Why Audi Is Right To Suspend Daniel Abt

[STP]

The negative fallout from this is kind of ridiculous because Abt wasn't cheating. You cheat to gain some kind of profit or advantage, but he says it was all intended to be transparent - no VPN, open and recorded conversations with people in on the 'joke' etc. and the intention to reveal what they had done afterwards. I can't see where there is any profit in that (there is none) and I see no reason to doubt what he says.

There is no question that it was an error of judgement, which includes a level of disrespect to his fellow competotors, but to treat him as a virtual (no pun intended) criminal is where my credulity puts the brakes on and I wonder why people are so eager to be offended and take an often invented higher moral ground so as to point the finger in disgust at something which in this case was apparently not intended. If you're into social media you'll see this kind of outraged behaviour all the time.

rFactor 2 is a game. As seriously as people like to take simulated racing it is still only gaming and not everyone feels it is deserving of the same sense of importance as real life racing. If this same thing had occurred in one of the big virtual events where prize money and respect within the virtual 'sport' (if you want to call it that) were at stake it would be a different matter. But to imply from what Abt has done that his credibility as a real life driver is tarnished is nonsense.

 

[BP]

My opinion, take it or leave it:

To everyone saying it's just a game: If everything that uses sprites and/or polygons can never be elevated beyond "just a videogame" status, then that means training simulators used by the real world racing teams are all videogames as well, right?

But wait, not just racing teams use them, but airline companies, engineering labs, the military, NASA, etc...Is anything virtual ever considered more than a videogame for any of you? I don't know if you realise this but no simulator, whether it's made by Kunos or NASA, is 100% accurate. The only thing that's 100% accurate is the real world itself.

Bearing that in mind, the simulator used by most the teams in most cases is a modified rFactor Pro...modified to use their current data on car/tyre performance. Most of the cost of their million dollar simulators are the G-force simulators, identical cockpit to the real car (usually most of the chassis and all the internals sans the engine of course) and the display projection methods used. Many of the sim racing developers reference real world data (albeit older than what Mercedes might have, but not necessarily inaccurate) when creating their car/tyre/physics models, they laserscan every inch of a track (or acquire the data) and then spend months refining it all to better reflect their interpreted feel of the real world event...sometimes I wonder if some of you even care that sim-racing has advanced way beyond Indy 500: the Simulation...you're sabotaging our already niche hobby by constantly pushing this "just a game" agenda.

So unless you believe that rFactor Pro is 1000% more realistic than rFactor 2, and if Mercedes and all the other proven championship-winning teams think it's important to pump 6 or 7 figures or more into a glorified "game room" in a vain effort to improve the real world car's performance...why aren't we allowed to take our sims, our races and our sport seriously? At what "percentage of realism" will it be acceptable for some of you to stop belittling everyone who sees simracing as a legitimate sport, and that all who participate in an ONLINE capacity should adhere to general sporting codes? Hell, he broke the most well known sporting code that exists across all sports: DO NOT CHEAT EVER.

It might seem harsh and maybe Audi already had plans to sack him, but I think based on what transpired, planned or not, transparent or not, it is what it is...this is a post-Kyle Larson era, so it's not like something similar hasn't happened recently...show respect to the company/sponsors that pays your bills, or at least seek out clarity with said company before pulling a stunt like that. Doesn't matter whether he's "from money" or not; Audi is his employer and he was racing under his government name as an Audi driver under the Formula E banner and for a charity event. Opinions on said sponsors/organisers/charities is irrelevant to the fact that he was dishonest.

I'll put it in music terms since that's my field: If I'm a singer/instrumentalist signed by XYZ record label, and they tell me, due to COVID-19, I need to earn the millions they're paying me, so go perform a virtual live concert on YouTube...and I BS it by playing old recordings or have some friend sing and play in my place when people signed in to see ME perform, do I not deserve to get punished by my real world label for a virtual concert? This is in essence what happened.

