Gran Turismo World Series Round 3 Nations Cup Will Broadcast This Weekend

  • Thread starter Famine
  • 31 comments
  • 2,789 views
~1404 viewers [English GT TV] at checkered flag.

Also, this is the 2nd round in a row this mishap occurred during the virtual podium (look at right, that's the old FIAGTC banner):

Round 2
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Round 3
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GOTMAXPOWER
Ouch, they may as well stream random dailies.
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Maybe Esports racing is ahead of its time? Or is it that GT7 is not as good at it as others? I don't seek out Esports racing to watch but because it's conveniently in my game, I do watch this. This race was fantastic to watch but something about watching online racing feels dull compared to the real thing.
 
A_Higher_Place
Maybe Esports racing is ahead of its time? Or is it that GT7 is not as good at it as others? I don't seek out Esports racing to watch but because it's conveniently in my game, I do watch this. This race was fantastic to watch but something about watching online racing feels dull compared to the real thing.
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I guess that's the number for only the English stream as well, so the real figure would be roughly double of that based on the total views (5.4k for English, 2.8k for Japanese, 1.8k for Spanish and 1k for Italian streams). Besides it seems that Japanese views usually comes close to/almost catches the total views of the English one, even if the live viewership isn't that high.
 
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Dibs
I guess that's the number for only the English stream as well, so the real figure would be roughly double of that based on the total views (5.4k for English, 2.8k for Japanese, 1.8k for Spanish and 1k for Italian streams). Besides it seems that Japanese views usually comes close to/almost catches the total views of the English one, even if the live viewership isn't that high.
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But when we're talking about a game that regularly sells 10-12 million copies, they're miniscule figures.

If the live world final doesn't raise the numbers they surely must ask themselves if the costs are worth it going forward. Or rather, actually think of changes to get people watching.
 
That race, especially the last few laps, deserved more viewers. For a pre recorded race they should draw more attention beforehand by showing clips and maybe cinematic shots like in monthly reveals.
 
Samus
But when we're talking about a game that regularly sells 10-12 million copies, they're miniscule figures.

If the live world final doesn't raise the numbers they surely must ask themselves if the costs are worth it going forward. Or rather, actually think of changes to get people watching.
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I missed earlier that the event was also on Playstation's channel, with roughly the same amount total views as Gran Turismo TV. Totals should be around 4-5k based on that?

I wouldn't be as concerned of the live viewership, as the totals seems to be more than decent:
  • Round 1: 140k (manufacturers), 128k (nations)
  • Showdown: 199k (manufacturers), 211k (nations)
  • Round 2: 65k (manufacturers), 89k (nations)
  • Round 3: 64k (manufacturers), 42k (nations)

Round 1 manufacturers was bit of an anomaly as there where 51k views from Japan alone where as the other regions had roughly comparable figures with round 2. Round 2 manufacturers is lower than nations cause it wasn't on Playstation's main channel where as the others were. Total views from yesterday are already over 33k 42k. There is quite a drop from round 1 to other rounds but I would assume it's quite natural.

Even though GT sells 10+ million, I'd imagine a sizable portion of that is casual players who have no interest in esports, maybe not even IRL motorsports. There are ways PD could increase viewership, of course there are, I won't deny that. They have all the necessary data, I don't so it's up to them to take the steps should they not be pleased with the current situation.

Edit: To clarify, total views include figures from Playstation's main channel and every language option on Gran Turismo TV. I haven't included numbers from Playstation's regional channels as those do not stream or release the video from all events. So the totals are actually a bit higher than those listed above but it should give us a rough image.
 
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Dibs
I missed earlier that the event was also on Playstation's channel, with roughly the same amount total views as Gran Turismo TV. Totals should be around 4-5k based on that?

I wouldn't be as concerned of the live viewership, as the totals seems to be more than decent:
  • Round 1: 140k (manufacturers), 128k (nations)
  • Showdown: 199k (manufacturers), 211k (nations)
  • Round 2: 65k (manufacturers), 89k (nations)
  • Round 3: 64k (manufacturers), 42k (nations)

Round 1 manufacturers was bit of an anomaly as there where 51k views from Japan alone where as the other regions had roughly comparable figures with round 2. Round 2 manufacturers is lower than nations cause it wasn't on Playstation's main channel where as the others were. Total views from yesterday are already over 33k 42k. There is quite a drop from round 1 to other rounds but I would assume it's quite natural.

Even though GT sells 10+ million, I'd imagine a sizable portion of that is casual players who have no interest in esports, maybe not even IRL motorsports. There are ways PD could increase viewership, of course there are, I won't deny that. They have all the necessary data, I don't so it's up to them to take the steps should they not be pleased with the current situation.

