Esports 2020 – a racing review | FOS Future Lab

For many of us, working from home became the norm this year, and motorsport was no exception. While racing series couldn’t take the risk of exposing drivers, team members, and fans to contagion, they could still put on a show using the variety of modern racing games and simulations which strive to provide realistic vehicle handling and graphics.

F1 was one of early adopters, helped in part by the fact the series has an official game – developed and published in the UK by Codemasters – and that several of the sport’s younger drivers are known to take part in “sim racing” in their own time.

Running during weekends when real-world grands prix were scheduled but postponed, the “F1 Virtual Grand Prix” drew in some 30 million viewers worldwide, helping establish George Russell’s name among a new audience. The British driver picked up a home sim-racing rig to take part in the series, and with four wins in the online events he was able to beat Charles Leclerc and Alexander Albon to the unofficial championship title.

IndyCar and NASCAR both also ran virtual schedules this year, before their real-world events re-started. Both provided some incredible racing from their star-studded line-ups – almost all of the sports’ real drivers took part – but also saw some controversy.

At the season-ending Indianapolis race – technically the Indy 175 rather than the Indy 500 - a series of deliberate crashes towards the end of the race soured the taste of the winner’s traditional milk. Simon Pagenaud, who had been a star of the virtual series, destroyed Lando Norris’s race with a deliberate move to prevent the Briton from winning. Santino Ferrucci then piled into the side of Oliver Askew, within sight of the finish, gifting Scott McLaughlin the victory.

NASCAR also fielded a high-profile virtual grid, and its drivers faced some very real consequences for their actions in the series. First, Richard Petty driver Bubba Wallace lost a sponsor after “rage-quitting” – getting sufficiently upset to leave during the middle of a race – and a week later Chip Ganassi driver Kyle Larson was caught using a racist slur in conversation with his spotter and lost his race seat altogether.

The series also had some bright points though, with veteran tail-ender Timmy Hill the standout star with six podium finishes from seven, William Byron winning three of the races before securing his first real-world victory at Daytona in August, and two wins for Denny Hamlin.

Formula E ran its own virtual series too, which saw Belgian driver Stoffel Vandoorne take the title, just ahead of Pascal Wehrlein. The event was hit by one of the strangest controversies of the summer though, as Daniel Abt opted to field a sim racer posting as him in one event instead of taking part himself. That saw Audi and the Abt team – owned by his father Hans-Jurgen – sacking him from his real Formula E seat!

Le Mans was another event that chose to stage a virtual race in place of its scheduled real-world event. It was Rebellion Racing that won this race, partnering with the esports arm of Williams to take the win. Haas F1’s reserve driver Louis Deletraz (who also won the SRO’s GT Esports series this year), Mercedes factory GT racer Raffaele Marciello and two professional Williams esports racers Kuba Brzezinski and Nikodem Wisniewski made up the winning four-driver car in the groundbreaking event.

Yann Ehrlacher proved that his virtual talents were a match for his real-world ones this year, as the only man to win identical titles in both worlds. Back in July, Ehrlacher took the championship in the WTCR Pre-Season Esports series, and repeated the feat in the real WTCR in November.

Meanwhile 2019 W Series runner-up Beitske Visser went one better in the virtual world by winning the esports version in 2020. Sadly the W Series calendar was entirely cancelled due to COVID-19, but Visser and many of her fellow drivers were able to run the virtual equivalent. Visser’s form proved outstanding, winning 11 races across the first nine rounds to take the title with an entire round to spare.

As the real-world drivers returned to their motorsports come summer (other than those fired for their virtual antics), the serious business of professional racing esports returned, and it’s been a good year for the Red Bull and Williams esports teams.

A three-man Red Bull squad – Alex Arnou, Robin Betka, and Aurelien Mallet – won the Le Mans Esports Series, while Sebastian Job won the Porsche Esports Supercup ahead of defending champion Josh Rogers. Moritz Lohner for Williams won both the Porsche Esports Carrera Cup, and the GT ADAC Masters – defending his own 2019 title in the latter event. However it was Team Redline, the sim racing outfit to which Max Verstappen belongs, that won the inaugural “V10 R League” teams championship.

Ironically, F1’s own official esports event – now in its third year – experienced disruption to its own schedule. The series stages its races in a live studio event, from the Gfinity Arena in London, but it too had to adapt for the conditions of 2020 and run online racing only.

At the moment, the series has another round, and three races, to run later in December, though it looks set to crown a new champion in Renault’s Jarno Opmeer. Red Bull is leading the way in the teams’ championship.

Another major series yet to crown its champion, again due to its own live events being postponed, is the FIA Gran Turismo Online Championships. The final for this is also due later in December, but we’ll be guaranteed a new winner in the flagship Nations Cup as neither of the previous two champions – Igor Fraga and Mikail Hizal – have qualified.

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