Esports racing has transformed from a hobby in a spare room to a refined part of motorsport culture. That process was speeded up further when Formula 1 launched a new Sim Racing World Championship in 2026,comprising a season-opening live event at DreamHack Birmingham and 9 studio rounds at F1's Media and Technology Centre in Biggin Hill. The crossover was normalised thanks to the real F1 names: Max Verstappen has been locked into Verstappen Sim Racing (formerly Team Redline) for the season , while Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc have created enormous hordes of viewers for the Virtual Grand Prix craze. This trend has also brought bookmakers into the fold and a Unibet bonus has offered a familiar avenue for curious fans to enter the virtual world of F1 betting. From niche hobby to mainstream spectacle: The meteoric rise of sim racing In the early days of sim racing, it was primarily a numbers game of competitive gamers trying to set realistic lap times on their home computers. It's now joined by official teams, sponsors, broadcasts and prize funds in the mainstream, all the way. When real racing did not happen in 2020, it was the Virtual Grand Prix series that turned the corner for F1 fans as it garnered 30 million TV and digital views. In 2026, the official F1 esports season found the Drivers' Champion to be Alpine's Otis Lawrence and the Constructors' to be Red Bull. In addition to the official F1 game, iRacing, Assetto Corsa Competizione and rFactor-style games also feature endurance events, GT championships and high-level teams like Team Redline and Williams Esports. Closing the gap: What makes virtual racing irresistible to F1 fans? The atmosphere is all the things F1 fans know so well, qualifying pressure, tyre management, track limits, offside risk, and strategy calls.