On the changes in virtual racing lately

ONE of the most genuinely interesting things to experience across the last three months has been the diverse reaction to the rise and rise of virtual motorsport to the forefront – and just how quickly art imitates life and vice-versa.

Now that the return of the real thing is closer to us than it is further away, it’s appropriate to look back at the reaction to the rise of E-Racing, especially given the events involving Daniel Abt and Kyle Larson that have had very real-world implications for the sport.

Like real-world motorsport, the advent of simulation racing as a product to help fill the gap has been polarising with very few people taking a middle-ground when they express an opinion about it; for the most part, it’s either been love it, or hate it.

I get those who do not find appeal in the product itself and I understand that the lack of any real consequences for a crash or penalties for taking someone out can turn people off or make them decide not to tune in in the first place.

What I haven’t understood is the people to have completely dismissed it, refusing to even give it a chance or spent most of their time commenting on social media about how terrible they think It is.

While I respect everyone’s opinion, in that I think they are misguided.

You don’t have to like it: but if you’re involved in the media and commercial side of the sport, it’s almost impossible to argue that it hasn’t played a major role in keeping brands engaged and fans involved in a time when we can’t do the real thing.

It has been a massive advantage for motorsport in a period where literally every other major sport has gone dormant.

I think part of the issue perhaps has been that there has just been so much of it, some of it done well and some of it has been amateur hour. It makes wading through the hours and hours of content a challenge and will have unquestionably turned people off.

I’ve been in the same boat. I’ve had invitations to watch series from everywhere but as big a racing fan as I am, I’ve kept my viewing to one or two series – the Supercars All Stars E Series, Indy Car and a bit of the NASCAR product while that was happening.

The major series have turned out products featuring the real drivers, with real-world production values and commentary and as such it is much easier to suspend disbelief for an hour or two and just enjoy it for what it is.

The Supercars product has been outstanding and opened eyes to the personalities of several key drivers, which is the whole idea anyway.

Where the issues become more pertinent are, of course, when it spills over to the real world.

NASCAR racer Kyle Larson was the first to feel the effects when he was fired by his team for using a racial slur during an online NASCAR race, though history is pretty clear in dictating that offense would result in the same penalty in real life, too.

Daniel Abt was next and his case was almost more confronting and polarising: cheating by using a professional simulation racer to drive in his place and then lying about it – or at least, working hard to disguise it – to the public.

Should Abt have been sacked from his real-world Audi drive for something that occurred in the virtual world? It is here when the lines get blurry but I for one don’t think he was sacked because he cheated – he was sacked because he tried to hide it from everyone.

If he openly took the mickey and made it a joke, then I doubt it would have been looked on so severely. As it was, he tried to hide the fact which put the integrity of the competition under question which, in turn, reflected poorly on a major brand like Audi. Real world or not, he had to face the consequences.

Even locally we’ve seen something similar; Scott McLaughlin choosing to apologise publicly after calling out Jack Smith’s poor driving on his twitch feed during last week’s Eseries racing. Though it was pretty amusing at the time, the two-time champion was smart enough to realise that comments like that made to an audience of many thousands probably wasn’t a great look – true or otherwise.

These recent incidents have probably exposed how important sim racing has actually been to the industry; as a competitive outlet as well as a means for branding, exposure and publicity.

It’s probably proof that racers will be racers, no matter what the medium, and that it’s probably time we actually got back to doing it in real life, too.