Nearly 50 Million People Tuned in to GT Sport's World Tours Last Year, Up 300%

[Silver Arrows]

I thought iRacing was niche. How many concurrent viewers does the championship stream get, and what are its youtube views?

lol at calling the biggest racing sim in the world, used by actual real world racers as an extension of sim time and by far the market leader of PC sims 'niche', as if that isn't telling of your beliefs and how warped they are.

You...you do realize that iRacing has partnerships with NASCAR, V8 Supercars, IMSA, Indycar, and a whole slew of manufacturers and OEM's, of which allows them to run official championships? Hell, iRacing's PEAK NASCAR Series is broadcasted on NBCSN in the US and has eSports wings of the actual NASCAR teams participating within it. Aside from the vaunted FIA partnership, what else does GT Sport have that matches that? Sure, it has eSports teams of various F1 teams (Williams eSports the one that comes to mind for me) but does it have that sort of partnership(s) with the disciplines? Not particularly.

In terms of views, it's a disingenuous question to ask considering that GT only has one championship per season, and iRacing has many for the various disciplines it runs, but lets go with the iRacing 24 Hours of Daytona held three weeks ago. For the first quarter of the stream (that is, the first six hours) it has the current view count pegged at 41,000+ on Youtube via iRacing's dedicated eSports channel. Which hey, for the first major event in the iRacing season calender, is really good! It isn't as good as GT's World Championships, but that's what happens when you are a franchise with a twenty year history and a bunch of people watching it, if not for the racing, then to see what content might be in the pipe for the forseeable future. But that's still very much respectable viewership numbers, putting it certainly within the top echelon for eSports programs on PC sims.

Still, to not even acknowledge iRacing as the start, and continued market leader in terms of prestige, partnerships and people using the service, of eSports in sim racing, really just goes to show how disingenuous you are. Which, anybody with half a brain could tell. Hell iRacing's mechanics make up the back bone of Sport Mode! And Polyphony don't exactly make that fact hidden.

 

[GT6mebe]

lol at calling the biggest racing sim in the world,

It's not even close. GT Sport has 8.2 million users. iRacing from API estimates had 60k iirc.

You...you do realize that iRacing has partnerships with NASCAR, V8 Supercars, IMSA, Indycar, and a whole slew of manufacturers and OEM's, of which allows them to run official championships?

And? GTS is partnered with loads of manufacturers and the FIA. F1 is partnered with F1. You act like this is something unique.

In terms of views, it's a disingenuous question to ask considering that GT only has one championship per season, and iRacing has many for the various disciplines it runs, but lets go with the iRacing 24 Hours of Daytona held three weeks ago. For the first quarter of the stream (that is, the first six hours) it has the current view count pegged at 41,000+ on Youtube via iRacing's dedicated eSports channel. Which hey, for the first major event in the iRacing season calender, is really good! It isn't as good as GT's World Championships, but that's what happens when you are a franchise with a twenty year history and a bunch of people watching it, if not for the racing, then to see what content might be in the pipe for the forseeable future. But that's still very much respectable viewership numbers, putting it certainly within the top echelon for eSports programs on PC sims.

GT world championships got 350k views on youtube across all languages.

As you can see iRacing is not even close.

and continued market leader

Evidently not if the market is eSport popularity. GTS has more players and viewers.

 

[Silver Arrows]

It's truly amazing how utterly determined you are to carry water for GT and Sony as a whole, and nothing can ever beat it even when shown to the contrary.

 

[VFOURMAX1]

NASCAR and iRacing announced the longest-running eNASCAR iRacing esports series will return for its 11th season on February 11 with a new entitlement sponsor, increased prize pool to more than $300,000 and the return of live telecasts on NBCSN.

NASCAR Premier Partner Coca-Cola will refresh the officially sanctioned eSports racing series in a multi-year entitlement partnership. The eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series enhances Coca-Cola’s deep-rooted history in NASCAR and new position as a NASCAR Cup Series Premier Partner.

That was just a recent announcement for just the IRACING Nascar e-sports series for 2020.

When it comes to a pro level e-sport sim involving multiple established series championships stretching across different classes and disciplines of racing and with some boasting pretty good purses I would have to agree the iracing is at the top in the e-sports arena.

GTS does have better graphics, details and more a a tv caliber production which makes it very fan friendly for watching.

iracing is a very small studio without the backing or marketing clout of a Sony but has done well and as far as being an actual sim the general public consensus is that GTS does not hold a light to iracing in the actual sim discussion.

