Thibault Cazaubon Interview

I recently had the chance to speak to Thibault Cazaubon, who is part of the R8G Esports sim racing team. He’s a 22 year-old sim racer from the city of Pau in the south of France, but he spends a fair bit of his time in Magny-Cours working with Venym.

I chatted to him about how he got into the team, and what advice he had for beginners looking to get faster on the track. You can read our full conversation below.

Flow Racers Interview With Thibault Cazaubon

*We have performed minor edits on what was said on both sides for brevity and clarity*

RO:

So, Thibault, introduce yourself to everyone reading.

TC:

I am Thibault Cazaubon, and I started sim racing in 2017, on Project Cars [the first one] on PS4. So it was on the controller. Then I was watching a stream on Twitch, and I saw a game that I didn’t know, it was iRacing. So then I bought a wheel, pedals, and a PC to play iRacing.

And then from 2018 to 2021, I was on iRacing. Then I joined R8G esports. Then I had a small break because I’m also working on Venym. And now, I’m coming back slowly on R8G and I’m doing the Rennsport competition.

RO:

Just to take it back, you were playing on PS4, and you then made the jump to iRacing from what you saw on Twitch. What was the first set of equipment that you got?

TC:

I had my T300RS, from Thrustmaster, and the T3PA [pedals]. And then my first direct drive was a Simucube 2 and Heusinkveld Pro pedals. And then I switched to Venym pedals and I still have the Simucube and also the VRS.

Honestly, the Venym pedals, for me, they’re the best. But also because of Rennsport, I have to practice sometimes on the VRS pedals.

RO:

Why do you think the Venym pedals are the best?

TC:

Because Venym is created by Mygale. They have all the knowledge from the real world and put it in the virtual world. They know cars very well, and what they know from real pedals they have put into the Venym pedals.

And also because you can customize them. You can put your colors and your name on them. And for me that’s good to feel that you have the only one in the world.  

Sim Racing As A Career Path

I then switched the conversation up to see how easy he felt it was for people to become ‘professional’ sim racers nowadays. He had some interesting thoughts on how it’s about more than just racing.

RO:

So you started off on a PS4, then went to iRacing. How did you then end up actually sim racing as a career path?

TC:

So I started on Project Cars 1, on PS4, and I joined the TX3 team. And the manager of R8G also manages TX3.

So they had the opportunity to create the R8G team and they said to me, “If you want to join, we are going to create a new team, R8G.” TX3 is a good team but not professional. And the boss of TX3 had the opportunity to create a professional team. And he said to me, “If you want to join, we can.” And I’m still on the same team today.

RO:

Do you think sim racing is a viable path as a career?

TC:

I think yes. Not for everyone for sure, because it’s not like Call of Duty, like all these big games. But I mean, the top players of the world, they can. For sure.

But we don’t know how it’s going to be in the future. I hope that in the future it’s going to be even better. To do racing competitions without a big budget, that’s a good thing for drivers like me who have some experience in real racing, but who don’t have the budget.

RO:

Comparing sim racing to other kinds of esports, do you think prices in general have to come down before more people can do sim racing?

TC:

If you want to play FIFA, you only have to buy a controller. Sim racing is expensive compared to these games. But I think we need to compare sim racing to real racing.

The reality is $200k minimum to race a Formula 4 season. And that’s the low end, because then we have Formula 3, Formula 2, Formula 1. And for example GT3 or GT4, that’s also very expensive. So today I think we have to compare the sim racing prices to real racing competitions, not compared to FIFA and Call of Duty.

RO:

Before Rennsport, would you have thought it was viable to actually be a sim racer?

TC:

From maybe 2021, I think it has been possible. Because there were some iRacing and ACC competitions. But it’s not only about competition. It’s also about the coaching. Today the ecosystem of sim racing is not big enough to be able to be good and to have a good career if you just drive, unless you’re top 10 in the world.

Coaching, Venym & Track Experience

Thibault juggles various different things in his sim racing life. He’s still at school, but he also works with the R8G sim racing team and he works with the sim racing manufacturer Venym. But he even offers some sim racing coaching on the side.

RO:

Do you do coaching?

TC:

A bit, yeah.

RO:

How do you get into that?

TC:

I have had some people who say something like, “I have a problem on the brake” and they ask me if I do coaching. Honestly at the start, I didn’t want to do that because I don’t have enough time. I have my school, I have Venym, and I have Rennsport. So I don’t have a lot of time, but when someone wants to do some coaching, yeah. I’ll do it.

