The F1 eSports Thread (2018)
Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2018 6:21 am
Source: Screenshot from F1.com
I realized there wasn't any place to discuss this currently, and what with the F1 eSports Pro Series being an official championship, I was given dispensation from the mods to start an official thread in the main forum.
I realize that the existence of eSports - and in particular the use of a game deemed by many to be 'non-simulation' for the F1 Pro Series - is somewhat controversial. Some people don't view eSports as real sports, or don't like that F1 is devoting more attention to it. That's fine, but this isn't the place to vent those feelings: you don't go into the Lewis Hamilton thread to criticize Hamilton (or if you do, you shouldn't), and you don't go into the eSports thread to say you think they're all just a bunch of gamer nerds who can't get a real job. That's not the point.
So, with that out of the way - the background so far:
The new 2018 season has several key differences to the inaugural championship, mostly designed to move the series closer to the professional ideal it strives for and raise the level of competition. There is a new and much higher prize fund - $200,000 - and, most prominently of all, nine of the ten F1 teams are actively participating this year.
Each of the nine teams will have three drivers representing them in the series: whether this means we will actually see 27 cars on track in-game (something that I do not believe is possible in the Codemasters games normally) remains to be seen, or perhaps one of the drivers for each time will be slotted into a reserve role. The process of selecting these drivers is a little convoluted, but it begins with the Pro Draft.
The Pro Draft for 2018 was held in early July, with each team being required to select at least one driver in order of a random drawing. Some teams selected all three of their drivers from the draft, while others took only the required one with the intention of signing their other drivers from outside the draft at their own discretion. Qualification for the draft was based on a series of competitions available online to anyone with a copy of the F1 2017 game and an internet connection; over 60,000 players competed for the thirty spots that were available in the draft.
THE 2018 TEAMS AND THEIR KNOWN ROSTERS
Williams won the draft lottery and selected first. Their pick was relative unknown Tino Naukkarinen, who races in the Apex Online Racing PC league for F1 2017, currently sitting fourth in the championship with five podiums. Naukkarinen impressed during the driver evaluations, likely helping him to steal the number one pick from the bigger names in the draft.
As of now, Williams has not announced their other driver selections.
Hype Energy eForce India won the second pick, and used it to select last year's championship runner-up Fabrizio Donoso Delgado, who took the inaugural 2017 eSports championship down to the wire against Brendon Leigh. Delgado also races in the AOR PC league for F1 2017, currently sitting 6th in the championship with one win and one other podium.
Force India has not made public their other driver selections.
The Haas F1 Esports Team used their #3 pick to select Martin Stefanko, a rookie to the F1 eSports championship but an experienced sim racer in his own right. Stefanko does not race in AOR, unlike many of his fellow draftees, but is the 2017 Virtual GP Champion.
In the second round of the Pro Draft, Haas selected Michal Smidl. A fellow Czech and Virtual GP champion along with Stefanko, Smidl is also a one-time finalist of the GT Academy.
The reigning champions in physical F1, Mercedes picked fourth in the draft, selecting Daniel Bereznay. Another returning driver from the 2017 season, Bereznay races in the PC section of Apex Online Racing, where he is currently second in the championship to Brendon Leigh, having taken 2 wins off the eSports champion among 8 podiums in total.
Mercedes took only one pick at the Pro Draft, leaving the fans in suspense as to their further signings.
Renault partnered with the highly successful eSports effort Team Vitality for their F1 eSports venture, and they were one of the teams to select all three of their drivers from the draft. In the first round, they selected Sven Zurner, a returning finalist from the 2017 season. Zurner finished third last season, so expectations will be high that he can be quite competitive at the top again.
In the second round, Renualt selected Kimmy Larsson. Larsson races in the XBOX F1 league of Apex Online Racing, although he has not had a competitive season and currently sits only 15th in the standings. He is a rookie to the F1 eSports series.
In the third round for their final pick, Renault selected YouTuber and fan-favorite AOR racer James Doherty, better known as TRL_Limitless. Doherty is a veteran of AOR, racing in the XBOX league; he has recently switched from using the game controller to the racing wheel, and there will be some questions on how fully he has translated his pace to the new device.
Sauber was the second team to make all three of its driver selections through the Pro Draft, selecting three drivers all from the Apex Online Racing XBOX series. For their first pick they selected Salih Saltunc, reigning three-time consecutive champion of the league. In addition to his unprecedented success in AOR, Salih was a finalist of last year's F1 eSports series, although technical issues and misfortune crippled his campaign from the start. He is considered by many to be the fastest XBOX driver of all, and will be expecting and hoping to show his true form this time.
