In case you haven’t seen it, both NASCAR and F1 did televised virtual races. NASCAR went the Iracing route and f1 went the f1 game route.
The nascar version was excellent and I would recommend it. They did a terrific job of making it as close to one of their televised races as possible given everything going on.
The field of drivers was also representative of the normal field with additions from retirement and the truck racing world. I know absolutely nothing about NASCAR and am a terrible source of opinion about it. However, as a nascar noob, I found the overall show to be pretty impressive and thoughtfully done. Fun was had, but racing is racing.
The F1 production was less interesting in that it wasn’t as well produced, was technically less smooth, and generally was more of a casual effort. A couple of the f1 drivers were present but the field was mostly development team guys and celebs like Jimmy. Still, some good fun and Jimmy did well.
Iracing as a platform is the clear winner here. It handled the big field beautifully. The race mostly felt realistic although the shadows feel slightly off.
What did you guys think? Was it enjoyable enough to watch more? Do you think this might accidentally create a whole new wave of interest in racing if it catches on?
I didn’t see the NASCAR one, but I did watch the F1. It did kind of suck that Lando and Jimmy didn’t get to qualify, and that Lando was a bot for part of the race. I found that the camera angles may not have always been where we would liked to have been, and they shortened the race from what they originally had planned.
SPOILER Below:
I did find it hilarious and entertaining from a comedic perspective, with the end of qualifying and the two Ferrari’s hitting the one car. The start was a disaster, and laughed to see Johnny Herbert cut the track to take the lead. Still it was worth watching as not much else was on.
The nascar one has a really different feel and treatment. It was still a bit of a mess but that’s only because 1/3 of the field was pretty new to sim. The last 10 laps were pretty awesome, though.
I think some of the field in the F1 was new to sim as well. I was really interested to see what Lando Norris could have done had he not had issues. He’s always sim racing.
As far as I am concerned, I would watch the nascar stuff again. That was a fun race. As the competitors in the back half of the field learn how to sim, it would get intense. The front pack, which consisted of experienced iracing/nascar drivers, had a mostly clean and good race. The finish was excellent!
The NASCAR one was more serious. The F1 event was more of a fun goofy time. F1 2019 is inherently not super realistic, which is why Max and a few others didn’t want to drive it.