The FIA World Motor Sport Council has approved the creation of a special Supplement to the International Sporting Code dedicated to the governance of e-sports.
At a gathering during FIA General Assembly Week in Kigali, Rwanda, the WMSC, chaired by controversial FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem, endorsed the measure as a part of its Vision 2030 motorsport strategy, aiming to create a regulatory framework for esports events organized under the banner of the FIA or the banner of its national sports associations (ASN).
While this will seem easy at first glance, the proposed “Appendix E” of the FIA Esports Code presents a major variety of challenges. This includes basic definitions throughout the International Sporting Code that outline what constitutes a “driver” or “car” that simply don’t apply to esports – and issues similar to racing licensing requirements.
The FIA is the primary international body to truly take steps towards creating an esports-specific sporting code, and comes after several years of hosting its own esports events and a number of other high-profile incidents in virtual sports.
Over the summer, the FIA organized the third FIA Motorsport Games with a multi-disciplinary competition in Valencia, this time featuring two different e-sports competitions: the F4 competition in iRacing and the GT event in Assetto Corsa Competition. He also took part in managing the motor sports discipline in two special Olympic events held to this point Sports Gran Turismo AND Gran Turismo 7.
A lot of controversies emerged through the difficult period of 2020, when many skilled drivers were kind of forced to practice simulator racing. This included leaving indignant, racist language, and one unusual case of phone-calling – when an e-sports driver was hired to pose as knowledgeable in an internet race.
While the Esports Code may be helpful in such cases by providing official guidance, the present International Sporting Code for the game has recently been scrutinized. Perhaps essentially the most high-profile incident is that of World Champion Max Verstappen, who was penalized under an inappropriate conduct clause, as defined in Article 20, under Article 12.2.1.k, for swearing during a press conference on the Singapore Grand Prix.
Given Verstappen's love of sim racing, we're sure he's delighted at the opportunity of his hobby being regulated in the identical way as his day job while serving his sentence – including in Rwanda, working with younger racers as a part of an entry-level motorsport program with FIA Affordable Cross Car – before collecting the trophy at this weekend's FIA Awards.