In the second round, Renault selected Allert van der Wal. Van der Wal is a relatively inexperienced digital racer, having done only a single season at the top level of league racing prior to this year. He finished second to Salih in the 14th season of AOR XBOX F1, emerging as his closest challenger.
For their final pick, Renault selected Sonuc Saltunc, Salih's brother and a fellow competitor in the top level of AOR's XBOX F1 championship. Sonuc is not currently competing in AOR, but he was 6th in the championship last year. Along with his brother, he was also a 2017 F1 eSports finalist.
Toro Rosso made two selection from the Pro Draft. For their first selection they took Cem Bolukbasi, considered by many analysts to be the best driver at the draft. A returning 2017 finalist, Cem was a race winner in the inaugural season. He competes in the iRacing World Championship Series, and is the lead driver of the G2 eSports racing team.
For their second round pick, Toro Rosso selected Patrick Holzmann. Another very highly rated driver, Holzmann was fourth in last year's F1 eSports season, and set the fastest time overall in the online qualifiers.
The McLaren Shadow eSports team only made one selection from the draft, choosing the flamboyant Olli Pahkala as their driver. Pahkala was a semi-finalist in last year's F1 eSports competition.
Red Bull had the mixed fortune of picking last in the first round of the draft, allowing them to take back-to-back picks by then selecting first in the second round. For their first pick they selected Joni Tormala. A 2017 finalist and member of the G2 eSports team, Tormala won every race in the Pro Draft assessments, and therefore has arguably the best competitive pedigree against his direct competition.
In the second round, Red Bull selected Graham Carroll. Carroll is a real-life racing driver in addition to being a dedicated sim racer - he is the 2008 British Formula Ford champion.
RACE SCHEDULE
Well, it hasn't been released yet, so far as I can tell... so no comment.
---
That's all for my starting post, since I'm starting to get tired! Feel free to discuss the drivers, speculate on who is yet to be signed outside the Pro Draft, complain about the way the Pro Draft was conducted - just about anything that relates to the series. Hopefully, once the series gets underway we can also discuss the actual races!
---
USEFUL RESOURCES
https://f1esports.com/ -- F1 eSports site
https://f1esports.com/leaderboard/2018/drivers -- Driver bios
https://apexonlineracing.com/community/ ... ueResults/ -- Apex Online Racing standings
I realized there wasn't any place to discuss this currently, and what with the F1 eSports Pro Series being an official championship, I was given dispensation from the mods to start an official thread in the main forum.
I realize that the existence of eSports - and in particular the use of a game deemed by many to be 'non-simulation' for the F1 Pro Series - is somewhat controversial. Some people don't view eSports as real sports, or don't like that F1 is devoting more attention to it. That's fine, but this isn't the place to vent those feelings: you don't go into the Lewis Hamilton thread to criticize Hamilton (or if you do, you shouldn't), and you don't go into the eSports thread to say you think they're all just a bunch of gamer nerds who can't get a real job. That's not the point.
So, with that out of the way - the background so far:
The new 2018 season has several key differences to the inaugural championship, mostly designed to move the series closer to the professional ideal it strives for and raise the level of competition. There is a new and much higher prize fund - $200,000 - and, most prominently of all, nine of the ten F1 teams are actively participating this year.
Each of the nine teams will have three drivers representing them in the series: whether this means we will actually see 27 cars on track in-game (something that I do not believe is possible in the Codemasters games normally) remains to be seen, or perhaps one of the drivers for each time will be slotted into a reserve role. The process of selecting these drivers is a little convoluted, but it begins with the Pro Draft.
The Pro Draft for 2018 was held in early July, with each team being required to select at least one driver in order of a random drawing. Some teams selected all three of their drivers from the draft, while others took only the required one with the intention of signing their other drivers from outside the draft at their own discretion. Qualification for the draft was based on a series of competitions available online to anyone with a copy of the F1 2017 game and an internet connection; over 60,000 players competed for the thirty spots that were available in the draft.
THE 2018 TEAMS AND THEIR KNOWN ROSTERS
Williams won the draft lottery and selected first. Their pick was relative unknown Tino Naukkarinen, who races in the Apex Online Racing PC league for F1 2017, currently sitting fourth in the championship with five podiums. Naukkarinen impressed during the driver evaluations, likely helping him to steal the number one pick from the bigger names in the draft.
As of now, Williams has not announced their other driver selections.
Hype Energy eForce India won the second pick, and used it to select last year's championship runner-up Fabrizio Donoso Delgado, who took the inaugural 2017 eSports championship down to the wire against Brendon Leigh. Delgado also races in the AOR PC league for F1 2017, currently sitting 6th in the championship with one win and one other podium.
