I watched a fair bit of the coverage and I thought the presentation looked really quite professional. The game itself stood up and looked great, the transitions were good too.
I'm sure others will have made this observation but it BADLY needed replays. People were dropping like flies from the front to the back and we never found out why.
I agree with those who suggested that we didn't need to see the commentators. That's unusual for a sporting event.
I think what prevented me from getting really engaged with it was a lack of insight or context.
I'm in agreement with those who have observed that, of late, there have maybe been a few too many F1 stories taking up space on the front page of this site. Part of my reason for thinking this is they can't offer me anything I didn't see myself. They're written by someone who was watching the same TV coverage, or listening to the same radio commentary, as I was. When I read Andrew Benson, for instance, on the BBC, I get insight because he was there. He saw more than I did.
In such circumstances I have sympathy for the writers on this site because I understand the cost and difficulty of F1 access so their hands are tied from the outset. They have no exclusive material to feed their writing.
However, this e-sport series should be the opportunity they've been looking for. A chance to be there. A chance to observe, mingle, interview, ask opinions and provide insight.
Especially on a subject so new and emerging as e-sports. There's so much I personally don't understand about how this event took place. I have so many questions. And probably have a lot more questions I don't even know I have yet.
So for anyone who has been looking for exclusive material, this should be a God send.
When does everyone arrive? How is the room configured? How many people are there? Do they get on? Are there any rivalries? There were quite a few flashpoints during the races. Did these spill over?
So I'd recommend, for the next event, building up with more than just a few 'this is coming up and it's going to be great' leaders, give me insight. Interview a few drivers. Give me their background. Explain the difference between a pro and an am, and what are they looking to get out of the experience? What's their long term goal?
Give me an on-the-floor account of what it was like, the tension, the atmosphere around the drivers during the races and if your lead writer happens to be a commentator, find another commentator. Or find another writer. Because one person can't do both.
Also, the action, the series, needs to be sustainable without fiction. At one point 3 cars with the same livery were fighting together for position. The commentators referred to them as team mates, treating each other differently to how they would drivers from other teams and wondered together how the team manager must be feeling.
Were they team mates? Was there a team manager? Or was this just a game with a single most popular car and a limited number of liveries? Was each driver racing for himself and himself alone?
We, as an audience want to be informed, but we want intelligent, relevant insight. Not fantasy!
That broadcast had potential. But to be engaged and become addicted, us laymen need stories, narratives, hooks to make us come back.