Both have a place but with the actual cost of real world racing there will reach a point in in the future that real world motorsports will be replaced eventually totally by the e-sports format in my opinion.

They were talking the other day on the broadcast of the Busch Clash about Nascar at Daytona and were talking how a single track ready CUP car was hitting around 250,000 dollars U.S. in cost and about how many of them would just be dumpster fodder after one of the big ones at Daytona.

I think the last I heard a fully prepped moto GP bike was around 165,000 these days. I know many of the top classes of drag racing just the engine can easily run over 125,000 dollars. There will reach a point that companies will quit supporting these types of expenses and the e-sports if done right will take their place. It might be another 10 years but it will happen.

iracing is more of a realistic sim and even includes pit road speeds which if exceeded result in a penalty which I think add a lot of realism while GTS is a simplified racing experience that graphically looks nicer but compromises at a pretty high level the actual racing as compared to real world.

I do watch and enjoy both but understand the differences between the two. If iracing and ACC were to merge and use the best of both studio's now that would be an experience!

 

[ethomaz]

lol at calling the biggest racing sim in the world, used by actual real world racers as an extension of sim time and by far the market leader of PC sims 'niche', as if that isn't telling of your beliefs and how warped they are.

You...you do realize that iRacing has partnerships with NASCAR, V8 Supercars, IMSA, Indycar, and a whole slew of manufacturers and OEM's, of which allows them to run official championships? Hell, iRacing's PEAK NASCAR Series is broadcasted on NBCSN in the US and has eSports wings of the actual NASCAR teams participating within it. Aside from the vaunted FIA partnership, what else does GT Sport have that matches that? Sure, it has eSports teams of various F1 teams (Williams eSports the one that comes to mind for me) but does it have that sort of partnership(s) with the disciplines? Not particularly.

In terms of views, it's a disingenuous question to ask considering that GT only has one championship per season, and iRacing has many for the various disciplines it runs, but lets go with the iRacing 24 Hours of Daytona held three weeks ago. For the first quarter of the stream (that is, the first six hours) it has the current view count pegged at 41,000+ on Youtube via iRacing's dedicated eSports channel. Which hey, for the first major event in the iRacing season calender, is really good! It isn't as good as GT's World Championships, but that's what happens when you are a franchise with a twenty year history and a bunch of people watching it, if not for the racing, then to see what content might be in the pipe for the forseeable future. But that's still very much respectable viewership numbers, putting it certainly within the top echelon for eSports programs on PC sims.

Still, to not even acknowledge iRacing as the start, and continued market leader in terms of prestige, partnerships and people using the service, of eSports in sim racing, really just goes to show how disingenuous you are. Which, anybody with half a brain could tell. Hell iRacing's mechanics make up the back bone of Sport Mode! And Polyphony don't exactly make that fact hidden.

iRacing is really niche thought...

I consider it one of the best racing sim in the world (and a sim that does proper simulation in most parts the opposite of GTS that focus in some simulations only) but it is not anywhere close to be the biggest... the opposite.

GTS is probably the biggest sim racing in the world... I don't believe any other sim racing has the amount of users and exposition that GTS has.

 

[VFOURMAX1]

iRacing is really niche thought...

I consider it one of the best racing sim in the world (and a sim that does proper simulation in most parts the opposite of GTS that focus in some simulations only) but it is not anywhere close to be the biggest... the opposite.

GTS is probably the biggest sim racing in the world... I don't believe any other sim racing has the amount of users and exposition that GTS has.

Being the biggest or even the smallest has little to nothing to do on whether you are the best or mediocre or even the worst at putting out the product that does exactly what you are trying to get the product to accomplish.

But if both of the discussed studios here are attempting to produce the best most realistic racing sim for e-sports it is pretty amazing that such a small studio without the backing and resources of a worldwide company is able to produce a product that from a realistic racing sim perspective is much more advanced in many areas other than graphics than the product that a studio with so much more in available resources is able to produce.

 

[Silver Arrows]

I consider it one of the best racing sim in the world (and a sim that does proper simulation in most parts the opposite of GTS that focus in some simulations only) but it is not anywhere close to be the biggest... the opposite.

In terms of prestige, and the people using it, and what it's used for? The very systems that pretty much every single racing sim in the past five years, GT Sport included, have taken and applied to their online suites? The fact that it's the originator of sim racing as an eSports concept?

iRacing isn't niche. It's by far the market leader, if not in players on the PC side of the equation, then certainly in terms of prestige and what it has achieved in a decade. Of course GT is going to be big - it has twenty years of prior history and fanbase built in to make it a system seller. But then again, this is all stemming from an disingenuous jabroni who is so goddamn insecure about anything challenging GT and Sony that he'll continue to distort facts and other people's assertions about GT, and yet is still smart enough to not be banned already for his crystal clear fan war baiting.

