ESports a phenomenon all over the world now

What began small a few years ago is really big now. ESports in motorsport is big business. With the likes of Formula 1 and MotoGP also having official contests, one can understand that it is serious business now.

The popularity of virtual racing grew to newer heights during the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 when no racing was possible during the traditional start of the Formula 1 and MotoGP seasons in March.

Today’s drivers and riders compete with fans and other celebrities in virtual series and this also gave an opportunity for stars to engage with fans. Besides, there were a lot of media reports which said that it kept the interest alive among aficionados during breaks and the off-season.

In fact, it is not just virtual motorsport that is growing. Other disciplines are growing too. And considering the popularity of virtual sports, eSports has been included in the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou, China.

India too has a lot of keen gamers and the country also has its own Indian eRacing Championship.

"ESports in the motorsport space has been growing massively in recent years. It is extremely popular abroad, both in terms of viewership and also participation. The initial few months of the pandemic in 2020 saw live events stop completely. This saw a massive push towards eSports in mid 2020. What this did was bring an entirely new audience for eSports – the traditional motorsport audience started taking eSports seriously, in addition to the gaming audience," said former racer Rayomand Banajee.

“For instance, the Formula 1 Virtual Grand Prix series alone, had a total 30 million viewers across both TV and digital. A lot of this spiked interest was due to current F1 drivers participating in the Virtual Grand Prix. In a sense this brought about a renewed seriousness to eSports. Nascar, Indycar and many other major motorsport championships went virtual, which exploded the growth of an already large space. F1 saw a 98 per cent growth from 2019 to 2020,” he added.

“There were already numerous eSports series, which were giving the opportunity to their winners to move from eSports to the real world. Numerous winners have made very successful transitions from eSports to the real world. The primary reason for this is that a lot of the skill set to succeed remains the same and games have become very realistic. This is giving an opportunity for some to enter motorsport, but without spending big bucks," Banajee explained.

The phenomenon is not restricted to countries outside India. It is becoming big in India too. And it is growing.

"While eSports is massive in India and continuously growing, it is still far from reaching its real potential. Within this space, motorsport is still in its nascent stages. This is largely due to lack of formal and serious competitions, until recently. However, the potential for growth is massive. We launched India’s largest Sim Racing Competition ever in 2019 – Mumbai’s Fastest Gamer which was very well received with over 23,000 registrations," he said.

“The Indian eRacing Championship was taken seriously by both viewers and participants alike. Mumbai Falcons stepped in as title sponsors and Volkswagen gave the winners the opportunity to be trained in the real world, besides the karting sponsorship as well,” he further explained.

“Volkswagen Motorsport launched the VW VRC last year which was a phenomenal success. Over 4500 participants registered and the winner won sponsorship worth Rs 1 million in terms of a fully sponsored drive in the VW National Championship," he added, while saying he feels it is just the beginning for eRacing in India.

Asked if we can expect a boom in the eRacing space in India, Banajee said: "Both viewership and participation is consistently growing phenomenally. The Indian eRacing Championship has had a reach of 5.2 million over four seasons, while the VW VRC in its first season has had a reach of 1.7 million. The interest is only growing. With racing being accepted as part of the Olympic Virtual Series, this is going to propel the mainstream acceptance of eRacing as a serious sport.

“Numerous serious competitions that are run as professionally as real-world events, are showing that there is a future for those who want to take this up. The low participation and running cost ensure that the entry barriers are minimal. We now see many racers putting in hours of practice every day. All this put together means that there is phenomenal opportunity for growth in India. However, the big boom will be via smartphones,” he added.