THE RACE FOR VIRTUAL GREATNESS
“I suppose I’d better serve up a good lap time for your cameras,” jokes Porsche works driver, Nick Tandy, as he settles himself into the fixed Nomex bucket seat. A few adjustments are made before he takes a grip of the steering wheel ahead, pins the accelerator pedal with his right foot, and powers the 991 RSR out onto a sun-bleached track at Laguna Seca. Only we’re not at the famous track on the Monterey peninsula. In fact, we’re not anywhere near the state of California at all. Instead, we’re 5,000 miles east in the cooler, comfier confines of Tandy’s home, nestled in the middle of England.
As you may have guessed, the RSR Tandy is currently peddling is a virtual one. Today we’re going e-racing, a new form of competition which doesn’t even involve us putting our shoes back on, let alone venturing anywhere outside.
The surge in online gaming in the last decade has given rise to e-competition, borne from the fact around a fifth of gamers spend 80 per cent of their time playing online multiplayer games. At the top level, this isn’t mere recreational time: serious money can be made, and established commercial powerhouses are already heavily involved. In the world of football, for example, clubs such as Manchester
