uk f1 tv coverage - sky, bbc and ch4

[chillibowl]

but surely there is a benefit in playing sports games like FIFA if you know the players, coaches, teams etc. as an increasing aspect of these games is team management.

that might be more true for the NFL,NHL,NBA games over here though.

[mikuni]

The 'drift' scene, along with perhaps the rally cross area seem to be popular with youth as far as motorsport goes. I wonder if the kids that have interest in these areas with grow to appreciate other, more 'boring' forms of motorsport as they age.

[S griffin]

These days kids have short attention span, so they're unlikely to watch a full GP. Then again I didn't when I was younger, but I got into watching the full races. The BTCC though was a different story

[ScotsBrutesFan]

Kids have the attention span for what they want, many a computer game session lasts longer than a Grand prix, and that with then hardly blinking (or so it appears).

[Paradise City]

I think there's two broad areas at play here. I think motorsport has been steered into a corner a bit by global developments.

Firstly, fossil fuel sports have subtly fallen from favour. It's not necessarily so that the kids have moral objections or anything like that, it's just that it has fallen from fashion and anything that isn't fashionable they don't engage with it.

Nothwithstanding FE's popularity and novelty, I don't necessarily think a green revamp will solve much. I think it'll just drain the sport of its muscular, destructive identity and render it someway emasculated. Sure, FE and other similar series, will work away and do their thing but it won't restore motorsports to being fashionable. It'll just enshrine a subtle identity crisis.

The second area are the drivers themselves. And what I'm going to say may seem paradoxical.

But accessibility of sportsmen, particularly via twitter is a problem. We can converse with them, hurl abuse at them, criticise them as a matter of daily routine. And in so doing they become partially one of us and they lose some of their uniqueness and heroic mystique as people who are apart from us. While still somewhat special for many, it's less a special occasion to met people, whom we then can interact with on twitter sometimes in real time. There's no solution to this either because twitter is an almost inevitable part of the public landscape. But with this "levelling up", we can no longer have the kind of heroes that there was with Prost, Senna and so on. Our current crop of drivers can never really reach that stature irrespective of their feats or personality.

And of course the fact that the internet is so sensitive, companies are ultra-touchy to any controversy with the result that drivers are on such a tight leash that they rarely disclose their personality. But even the drivers themselves are wary of having instant thunderblots raining down on them from the internet and instant news. Back in the old days when newspapers moved at what seems like an agricultural pace today, it was less an issue and you had much more acting out from the heart.

Again, there's no ready solution to this. If they tried to coax them into becoming "Conor McGregor" big mouths it'll just look trite and choreographed and the drivers wouldn't do it.

F1 has to manage these problems. There's no ready solution to them.

[Mystery]

I can't agree with the "levelling" point at all. In this age, it seems as though the cult of celebrity has elevated those with no discernible talent or abilities to an idol level. What is it that those who are, say, related to someone who was once slightly famous or has an unusually big bum, got that the drivers don't? Decent marketing? Now what if the sport had a body that marketed it. I don't know. Like a FIA maybe. Except one that did something.

[chunder]

You can still make yourself a big celebrity, it is still possible.

Valentino Rossi is arguably bigger then any current F1 driver worldwide, and he has done that by being nice, by also being ruthless and by simply putting across a persona of being a kid enjoying himself. Even, crucially when he is not winning. The mask slips now and then and makes him fascinating.

Most F1 drivers do not really look like they are enjoying themselves a lot, all you hear is self obsessed team radio which borders on pleading to football referees for fouls, straight faces with no smiles, business like interviews or badly staged "meet the drivers" stuff.

You look at guys like Martin Schanche, Petter Solberg, even Marc Marquez, they look like they are enjoying what they do, and then you also sometimes see the inner mercenary killer nutter.

Regarding kids, they are not interested in rallycross, IMG think they are which is why it is marketed at people drinking diabetes promoting sugar rot all the time, it is really a sort of Nitro Circus, X games show that has disavowed itself from the sport I once loved.

Drifting is more linked to car culture than racing, and bridges the gap that was once bridged solely by modifying, at least drifting gets people into doing something with their cars and maybe getting to a race track, but to be honest they are all not the slightest bit interested in doing anything else as weren't modifiers, let alone driving round a track.

And as we all know of course, it's not motorsport!

[NaBUru38]

Originally Posted by ScotsBrutesFan

Isn't FE done as a World Feed single production, that ITV get the driver interviews from, plus a couple of pre-recorded exchanges with the world feed reporter.

Fox Sports Latin America has exclusive pitlane cameras at every ePrix. They sometimes show team interviews or car changes.

