Arrivabene: F1 under threat from PlayStations
- Published on 25 Oct 2018 11:15
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- By: Fergal Walsh
Ferrari team principal Maurizio Arrivabene says that Formula 1's biggest threat going forward will be video games. The Maranello boss believes that more people will be increasingly entertained going forward by virtual racing rather than real racing out on the circuit.
F1 eSports was launched last year and was successful, with high numbers tuning in to watch the best simulator racers go wheel to wheel. It is taking place once again this year, and Arrivabene says that F1 needs to be looking at it over its shoulder.
"Our competitors today - and this is my personal opinion - they are the PlayStations," he told Motorsport Week. "If you look at Gran Turismo, most probably we need to switch our minds and focus our attention on our competitors.
"Today we have a broad offer of entertainment and we need to look at everything, not only certain sports or trying to equalise everything. Is the PlayStation our competitor? In my opinion yes. What do you have to do to beat the PlayStations? You have to do something that is more interesting, most probably.
“It’s not a detailed answer to the question. But we need to direct our attention to the entertainment industry. And today what they offer is bigger than many many years ago," he added.
Arrivabene says that Formula 1 is suffering a big drop in popularity when compared to years gone by: "We need to be honest with ourselves," he declared. "How is the level of interest in F1 versus yesterday?
"You need to ask why other sports - and let me underline football, they still have big numbers even if they sometimes face crisis - versus us. How can you tell Real Madrid 'I'm sorry, if you play with the small team, don't play with your best team, play with your middle-sized team'. Come on, it's ridiculous."
Arrivabene was linked in recent weeks to a senior job at Italian football club Juventus. However, he clarified that his future is with Ferrari and he will aim to dispose of the threat to F1 that he believes is emerging from video games.
"To increase the interest in the sport, we need to analyse the mistakes of the past, to look forward for solutions in the future," he said. "If at a certain point you have an audience that is becoming older, older, older and you work to retain what you have [and] your attention is less focused on acquiring the young generation, this means that you have a problem.
“We never focused our attention on the audience and the audience, little by little, became older. This is the exercise that we need to look at. We need to go back and to re-launch the sport. You have to find a solution."
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Replies (12)
Login to replytalktohenry
Posts: 362
Alot of good points, the younger generation won't be happy watching any driver and team dominating as it has in the past and most of the kids see F1 as boring races which unfortunately many of them are even to a hardened loyal fan. I think Liberty are trying though so let's see what happens!
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Isnt this a repost?
f1dave
Posts: 782
From five days ago, I guess he really, really, really, means it. Expect the Ferrari game out in the next few weeks.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
So judging from the header, will it be XBox, Switch or PC exclusive then? ;)
LightIsRight
Posts: 113
Won't lie, I enjoy putting in a few laps on the pc more than watching F1. At least on the pc you know your car is equivalent to everybody else's except for setup. It shows true talent over just having the best engine.
There is a lot going for e sports. BUT most of the top e sport racers are doing it so they can get into real life racing. Can't afford a formula ford but can afford a PlayStation so that's what they get hoping to be Good enough to get a real life drive one day. Maybe it is a sign that motorsport is too expensive and some changes need to be made to allow true talent through and not just rich kids...
juju_hound
Posts: 180
My three year old daughter always looks after Force India, she doesn't care they are not in front. She loves them for being as pink as they are !!
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Yeah, this year's pink is a bit less pleasant, but its kinda neat to have a pink car on the grid. Im not really much for pink usuaally, but I really hope they'll retain that colour.
KyalamiKid
Posts: 146
I think Vettel wouldn t mind to reset this season...
Biggs
Posts: 5
In other word EPL is under threat from play station Fifa 2012-2019 this is nonsense. People are inspired from live races that's why they play play station. They image themselves to be Hamilton, Alonso, Vettel, Versteppen or Riccardo. Without watching you cant be inspired to play those games. So it doesn't make sense to me at all.
Biggs
Posts: 5
For example look at Ferrari fans around the world, since they took the championship in 2008 they still have a huge fan base on every grand prix. There's a lot of hard core fans out there who still love's the sport Ferrari just need to get their balls together and start winning championship and stop making excuses. Remember Ferrari is F1 and if Ferrari don't win F1 goes down.
websurfer
Posts: 52
Yeah, it,s actually very boring to see this Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull battle again, again and once again. No other theams have a chance to win. F1 and F1.5 are driving the same race, but there is no real competion about even a podium. Something has to be done.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
It wouldnt be if it was a legit 3 way battle, however it would be even more exciting if it was more teams involved. Mind, thats a luxury in F1, one not often experienced from what I recall.