Audience doubles for the 24 Hours of Le Mans compared to F1

The big topic of discussion in recent months has revolved around eSports, which has taken on a much greater dimension due to the lockdowns that affected all continents. F1 created its own series of races called the Virtual Grand Prix, as well as gala races with former drivers and a race dedicated to eSports drivers from the teams. All these races were based on the F1 2019 platform and resulted in a total of 10 races, including 8 Virtual Grand Prix.

But many limitations have reduced the potential audience for these races. The first is that F1 2019 is not customizable and does not allow adaptation to the 2020 liveries. This posed problems for some teams, which notably changed sponsors during the offseason. The second constraint is that the game only features the circuits from the 2019 season, which excludes potential events in Hanoi or Zandvoort, the new additions for 2020. The second Virtual Grand Prix was therefore officially named the Vietnam race but was held on the Melbourne circuit…

But fans primarily follow the drivers and it must be said that the level of involvement has been very variable. While drivers like Charles Leclerc, George Russell, Lando Norris, or Alex Albon have embraced the game, others have been notably absent. There’s no trace of Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton, or Sebastian Vettel. In total, only 11 out of 20 drivers have competed in at least one race.

If F1 boasted of having gathered nearly 30 million spectators for its events, the comparison with the virtual 24 Hours of Le Mans is not flattering for the discipline that claims to be the pinnacle of global motorsport. The double round-the-clock event gathered no less than 63 million spectators, more than double!

It must be said that the approach taken by the ACO was radically different. Firstly, the event was held in the same slot as the real 24 hours, which was supposed to take place on June 13 and 14, before being postponed to September.

Then, it was decided to use the game rFactor2, which allows a high level of customization for the cars. For the sake of simplicity, there were only two categories, Prototypes (LMP2 base) and GT. A team like Toyota thus agreed to adopt its visual identity to a radically different prototype from its real-life hybrid prototype and to field drivers from its usual team.

This is where another significant difference lies, as the number of sim racers was limited to two per four-driver crew, which required having drivers and the renown that comes with it. All the major brands present in the WEC played along, resulting in a lineup of 50 teams and 200 drivers.

France Télévisions, the historic broadcaster of the race, also invested resources to provide comprehensive media coverage. Other television channels, Eurosport, ESPN, Sky Sports, and J-Sports, also contributed to gathering 14.2 million viewers while social networks attracted 49 million fans, bringing the total to 63 million. The total of 26 million claimed by F1 breaks down to 5 million viewers and 21 million on online platforms. The delta to reach 30 million is to be found in the gala race with David Coulthard and Nico Rosberg as well as the race dedicated to official sim racers.

If the format of the F1 championship against the unique event that is the 24 Hours of Le Mans necessarily skews the comparison, it does not prevent us from noting that the performance achieved by the ACO is remarkable, as highlighted by Dmitry Kozko, the CEO of Motorsport Games, who supported the event: « The Virtual 24 Hours of Le Mans perfectly illustrates what can be accomplished when the world of Motorsport and Esports work in perfect synergy. The cooperation, commitment, and collaboration of everyone involved in this project have allowed us to propel the esports race towards new horizons. The Motorsport and esports teams and drivers quickly realized the potential of this event, and these exceptional results are evidence of that. »

With the participation of www.racingbusiness.fr