The Games People Play: Esports Racing Hijinks Get Out Of Hand

The novel coronavirus pandemic put the brakes on motorsport the world over. The motorsport community took to esports for their racing fix and to stay connected to its audience. But call it cabin fever getting out of hand, it hasn’t all been hunky dory. 

Daniel Abt And The Secret Driver

The most recent and surely the most controversial one comes from the Formula E community. In its recent Race At Home Challenge, Audi Sport driver Daniel Abt finished a surprise 3rd at the virtual Berlin Tempelhof E-Prix. It was discovered that Abt wasn’t even driving. Instead he got pro gamer Lorenz Hoerzing to do the driving for him. As a result, Abt was disqualified from his 3rd place finish. 

You’d think that’s where the matter ended. Well, far from it, as the backlash caused Audi to immediately suspend Daniel Abt from any activities involving Audi Sport. Daniel Abt did apologise and paid 10,000 euros to charity. Interestingly, in his apology video, he revealed that he intended to use this situation as a prank to entertain his fans. Well not so entertaining now, as Abt has confirmed he will no longer race for Audi. 

Lando Norris vs Simon Pagenaud

McLaren F1 driver Lando Norris was on his way to take victory at the IndyCar iRacing Challenge but was intentionally taken out of the lead on the final lap by Team Penske Indycar driver Simon Pagenaud. The situation actually began a few laps earlier, with Norris, Pagenaud and Graham Rahal involved in an incident where Pagenaud was the affected party. In a red mist moment, he said on stream that he will take out Norris since in his opinion, Norris’ move was a reckless one. Although the two drivers quickly moved on, there was a social media outcry going on from the F1 and IndyCar side of the community. While nobody was publicly sanctioned by IndyCar or the teams for the incidents, it did spark a debate on whether real-world drivers are taking simracing a bit too seriously.

Kyle Larson’s Racial Slur 

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You’d think being in an online platform would give you a free pass to say anything in the heat of the moment right? Well Kyle Larson found out the hard way, as during a NASCAR iRacing event, he blurted out a racial slur on his Twitch stream. The aftermath of that resulted in him losing his race seat at Chip Ganassi Racing and suspended from NASCAR until further notice. While Larson has apologised on social media regarding this, it sent a warning sign that incidents like this will be taken seriously, whether in the real world or virtual one.

Bubba Wallace Loses A Sponsor 

Another incident from the NASCAR community, but not as serious as Kyle Larson. Bubba Wallace was competing in a NASCAR Pro Invitational esports event where he had an incident with Clint Bowyer, causing him to ‘rage quit’ the session. Many would understand such a situation, especially in an online race, but it seems like his sponsor ‘Blu-Emu pain relief’ didn’t take this well. The company cut off its association with Wallace, comparing his antics to that of a 13-year old child. While it may not be a big hit for Wallace, but it does show the sort of eggshells people have to walk on when contracted with sponsors.

Opinions from the community on the above incidents have been divided, with some agreeing with the decisions being made since the drivers are officially representing teams and sponsors in such events. On the other hand, there are opinions in which all these esports events have been introduced as a form of entertainment. Hence incidents like these should not be taken seriously since it is just a video game and not real life. What’s your opinion on the way esports incidents are being handled? Let us know in the comments below.

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