JAMES ROBERTS
“A trip to Suzuka beats any Esports future”
I
t takes two days to get from the London editorial offices of MN to Suzuka. Once you have flown the 12 hours to Tokyo, there are another four trains that need to be boarded to travel the next 250 miles to the track tucked away in the Mie Prefecture of Japan.
For those making the pilgrimage to the fabled circuit, it’s hard not to be impressed by the sight of a Formula 1 car being pushed to the limit on the snaking series of high-speed corners. Of the current crop of F1 tracks, it’s probably the toughest challenge, as the lack of run-off penalises any mistake. In two days, there were more red flags than you’d find in Jeremy Corbyn’s living room. And these weren’t caused by rookies: Romain Grosjean, Kimi Raikkonen, Valtteri Bottas and Carlos Sainz all ran into trouble.
The alternative to travelling the 6,000 miles to Japan is to drive ‘virtually’ around Suzuka in the comfort of your own home. The creators of the new F1 2017 video game have improved their rendition of the 3.6-mile track and it featured in the new F1 Esports F1 Series. Anyone in the world with access to an Xbox, PS4 or PC could enter the competition – and had five laps to win at Suzuka.
In total 63,827 drivers took part in the qualifying stages completing 976,870 laps and from the 195,000 race times, the best 40 were selected for the semifinal of the competition.
Those best online racers were invited to London to compete in a live broadcast semi-final event that took place on Tuesday evening (after MN went to press). The winners will head to the Abu Dhabi GP in November to take part in the final, where one of them will be crowned the first F1 Esports champion. It’s not the sport’s only virtual competition. Mclaren launched ‘World’s Fastest Gamer’ a few months ago and the winner of that contest will net a full-time job as the Woking team’s simulator driver.
Professional gaming has a growing (youthful) fanbase with hundreds of millions of viewers worldwide tuning in.
As the technology has improved, so has the realism, so gamers can get the thrill of hooking up a perfect lap around Suzuka in the virtual world. And they know they won’t get hurt – only a bruised ego – if they clatter into the barriers. F1 has turned to Esports because it’s big business, with revenues expected to hit the billions in years to come.
In 50 years from now, who knows what shape motorsport will be in, particularly as manufacturers set their sights on automated, electric vehicles. If the future is Esports, then make sure you make the twoday pilgrimage to Suzuka before then. It’s more fun than firing up your Playstation.
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