Do you have what it takes to be a Virtual Olympian?

GT Sport Audi.jpg

Which sim/game do you think the IOC should use in any future Olympic Virtual Series?


  • Total voters
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Ahead of the delayed 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, the International Olympic Committee has celebrated the start of its inaugural Olympic Virtual Series.

Last month the International Olympic Committee (IOC) confirmed that motorsport would feature alongside four other sports, in the first ever Olympic Virtual Series (OVS). The IOC has partnered with the FIA to hold an Olympic-licenced championship run exclusively on Gran Turismo Sport. Qualifications for next month's World Final began this week, and will come to a close on the 23rd of May.

The World Finals for the OVS are scheduled for the 23rd of June 2021, with IOC President Thomas Bach describing their goal as being to use virtual sport as a means to engage new Olympic audiences:

“The Olympic Virtual Series is a new, unique Olympic digital experience that aims to grow direct engagement with new audiences in the field of virtual sports.
"It encourages sports participation and promotes the Olympic values, with a special focus on youth.”
The format of the finals is yet to be confirmed, however the nature of the qualification stage ensures that 16 different countries/territories from at least 5 continents will be represented in the finals. Qualifications are open to anyone over the age of 18 from within the 'Sport' mode of GT Sport. More details about eligibility and selection can be found on the Gran Turismo page about the championship.
It will no doubt disappoint the vast majority of sim racers, that this year's championship will be run exclusively on Gran Turismo Sport. However, considering the IOC's understandable preference of partnering with an International Federation (IF), it does make sense that for the first year this is their chosen platform. After all, the FIA has previously certified the 'Gran Turismo Championships' which have taken place since 2018.

While this year's Olympic Virtual Series is relatively small, the IOC Sports Director, Kit McConnell has already indicated that should the inaugural series prove successful, they "will look to probably expand if [they] are given the opportunity in the future". This is supported by positive developments the IOC has seen with other IFs:

"Building on the success of their respective events, both the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) and the International Basketball Federation (FIBA), along with other International Federations such as the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and World Taekwondo (WT) have confirmed their excitement and commitment to exploring inclusion in future editions of the OVS."
From the sound of things, it could well be that the OVS is here to stay. If so, hopefully it will be in a position to expand such that a much wider platform can be offered to the virtual motorsport world. Not only would this provide opportunities to a wider demographic of the sim racing community, but also further the IOC's efforts to encourage sports participation and engage new audiences.

In recent years, the sim racing world has enjoyed greater exposure than ever before. To see an Olympic-certified series come to fruition is yet another exciting milestone for us to enjoy. Unfortunately, as someone without a PS4, I don't have what it takes to become a Virtual Olympian. We'll pretend it's not the lack of talent that is the real obstacle...

Now over to you, what direction (if any) would you like to see an Olympic virtual motorsport series go in the future?
About author
Charlie Lockwood
23. Motorsport and Sim Racing enthusiast.

Comments

Not a fan of video games being in the olympics, but if sim racing is one of them... PLEASE no more GT3/GT4 racing. I'm so done with seeing it everywhere. Give us some crazy non-standard racing like some of what's in AMS2 or AC or RF2. Just please no more ACC.... like... ever...
There's nothing wrong with GT3/GT4 racing. The problem is the user end. The popular track is monza/spa. Those tracks are setup bound. Only scrubs play them to win effortless.

It's the type of spectacle you don't want to see in a sport. People using auto-win setup. It's not a visually striking performance to enjoy.

But yeah, they could use car & force H-shifter+Clutch on all users. I've never seen it. Also, It's recognized that assist takes no skill. Are simracers scared to die from cardiac arrest from hitting the wall? Those safety is for real life.
 
Although I have no interest in watching any kind of e-sport I am fine if they do some form of championships like they did recently.

But Olymipcs ??? C'mon !
 
As someone who is fairly active I find this very insulting to actual athletes.

I enjoy sim racing for what it is but let's not kid ourselves you have to be in great shape to do it. I could put on 5 stone it probably wouldn't affect my laptimes.
 
Premium
It is complicated to imagine simracing as an olympic sport.
But when we think about it, Esport is some kind of sport , as shooting is some kind of sport.
A good simracer needs training, discipline, practise, self control, ....

The problem is that olympic games are a serious thing nowadays. It needs a 100% reliable platform, and the performance and rules should be accepted without any doubt.
What will happen in case of lag or server crash ????

In terms of which game to choose, and even if i love ACC, i gave my vote to F1 2021. Just because formula one is supposed to be the pinacle of motor racing, and because the game is polished, also from a visual aspect (we need to think about broadcasting).

But sincerely, i am not sure that it is a real good idea.
 
You read into too much of this news BS. This has been debunked over and over again but what human rights? Speaking about human rights, what about the list of human right abuses of your country with non-whites. Tell us about going to other countries to colonize them your way.
Wow, wasn't wanting nor will I get into a debate. It was just an observation. We'll have to agree to disagree. Tell my friend that lives in China that the human rights issues are debunked. You speak of reading into the news BS, that's exactly what you're doing with regards to what's going on in my country, but I get it. Most people like to beat the Americans up. We don't mind; we're used to it. I've been a student of history and political science for over 40 years. I don't have time to bring you up to speed and RD is not the place for it nor is any antisocial media site. You have your opinion and I respect that.
 
