Time For New Heroes: that is our motto. But what truly constitutes a hero?
OverTake.gg has been around for just over two years and we’ve thoroughly enjoyed bringing you everything virtual and racing. Whether it’s giving you tips on driving games or talking about competitive events going on in the world of esports racing, we have a real blast!
But there is another thing we like to do here, and that is putting a spotlight on some very inspirational people in the scene. This is something we call our Hero of the Month.
It doesn’t matter who they are. Sim racing drivers such as Lucas Blakeley or Emily Jones, content creators like F1elly or Jimmy Broadbent, racing teams like eTeam BRIT, commentators like George Morgan and Jessica Ball, esports racing organisers like Florian Haasper or even a madman who tests every single vehicle in GTA Online like Broughy1322. If they’re involved in some capacity in the world of virtual cars, they can be a candidate for Hero of the Month.
From time to time we see comments that say that the term hero should be reserved for people who run into dangerous situations when nobody else will. Whether they be firefighters or a soldier, don’t get us wrong, they are heroic of course. But the term shouldn’t be gatekept and not applied to other deserving people.
We all need our heroes, so let’s set the record straight. These are the five things a hero can be.
1. Inspiring
Heroes inspire us. They are the ones who do something so remarkable that it gives us the drive to do what they do. A hero is someone who is admired or idealised for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities.
When it comes to esports racing and driving games, it’s fair to say that when it comes to heroism, there’s nothing inherently brave or selfless. We’re all doing this for ourselves of course.
In the case of Lucas Blakeley, he became Hero of the Month in February 2022 for his efforts in the Race of Champions where he defeated Sebastian Vettel with next to no real life driving experience. Sim racing has proven constantly to be an inexpensive platform to showcase driving ability.
We’ve seen it proven with the likes of Igor Fraga, Jann Mardenborough and James Baldwin all using video games to help them get behind the wheel of a race car. Blakeley is just yet another case of a driver using the virtual world to help get them involved in track racing, and the Scot did just that by getting a seat in Formula Ford!
Blakeley’s efforts in the Race of Champions single-handedly proved the ability of sim racing on track. He inspires so many of us to venture on in the virtual racing world and create our own opportunities.
2. Ambitious
There’s nothing wrong with thinking big, is there? Even when we are told that our ideas are ridiculous, preposterous and would never work. But, blending in never got us anywhere in a hurry, and it takes only one person to blaze a trail. We certainly found ambition when it came to VCO’s Florian Haasper who was Hero of the Month in December 2021.
VCO have hosted many significant esports racing events like Cup of Nations and ProSIM, but it was the Esports Racing World Cup and then the Esports Racing League that truly broke ground in the esports racing scene. Then that was quickly followed up by the 24 hour Infinity event.
The ERWC/ERL was the first significant event of that scale to ask drivers and teams to race on multiple sims, which was truly reflective of the direction sim racing was going as unlike other forms of esports, it isn’t contained on the one platform. If a driver does well on all sims, they’ve truly established themselves as one of the best in esports racing.
Then there was Infinity. Instead of the one continuous 24 hour race, Infinity consisted of 24 short races in that continuous time period. Both events ended up being very popular and were truly revolutionary, out of the box concepts that VCO were bold enough to go with. No matter how out there the idea is, never fear being the odd one out in order to achieve your own goals.
3. Encouraging
We’re always looking for a place to belong. To be ourselves and be surrounded by likeminded people. But often, there are some very aggressive gatekeeping people in this world who feel the need to tell others that if they don’t meet a very specific criteria, then they don’t belong in a certain community.
This is particularly prevalent in the sim racing community. Plenty of people feel very shunned if they dare play driving games for fun or don’t know everything there is to know about motorsport. Which is why we picked F1elly to be our Hero of the Month for March 2022.
F1elly would be the first to admit she isn’t incredibly knowledgeable on everything to do with motorsport. Nor would she be troubling any esports professionals in a race on the F1 game. But, it’s because she is clearly unburdened by the people who hold these unreasonable expectations that she’s so great. She’s just being herself, and that’s more than enough.
As a result, more people feel encouraged to put themselves out there without fear of being shamed. There’s no need to be put in a box when it comes to sharing who you are.
4. Enthusiastic
No amount of enthusiasm is ever misplaced, no matter how insignificant that enthusiasm is. Nobody is more enthusiastic than our September 2021 Hero of the Month George Morgan.
At the time, there was a lot of uncertainty of the participation of F1 Esports drivers in league racing. Morgan felt very strongly about the importance of league racing, even in spite of F1 Esports taking precedent. For better or worse, it showed how much he truly cared for the scene.
Even now, with Morgan having since commentated for higher profile sim racing championships like VCO ProSIM and the V10 R-League as well as going on to do real world racing commentary for International GT Open and EuroFormula Open, he still remains a league racing commentator. His enthusiasm resonates with all of us when we hear his voice.
Even when it’s something we don’t share the same passion for, you can’t help but get excited when you see someone care so deeply for something. It makes us feel comfortable with what we are enthusiastic about.
5. Dedicated
Now we’ve come full circle, back to the main aspect of what we consider heroes to be. Someone who provides an invaluable service to their community, and nobody does that more than our November 2021 Hero of the Month, Broughy1322.
For all players of GTA Online, Broughy spends hours meticulously lapping and testing every vehicle in the game. This to allow the playerbase a chance of knowing if a vehicle is worth the millions they’d need to part with to drive it.
You have to admire someone who is as committed to providing an answer to many people. The time and effort Broughy puts in to doing just that is second-to-none and subsequently helps players save millions in GTA Online.
Even in spite of unsavoury individuals stealing his results and repeating them without any credit, Broughy doesn’t stop. All for the bettering of the community, a very selfless and dedicated thing to do. Even if it’s only for the small number of people, something as seemingly insignificant in the grand scheme of things, it never goes unappreciated.
Time for New Heroes
No matter what it is they do, everyone has their heroes. They don’t need to run into a burning building or be dropped into the middle of a warzone, but they are still those who make us feel like we can be the best person possible.
No matter who they are, heroes are everywhere. No matter what walk of life, these people in all they do, make our small corner of the universe that much better.
What is a hero to you? Tell us on Twitter at @OverTake_gg or in the comments down below!
