Due to current circumstances, sporting events have been cancelled or postponed all over the world. While athletes may have a while to wait before they can get back to competing, many of them have tried their hand at the virtual version of their sports.
In football, the ePremier League Invitational featured footballers such as Raheem Sterling and Wilfried Zaha competing in a 5-day knockout tournament representing the teams that they play for in real life and was won by Wolves’ Diogo Jota. According to escharts.com, a peak of 52,814 people watched when Raheem Sterling’s Manchester City beat Andre Gomes’ Everton, which is almost enough to fill some big stadiums such as Anfield. This shows that there is some interest in virtual football, albeit when there is no real-life football.
Using video games to pit professional racing drivers against each other has proved to be hugely successful in the world of motorsport. There have been numerous virtual motorsports events that have been held to replace those which have been postponed. The real Formula One season has yet to get underway, but in the virtual world current and former F1 drivers such as Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and former world champion Jenson Button have raced against other celebrities including Real Madrid Goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois and cricketer Ben Stokes. The F1 esports Virtual Grand Prix round in China had a peak viewership of 282,862. F1 isn’t the only motorsport to do this; 41,835 people watched F1 driver Lando Norris win in the Indycar iRacing Challenge while a peak of 60,391 viewers watched MotoGP riders such as Marc Marquez and Valentino Rossi race in the MotoGP Virtual Race, although more watched both events live on TV.
These figures show immense popularity for virtual sporting events as alternatives to real-life. However, what has caused there to be so much more interest in motorsports when football is far more popular? 174,165 units of Formula One 2018 were sold in the week after its release, while 20 million units of FIFA 19 were sold by a few months after its release. The viewing figures for their virtual events show that F1 is doing something right.
One possible reason for the success of F1 esports is the nature of the sport. It is more obvious that someone is good at driving than at FIFA as good lap times and mistakes are clear in F1 whereas it is easier to put a victory in FIFA down to luck. Also, the F1 video game emulates driving more than FIFA emulates playing football. Therefore, F1 esports can attract more of those who like to see the best in the world compete.
Another reason could be that the Virtual Grand Prix Series offers something that real F1 doesn’t; equal car performance. In F1, most of the success is down to the car but the virtual version ensures that there is closer racing and better drivers at the front. Also, less is at stake so the drivers can be more aggressive with each other and their cars, meaning virtual F1 is more fun to watch than real F1. While FIFA has an option to make all teams equally rated, luck has more of a role as other factors like an important player playing badly or bad refereeing decisions can still play a part.
Finally, interaction between drivers and fans has been superb, with F1 drivers Charles Leclerc, Lando Norris and Alex Albon among others streaming on Twitch. This has adding another dimension to races as the drivers can talk between themselves and with fans, proving to be extremely popular as evidenced by Charles Leclerc has 291,000 followers.
Sport moving from reality into the virtual world has proved to be a good thing for motorsports, which have become popular due to limiting factors in real-life not being present in games, such as equal car performance and driver interaction during races. Virtual races have been a success, especially when comparing them to virtual football. If the Premier League made their virtual event a one-day event so that viewers could not pick and chose matches, then the ePremier League Invitational could have increased its viewership. The ‘Not the GP Versus Series’ had this format; a 1v1 F1 tournament that took place over one day with 90,898 peak viewers, which could also work for football, which has a larger market and a lot of potential. For now, though, virtual motorsports have the edge over virtual football.
By Adam Shamsul