Edit: To clarify, total views include figures from Playstation's main channel and every language option on Gran Turismo TV. I haven't included numbers from Playstation's regional channels as those do not stream or release the video from all events. So the totals are actually a bit higher than those listed above but it should give us a rough image.
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Total views over time aren't a particularly good way to determine interest though, that can be a lot of people re-watching it, getting it in auto-play and turning it off after 5 minutes. Live numbers are what matters most for a "live" streamed event.

Of course they don't expect anything close to 10 million to watch, not even 1 million, but they can't be happy with 5K live. Motorsports esports is never going to be as successful as the biggest esports games but they're quite a way off some other leagues. The latest F1 esports race for example has 263K views after nine days, although I don't know what the live number was as I didn't watch. Not just in viewership are they behind either. Most other series offer cash prizes.

Even on dedicated fansites there is little interest. These threads here rarely generate many comments, the Reddit ones are even worse.

They need to give people a reason to watch. Let the drivers create their own image and style instead of all being in GT shirts. Put $ on the line. Make the race formats more interesting. Letting people vote isn't going to help if most people have no clue who or what they're voting for.
 
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Samus
The latest F1 esports race for example has 263K views after nine days, although I don't know what the live number was as I didn't watch.
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The latest F1 Esports event peaked at 8,000 concurrent viewers on Twitch, in addition to the numbers on YouTube and on broadcast television.

Formula1 - statistics and analytics over the past 30 days - SullyGnome

Twitch stats for Formula1. Stream summary, max viewers, average viewers and follower growth information. over the past 30 days
sullygnome.com

F1 does have a healthy grassroots esports scene though, with a bunch of fan-run leagues pulling in decent numbers for their livestreams. When drivers from those leagues compete in the official series, that obviously helps boost views too.

As I've said before (quoted below), the quality of Gran Turismo's content is good (it's some of the most watchable action out there), but good show quality alone isn't enough to guarantee views on any platform. Timeslots, lack of exclusive news reveals, lack of player interest in esports etc. are all contributing factors. Unless you're into the Gran Turismo esports scene already there's very little to make you want to watch one of these broadcasts.


Regarding viewership I'm gonna quote my post from the last online event since most of is applies here:

PJTierney
Putting it on a Saturday was a poor decision to begin with, as people are watching “real world” sports or doing whatever people normally do on weekends.

Additionally, it’s pre-recorded (less incentive to watch as its broadcast) and there’s no potential game update/DLC announcements expected to come from it to lure in the casual fans and players.

Also outside of the GT community platforms I don’t know how much awareness was raised about these broadcasts. I’m fairly well-embedded in the racing game community thanks to my work and even so I only caught on a few days ago that their events were happening. How is a casual fan, or somebody that doesn’t own Gran Turismo 7 supposed to know about this event unless it gets shoved into their feeds, and when it does, what reason is there for them to watch?

Finally (and this isn’t really Sony’s fault or anything, just the reality of 2022), it’s a virtual event and to a degree I think the appeal of those has been dwindling ever since the sim racing boom of 2020 died down in the second half of that year.

I’m sure the show itself and the racing was good, but as somebody peering from the outside in, there’s very little incentive to watch, whereas I tuned into the GT Sport events in 2018/19 long after I stopped playing that game (because of how appealing they were).

Without massive resources or the right blend of highly popular competitors (like Jarno, like Max Verstappen, like Jimmy Broadbent etc.) it’s hard to bring in the casual sim racer because they’d rather play the game than watch a bunch of people play it faster than them.
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For what it's worth that event (which is a few months old and linked below) settled at 32,000 views on its main feed.

I don't know what KPIs Sony have regarding this event, but if livestream views is one of them they've spent a lot of money for very little in terms of viewership.

I have a feeling this is more of a vanity project than anything else, it's the only way I can see them justifying the lavish expense of running streams, hiring commentators etc. I would have theorised that this is a contracted "you must do this" activity, but there's no FIA or other licensor connection here. This isn't like other titles were you "have" to run esports as part of your license with a racing series.


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Samus
Motorsports esports is never going to be as successful as the biggest esports games but they're quite a way off some other leagues.
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I agree with this. I think it falls into the same challenge games like FIFA have with their broadcasts too: "Why watch this game when I can watch the thing happening in real life?"

That might just be a hurdle that's too high for any sports-based gaming broadcast. As good as GT and F1 esports broadcasts are, that challenge will always be there whereas DOTA, League etc. don't need to worry about real-world comparisons.

If you look at the number of comments esports articles in here get vs regular news and content updates, they’re in the minority so I do think that the mass-market cares less about esports than the hardcore (which is understandable).
 
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ShiftingGears
I can't speak for anyone else but I don't care for watching esports unless I actually know someone competing in an event.
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That seems like the biggest issue to me as well. The GT competitors are just names to most people. PD don't allow them to bring their own personality to the table or create a "brand image", they're all just "Dude or dudette in a red t-shirt number 4".

There is a reason real racing with people in the cars is a billion times more popular than RC racing, people like to root for and follow the humans, they attach onto personalities they like. Cars just racing nicely isn't enough.
 

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