Derek Bessey's online racing community is like a second family.
After losing his right leg seven years ago, the 65-year-old Canberran became immersed in the simulation racing game rFactor 2 as a way to stay connected to the outside world while stuck at home.
"When you're on there, you don't think about anything," he says.
"You think about racing and getting around the corners, everything else in your mind is just gone.
Only being able to use the accelerator and brake pedals one at a time doesn't deflate his competitive drive.
"When you get on these, you'll come off sweating," Bessey says.
"The adrenaline goes, it's so much fun racing with the people next to you."
Bessey says the realism of the racing simulation is elevated by motorised steering wheels that produce physical feedback.
An endless suite of customisable options for every facet of the vehicles and tracks also means racing fanatics are only limited by their imaginations.
Bessey says players in his community, Outlaws Racing Australia, must also stick to strict racing conduct rules, including not crashing into the sides of other cars and allowing faster cars to overtake.
After years of living with chronic pain and feelings of isolation, he says the Outlaws community is the perfect place for him to escape reality.
"Even if you've got that day where you're thinking down, you think 'ah, I'll get on the computer with the boys' and it's gone," he says.
A long and painful road to amputation
Bessey was forced to retire early after becoming burdened by severe back injuries.
The years-long journey to getting his right leg amputated began with circulation and blood clot issues in his right foot.
"My foot was going black and blue and all colours, it was dying from no blood," he says.
"So they did the toe and they said 'walk around for a while and see if you can get circulation back in', and that didn't happen."
Suffering in intense pain, Bessey says he made the decision to have his right leg removed.
Seven years later, he says it is still hard to comprehend the loss.
"There are times where you sit here thinking 'wow, what am I going to, is this it, is this the end, what am I going to do for the rest of my life?'"
Through times of sadness, Bessey says racing online was the only place he could go to get away, and urged other people struggling to look to online communities for support.
'It's more than a game, it's a way of life'
After Bessey joined the Outlaws, founding member and admin Wayne Dare noticed he needed some help.
"He wasn't having a good time, he wasn't finishing races … and I just started talking to him, pointing out how to set a car up to suit a one-legged driver," Dare says.
As part of his duties, Dare regularly organises tournaments and acclimates newcomers to the community and to rFactor 2's complicated mechanics.
"I just want to make everybody happy and confident and enjoy themselves.
"Most people that don't sim race go 'ah, it's just a game' — but it's more than a game, it's a way of life."
Bessey says that, after his wife died in 2017, his Outlaws family helped fill the void.
"It does fill a big, big part of your life, and you realise that once you can't have it, when it's gone it's like your brother's died," he says.
Through bouts of depression and managing chronic pain, Bessey says a hopeful attitude was key to keeping positive.
"Some days are hard but you've just got to push through it," he says.
"You've just got to keep yourself around for these people, you've got to think about that as well, not just you, yourself and your life."
