Audi parks driver for using a ringer in charity esports race:
The combination of racing drivers and esports is turning out to be full of drama. When COVID-19 put a stop to real-world racing in March, professional series moved the action, using sims like iRacing and rFactor 2 along with streaming platforms like Twitch to give drivers something to do and fans something to watch. But the transition hasn't been a smooth one for some of the professional drivers, particularly those who had little interest or experience in the simulation side of things before the pandemic.
Audi's Daniel Abt is the latest to discover that it's not just a game when you're being paid to show up. The latest incident took place on Saturday in Formula E's Race at Home challenge, where the sport's real-world stars show up to compete in rFactor 2 to raise money for UNICEF. Set in a virtual version of Berlin's Tempelhof airport, Abt qualified well and raced to third place, a performance that was in stark contrast to his previous esports races. This, and the fact that he was obscured from view in his video feed, raised suspicions among some of the other drivers.
Those suspicions had merit. When the esports race organizers investigated, they checked IP address data and discovered the presence of a ringer—sim racing professional Lorenz Hoerzing, who raced pretending to be Abt. Disqualified from the race, Abt was ordered to donate $10,817 (€10,000) to charity. (Hoerzing was also stripped of his sixth-place finish in the companion event held for professional sim racers, and banned from competing in that series again.) After admitting he swapped in Hoerzing, Abt apologized in a statement on Sunday.
"I would like to apologize to Formula E, all of the fans, my team and my fellow drivers for having called in outside help during the race on Saturday. I didn't take it as seriously as I should have. I'm especially sorry about this, because I know how much work has gone into this project on the part of the Formula E organization. I am aware that my offense has a bitter aftertaste, but it was never meant with any bad intention. Of course, I accept the disqualification from the race. In addition, I will donate 10,000 Euros to a charitable project," he said.
[...] While these esports sim racers might just be a game to some, racing drivers are professional athletes under contract to big organizations. And when you're being paid to represent a big brand, there are consequences for making it look bad. Unsporting conduct, smoking weed, and even speaking out politically will get you in hot water in professional esports, and although Abt wasn't signed by Audi to play rFactor 2, he was still representing the organization—which bears his family name, no less—on Saturday. At a time when Twitch streams are bringing many racing stars closer to their fans, it seems like a shame that drivers of the caliber of da Costa and Vanthoor are retreating over someone else's mistake.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 27 2020, @07:51PM (6 children)
Yawn. Dumb millennials.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 27 2020, @07:57PM
Stay inside and play video games.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 27 2020, @10:08PM (4 children)
Your comment is extremely ignorant. Daniel Abt drives real race cars in Formula E. The virtual races are to provide a product for fans while there aren't real races going on. There are a few former F1 drivers in the series racing virtually including Felipe Massa, Jean-Eric Vergne, Brendon Hartley, Pascal Wehrlein, Sebastien Buemi, Stoffel Vandoorne, Andre Lotterer, Jerome d'Ambrosio, and Lucas di Grassi. Massa was a very successful F1 driver, finishing second in the drivers championship in 2008 behind Lewis Hamilton, who is probably still the best driver in F1 and has been for several years. Massa drove for Ferrari in F1 for eight years between stints at Sauber and Williams. You don't spend eight years driving for Ferrari in F1 unless you're a damned good driver. These are professional drivers who drive real race cars, but are competing in virtual races for now because the pandemic is preventing a lot of real races from occurring.
By the way, if there are two drivers in F1 right now who might be as good or better than Hamilton, they would be Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc. Both do a lot of virtual racing and are quite good at it. For that matter, William Byron drives the 24 car in NASCAR, which Jeff Gordon drove for decades. Byron started out in iRacing and that opened doors for him to drive real race cars.
These aren't dumb millennials. These are very successful race car drivers. Daniel Abt is a total idiot, no doubt. But you're also a total idiot to ridicule virtual racing.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 28 2020, @12:32AM (1 child)
The op wrote just three words. And that's what you got from it ?
If he had just said "hello", would you also have accused him of ridiculing virtual racing ?
Hint: His post had nothing to do with virtual racing, and everything to do with an entire generation of adults acting like they're fucking twelve year-olds.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 28 2020, @01:49AM
False. The OP actually wrote four words. The subject of just "esports" followed by the text of the comment suggests the OP is implying esports are for "dumb millennials." This is a reasonable interpretation, for which the response was warranted.
If the intent is to criticize all millennials, as your comment suggests, then it's offtopic, flamebait, and most certainly contributes nothing of value to the discussion. Neither does your defense of the comment.