These circumstances are brand new to all of us, but standards are standards. Even though some of you call if video-game culture to rage quit, some of us actually complete a race even when we're crashed into. I'd rather not count the amount of times I've gotten rammed by a divebomber in iRacing for example, but I go to the pits, let them fix the car and then complete the race even though I'm 10 laps down. Not trying to act self-righteous or say everyone should follow my code, but I thought that's what many of us were here to do: to simulate the art of racing, not more videogame culture. After this thread, I guess I was wrong.

To everyone carrying on about Audi's decision post-dieselgate: If a single driver cheats and then points the finger at another cheating driver after, then I'd be more inclined to understand your accusations of hypocrisy. However, Audi/VAG is not 1 person...it's not even just 1,000 people.

Let's scale it back: Let's say I own a small business. My accountant steals from my clients without my knowledge. I find out, sack the accountant, press charges, apologise and make amends with my clients. If I find out later on that another company is now cheating their customers...am I suppose to just look the other way and forget ethics, because somebody working for me sullied my company's name? My company and all those who would run it are barred for life from doing the right thing today, because at least 1 person who worked for me did a bad thing yesterday? Audi the company is forever tainted because of the actions of a few people...what's the statute of limitations on stuff like this? Should I, for example, hate Ferrari the company today because Enzo was a d*** to people yesterday?

I don't know the inner workings of Audi and the people who run every division, but it's the principle of the situation is what bothers me.

 

[John-Eric Saxén]

I can't see where there is any profit in that (there is none) and I see no reason to doubt what he says.

It is cheating if cheating by your definition is gaining an unfair advantage. Abt was slow in the first couple of races, so he hired an esports driver who is much more familiar with the sim than the other real-life drivers; obviously that's an advantage. What do you think these events would become if every driver started hiring esports drivers to race "for them"? Regarding the joke thing, it's kind of convenient to say that now, of course he has the motivation to find an excuse now, excuses are always there with every athlete who ever got caught from any kind of cheating. Could be that it was really meant as a joke, but whatever he says now must be taken with a pinch of salt.

 

[hablom1977]

I really don't understand why this guy did what he did. If under these rare circumstances, as a payed driver, an employee, he is asked to do something by his team who is also his employer, and instead he just makes a joke out of it, I would also fire this guy. He's just not reliable.

 

[Amanda]

"It's just a GAME" well racing is just a sport... does that make cheating ok too...

No. Cheating is never ok.

There's a strong correlation between people who support online cheating and people who, for instance, think it's ok to harass people online. You start digging a bit and you see them supporting cheating, then a little deeper and they say it's ok to call people fat over the internet, a bit deeper and you see sexist jokes, then a bit deeper some of them say it's ok to be a racist online, and next thing you know they're joking about the "tranny suicide rate", sometimes even making liveries and publicly boasting about it in race events.

All of this with the excuse of "it's just a game". In the end, that's what it is, an excuse for these people to show who they really are: not only cheaters, misogynists, racists, but cowards who wouldn't dare doing stuff like this in the real world so they hide behind a monitor to do it, and try to protect their last little hideout as much as they can. "It's a joke", "you shouldn't take the internet seriously", "it's only a game". If you see someone really defending the internet as a "no rules playground for men" then you can be almost sure it's all excuses from someone who wants to exercise these kinds of behaviors.

To me, the suspension was well deserved. This was not a bunch of friends messing around, this was supposed to be professional drivers racing for charity while representing brands, it should automatically be understood that they should not behave like children. But of course, asking for common sense in some people is asking too much.

Overall these suspensions are a good thing, it's the real world catching up with people who hide behind a monitor.

EDIT: some people are saying that the consequences should be online as he cheated online. No. Tge brand affected wasn't a virtual brand, it was a real brand. A real driver did something really stupid, which could have an effect on a real brand, with real people working for them.
Just because you did something over the internet doesn't mean the consequences have to be confined to the internet.

 

[BertramRaven]

He should have revealed the joke immediately, though the "technical fault" may actually have prevented that.
To my eyes, Abt's behaviour was inappropriate but far less serious than Pagenaud's behaviour in IndyCar online events.
Personally, I believe Audi is using this debacle to drop obligations to the Abt family business using some kind of contract morality clause, all to save money or obtain intellectual property to which they otherwise would not have had any rights.

