[WATCH] Full thrust in Virtual Gaming: Justin Mifsud during SiGMA Europe 2021
Justin Mifsud, CEO of World Pro Racing talks about virtual racing, more known as SIM racing during SiGMA Europe 2021
World Pro Racing has been organising events for the past four years, going to the fifth year. Gaining a lot of experience internationally, they have now also created something locally.
So what is SIM racing?
SIM is short for simulation racing, this is like racing a real car, but virtually. The hardware attached with it simulates and gives you the feedback a real car would provide to the driver.
There are various, hardware that you can choose or start with starting with the basics such as steering wheel and pedals, and going up to full-motion simulators that are real drivers now training with simulators. Mifsud describes this as a vital thing to use before getting into the real world of motorsport.
Another important aspect of SIM is that it reduces costs. Motorsport is expensive and, a simulator costs less than going into a championship, which might total hundreds of thousands depending on which, type of motorsport you get into. SIM racing has quickly become the lead to get into motorsport.
Nowadays, there are people who do not want to get into motorsport and they want to remain in E-sports as there’s a lot of potential, safety, and huge income involved as well.
Even if you don’t have any experience in SIM racing, if you are a rookie, an amateur, you can step by step become a high-level athlete.
Since the beginning of SIM racing, the software has evolved so much that the accuracy of the feedback that a car provides compared to the real one is unbelievable.
“We focus a lot on development. When asking drivers to give us feedback they told us that it’s amazing. We reduced a lot of time when we went into the real car, making it extremely helpful in the real world of motorsport.”
SIM racing has exploded in terms of viewership, and other opportunities during the pandemic. Landon Lorez, Max Verstappen, and many other high-profile athletes are now also using simulators. These imagined drivers have started from nothing and have made their way up in the real world of motorsports.
One of the most high-level events that took place during the pandemic was the virtual 24 hour of Le Mans. This was a huge event with real drivers. E-sports drivers racing together, and the viewership both on TV and social media reached record highs worldwide.
Real drivers including Fernando Alonso, all participated in this event. Not open for everyone, this high-level athlete competition saw 37 countries, 170 simulators, 50 entries, and 22.8 million views.
The bridge to real motorsport:
World Pro Racing has been working on a new facility, which was inaugurated by the Honorable Minister, Silvio Schembri along with Ivan Filetti from Gaming Malta. This is something they’ve been working on work for the past four years. The comments and the reviews the new facility has gotten have proven to show how highly successful and needed this facility was in Malta.
Mifsud goes on to say “we are very, happy, not just with the success of the business but also the result we are getting from the drivers themselves. It’s not just about the drivers, it’s way more than that. We do not focus on just the driver, but all departments, all people around making a whole event, making a driver successful.”
The facility caters, not just for training or sports but for entertainment purposes as well. SIM racing/ e-sports is not just a hobby where attendees spend their time after work or school but it goes beyond that.
“I’m happy to say that through e-sports we even saved lives. During the pandemic there were people who came to us, praising us for putting together such a facility because they remarked that they had nothing else to do.
We even had suicidal people taking on new interests. We helped change the mentality that SIM racing or e-sports is just a game. And yes, it’s been working great.
We’ve also given carting drivers the opportunity to practice on our simulators before going into a real-life situation so they can better their time.”
SIM racing has now become the first step to getting into motorsports.
Apart from getting into motorsports, you need to know how to promote yourself. You need to know how to bring over sponsors. Malta is a small island, thus seen as having fewer resources, so the sponsorship will obviously be different than when compared to international outcomes. It is thus of crucial importance that one makes a name for himself out there.
How can this be achieved?
World Pro Racing is working on this and helping drivers to learn not just being a fast driver. Being a fast driver is not enough. The brand emphasises on visibility. “You need to show yourself, people need to watch you. If you don’t know how to speak well, or you’re very shy in front of a camera, then you are missing a lot of opportunities.
Past drivers who participated in our events are now into real motorsport streaming their perspective from their own home and getting income.
We built our facility through passion and love for these sports, and anybody can become the famous drivers we see online. If you have a target, do it, forget those around you pushing you down. Just do it.”
World Pro Racing has recently signed a memorandum of understanding with the Center for Sports Excellence, where they are collaborating on the education and training in SIM racing.
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What does this mean? Can you get the certificate in SIM racing?
Yes, you can. One can even get a Master’s Degree explains Mifsud. World Pro Racing is combining training, with licence drivers both can get accredited certification.
This is a great way of making the drivers learn to gain their experience and eventually have recognition.
World Pro Racing focuses on four major points. Education, exposure, etiquette, and inclusion.
“Education: We help athletes in promotion and sponsorship.
Exposure: we’re preparing the drivers to get into real motorsports, we have FIA licensed stewards through the multimodal sport Federation, monitoring all the races, even if it’s a casual race, we monitor it and we broadcast it around the world. So the drivers get spotted or scouted by real motorsport manufacturers.
Etiquette: a high-level event and the casual race are broadcasted the same, as a high-level event no matter the level of the driver.
Inclusion: We’re pushing for female drivers to compete in our events.
They have the ability to compete in motorsports, especially in SIM racing. We focus on the ability of the person, irrelevant to what they have. We monitor the person, find their difficulties, and work on their abilities.”
For World Pro Racing, it’s not just about the high-level events and big price pools but the focus is on the individuals themselves.
Assured of the hard work put forward into this project Mifsud states “If I see one review on Google of our brand, which is 4.9, I quit. I quit because I’m sure that nobody is going below five. We focus on each person individually and strive to make them happy.”
This brand is about a community, making people happy, and connecting people together. This is done by various team-building events.
During the pandemic, Jimmy Broadbent raised thousands of pounds through charity events in e-sports using SIM racing.
The facility provides various opportunities for individuals. Mifsud says that they have been collaborating with schools for the experience. Schools tend to push on curriculums sometimes leaving students to fend for themselves with no experience whatsoever. This is changing. There are three people in the studio, two of them are from the University of Malta, from the B.COM department, and another professional individual who has been made a host in our facility.
Speaking about these experience and opportunities they provide Mifsud goes on to say “We don’t expect anything in return, we believe in loyalty and respect. It’s not about money. Money is the second priority for us. “
Viewership and SIM racing, have been steadily growing through the pandemic. Nowadays World Pro Racing is also being broadcasted. A solid product you put out there can aid in promoting drivers. Motorsport manufacturers nowadays are scouting drivers and giving them real-life experiences by aiding them in getting into championships.
Justin Mifsud says they’re also proud to be broadcasting on Malta’s national TV station, TVM Sports, and one of the largest stations when it comes to motorsport in the world: motorsport.tv. This broadcasting is helping in bringing over sponsors and increasing average viewership.
The average viewership SIM had this year is 7.2 million unique views 30 million watched minutes.
The truth is that unless you’re in an event where you are being broadcasted, you put all your efforts and be shown around the world, you’re not going to get anywhere.
“There’s a lot of talent out there, so don’t be afraid to approach us. We’re here,” says Justin.
SiGMA Asia 2022
After the exciting set of conferences that was Malta Week 2021, the SiGMA Group plans to take the world by storm with the golden steeples of Kyiv and the snowy city of Toronto being hubs to draw the best and brightest of the iGaming world together. Our next expo takes us to cutting-edge metropoli of the United Arab Emirates for three days of networking, panel discussions, and festivities. Stay up to date with the latest and greatest through SiGMA News.
