Esports: Is the #VirtualGP hurting F1 Esports?

In this unparalleled time where racing in all forms is at a stand still there has been an explosion in the online world as more and more drivers take to the virtual track and get their racing fix, but this time behind the screen.

However, with the #VirtualGP gathering current Formula One drivers, alongside worldwide sports stars and sim-racing content providers. Has the effect on F1 Esports and the community of gamers who play the Codemasters Formula One title been positive or negative?

Lets start by looking at where this began, and after the late postponement of the Australian Grand Prix a lot of racing fans were let down, and with news about the season looking bleak there was suddenly a great move made by both The Race and Veloce Esports who separately announced events where they would entice motorsports current and former drivers to make an unconventional move and swap the cockpit for a computer and see if they could match their pace in the real thing to the virtual version.

Whereas The Race’s “All-Star Esports Battle” raced on the PC racing simulator RFactor 2, the Veloce team and their YouTube content creator strong contingent decided on using F1 2019 the current iteration of the official Formula One game and #NotThe(InsertRaceHere)GP was born.

The two events of the weekend of March 14/15 proved incredibly popular with the first event for the All-Star battle garnering over half a million views as of a month later due to an incredible line-up including Max Verstappen, Juan-Paublo Montoya and Indy 500 winner Simon Pagenaud among several other top tier drivers, while #NotTheAusGP from Veloce getting 400,000 views with appearances from the likes of  Lando Norris, Stoffel Vandoorne and Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois.

This wet the appetite for many and we’ve seen an influx of drivers making regular appearances in the virtual world with the All-Star battle now taking on a ‘Legends Trophy’ style with former Motor racing stars such as Jenson Button, Jan Magnussen and Dario Franchitti all getting themselves involved and competitive behind a screen. While Veloce have moved to a 1-on-1 tournament style including Formula One drivers, YouTubers and other sports stars. 

The popularity seemed to also tip the interest of Formula One and Sky Sports F1, and boasting at least a third of the current F1 grid, alongside stars of football such as Lazios’ Ciro Immobile and Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, Golf’s Ian Poulter and YouTube’s sim-racing spearhead Jimmy Broadbent.

The #VirtualGP has been given front and centre staging on not just Sky Sports F1, but on the Main Event channel with full production including presenters Tom Deacon, Natalie Pinkham and Matt Gallagher from WTF1 with the latter having joined the superb Alex Jacques in the commentary role. 

We get pre-race build-up, driver interviews during the race itself and post race analysis amongst much else. The #VirtualGP has by the completion of the Chinese Grand Prix in mid-April seen 8 full-time Formula One drivers involved with the likes of Charles Leclerc and George Russell seemingly loving their time exposed to new sim games as we’ve seen them streaming on Twitch their evening enjoying Euro Truck Simulator 2, which albeit maybe not the most exciting game, was a very entertaining watch. 

However, does the racing that is provided match up to the star power on track? 

Well, no, not really. 

Unfortunately for the #VirtualGP it seems they’ve created a bit of a monster when it comes to how the race is run. The rules are lowered with track limits relaxed, the damage model is far reduced and the safety car has been switched off. 

So what has this done? Well, F1 games, much like most multiplayer games across every platform ever has its hardcore fan-base. The F1 online community have been growing exponentially and with many starting aiming for the promised land of the new ‘F1 Esports Series’ that was started in 2017.

The game sees many fans and gamers looking to be the next Brendon Leigh or David Tonizza. The aforementioned pair are former and current ‘F1 Esports’ Champions and have been signed to represent Mercedes-AMG Petronas Esports and Ferrari’s FDA Hublot Esports Team respectively as Formula One look to find a way of tapping into the booming Esports market with all current F1 teams now with a Esports branch. 

Many gamers give up multiple hours a week to practice and then race in a growing world of amateur online championships called ‘league-racing’. The majority is just for fun and to compete against friends from around the world, but some will put in hard hours to get to the very top and hope to be involved in the F1 Esports draft for a chance to represent one of the ten Formula One teams over the next year with a professional contract. 

If you listen to fans of the F1 2019 game and its community, the view of the #VirtualGP is not too positive.

