Some hobbies are more interesting once other people become very good at them. Sim racing has reached that point. The best drivers now give you a reason to watch rather than race, and once a championship earns your attention, all sorts of other sporting habits start to follow with it. Sim racing has become much easier to watch as a sport in its own right. Big championships now have proper seasons and live events, with drivers worth following from one race to the next. That gives you a reason to watch even when you have no intention of climbing into the rig yourself. The interesting part is what comes with that audience once virtual racing starts competing for the same attention as conventional motorsport. Eight Million Viewers Changes the Conversation Gran Turismo 7 gives us a useful idea of the numbers involved. World Series events have been credited with roughly 8 million cumulative viewers per event, although that figure needs some care because cumulative viewing is different from having 8 million people watching at once. Even with that caveat, the number tells us something useful. Sim racing now attracts an audience large enough for viewing figures themselves to become part of the conversation. Fans can follow championships, pick drivers they want to see do well and turn up for major events without owning a wheel or having any interest in competing. That is a fairly normal way to consume conventional motorsport, and sim racing is increasingly giving spectators the same option. Six Thousand Drivers From 159 Countries Is Quite a Grid The competitive base is international too. More than 6,000 drivers from 159 countries registered for the first FIA Esports Global Rally Tour, giving the governing body a very large pool of competitors before the series had even reached its