Racing, and especially F1 have expanded their audiences over the past years. Funded by Saudi oil money, and the booming economy we have seen racing pushed to the mainstream. F1 esports has been the most recent venture, and I’ve personally seen a lot of buzz around 2021-2023. However, as recently I haven’t heard anything, checking in on the scene I’m shocked by what I saw….

F1 is one of the most unique and interesting esports to watch. For many hardcore gamers, racing games are seen as relaxing or fun ways to compete with others. Games like Gran Turismo, Forza, and even Mario kart usually dominate the category.

Recently we’ve seen a push from traditional companies expanding into esports. Recently on this channel we talked about hockey and esports. The New Jersey Devils have opened up an esports lounge, and run tournaments with NHL 24′.

Racing has seen an explosion in popularity, and sim racing games as well. F1 esports consist of these racers, and making racers race with full wheel and pedal setup. This has grown increasingly popular and even land events have begun happening.

F1 has attracted a lot of younger audiences, so this has grown a grass root fanbase. Not only are fans of F1 interested, but most of the professional teams are as well. Teams like Redbull, Ferrari, and others all have sponsored Esports F1 teams and drivers

So why the dramatics? Why are fans disappointed and have a negative outlook on sim racing? Well I think it’s important to talk about how and when online racing began to explode.

Simulated racing games have been around for a while, yet didn’t break into the mainstream until Covid-19 shook the world in 2020. Now I am the last person who wants to talk about Covid, but before 2020 if you had a full steering wheel setup you’d be seen as crazy. During the pandemic a lot of people discovered sim racing when F1 drivers started streaming themselves practicing. Many tournaments were held with professional drivers at the time, to give racing fans some kind of entertainment.

This started the boom of simulation games like F1, iRacing, Assetto Corsa, and others. People from all walks of life have gotten interested in sim racing, from Adult racing fans, kids getting into racing for the first time, and even truck drivers who want to live out their racing dreams. The appeal was the diversity of racing fans, and because of this people were expecting sim racing to bridge the gap between generations.

This wasn’t just speculation. Organizations like Team Redline sign not only big names in the sim racing world like Greger Huttu, but signed household names. Some may know Max Verstappen of Redbull Racing. He’s the rank 1 racer in Formula 1, and has become a worldwide celebrities. Max is an avid sim fan, and can be seen clocking hours in even before races! With popular names like this backing and competing in esports, Sym racing should have been growing rapidly.

F1 has been a colossal disappointment in 2023 and 2024. The initial complaints were with the issues due to servers and players disconnecting or not being able to join official lobbies. These small complaints quickly snowballed into something much bigger. In November of 2023 the F1 2023 World Championship round 1 was held. This event was largely successful and saw successful drivers continuing to race in the North American Championship.

This event was scheduled December 15 and 16. The event was fast approaching, and little had been said on the side of F1. This is not unordinary, as these events have been running consistently and F1 is a reputable company. All of this trust was shattered on December 12th.

LRN (League Racing News) an sim racing news site broke the news on X (Formerly Twitter). In a series of tweets state that F1 has canceled the event. Apparently no flights had been purchased, along with housing for many of the competitors. LRN aptly described the situation as “A Mess”.

With no explanation or communication F1 just said “we’re done” and left it at that. With no communication it left drivers who had traveled or were planning to scramble and change flights. Many in the community we’re upset, including drivers.

Event 1 was at risk for being canceled virtually the whole time. Ongoing monetary issues along with sponsors threatening to back out. While there is lots of blame to pass around, and nobody wants to claim responsibility we can look back. Look at the poor communication and the unprofessional standards that F1 has set.

What do you think, reader? Will F1 make a triumphant return? Or is sim racing doomed to fall to the wayside like so many other great esports? Leave a comment to let us know! Also what games or topics do you want to hear about next? We want to cover what you want to hear!