Yamaha MotoGP rider Maverick Vinales admits he gets “more nervous” before an Esports race than a real one, as he gears up for this Saturday’s Virtual Grand Prix of Spain.
The coronavirus pandemic has forced the opening 11 rounds of the 2020 season to be either cancelled or postponed, with racing not likely to resume until the end of July at the earliest.
In lieu of real-world racing, MotoGP has been staging Esports contests on the official MotoGP 19 video game – dubbed the #StayAtHomeGPs, which featured all-star cast of current premier class riders for its Mugello and Red Bull Ring races.
Vinales came close to winning the second virtual Austrian event, and heads a bill featuring both Marc and Alex Marquez and future Yamaha team-mate Fabio Quartararo for this weekend’s very first Virtual GP to replace the postponed Spanish GP at Jerez.
Commenting on his involvement in Esports, Vinales said: “It’s complicated. I get more nervous than in a normal race weekend.
“I’m practicing a lot, I spend a lot of time on the Playstation because also when I was injured I played a lot on the MotoGP [game].
“So, I got ready quite fast.”
This Saturday’s Virtual GP of Spain will feature 11 real-world MotoGP riders racing across 13 laps at a virtual Jerez, while there will also be races for the Moto2 and Moto3 classes.
Having made his Esports debut at the second #StayAtHomeGP run at the virtual Red Bull Ring, Valentino Rossi won’t take part in this weekend’s Jerez event.
Commenting on his online exploits, 41-year-old Rossi admits his age has proved to be a barrier.
“I enjoyed it very much, it was good,” Rossi said of his #StayAtHomeGP outing.
“I’m not very fast with the MotoGP game because I am old.
“I played with the video games from when I was very young.
“But usually we play with the cars, so I’m not very competitive with MotoGP.
“But I did some training in the week before, and sincerely I enjoyed it very much.
“You have the top guys like Maverick and Pecco [Bagnaia, Austrian #StayAtHomeGP winner], who are extremely fast, but anyway I enjoyed it.
“I did a good battle with [Danilo] Petrucci until the last corner [when I crashed into him].
“I was a little bit on the limit, I was very aggressive.”