My Favourite Game Nicolas Hamilton

The racing driver on moving from virtual tracks to the real thing, making games, and achieving his dreams.

Nicolas Hamilton is a racing-car driver who currently competes in the British Touring Car Championship. He was the first driver with a disability to compete in the series – he has cerebral palsy – and is the brother of three-time F1 world champion Lewis Hamilton. While his career is well established now, it all started with videogames.

What game first got you excited?

The one I can remember the most is playing Rock N’ Roll Racing on the Megadrive when I was about five or six. It was my favourite game at the time. I got into the TOCA Race Driver series when I was in my teens, and learned how to use manual gearboxes and all that sort of stuff. I loved the career mode – that was a big thing for me. I got more and more serious, and then one day a demo of GTR dropped through my door and I started my own virtual career using that game.

How did that come about?