Force India has not made public their other driver selections.
The Haas F1 Esports Team used their #3 pick to select Martin Stefanko, a rookie to the F1 eSports championship but an experienced sim racer in his own right. Stefanko does not race in AOR, unlike many of his fellow draftees, but is the 2017 Virtual GP Champion.
In the second round of the Pro Draft, Haas selected Michal Smidl. A fellow Czech and Virtual GP champion along with Stefanko, Smidl is also a one-time finalist of the GT Academy.
The reigning champions in physical F1, Mercedes picked fourth in the draft, selecting Daniel Bereznay. Another returning driver from the 2017 season, Bereznay races in the PC section of Apex Online Racing, where he is currently second in the championship to Brendon Leigh, having taken 2 wins off the eSports champion among 8 podiums in total.
Mercedes took only one pick at the Pro Draft, leaving the fans in suspense as to their further signings.
Renault partnered with the highly successful eSports effort Team Vitality for their F1 eSports venture, and they were one of the teams to select all three of their drivers from the draft. In the first round, they selected Sven Zurner, a returning finalist from the 2017 season. Zurner finished third last season, so expectations will be high that he can be quite competitive at the top again.
In the second round, Renualt selected Kimmy Larsson. Larsson races in the XBOX F1 league of Apex Online Racing, although he has not had a competitive season and currently sits only 15th in the standings. He is a rookie to the F1 eSports series.
In the third round for their final pick, Renault selected YouTuber and fan-favorite AOR racer James Doherty, better known as TRL_Limitless. Doherty is a veteran of AOR, racing in the XBOX league; he has recently switched from using the game controller to the racing wheel, and there will be some questions on how fully he has translated his pace to the new device.
Sauber was the second team to make all three of its driver selections through the Pro Draft, selecting three drivers all from the Apex Online Racing XBOX series. For their first pick they selected Salih Saltunc, reigning three-time consecutive champion of the league. In addition to his unprecedented success in AOR, Salih was a finalist of last year's F1 eSports series, although technical issues and misfortune crippled his campaign from the start. He is considered by many to be the fastest XBOX driver of all, and will be expecting and hoping to show his true form this time.
In the second round, Renault selected Allert van der Wal. Van der Wal is a relatively inexperienced digital racer, having done only a single season at the top level of league racing prior to this year. He finished second to Salih in the 14th season of AOR XBOX F1, emerging as his closest challenger.
For their final pick, Renault selected Sonuc Saltunc, Salih's brother and a fellow competitor in the top level of AOR's XBOX F1 championship. Sonuc is not currently competing in AOR, but he was 6th in the championship last year. Along with his brother, he was also a 2017 F1 eSports finalist.
Toro Rosso made two selection from the Pro Draft. For their first selection they took Cem Bolukbasi, considered by many analysts to be the best driver at the draft. A returning 2017 finalist, Cem was a race winner in the inaugural season. He competes in the iRacing World Championship Series, and is the lead driver of the G2 eSports racing team.
For their second round pick, Toro Rosso selected Patrick Holzmann. Another very highly rated driver, Holzmann was fourth in last year's F1 eSports season, and set the fastest time overall in the online qualifiers.
The McLaren Shadow eSports team only made one selection from the draft, choosing the flamboyant Olli Pahkala as their driver. Pahkala was a semi-finalist in last year's F1 eSports competition.
Red Bull had the mixed fortune of picking last in the first round of the draft, allowing them to take back-to-back picks by then selecting first in the second round. For their first pick they selected Joni Tormala. A 2017 finalist and member of the G2 eSports team, Tormala won every race in the Pro Draft assessments, and therefore has arguably the best competitive pedigree against his direct competition.
In the second round, Red Bull selected Graham Carroll. Carroll is a real-life racing driver in addition to being a dedicated sim racer - he is the 2008 British Formula Ford champion.
RACE SCHEDULE
Well, it hasn't been released yet, so far as I can tell... so no comment.
---
That's all for my starting post, since I'm starting to get tired! Feel free to discuss the drivers, speculate on who is yet to be signed outside the Pro Draft, complain about the way the Pro Draft was conducted - just about anything that relates to the series. Hopefully, once the series gets underway we can also discuss the actual races!
---
USEFUL RESOURCES
https://f1esports.com/ -- F1 eSports site
https://f1esports.com/leaderboard/2018/drivers -- Driver bios
https://apexonlineracing.com/community/ ... ueResults/ -- Apex Online Racing standings