Formula E is all about pushing the boundaries of what a racing series can—and should—be. While some of their ideas have been, uh, questionable, some have been really damn cool. Their newest ghost racing app is one of the cool ones.
Basically, the series is always looking for ways to get fans involved in the race. This ghost racing app is probably their most literal application of that philosophy yet. Fans will be able to download the Virtually Live Ghost Racing: Formula E app and turn it on during this Saturday’s Paris ePrix to race against all 22 FE drivers.
This is the first app of its kind, and it sounds pretty neat. FE has partnered with the company Virtually Live, who will channel telemetry and live commentary into the app to exactly mirror what the drivers on track are doing while they’re doing it. Instead of playing against a computer or other players, the people using the app can compete against the actual drivers themselves in real time. And, if you’re not the competitive type but still want to see the action, you can ride along in the cockpit of any of the drivers.
And while the race play is probably the coolest part of the app, you can still use it outside of race weekends. Here’s more from FE’s press release:
Alongside getting behind the wheel and sitting side-by-side with the world’s best drivers, players can build their own collection of personalised cars with special tuning and set-up options. Fans can also re- play pivotal moments from past races, compete in custom scenarios and challenge friends and opponents online to better their time.
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I’m going to be honest—this sounds almost too good to be true. It absolutely blows my mind that technology has advanced to the point where fans can compete against actual drivers on a virtual track during an official race. It’s likely that there will be some growing pains as things get sorted out, but the idea is pretty genius.
While I haven’t yet been able to find the app on the Google Play store, Formula E has assured me that it’ll be up soon so that I can test this thing out during Saturday’s race.
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