“There were news articles saying that we were essentially going to kill people by putting gamers in proper racing cars and things like that. We’ve certainly moved on from that.”
The recognition of Esports and the genuine skill of its competitors may have been in short supply when the Nissan GT Academy – aimed at turning gamers into real-life racing drivers – launched in 2008 but, in the intervening 15 years, much has changed in both the virtual and real worlds. The on-track success of inaugural GT Academy winner Lucas Ordonez, and subsequently Briton Jann Mardenborough, showed the true potential and value of Esports, which – particularly in the last three years – has flourished.
Paul Crawford, who is quoted above, knows the journey of Esports better than most – he worked on GT Academy until it ended in 2016, including dealing with the initial criticism. Using his experience in a new role with Motorsport UK as the governing body’s Esports manager, Crawford has been at the heart of a new concept launched last month