[NaBUru38]

Speaking of Fox Sports and motorsport, every Monday night they air a 60-minute talk show called Última Vuelta. They bring 4-6 drivers and team owners to discuss the previous day of Argentine motorpsort (TC, STC2000, TR, TN).



The journalists push drivers to criticise each other for dirty manoeuvres. The point is that fans get to see their drivers talk for a full hour. It's a great way to promote them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K99U3FJA1TY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obAQiZ_R0wE

[Mystery]

Sounds like something near the magazine show format that BT Sport use for MotoGP

[NaBUru38]

Does the MotoGP show also have drivers?

[alan1302]

Originally Posted by NaBUru38

Does the MotoGP show also have drivers?

Not many drivers in Moto G

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by chillibowl

but surely there is a benefit in playing sports games like FIFA if you know the players, coaches, teams etc. as an increasing aspect of these games is team management.

that might be more true for the NFL,NHL,NBA games over here though.

Not wanting to state the obvious but gaming is about beating your opponent, whether that's another gamer or AI in the game. So yes, they do know the players, coaches etc. but in the context of the game, otherwise in the real world, they aren't that bothered.

I've had my son staying with me for the last couple of days and I asked him about motorsport and motorsport games and how popular both are within his peer group.

He said he and his pals basically don't find motorsport entertaining. The cars effectively go round and round. I said that there's much more to it than that, to which he agreed but that still doesn't change the initial perception.

When I asked about games, he said that you have to think on your feet and that's what he likes about them. I said the same thing applies if you're playing a motorsports game, particularly something like an rFactor mod, where if you want you can set the car's break balance, tyre pressure etc. He admitted he didn't know that some racing games could be that involved. Again though, he said the lack of appeal goes back to the initial perception of cars just going round and round.

I then asked him how many people in his immediate peer group at uni were interested in motorsport and he said 1 out of about 10.

I know I've only asked my son and one person isn't strictly representative of his generation but I have a gut feeling that what he told me is pretty much how many others in his generation view motorsport. If that's the case then it doesn't bode well for future TV audiences or track attendance.

I'd like to know if other parents, on 10-Tenths have had similar discussions with their children about what they think of motorsport?

[Adam43]

On the 1 in 10 observation I suspect that when I was a kid that was about the ratio too.

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by Adam43

On the 1 in 10 observation I suspect that when I was a kid that was about the ratio too.

When I was at school there was only 2 other lads in my year who were enthusiasts and only another couple who were 'F1' fans mainly due to the Mansell effect.

Rallying seemed to be more known in school back then as well despite it being less publicised.

Then in high school there was an annual trip to Le Mans. ...

[VIVA GT]

According to Autosport, Channel 4 say that David Coulthard is announced as the first member of their presentation team.
Here's the link: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/122437

[BSchneiderFan]

Really good news that DC has been confirmed for Channel 4 (even if he part-owns the production company!). If they signed up Gary Anderson I'd be a happy bunny.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by VIVA GT

According to Autosport, Channel 4 say that David Coulthard is announced as the first member of their presentation team.
Here's the link: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/122437

It will bring some continuity to C4's coverage.

[TWRv12]

Originally Posted by VIVA GT

According to Autosport, Channel 4 say that David Coulthard is announced as the first member of their presentation team.
Here's the link: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/122437

Unfortunately Jake Humphrey is part of this.

[wolfhound]

Joe Saward has a bit of background on Whisper films and the involvement of DC with Jake Humphrey.

https://joesaward.wordpress.com/2016...t-deal-for-dc/

[Mike Harte]

Also to be taken into consideration is the relationship between Coulthard and Martin Brundle. He has for many years managed DC, and they have a long-term personal relationship too as friends. I have long suspected that it was Martin that brought Coulthard to the BBC, and I admit that I was surprised that DC didn't follow to SKY.

[S griffin]

I'm quite thankful he didn't, it was right he stayed and it's just as well he hasn't been ignored by Channel 4. Good start to their coverage

[steve_r]

I would be perfectly happy for any of the BBC crowd to join the new team. I think Ben Edwards is good, and I hope they snap him up too.

[S griffin]

+1

[justracing]

Originally Posted by steve_r

I would be perfectly happy for any of the BBC crowd to join the new team. I think Ben Edwards is good, and I hope they snap him up too.

In my opinion Ben Edwards is head and shoulders above most who have taken up the microphone. His commentary right the way back to Champ cars, is always well informed, generally unbiased and he has the ability to "read" the race as it progresses without becoming too excitable.