If the intent is to ridicule Daniel Abt for being a "dumb millennial," then the comment should have made that clear. Moreover, it would still be a really stupid comment. Blaming cheating in sports on "dumb millennials" would be absurd. Cheating has been rampant in sports for as long as sports have been contested. There were very primitive efforts to engage in doping at the Olympics in ancient Greece. There are very sophisticated cheating operations in motorsports, such as the alleged efforts by Ferrari to violate F1's fuel rate limits. The Houston Astros ran a mostly low tech cheating operation by banging on trash cans to signal what pitch the catcher called for. There were businesses dedicated to doping in sports, such as BALCO, which Barry Bonds was a client of. And there have been very sophisticated cheating operations in sports like cycling, particularly the scheme orchestrated by Lance Armstrong and his team. That's not the work of dumb millennials but a recognition that the penalties for cheating aren't effective deterrent given the potential benefits from doing so. And how many businesses violate laws because it's cheaper to pay the fines than to comply? It's not "dumb millennials." It's an economic calculation that happened to backfire on this racer.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 28 2020, @02:40AM (1 child)
Racing is stupid. Virtual racing is just as stupid. The technology used in the cars is cool sometimes, but the driving is more boring than most other sports, like in-the-stadium-baseball-level boring. Not as bad as golf, but nearly.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 28 2020, @07:47AM
I don't share your opinion but I do understand it. Racing can be dull at times when it's just a single file procession around the track. That's been an issue for NASCAR at some of the intermediate tracks like Kentucky. While I love the actual venue, the Monaco Grand Prix tends to be a pretty dull F1 race. Qualifying is exciting but overtaking is virtually impossible during the race so it ends up being really boring. Racing is most entertaining when there are good battles on track, but that's not always the case. Some tracks like Bristol and Martinsville generally do produce good races just because passing is difficult and there are so many cars on a short track. But tracks like Pocono and New Hampshire tend to produce rather lousy races. I actually enjoy baseball, too. It's the first sport I paid attention to. It can be frustratingly slow at times, but I still enjoy it. It's a matter of individual preference and I agree that golf isn't fun to watch on TV.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 27 2020, @08:49PM (2 children)
'Cup driver Kyle Larson used a bad word on iRacing NASCAR (on Fox national TV), got fired from his real-life race team.
Went back to Sprint cars (where he has raced for years), had to go through sensitivity training (must have been pretty short because it's only been a few weeks), and then won (in real life) his 2nd Sprint Car race.
https://www.jayski.com/2020/05/27/kyle-larson-says-he-hopes-for-another-opportunity-in-nascar/ [jayski.com]
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 27 2020, @09:27PM (1 child)
It wasn't just any bad word, Larson used Ethanol-fueled's favorite word that starts with n. Sponsors didn't want to be associated with Larson after the incident. Chip Ganassi suspended Larson initially, then fired him after the sponsors started pulling out. It's a shame that it overshadowed what should have been a very cool event. The other issue was that a lot of drivers had connectivity issues, so the cars were flickering during the race. It was on the 2.5 mile high-banked oval at Monza, which has somewhat similar characteristics to Daytona but is rarely used. It has virtually zero chance of happening in real life, but it would be very cool to see a stock car race with restrictor plates on Monza's high speed oval. I was actually very excited to watch it, but it was frustrating to watch because of all the internet connectivity issues. After the event, I found out that Larson had stupidly used that word during the race.
Larson is a good enough driver that he should get another shot in the cup series. But he'll need to rehabilitate his image enough that sponsors are willing to associate with him. And it even dumber for Larson to use that word. He should have known about Bubba Wallace losing Blue Emu as a sponsor about a week earlier because Wallace rage quit at Bristol. If you're driving the 1 or the 42 for Ganassi, you're in a really good car. While Larson showed brilliance at times, he was also frustratingly bad at other times. It's fair to ask whether drivers like Ross Chastain, Chris Buescher, or Matt DiBenedetto would be just as good as Larson was in the 42 car. For this year, Ganassi first asked Carl Edwards about coming out of retirement, then hired Matt Kenseth.
There are a lot of really good young drivers and some very successful experienced drivers who would be willing to get back in a car. If you make yourself toxic to sponsors, teams won't have any problem replacing you. It was a huge overreaction for Blue Emu to drop Bubba Wallace, who is a very likeable driver and easy to root for. Larson is a complete idiot for not being on his best behavior after seeing Wallace lose a sponsor.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 27 2020, @09:35PM
And I forgot to clarify, Larson didn't use the word on national TV. The event was streamed online on platforms like YouTube. Fox wasn't televising the Monza race. Fox showed the Pro Invitational Series, but there have been a lot of other events that have just been streamed online. For that matter, I don't think any of F1's virtual races are on TV, but they do get streamed online. I believe NBC has broadcast some of the virtual IndyCar races, though. Being a driver requires being marketable for sponsors. I don't think NASCAR has reinstated Larson, but even if they have, it's going to be awhile before he's going to have any good sponsorships.