Since the beginning of racing games, virtual racers are trying to be better and faster with each and every stage. I can still remember the first NFS and Midnight Club games, different Grand Prix titles and all the time, it was about competing against my friends. Looking into the typically closed world of Formula One, or F1 for short, we’re quite delighted to see how McLaren F1 Team decided to step up a notch. The racing team partnered with Logitech G (gaming division) and have launched an EGaming competition in order to find the best simulation racing gamer in the world. The winner will be offered a one-year contract with the Formula 1 team to work as a simulator driver, alongside the 2018 team lineup.
The “World’s Fastest Gamer” name format pitches the best gamers compete across numerous racing simulations, with McLaren branding it as “the best job in eSports”. The competition itself was developed in association with Darren Cox and his company. Darren is the man behind the GT Academy project, famous PlayStation-backed competition that put gamers like Jann Mardenbrough into the real motorsport series, including competing at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The winner of the competition will then work with engineers at McLaren’s Technology Centre and at grand prix venues around the world to improve simulation equipment as used by Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne. So, how can you get in the competition? Six international gamers will be picked to participate by a panel of F1 experts and professional gamers, with four more selected through a qualifying process which begins in summer 2017.
The final will take place in autumn at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey. The 10 sim-racers will race against each other on a number of gaming titles on different platforms. The judges will assess the participants’ engineering expertise, teamwork skills and mental and physical qualities.
The platforms that are considered are not just PC-s and consoles. McLaren implies that mobile gaming is also welcome to make competition more accessible.
Just imagine, you could go from gaming in your own home to a full year of working with one of the best teams in Formula 1, presenting a springboard into a professional career like no other. I know I would love to do it. What is also very exciting to see is a big company recognizing gaming as a competitive sport. Who knows, maybe someday one of the gamers in question could become a professional driver because of (his or her) gaming expertise. Everything is possible, but for now, I will stick at home and keep playing… or should we say, training?