 

[Daniel Monteiro]

 

[TonyPanda]

If it was not written in the rules of sim race , that driver can not change himself on the other one - its not a cheating. Still, its only a game , for now it wont be in the history of world autosport, audi should take it easy .
As it was said, everyone is cheating in autosport, but someone is caught

 

[Jach]

Even the real life series is not serious racing after all (obviously more of a promotion event) so not taking it seriously seems not a big deal. However if you take part you should at least obey the rules.

 

[jpindustrie]

"see you never" that's rich , coming from mid pack formula E guys

I mean, does anyone outside of F1 really remember any of the mid pack guys, let alone formula e ?

sarcasm aside, back to business:

Why stop a possibly profitable and marketable venue like streaming? what other options for activations are there during these times?

What happens if the lock down does continue and sponsors continue to push for more streaming content? can we throw back the "see you never im going home taking my toys" tweets back then?

Jeez its almost like these 'race car drivers' do not like racing or competing.

 

[RobertGracie]

He tried to make a joke out of it but it backfired on him and Audi fired him, honestly its harsh but Audi was protecting its brand

 

[jpindustrie]

So, if he was a smart person why did he not just clear this whole business with Audi first? Sounds like asking for forgiveness backfired here.

Seems like any reasonable and in-tune marketing dept would have seen the value, IF there was any...

 

[Mr Deap]

Every veteran simracers know that a veteran simracer have a distinctive advantage using arcade technique according to the poll & call for cheat.

All that fake documentary with real driving...

Oh yeah, thanks for pointing out that more than 99.999% of the world is living under a rock. Racing esport is extremely niche.

 

[Roman1987]

There's a strong correlation between people who support online cheating and people who, for instance, think it's ok to harass people online. You start digging a bit and you see them supporting cheating, then a little deeper and they say it's ok to call people fat over the internet, a bit deeper and you see sexist jokes, then a bit deeper some of them say it's ok to be a racist online, and next thing you know they're joking about the "tranny suicide rate", sometimes even making liveries and publicly boasting about it in race events.

Oh wow are you serious? Do you have proof of that "strong correlation" or are you just guessing and over simplyfing things here based on own assumptions? Your post is way off and unfair in regards to the event that happend and is discussed here as it suggest Daniel Abt could be that kind of guy where you see a "strong correlation" to other wrong behaviours. That is almost defamation and makes your whole argument way off. He can be criticized for what he has done, but please stop to make a bigger thing out of it which is not there. That is almost a way of agitation you do hiding behind your monitor and username, which you are yourself criticizing in your post.

 

[Roman1987]

All you guys with your forks and torches, hold on a second. Maybe I am in favour of understanding the german language (not easy sometimes even when you're german - which I am ) and can put things more in relation because of the video Daniel put online but this is going the wrong way! Proportionality anyone?

Btw, disclaimer: I'm not a fan of Daniel Abt. I think he is an ok guy as far as his social media precesence crossed my attention, but that's it.
But it clearly, CLEARLY was a (bad!) prank. And furthermore it was a prank in a ridiculously silly series of e-sports racing. If you are a real race driver it is really really hard to cope with those infomartion-trimmed virtual race-cars. And if you're not willing to put a lot of effort into it as David Perel did for example, it will get messy. Which it did.

EXCURSUS: Did anyone see the two one hour races at Silverstone by the SRO(was it?)? One race simracers only, the first race real drivers only. The simracers event was some of the best racing I have witnessed. So consistent, defending podium over a distance of many many laps, dog-fights on the edge.
The real drivers race was a kindergarten event. Leclerc for example spun several times, collected several DTs, other drivers punted and got punted and were in general all over the place. Only a few had top notch consistency.

So my point is: In this context Daniel Abt came up with that idea which thousands could witness in a live stream. He asked the simracer live if he would be willing to pull that stunt.
Now, whatever his intentions and however silly and carnival-like the situation: there may be others who participate who see it diffrentely. and therefore it was a BAD idea. A SILLY prank. It was not thought through and lightheaded. And therefore he got punished. Banned from the series (ok, not that hard a punishment ) and 10000.- euros - which is a lot of money, which he did not discuss or debate but took the donation straightaway to a local working place for special people (as I like to call them) to support mobility chances for them.