Wow, wasn't wanting nor will I get into a debate. It was just an observation. We'll have to agree to disagree. Tell my friend that lives in China that the human rights issues are debunked. You speak of reading into the news BS, that's exactly what you're doing with regards to what's going on in my country, but I get it. Most people like to beat the Americans up. We don't mind; we're used to it. I've been a student of history and political science for over 40 years. I don't have time to bring you up to speed and RD is not the place for it nor is any antisocial media site. You have your opinion and I respect that.
"Most people like to beat the Americans up. We don't mind; we're used to it."

I think it's the other way around - America likes beating people up. But the rest of the world just don't mind.
Korea,Vietnam, Somalia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Serbia, Syria, Libya.
But let's don't go all political around here. :)
 
I think it's the other way around - America likes beating people up. But the rest of the world just don't mind.
Korea,Vietnam, Somalia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Serbia, Syria, Libya.
But let's don't go all political around here.
You're talking governments which was my point about the Olympics. My second response was because it wasn't about governments, but personal. Hope that clears it up for you;)
 
In a way I think gran turismo is a good fit for the olympics. Polyphony have put several fictional cars into their game which I think is important for an olympics event. I think in an olympics competition the vehicles should be imaginery and same for everybody to make sure it is level playing field. And it should be an imaginery car because it is the olympics, not the corvette or the red bull event. That doesn't mean the car can't handle like a real. Under the hood they make the car as realistic (as gran turismo allows) while keeping the stylistic cues neutral and unbranded. Or make a statement about something or whatever. For the same reason the track needs to be fictional.

And of course the cars need to be the quickest cars. We want top level performance not just from the driver but also from the cars. That alone makes me laugh out loud how someone could suggest using gt3 cars. That's like using 500€ Walmart bikes for the velodrome event. 500€ is not good enough. Imho there is only one real car and couple of fictional cars on this earth that qualify. F1 because it is the fastest. Then you have the redbull fictional cars. F1 doesn't make racecars and while a red bull designed car could work for the olympics I think it is the job of the game devs to make the best possible fictional car for their own platform and just for this competition. The olympics car. They have not only the skills to make the best car in their own game but they can also test it to make sure it is 100% the best car the game can offer.

Gran turismo and polyphony as a studio also have the financial muscle and experience to make a good racing event to watch. The production values have been very high in the gran turismo world series which can be watched on youtube. Olympics is merely one step up for them whereas for any other game dev group it would be several steps.

As far as realism of the simulator goes I don't think it really matters. The olympics locations are not chosen by what is actually the best for the sport so why should the simulators be chosen that way? Gran turismo is still simracing even if it is not that realistic and as such it presents simracing more than well enough. It also has brand recognition. Your grandma has probably heard of gran turismo and can make some kind of connection. Try that with rfactor, assetto corsa or even with gt3 cars.
 
Wow, wasn't wanting nor will I get into a debate. It was just an observation. We'll have to agree to disagree. Tell my friend that lives in China that the human rights issues are debunked. You speak of reading into the news BS, that's exactly what you're doing with regards to what's going on in my country, but I get it. Most people like to beat the Americans up. We don't mind; we're used to it. I've been a student of history and political science for over 40 years. I don't have time to bring you up to speed and RD is not the place for it nor is any antisocial media site. You have your opinion and I respect that.
Which friend? These Youtubers who makes videos bitching about China springs to mind.

Yes we all know things can be restrictive but don't break the law and things will be okay.

"Most people like to beat the Americans up. We don't mind; we're used to it."

I think it's the other way around - America likes beating people up. But the rest of the world just don't mind.
Korea,Vietnam, Somalia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Serbia, Syria, Libya.
But let's don't go all political around here. :)
Not forgetting they tried it with Hong Kong (look up National Endowment for Democracy), one of which Trump passed a law that sanctioned police officers for keeping the cities under control

What about they tried it with Xinjiang too recently (which was the Chinese part in dealing with Islamists) - makes me wonder if America is siding with ISIS
 
This is something that is needed mentally to gets to the top. A comprehensive chart.

X is the level of placebo, y is the realism
1621406238946.png

It's a fact. All the top guys are aware it's not realistic. They don't care as long as they get to the top.
It's about being mature. Have a greater understanding of what they are manipulating.

What is not mature is telling they don't drive realistically in a racing simulator. It's like claiming they don't know what they are doing. Although, they pull better lap time. Thus it heavily contradict that claim.
 
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Tried to give an objective vote. I went for iRacing. I think it's probably the most well rounded in terms of content for this type of thing. Not my favourite sim but wanted to give an honest vote.
I disagree with you. If being objective, you shouldnot drop price and by prices iracing is the most expensive on the list and has a high sys req too, as I see (Im not a computer guru, maybe Im wrong). For something called olympics it needs something widely available, even in poor countries. On (older) consoles, on pc too.
 
Most might like the more traditional events at the Olympics... but in 100 years from now, with the way tech is heading, half the Olympics might just be virtual reality gaming events lol... they starting with the obvious choice in 2021 with sim racing... bad game choice though
 
You can't even buy what it takes to be an Virtual Olympic Champion. The scalpers (scum bags) made sure of that.
 
I disagree with you. If being objective, you shouldnot drop price and by prices iracing is the most expensive on the list and has a high sys req too, as I see (Im not a computer guru, maybe Im wrong). For something called olympics it needs something widely available, even in poor countries. On (older) consoles, on pc too.
Like Sailing and equestrian events?
 
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Like Sailing and equestrian events?
Depends on where you are. In Europe these are not sot expensive, skiing is more expensive in a lot of EU countries. By the way poorest countries have the most horses, so thats a blunder.
2: Olimpics was an amateur event, maybe you are too young and havenot heard this, professionals were not able to go to Olimpic games in various sports. If talking about olimpic idea.
 

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