Global circuit racing was set to get underway in mid-March with the FIA Formula 1 World Championship and NTT IndyCar Series kicking off their respective seasons, but Covid-19 had other ideas and the panic button was pushed just hours before track action was set to begin. But no matter what’s happened, everyone still wants to keep racing. So in recent weeks with everyone opting for self-isolation or even on enforced lockdowns, we’ve seen many drivers and organisations take to online gaming…
Many drivers have their own sim rigs at home, some more sophisticated than others, but the premise of racing again (in whatever format) has brought the whole community together. While just a week ago F1 tried to organise its own Esports event (it was shown live across the internet and even in the UK on the Sky Sports F1 channel) all with somewhat confusing and what felt like reluctant attempts to call the race. The event itself wasn’t even able to bring together its star drivers. Some had no interest in the idea, others were ‘busy’, while Max Verstappen backed out as he “lacked experience” with the official F1 game.
And with only Lando Norris and Nicholas Latifi out of the 2020 grid attempting the event this left 18 slots to be taken up by Youtubers – such as Jimmy Broadbent, Sadokist – former F1 drivers Nico Hülkenberg and Stoffel Vandoorne, while well-known TV pundits Johnny Herbert and Anthony Davidson joined in, albeit the latter failing to make the race due to a technical glitch.
With a lack of professional drivers the standards were rather questionable, causing countless accidents across the race only exacerbated by the online capabilities of the game which are, in all honesty, woeful. Codemasters is keeping the creative licence for the series until at least 2024, meaning the Birmingham-based creators really need to up their game in order to provide a better online platform. Perhaps F1 should be looking for loopholes in the contract…
But on the flipside, we saw the NTT IndyCar Series organise its own event at the weekend on the highly-reputable iRacing platform and it proved to be a huge hit and set a new standard in how Esports races should be run. We were treated to the fullest experience possible, even with the traditional pre-race prayer and rendition of the US anthem. Yes, they went all out!
While many drivers were in their homes, it didn’t stop the regular IndyCar commentary line-up also joining the fray in the form of Leigh Diffey, Paul Tracy and Townsend Bell all getting online to call the event in their usual flair. iRacing had even been able to provide IndyCar with a full set of graphics and even a live-timing tower as seen through any normal race on the schedule.
Moving onto the drivers, there was a stunning turnout, with only a handful of drivers unable to make it through either a lack of equipment or prior engagements. Robert Wickens, injured in the horrifying 2018 Pocono accident, attempted to get in on the action, having enlisted Max Papis to help create a hand-controlled wheel, but ultimately the courier didn’t arrive in time for the race. Nevertheless, the plucky Canadian has insisted he will make the next event.
iRacing had been able to provide the most up-to-date IndyCars for all of the drivers to use, liveries included, even with now part-time James Hinchcliffe able to showcase his new Genesys colours which he will race this season in what was meant to a three-race deal with Andretti Autosport.
The only non-IndyCar related guest drivers in the field were reigning double-Supercars champion Scott McLaughlin (who is set for an IndyCar one-off drive this season with Team Penske) NASCAR legend Jimmie Johnson – who does have an eye on a potential few appearances on the grid for real in the future – and former F1 driver and iRacing specialist Scott Speed, who stood in for Marco Andretti. The grid was completed by a handful of IndyLights drivers.
The driving standards were very high, and despite a first-lap crash involving Alexander Rossi, it was a relatively clean event. Given the lack of experience on the platform for everyone involved it wasn’t always going to be the cleanest of races during the 45 laps of Watkins Glen. But camera angles, replays and on-board footage were amazing.
This was as close to the real racing experience as we were going to get. IndyCar has set the Esports bar to a stratospheric high early on into this current pandemic. Other motorsport series really need to try and reach this standard, especially if they want to be taken seriously in the future.