I'm done.

 

[ethomaz]

Being the biggest or even the smallest has little to nothing to do on whether you are the best or mediocre or even the worst at putting out the product that does exactly what you are trying to get the product to accomplish.

But if both of the discussed studios here are attempting to produce the best most realistic racing sim for e-sports it is pretty amazing that such a small studio without the backing and resources of a worldwide company is able to produce a product that from a realistic racing sim perspective is much more advanced in many areas other than graphics than the product that a studio with so much more in available resources is able to produce.

Probably because you have two game aiming to different goals.
But that has nothing to do with what I said... iRacing is not big, in fact it is more niche than big even if it has a lot of qualities that put it ahead others racing sim.

In terms of prestige, and the people using it, and what it's used for? The very systems that pretty much every single racing sim in the past five years, GT Sport included, have taken and applied to their online suites? The fact that it's the originator of sim racing as an eSports concept?

iRacing isn't niche. It's by far the market leader, if not in players on the PC side of the equation, then certainly in terms of prestige and what it has achieved in a decade. Of course GT is going to be big - it has twenty years of prior history and fanbase built in to make it a system seller. But then again, this is all stemming from an disingenuous jabroni who is so goddamn insecure about anything challenging GT and Sony that he'll continue to distort facts and other people's assertions about GT, and yet is still smart enough to not be banned already for his crystal clear fan war baiting.

I'm done.

Nothing of that changes it is not biggest like you said... it can be innovative, have the best sim physics, etc and be niche.

 

[Lee x sensai]

Good Job PD

 

[MatskiMonk]

Many major motorsport series attract zero paying spectators. SRO GT3 events for example are usually free entry. Outside of a few diehards. Most spectators are hospitality guests.

No GT, Touring car, DTM, open-wheel or rally event I've ever attended has been free. Which races are you going to with Free entry?

edit: World Series by Renault is the only free one I can recall.

 

[AlanH49]

No GT, Touring car, DTM, open-wheel or rally event I've ever attended has been free. Which races are you going to with Free entry?

edit: World Series by Renault is the only free one I can recall.

ELMS and a number of SRO events are free entry.

But that wasn’t my point. Most series attract a meagre paying audience. Even bigger series like WEC & DTM are heavily reliant on manufacturer and sponsor promotions.

For those bigger series the track audience is largely for window dressing & atmosphere. Their marketing return comes from year long promotions, TV, press/media coverage etc.

Same can be said for FIA GT Sport events. While they are gaining an ever increasing live & online audience. The marketing value comes replays, automotive promotions, ad’s etc.

 

[GT6mebe]

It's truly amazing how utterly determined you are to carry water for GT and Sony as a whole, and nothing can ever beat it even when shown to the contrary.

Its utterly amazing how you are in denial on the reality of GT's popularity compared to iRacing:

Users:
GTS - 8.2 million
iR - 60k

Viewers youtube:
GTS - 350k
iR - 40k

If you want to make an argument, at least try and base it on reality.

 

[MatskiMonk]

ELMS and a number of SRO events are free entry.

ELMS is support for other series, if I want to see it I have to pay WEC entry, it's not free by any yardstick... perhaps it depends on which track you visit, but as a rule, it's not necessarily free... also Which SRO events are free?

Just to be clear, I'm calling BS on your claim "Many major motorsport series attract zero paying spectators." Many... and Zero.. are the key words here... I've been to poorly supported races before, I know the stands aren't rammed most of the time... but if you can sort me out with free tickets to any DTM round, any BTCC round, any BSBK round, any British GT round, the N24, SPA 24, Le Mans 24, WRC Wales, I'm interested...!

 

[LitleFela]

If these numbers are correct surely PD would be aiming to attract some more big name sponsors like Bridgestone in the near future. Which hopefully would bring in some prize money. Even as a viewer these events would be much more intense knowing they are racing for more than just pride.

 

[Ryan Dungey]

If these numbers are correct surely PD would be aiming to attract some more big name sponsors like Bridgestone in the near future. Which hopefully would bring in some prize money. Even as a viewer these events would be much more intense knowing they are racing for more than just pride.

I doubt you'll see Bridgestone as a sponsor considering GT is partnered with Michelin

 

[LitleFela]

I doubt you'll see Bridgestone as a sponsor considering GT is partnered with Michelin

Woops silly me I meant Michelin