McLaren explain how they will turn F1 esports players into real-life Formula One drivers Racing giant McLaren is set to offer talented esports competitors the chance to fill real-life Formula One positions in the future, an opportunity they believe doesn\u2019t exist for professional Call of Duty and FIFA players. The company\u2019s director of esports Ben Payne has stressed the importance of preparing the next generation of top racers with driving simulation technology. McLaren held their Shadow Projects championship in January, with the winner being recruited to their esports team to continue their development as a potential driver. During an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, he explained what the car manufacturer will be doing to develop its esports team in the future and how racing \u2013 as an esport \u2013 can perhaps offer more than other types. McLaren\u2019s winner of the World\u2019s Fastest Gamer competition Rudy van Buren has been identified as a great example of how \u201cdozens of days\u201d in a simulator can give people the upper hand behind the wheel. \u201cIt\u2019s not the first rodeo for gamer to racing driver,\u201d he told GamesIndustry.biz. \u201cGT Academy has done that in the past, so it\u2019s happened, but it\u2019s the first time it\u2019s happened under an F1 brand. \u201cWhen we launched Shadow Projects in July 2018, it was an iteration of that program from our perspective. We wanted to try and find athletes for our esports team.\u201d Unlike other growing popular esports such as Call of Duty, Dota 2, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Fortnite and others, the McLaren gaming chief says they\u2019re \u201cproud\u201d that driving is a niche in the market. He also sees clear differences in not only the opportunities, but the talent it would seem. \u201cIt\u2019s not like they\u2019ll break their fingers if they crash, but it is an endurance test\u201d Payne continued. \u201cIf you and I played FIFA for a few hours, we could stop, have a beer and then pick it up again. \u201cBut, our guys are more athletes than in a number of esports spaces. I know the big esports teams have nutritionists and all that, but I think simulation racing is different.\u201d A former member of McLaren Shadow, Enzo Bonito, recently beat ex-Formula One racing driver Lucas di Grassi around a track in Mexico \u2013 which is another example of how racing esports simulations can put people on a trajectory towards the very top of the actual sport, too. Whether or not more and more Formula One drivers will be developed through McLaren\u2019s esports team remains to be seen. But, they are certainly determined to give it a shot.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
McLaren explain how they will turn F1 esports players into real-life Formula One drivers Racing giant McLaren is set to offer talented esports competitors the chance to fill real-life Formula One positions in the future, an opportunity they believe doesn\u2019t exist for professional Call of Duty and FIFA players. The company\u2019s director of esports Ben […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-83216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83216"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83216\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}