Randy van Buren, a 25-year-old sales manager from the Netherlands, has become the latest employee to join automotive manufacturer and motosport company, McLaren, following his winning of the "World's Fastest Gamer" competition. He has been retained as a consultant and simulation driver, helping McLaren to test virtual features of its vehicles before implementing them in real cars and trialling new configurations to give real-world drivers more of a leg up in future competitions.
The worlds of esports and real-world sports are becoming closer than ever before and that line is perhaps blurred the most in the worlds of virtual and real racing. With McLaren itself claiming that current racing games are only around a generation behind the racing simulators it uses to train its drivers (via Kotaku), it makes sense that someone who is particularly good at racing games should be a pretty effective real-world racer too. Although there are some differences, this isn't like the disparity between a professional Fifa player and a real soccer player.
In the case of van Buren he proved himself to be the best suited for McLaren's opening, beating some 30,000 other digital racers in a variety of games to show he was not only the fastest, but the most capable at his potential future career. He competed in games like Forza 6, Rfactor 2, iRacing and Gear Club, showing that his racing ability wasn't confined to a single title or vehicle. He knows what he's doing behind a wheel, no matter the game.
He's now been awarded a 12-month contract with McLaren. While it's not clear if this will be a permanent position for the young man, it's certainly possible that experience like this could lead to bigger and better things for him. If anything, he should be in with a good chance of making some additional money as a streamer or pro-gaming racer once the contract is up.
Image Source: Malcolm Griffiths
