Since 2017, the Formula has been renewing itself by venturing into new areas, such as series but also video games.

With esport competitions, in which some of the drivers from the real teams participate, the race organizers try to appeal to a young audience.

With success.

DECRYPTION

It's almost a renaissance: Formula 1 has experienced a spectacular comeback for some time.

After many years during which Grand Prix rhymed with boredom, the most impressive of motorsport has been able to renew itself with a new generation of drivers, a media device designed for all audiences or the Netflix

Drive to Survive series

behind the scenes of the F1, which makes the

Angels of Reality TV look like

a pleasant spat.

And this revival is also happening more and more through video games.

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Formula 1 leaves its comfort zone

Repetitive, long and technical: Formula 1 is not, however, the sport most conducive to video game adaptations. Since the 2000s, it has benefited from a fairly classic treatment with an official license on the

FIFA

model 

for football: one game per year, with the real pilots and the teams, including the circuits of the season and a career mode allowing to experience the sensations of a new entrant in the paddock. Classic therefore, overall well done by the English studio Codemasters, but without great inventiveness.

The FIA, the body that organizes Formula 1 races, has never shone with its extravagance. But the revival of the sport, which coincides with the takeover of the championship by the American group Liberty Media, pushed it to venture outside its zone of confidence. In May, F1 thus forged an unprecedented partnership with the video game 

Rocket League

, one of the most popular online games on the Internet, especially on the Twitch streaming platform.

Rocket League

players 

were able to download a pack including the "skins" of the official single-seaters of the 10 Formula 1 teams in order to personalize their racing car.

Bolide which is then used not to run on a circuit but to… play football!

In this game launched in 2015, in 1 on 1 or 2 on 2, players have to push a giant ball into the opposing goals while driving a car.

A crazy concept, prized by some 75 million players in six years: a formidable pool of potential spectators that Formula 1 is trying to seduce with this partnership.

Games used for pilot training

Formula 1 is therefore interested in video games, but it also concerns drivers. Indeed, the official game of Formula 1 has become so realistic that it serves as a simulator. They play it alone or with others and one of the most active on the virtual circuits is none other than Charles Leclerc who broadcasts his games live on Twitch for his 650,000 subscribers. But the Monegasque does not use a controller like the average player: he is equipped with a Formula 1 steering wheel and pedals to stick as much as possible to real driving. 

If Charles Leclerc is having fun, other drivers include racing games in their training program.

"Simulation games, especially Gran Turismo, have always been part of my life. I grew up with this game which forged me as a professional pilot", tells Europe 1 the French Esteban Ocon, teammate of Fernando Alonso in the Alpine stable.

"I play before and after the races, it's training. I do the circuits of the F1 calendar, now we can simulate our sport very well."

F1 goes esports and drivers play the game

Since 2017, there have even been video game competitions around Formula 1: the F1 Esports Series, launched again by Liberty Media. Each year, players from all over the world compete on virtual circuits. The top 30 are selected after qualifying and assigned to the 10 paddock stables. As in real life, there is a ranking of drivers and a ranking of manufacturers. And it gave real pilots ideas: in 2020, with the Covid-19 pandemic, they had time to kill so they entered the competition, in a category of their own.

Some of them (Leclerc, Albon, Sainz, Giovinazzi ...) competed in ten virtual races with qualifying and Grand Prix, mixed with F2 drivers, the lower category in car racing, and some guests like the Belgian footballer Thibaut Courtois.

The races were broadcast on Twitch and were so successful that a second edition took place in early 2021. And the best drivers on the track are not necessarily the best in video games: it was George Russell who won the first virtual championship last year, he who finished 18th in the championship at the wheel of his Williams.

F1 games, a flourishing business

And who says esport says business. Video game competitions are a growing market, with a turnover expected to be around three billion euros in 2022. This enthusiasm has therefore given ideas to Electronic Arts. The American giant, which already publishes

FIFA

football games

, spent $ 1.2 billion at the start of 2021 to buy Codemasters, the English studio that makes Formula 1 games. Enough to give the teams even more resources for the next one. opus,

F1 2021

, which will be released on July 16.