I misread the title, thinking they were talking about Formula E. http://www.fiaformulae.com/en
Watching other people play video games has never felt remotely appealing to me. Must be one of the things somebody my generation truly does not get.
Watching other people play video games has never felt remotely appealing to me. Must be one of the things somebody my generation truly does not get.
And I did not mean my remark in a normative way. I watch all sorts of sports, I play all sorts of video games, and I have occasionally enjoyed watching Machinima. I don't consider these activities morally superior to watching e-sports or other forms of video game streaming, I just don't see any personal appeal whatsoever in the latter.
In many ways, eSports are way better IMO than the traditional sports I watch: the players are more relatable, the casting is more interactive, the broadcasts are more available, the games are strategically much deeper.
As mentioned in the article, Formula E also runs an e-sports version of its series. They had live e-races at every racing event last year. Unfortunately, the races were quite bad to watch - pretty much exactly like playing racing games online (everyone goes in hard at the 1st corner, lots of collisions). The F1 esports final was 10x more fun to watch, although there was some aggressive driving, they mostly drove the same way the pros do.
I'm not saying it's not fun. The driver's talent is there (many ex-F1 guys there), it has an appeal of manufacturers, there's hi-tech involved. But the cars are small, slow, light, silent, and they are all the same (chassis and aero). Plus, the fan boost... Ugh.
With all the big marques coming in FE will only go up in, and I hope it'll someday mature to something akin to F1 combined with Teslas in ludicrous mode. For now: any comparison to F1 is not merited.
The best Formula E race I've seen was the practice race before Season 1 at Donnington Park, a real racing track with sweeping, cambered corners fast and slow, uphills and downhills and a few big braking spots that allow for overtaking.
The world is full of race tracks that can't be used for Formula 1 any more, but would suit Formula E cars very well. Like Brands Hatch for example. Of course, the tracks are not usually suitable for large audiences or are at remote locations which makes it unappealing for the series from a business point of view.
I can remember when game over meant try again from the start.
Video games are very much a spectator sport.