The heart-pounding adrenaline-filled world of Formula One is in VR News, and it definitely could have been under better circumstances.
As the world reels under the COVID-19 pandemic, it has not left Formula One Racing Untouched.
The Australian Grand Prix was first to be shelved. It was thought that the season opener could be in Bahrain in March. Alas, it could not happen.
The Vietnam, Chinese, Dutch, Spanish and Monaco Grand Prix are also on the chopping block and a curtailed season may begin from June and run 14 Races.
That does not mean the sound of V8 engines screaming at 16,000 RPM is unavailable to fans. Just like Augmented Reality in Healthcare, VR has come to Formula One!
The Bahrain Grand Prix went virtual and very real on 23rd March. Olympic gold medalist Chris Hoy, One Direction lead singer Liam Payne and ace golfer Ian Poulter were present as part of the starting lineup.
Racers included Lando Norris from McLaren and Nicholas Latifi of Wiliams as well as lesser-known names such as Nic Hamilton, the brother of world champion Lewis and Nico Hulkenberg.
The 14 lap race was won by Guanyu Zhou, a test driver at Renault. Formula E racer Stoffel Vandoorne came in runners up.
The most played VR games have always included auto racing games such as Race Room.
Formula One is not new to VR. In December of 2018, Formula One formally threw its hat into the ring to become one of the Top 10 VR Games. With the technological partnership with Dream VR, they launched a fully immersive app that could be played on HTC Vive, Steam, and other high-end HMDs as also high-quality gaming laptops.
Bahrain Grand Prix Bytes The Dust
The Virtual Grand Prix was broadcasted live on YouTube, Facebook, and a few other streaming platforms.
Of course, it is an unofficial race, and the points do not count towards the end of season tally.
One of the perennial problems with Formula One in recent years is that it has become boring. With Mercedes continuing to dominate every race, even Lewis Hamilton went on record last year to say that watching it was boring.
The game has slipped after Schumacher to become a celebration of engineering brilliance rather than driving elegance.
Driver aids such as radios that allow team bosses to convey exact plans about speed and fuel to the driver have reduced strategic driving to a computer modelling led farce.
That is why the powers that be at Formula One had decided that VR was the way to make the sport more inclusive. It was an ideal sport for being a crossover between the real and virtual world.
The success of the virtual race has made Formula One organizers promise that they will hold one on every race weekend till the real engines roar back to life in mid-June at Montreal.