But I am not going out to people, saying, “Hey, I’m doing competitive coaching, do you want it?” But when someone is asking me if I can, I’ll do it.

RO:

What exactly is your role with Venym?

TC:

As you know, Venym was created by Mygale. Mygale is very big, but Venym is new. It’s a new startup. So to be honest, what I do is not specific to one world. I mean, I’m not doing only the commercial things or only the marketing. I’m doing a lot of things.

It’s why I am very happy to do that because I’m doing a lot of different things. This allows me to live off something I’m passionate about.

But today I’m primarily doing the marketing and the commercial things.

RO:

You said earlier you had some track experience. How did you get that?

TC:

I got some experience thanks to sim racing. Maybe two years ago R8G allowed me to do some Formula 4, but yeah, I didn’t have enough budget. The speed was here but you need to have money.

Thibault’s Advice For Those Just Starting

RO:

What would you say to someone starting sim racing on a PlayStation?

TC:

To be honest, just to start on the computer for sure. And to not spend a lot of money because you can be fast on a Thrustmaster and Logitech wheel and pedals, at least to start. And then if you like it and if you think that you can be faster and if you feel that you have the passion to drive, then you can spend more money on some good pedals, a good wheel, and a good computer. But you don’t have to start very high.

I started on the T300 and on Thrustmaster pedals. And it was good I started like that. I don’t think a lot of people are starting with a direct drive wheel.

Just have fun and see if you like it and then think about spending more.

RO:

So you’ve spoken about the equipment side of things, but in terms of getting faster as a driver, what would you recommend focusing on?

TC:

Firstly to practice. Because some people think that it’s only about two hours of practice and then just race. We are practicing a lot to be fast.

But it’s also about the team and the atmosphere where you are. The team, the teammates, everything. I’m not alone. I have a team. You need to practice a lot and you also need a good team.

Joining A Sim Racing Team

Thibault has been part of the same racing team (in a few different forms) since 2017. I wanted to hear his thoughts on how you actually join a sim racing team.

RO:

How do you join a team?

TC:

For example, on iRacing, if you are fast and continue to be fast and you’re always racing in the fastest splits, for sure a team will see that. So they will contact you and say, “Hello, do you want to join a team?” And then it’ll start from there.

RO:

You were saying having a team helped you. How exactly are you improving by having teammates?

TC:

In R8G for example, we are all close. We are very close together. So we are always placing together. We are speaking a lot. For example, if on Spa I am two tenths behind, I will hit replay and I will try to see where he is going faster and how he is going faster.

We check the replay, the telemetry, everything, just to understand what he is doing different to me. When you are alone, that’s not easy because you are slow, but you don’t know why.

RO:

Does YouTube help?

TC:

YouTube is good for providing a base level of tutorials. But when you start to be at the limit, you only have two things. The coaching, or a friend or a team to help you. So it’s all about watching people drive and understand what they are doing.

But you don’t have to focus on joining a team from the start. Firstly, you need to enjoy driving and then it will come naturally. You don’t say, “Yeah, I’m going to buy a computer to start sim racing and to be a professional.” You need to first have the passion to drive because if you don’t have the passion, it’ll be boring for you.

Thibault’s Future & Closing Thoughts

RO:

What do you think the future holds for you?

TC:

Well, I’m still at school. I still have nine months at school and then I have a decision to make. If I do Venym full-time or if I do sim racing full-time. Or maybe both, I don’t know.

But in any case, Venym or sim racing is good because it’s all about my passion. I love what I do and for me, I don’t think about that because in my case I have two solutions which are good for me.

RO:

Is there anything else you’d like to mention?

TC:

One thing is that a lot of people think from the start about joining an esports team and being an esports player. For sure we all want to be at the top. But I think that’s something people think about too much. And they forget the passion and just driving and having fun. That’s the problem today I think. Just have fun and drive.

RO:

Let’s say someone’s having fun, how often should they be in a sim?

TC:

If we have a race on the Sunday, I drive around two hours per day. I think if someone wants to perform and to be faster, they don’t have to drive a lot every day, but just drive every day. I think it’s enough to drive only one hour per day or between five and ten hours per week.

RO:

Where can people follow you?

TC:

You can follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter.