F1 fans will soon race virtually with real drivers

The day when Formula One fans can race virtually with real drivers in live grands prix may not be so far off as the sport looks to develop the digital dimension.

Mehul Kapadia, head of Formula One business at official "connectivity partner" Tata Communications, is eager to step on the accelerator.

"While Formula One gets criticised for being late on the digital journey, a lot has been happening," he said.

"The conversations that are now happening are far more [about] 'let's get it done'."

Liberty Media, the US firm that completed a takeover of the sport in January, identified digital as ripe for development as it sought to tap lucrative new revenue streams and give fans more of an experience.

Its chief executive, Greg Maffei, said in September that less than 1% of revenues were from digital and that there was a huge amount of video feed and data about the races that were being captured but not processed incrementally for the dedicated fan.

Formula One's chief technical officer, John Morrison, said the sport was about two years away from fans being able to race virtually in a real race.

The main problem, he explained then, was getting the accuracy of GPS positioning down to about 10mm from the current 200mm.

Kapadia could see that obstacle being overcome.

"If you look at the pace of development, two years doesn't seem to be incorrect," he said.

"Is the appetite there to commercialise it? That is a different question." Kapadia said fans could be divided into four distinct groupings that needed to be catered for.

There are those attending the race, those watching on television at home, people "consuming" the sport on the move, and the largest group of all - a restless "always on generation" seeking bite-sized entertainment.

"They don't have 90 minutes for anything apart from exam papers they are forced to sit," he said.

That demographic is one that Formula One has a particular interest in targeting and Kapadia said there was plenty that could be done immediately with existing technology to win them over.

The important thing was for fans to see progress after being promised change, even if only providing quick and reliable Wi-Fi trackside that would allow the use of more interactive smartphone apps and augmented reality.