Whereas competitive amateur drivers and their professional Esports counterparts strive to keep to track limits, use strategic knowledge when racing and hone their race-craft to make the perfect overtake with many online sites offering a stewarding panel for any in race incidents.

The #VirtualGP have seen drivers such as in China make more use of the final corner than Indycar did at turn 19 for the Circuit of the Americas GP in 2019, push each other around the track with little repercussion and flout usual rules of the sport.

The excitement is fast wearing off for many watching. 

How about the casual fans? The advantage of Esports is that it’s barely hindered by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, so it has given Sky and Formula One some much needed extra live content for TV.

The reaction seems to be mixed, and that’s not surprising. You will have half the audience willing to accept that it’s not competitive, it’s all for fun and that it’s not ‘real’ and just enjoy the show. However, you will also have the portion of fans who will not watch it as “It’s just a video-game” or “Games are for kids” or many of the other stereotypes surrounding the video-game medium. 

For some, it’s just not the same. The sounds, the passion, the suspense. 

Having multiple Formula One drivers involved is a novelty, and one we can’t take for granted. It is unfortunately, the best thing in a bad situation for racing.

However, if you look at what Indycar have been doing with their excellent coverage of the Indycar Esports Series which has seen your usual commentary team, up-to-date liveries with a huge field of current drivers, and guest stars such as current V8 Supercars champion Scott McLaughlin, Dale Earnhardt Jr and a welcome return to the cockpit to the remarkable Robert Wickens.

It has certainly got the edge on the #VirtualGP. 

So how does this affect the F1 Esports? 

Codemasters and Formula One are now in uncharted waters, yes they’ve had Sky Sports F1 show off the F1 Esports Pro-Draft and the subsequent races, but they’ve not seen the game and its mechanics put in the forefront so much that it’s getting prime-time views on Sky Sports. 

Game bugs, disconnections, relaxed track rules, heavy handed overtaking at the best of times and more importantly drivers such as Max Verstappen saying he would never take part as the game is not realistic, along with Williams pair George Russell and Nicholas Latifi bemoaning the realism of tracks and handling model of the game.

If I were a casual fan and I saw that without knowing anything about F1 Esports, would I think it was a legitimate and competitive league and worth watching (which it very much is), not particularly. 

Sky F1 and F1 have tried to remedy this by adding a separate race before the main one with the Pro Esports drivers who will offer much closer and tidier racing, but I would imagine this gets a fraction of the main audience of the #VirtualGP and therefore a limited ability to convince the detractors otherwise. 

So by not having the current F1 stars of today flout the rules that they would usually have to obey. It seems that they may be hurting F1’s hopes of making its F1 Esports a more legitimate Esports venture to get it at the table of mass viewed Esports championships.  

That in turn hurts the chain all the way down to the casual viewer and player. You will see a big number switch off if the racing isn’t competitive, after all, that’s a huge reason we love racing. That will stick with them and when the next F1 Esports Championship is on TV, are they less likely to watch it due to remembering the chaos that the #VirtualGP offered? Possibly. 

We all know that viewing figures are essentially the “Pollice verso”, and if viewers are equally disenchanted by the offering, or perhaps even burnt out by the sheer amount of Motor racing Esports on offer currently. It could potentially be a real hit to the F1 Esports series, just as it was starting to find its feet.

That’s not saying I don’t enjoy the #VirtualGP. The idea is great and it helps not only fill the time, but introduce thousands of people to the world of sim-racing. It’s a strange cacophony of good and bad. I understand the love for it, but equally as a racer, gamer and commentator the game itself I see why so many are incredibly frustrated with it. 

We want to see the best go toe-to-toe on track. They’re all in equal cars, and how often will we get to see Lando Norris, George Russell, Charles Leclerc and Alexander Albon amongst others in completely equal machinery?

As a fan of both F1, the F1 games, and equally the Esports series I want to see the best. I want to see just how well they can do this, and equally how well they can represent the huge sim-racing community out there and swing those casual viewers towards watching F1 Esports. 

This can be an incredibly powerful and ultimately game-changing time for sim-racing across the world, and incredibly, it’s our current generation of F1 stars that can potentially make or break it.