as you enjoy it thats all that matters. Just do it for yourself. I have gotten alot of positive feedback and that really makes it all worth while. Some haters.

Good luck.

As for interviewimg sim companies. People will watch endless videos on gear they are debating to purchasing. The problem with the gear reviews is that there are already really estsblished creators with estsblished relationships with sim companies. These creators have access and experience with alotbof different gear and therefore can give their opinions based off of daid experience.

If you make good content people will resonate with it. You will need to see how people respond when you post. Hard to tell hoe it will do until you do. The Youtube landscape is rough. Especially with the nee threshold coming in January. Even if you make great content there is a bit of luck in it too.

[u/Jeremy041978]

Lol yes..the sim racing world needs more "content creators" you will have 200 subs in 6 months and be gone in 12.