RSS_Auto_Poster
Well-known member
Written by Tom Harrison
We reckon "World"s Fastest Gamer" is a bit misleading, because McLaren"s big esports competition is actually about much more than just" being quick on iRacing, Forza or whatever. The prize is a one-year contract with McLaren not as a racer, but a simulator driver. Someone who"ll spend their days at the space-age McLaren Technical Centre in one of the team"s three sims, trying and informing different setups and giving clear, concise and detailed feedback to some of the cleverest bods in motorsport. "We"ve already done the gamer to racer thing," says Darren Cox, the man in charge. He was the brains behind GT Academy the Nissan-backed competition that saw gamers the world over compete online to win a shot at becoming a real racing driver. Jann Mardenborough came from GT Academy, and he"s done pretty well for himself. "I saw the level of skill and quality of people racing online, and at the same time testing was being reduced in Formula 1," says Darren. A good simulator driver is a valuable resource, and "who"s to say the best guy is going to be someone who failed at Formula 3 and is now a test driver?". Quite. WFG has been going on since July, when the first of the six qualifying rounds were held variously across Forza Motorsport 6, iRacing, RFactor 2 and weirdly on mobile app GearClub. These events, which attracted more than 30,000 competitors from 78 different countries, gave six finalists". Another six established, professional gamers one each from the worlds of Forza, Gran Turismo, iRacing, RFactor, Project Cars and F1 were selected by a panel of experts for a total of 12. The competitors are a real mix of ages and backgrounds. Henrik Drue is a radiologist from Denmark not a pro gamer, or even really a gamer. "As the smartphones came I instantly started playing racing games, only on mobile and tablet," he says. "I saw this event, thought it through and discussed it with my family, and now I"m here." Henrik qualified on Gear Club, an iPad app. Nothing like as serious a sim as iRacing. Not even in the same league, we"d venture. "I got a little bit terrified, because they"re so serious and know so much about it" he said of his rivals. "They have been playing those games for many years. I"ve never done car setup on an iPad, you just pick up and play." At the other end of the spectrum is David Le Garff a Project Cars champion (many times over) selected by McLaren"s panel of experts. At 41, he"s the oldest finalist. "I play a lot of different racing games, but I need to adapt," he says. "It"s easier to play Project Cars or Forza, but I do my best."Beginning Saturday the finalists were assembled at MTC for a week of assessment and judging. The winner will be announced on November 21st, after the group is whittled from 12 down to six and then two by a panel of five judges. Darren"s on it, so too is McLaren"s executive director Zak Brown, head of human performance Michael Collier, race engineer Mark Temple and test driver Oliver Turvey.
Date written: 14 Nov 2017
More of this article on the Top gear website
ID: 9941
We reckon "World"s Fastest Gamer" is a bit misleading, because McLaren"s big esports competition is actually about much more than just" being quick on iRacing, Forza or whatever. The prize is a one-year contract with McLaren not as a racer, but a simulator driver. Someone who"ll spend their days at the space-age McLaren Technical Centre in one of the team"s three sims, trying and informing different setups and giving clear, concise and detailed feedback to some of the cleverest bods in motorsport. "We"ve already done the gamer to racer thing," says Darren Cox, the man in charge. He was the brains behind GT Academy the Nissan-backed competition that saw gamers the world over compete online to win a shot at becoming a real racing driver. Jann Mardenborough came from GT Academy, and he"s done pretty well for himself. "I saw the level of skill and quality of people racing online, and at the same time testing was being reduced in Formula 1," says Darren. A good simulator driver is a valuable resource, and "who"s to say the best guy is going to be someone who failed at Formula 3 and is now a test driver?". Quite. WFG has been going on since July, when the first of the six qualifying rounds were held variously across Forza Motorsport 6, iRacing, RFactor 2 and weirdly on mobile app GearClub. These events, which attracted more than 30,000 competitors from 78 different countries, gave six finalists". Another six established, professional gamers one each from the worlds of Forza, Gran Turismo, iRacing, RFactor, Project Cars and F1 were selected by a panel of experts for a total of 12. The competitors are a real mix of ages and backgrounds. Henrik Drue is a radiologist from Denmark not a pro gamer, or even really a gamer. "As the smartphones came I instantly started playing racing games, only on mobile and tablet," he says. "I saw this event, thought it through and discussed it with my family, and now I"m here." Henrik qualified on Gear Club, an iPad app. Nothing like as serious a sim as iRacing. Not even in the same league, we"d venture. "I got a little bit terrified, because they"re so serious and know so much about it" he said of his rivals. "They have been playing those games for many years. I"ve never done car setup on an iPad, you just pick up and play." At the other end of the spectrum is David Le Garff a Project Cars champion (many times over) selected by McLaren"s panel of experts. At 41, he"s the oldest finalist. "I play a lot of different racing games, but I need to adapt," he says. "It"s easier to play Project Cars or Forza, but I do my best."Beginning Saturday the finalists were assembled at MTC for a week of assessment and judging. The winner will be announced on November 21st, after the group is whittled from 12 down to six and then two by a panel of five judges. Darren"s on it, so too is McLaren"s executive director Zak Brown, head of human performance Michael Collier, race engineer Mark Temple and test driver Oliver Turvey.
Date written: 14 Nov 2017
More of this article on the Top gear website
ID: 9941
