Formula Esports Racers Who Entered The Formula 1 Universe

Esports games have been in existence since the advent of first-person perspective games. First person car racing games came to their glory with the success of the Need for Speed franchisee which was later supported by many other game franchisees like Asphalt, Forza, Grand Tour and likewise. Gaming engines have made tremendous developments for providing their users with realistic physics and controls. Further advancements in both software and hardware gave rise to simulator rigs which perfectly emulate realistic driving conditions.

Formula One esports championship was kicked off in the year 2017 with ultra-realistic gaming rigs. Many mainstream formula 1 teams have started forming their own teams to compete in this series. Some of these teams have enabled their esports drivers to try their hands at real track racing with formula cars. Let us take a look at such esports racers and get to know about them in detail.

Rudy van Buren:

Winner of McLaren F1's ‘World's Fastest Gamer' competition, Rudy van Buren started his career as a go-kart driver in 2004. With the advent of simulation racing, Rudy opted to become a sim racer and gained his glory in the field. Nurtured by McLaren's formula team, he got his chance to drive a formula 1 car in the Goodwood festival of speed where he drove the 1974 World Championship winning Mclaren M23 in a hill climbing event. At present, Rudy van Buren is a part of the Mahindra Racing Formula E team in their simulator testing and development department. Of late, Rudy has also worked with Formula 1 in their ‘Pirelli Hot Laps' feature where the fans are driven around the Formula 1 circuits during race weekends.

Cem Bolukbasi:

Turkish sim racer Cem Bolukbasi was recently shortlisted for participating in a Formula 2 event in 2022 by the Charouz racing team. Cem started his professional motosports career in 2006 when he participated in the Turkey Karting Championship. He started his esports career with the 2017 Formula 1 esports series. Cem Bolukbasi has also tested cars for Formula 3 and Formula 4. With a chance to prove his driving proficiency in the 2022 Formula 2 series, Cem aims at racing in Formula 1 in the coming future.