Formula 1 Esports: How the next generation of F1 Stars may come from gaming, not karting
There will always be a gap, for many, between esports and traditional sports.
The simplest reason is that most of the time, video games can never fully simulate reality. The best FIFA players in the world would look stupid on a football pitch, for example.But one notable exception is in motorsport, where professional drivers have essentially been playing games (in simulators) to get ready for races for years.
So is it really out of the realms of possibility that a future Formula 1 world champion will come from esports? Teams like McLaren are hoping to find that next great star in any way they can, which has led them to creating the Shadow Project - their esports initiative.The British team is trying to use gaming to find talented racers. Players of many different racing simulation games, including Forza Motorsport and iRacing, can compete for a chance to join McLaren’s F1 esports team.
“It’s our way of bringing young boys and girls into the sport of sim racing and build a transition for them into other programs that we have at McLaren,” Dharpan Randhawa, SVP of McLaren Group, told Foxsports.com.au.