Racing Gamers Have A Chance To Become A McLaren F1 Simulator Driver

Ever wanted to help a F1 team in their state-of-the-art simulator? It’s a pretty niche career goal but we’re sure plenty of people will be up for the challenge that McLaren has put together.

Woking has teamed up with Logitech to launch the ‘World’s Fastest Gamer’ competition, where a racing gamer can win a one-year contract as a simulator driver at its F1 team. The outfit is the first in F1 to properly get involved in eSports, no doubt organised by McLaren chief Zak Brown. Could you imagine something like this happening in the Ron Dennis era?

McLaren has also collaborated with Darren Cox, who had a huge role in founding the GT Academy – bringing the virtual and real racing worlds together. 10 spaces will be available in the competition, six of which will be filled by people selected by gaming and F1 experts.

The other four spaces are ready to be snapped up in a number of qualifying events. They’ll take place this summer and once the four finalists are selected, the grand finale will take place at the McLaren Technology Centre in the autumn to put all 10 through “one of the most rigorous job interviews”.

They’ll be going head-to-head against each other on several racing titles and platforms. But, it’s far more than gaming. They’ll also have to show their engineering knowledge, team work, mental strength and physical strength. Quite a job selection process.

Brown explains:

“This is a hugely exciting opportunity – not only within the gaming industry, but for everyone at McLaren and motorsport in general. World’s Fastest Gamer really aims to democratise the process of finding the best virtual racer out there.

“The contest isn’t limited to one platform or one game; we’re very keen not to restrict access or entry for people, but rather welcome the worldwide gaming community, whether that’s on mobile or on high-end simulator platforms.

“And the winner will genuinely be a key part of our team at McLaren. This is for real: we absolutely require additional support across our two simulator platforms, so the competition and the selection process will be rigorous, ruthless and compelling to watch.”

Sounds pretty exciting, doesn’t it? We’ll be able to keep up to date with the process on YouTube and across social media too.