Confidence was my first mistake. As I plopped down in one of the 83 racing simulators in the new F1 Arcade location in Washington, DC, I told the company’s CEO, Adam Breeden, that I’d raced plenty of times before. I picked Semi-Pro difficulty, even as Breeden told me he recommends most first-time arcade visitors pick something simpler. I adjusted the Vesaro simulator, started the race, and caused a six-car pileup on the race’s very first corner.
Luckily for me, the F1 Arcade is designed more for fun than fidelity, so my race wasn’t over. It ended four minutes later, in dead-last place, as the onscreen timer mercifully ticked to zero. On a normal day at the arcade, this would signal it’s time for someone else to race. For me, sitting at…