‘WRC needs SUPERSTARS, not just winners’ – Ben Sulayem

[lmmjvss]

Superstars????????????? Ogier and Loeb are literally the GOAT and they are BOTH alive and racing!! Whats more superstar than this? We have Craig Breen literally CRYING because he is amazed with these supercars. We have Esapekka who is naturally funny. We have Mads screaming about how sh*tty pirelli tires are hahah... we have a guy who won both WRC2 and ERC on the same year! We have Adamo, Latvala and Malcom, who are 3 of the most interesting guys on motorsport's paddock. We have weird-Ott (who was the first one to beat Ogier!!!), we have Neuville, Rovampera....
We have superstars!! The thing is... WRC superstars are only appealing and interesting FOR WRC FANS haha
Maybe some F1 fans will recognize some names and enjoy some clips with rally cars crashing.... the same way I know the name of some Formula 1 drivers and watched some highlights from last year's races.
Like STAN said. Its all about your bubble and thats it. Rally is not that relevant anymore, sorry!

[TypeR]

I bet it will take a lot of time and drivers to beat Tänak's fan army during 2018 and 2019 seasons..
It all went together with his speed, wins, success(also misfortune), character and his movie.

[AnttiL]

We have Adamo

not anymore

[Franky]

Just superstars is not enough. You need rivalries and drama that grabs people

[skarderud]

Do the manufacturers want superstars whit a "fresh" tongue?
I dont think so, in 2022 it is unwanted. Look at Østberg and the Michelins, something happened vs Citröen there.

How superstar can you be, when you have to please the boss all the time?

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[Steve Boyd]

Can any of the other drivers even make an independent Youtube?

Chris Ingram was posting video reports of rallies 10 or 15 years ago before he started driving.

[fiscorpun]

Just superstars is not enough. You need rivalries and drama that grabs people

For what?? To attract this new kind of F1 fans that DONT WATCH the races, dont know $hit about the sport and only cares about arguing on social media against their rival's fans?
FormulaE is desperely trying to do all those things that "racing series should do". Create all possible drama (we can see its fake), create daily content (its impressive how bad their content has become simply because theres nothing more to say. Trying to "not die during the offseason. Argh.. Its just pointless!), Create engagement with the fans (fan boost.. "driver of the day".. meehh. This is Just to make the fan the center of the sport. Its non-sense), getting celebrities and retired drivers to driver their cars (which brought 5 leo dicaprio fans to follow the series on twitter..)... Look at them. They are trying EVERYTHING and they are still this championship where just a few people reeeeally watch, with stands filled with sponsors guests.... And its funny cuz I see the same blablabla in gt foruns wtcc foruns, lemans foruns, indycar foruns... Everybody repeating the same "oh we need manufacturers, we need to do this, need a reality show, need to do that". New fans are NOT COMING via these ideas and the ones that are coming are just there to see memes and social media empty content. This is getting so tiring. Myself included, cuz its contagious haha guess Im out from foruns. Cheers! GoNeuville

[Franky]

For what?? To attract this new kind of F1 fans that DONT WATCH the races, dont know $hit about the sport and only cares about arguing on social media against their rival's fans?
FormulaE is desperely trying to do all those things that "racing series should do". Create all possible drama (we can see its fake), create daily content (its impressive how bad their content has become simply because theres nothing more to say. Trying to "not die during the offseason. Argh.. Its just pointless!), Create engagement with the fans (fan boost.. "driver of the day".. meehh. This is Just to make the fan the center of the sport. Its non-sense), getting celebrities and retired drivers to driver their cars (which brought 5 leo dicaprio fans to follow the series on twitter..)... Look at them. They are trying EVERYTHING and they are still this championship where just a few people reeeeally watch, with stands filled with sponsors guests.... And its funny cuz I see the same blablabla in gt foruns wtcc foruns, lemans foruns, indycar foruns... Everybody repeating the same "oh we need manufacturers, we need to do this, need a reality show, need to do that". New fans are NOT COMING via these ideas and the ones that are coming are just there to see memes and social media empty content. This is getting so tiring. Myself included, cuz its contagious haha guess Im out from foruns. Cheers! GoNeuville

Rivalries and drama does not mean reality show. If they are natural, then it grows as media loves it and the snowball effect starts building. You can't copy someone else and hope to replicate their success. Could rallying use some kind of series, sure. Does it have to be WRC's Drive to Survive clone, hell no. Even better, if it isn't.

You talk about these new fans like we don't have them or have never had them. Earlier Tänak's army was mentioned. I'm sure that about 75% of them who came to WRC because of him since 2017, won't be here after he is gone. Also I've heard comments from non-Estonians that Tänak's fans only care about Tänak and nothing else.

And as a disclaimer. I have seen Drive to Survive seasons and not a fan of it. First season was interesting and then meh. And I am not a fan of Tänak or any other current driver.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Quite a lot of new fans came to the sport with video games, but these were nearly all arcade-style, even Colin McRae Rally. These gave a lot of pleasure and a way of seeing the fun and thrills of rallying.

But since DiRT3, they have pretty much all been simulation-style. These are good for existing gamers and older hardcore rally fans. But I dont see them attracting new fans (kids) as they are so difficult and reward only accuracy not flamboyance. None are named after a star or champion driver either.

[macebig]

On the contrary, the arcade style games from D3 onwards (Showdown, D4,D5) all flopped in sales and nearly bankrupt Codemasters in 2014-5. The more simulation based games (DR and DR2.0) have been a resounding success with over 10 mil units in combined sales. The problem is that it's 11 years since D3 and there have only been 2 commercially successful rally games. The official WRC ones barely break even (and go under the radar 9/10 times) and the few other games (SLRE, VR4) haven't made any impact.