For me the case can be closed here. No hush hush secret plan for placing better in an e-sports series that lacked quality anyways and where he always stated that he streams it for fun, not for results. There were no real life benefits like money involved in the results.
But here comes Audi into play takes a deeep bow before the almighty power of social media and instead of defending their driver - yes people: DEFENDING! - they pulled the plug on Daniel Abts career - with Audi at least.

And THAT dear @Paul Jeffrey is where I am gobsmacked.

I never cared about that guy. Now I do.
**** the internet! (And not....)

Best post here! This witch hunt needs to stop and is way off but unfortunately it seems that this is how we deal with each other nowadays when someone makes a silly mistake. For me this is a devastating signal to young people, because it is saying your not allowed to do any mistakes since there is no positive error culture in place in our society, companies or communities. 10K € fine was the right thing to do and this is where the case should have been closed.

 

[mrbungle83]

Wow, losing his job over it I think it's literally insane this crazy push to make esports relevant is cringe worthy. Formula e shooting itself in the foot. Just think about it!!! he cheated in a computer game and it results in his life potentially being ruined. Embarrassing for our hobby. Maybe he would have taken it more seriously if it felt anything like his actual formula e car, how much do s397 get fined for each and every race ruining bug that makes the pathetic debacle even more embarrassing. What the hell is the world coming too? never even watched a formula e race so I wouldn't recognise the guy but man I feel for him.

 

[mrbungle83]

There's a strong correlation between people who support online cheating and people who, for instance, think it's ok to harass people online. You start digging a bit and you see them supporting cheating, then a little deeper and they say it's ok to call people fat over the internet, a bit deeper and you see sexist jokes, then a bit deeper some of them say it's ok to be a racist online, and next thing you know they're joking about the "tranny suicide rate", sometimes even making liveries and publicly boasting about it in race events.

All of this with the excuse of "it's just a game". In the end, that's what it is, an excuse for these people to show who they really are: not only cheaters, misogynists, racists, but cowards who wouldn't dare doing stuff like this in the real world so they hide behind a monitor to do it, and try to protect their last little hideout as much as they can. "It's a joke", "you shouldn't take the internet seriously", "it's only a game". If you see someone really defending the internet as a "no rules playground for men" then you can be almost sure it's all excuses from someone who wants to exercise these kinds of behaviors.

To me, the suspension was well deserved. This was not a bunch of friends messing around, this was supposed to be professional drivers racing for charity while representing brands, it should automatically be understood that they should not behave like children. But of course, asking for common sense in some people is asking too much.

Overall these suspensions are a good thing, it's the real world catching up with people who hide behind a monitor.

EDIT: some people are saying that the consequences should be online as he cheated online. No. Tge brand affected wasn't a virtual brand, it was a real brand. A real driver did something really stupid, which could have an effect on a real brand, with real people working for them.
Just because you did something over the internet doesn't mean the consequences have to be confined to the internet.

Ridiculous. No wonder Lewis Hamilton stayed the hell away from this total embarrassing mess.

 

[Navigator]

Haha, Audi doesn't want to get linked to cheating or unsportsmanlike behaviour........

Well; they should have thought of that, and made some changes right at: "ShieB ihn raus Timo!!"

Beat that.

 

[ltcars]

Haha, Audi doesn't want to get linked to cheating or unsportsmanlike behaviour........

Well; they should have thought of that, and made some changes right at: "ShieB ihn raus Timo!!"

Beat that.

They did? By firing Abt?
And to quote myself:

It's not like Audi had to pay €200.000 for it and all their points were removed and Ullrich was denied access to the pit lane for the rest of the year and Timo Scheider couldn't start at the Moscow race

They were punished for that

 

[Navigator]

They did? By firing Abt?
And to quote myself:
They were punished for that

Well, 200K is nothing for Audi and if you have watched the next races; Ullrich was there(!) wearing his headgear........