Last week, the McLaren Formula 1 team launched a new esports competition called Shadow Project. The prize for winning the new racing series will be a spot on McLaren’s esports team, and perhaps even a chance to become a simulator test driver for the F1 team.
Shadow Project will build from McLaren’s World’s Fastest Gamer competition, which was held in 2017. That previous tournament leveraged PC simulators such as iRacing and rFactor 2. This time, gamers can also compete through mobile games like Real Racing 3 and the Xbox One game Forza Motorsport. The aim is to create an esports competition that spans many platforms and can include virtual racers from any corner of the world.
McLaren partners for the series include VR company HTC Vive, Dell’s Alienware, Logitech G, Sparco, EA Sports, and Microsoft.
“We entered Esports in 2017 to explore the performance opportunities that exist at the intersection of gaming and real-world racing,” explains the McLaren website. “Because, unlike any other sport, the transference of skills between virtual and real racing are both direct and profound.”
SportTechie Takeaway
Racing’s virtual equivalent isn’t too far from the real thing. In the most realistic simulators, gamers sit in seats and use steering wheels and pedals to control their cars. (The major piece missing is the huge accelerations and decelerations faced in a real car.) That similarity has allowed organizations like McLaren to plan activations to bring fans closer to the sport.
In June, for example, Formula E launched a VR mobile game that lets users race against drivers around a track in real-time. “As a fan, you’ll be a ghosted car and you’ll effectively be the 21st car on the track,” said Formula E’s media and business development director, Ali Russell, according to the DailyMail.