Bruno Senna, a driver for the Mahindra team (and a nephew of the legendary Formula 1 champion Ayrton Senna), says it takes some getting used to. Drivers generally use the engine’s sound to figure out when to change gears, he says; “Now we have to look at the dashboard.” Karun Chandok, his partner on the Mahindra team, compared the experience to using ”a simulator on mute.”

The sounds that electric cars make, or should make, are a contentious issue. Alejandro Agag, the promoter of the Formula E championship and a self-confessed petrolhead, told Quartz in April that he was keenly aware of the importance of sound in racing. But he is convinced that people will come around to the sound of the Formula E cars .

Agag compares the sound of electric race cars to the pod racers in the movie Star Wars: Phantom Menace. To this writer, it sounds more like a high-pitched, low-flying plane. But judge for yourself. The video above shows a Formula E car whizzing past the pit lane, while the one below shows several Formula E cars taking a turn (though you need to ignore the sound of the wind).

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