We’ve already talked about Das Race last week in our event preview. As we’ve mentioned there, we’re looking at an innovative, unique blend of RC cars and esports that’s set to create a brand-new entertainment format.

Today, we’re proud to announce an interview related to the interesting concept and ideas behind Das Race. Let’s call it Das Race interview, shall we!?

1. What did the Das Race pitch sound like? It’s an unusual question, but we’d really love to know the thought processes and brainstorming that resulted in the creation of something as unique as Das Race.

For this we have to take one step back and explain the unique setup behind the project: Das Race is a joint venture of three companies – Optimist, a brand experience and event agency, Iconmobile, an innovation and experience design company, and Veritas Entertainment, an esports and gaming production company. The original idea came out of Iconmobile’s team. One evening I got a call from my partner Thomas Fellger who proposed the idea for the first time to me. It was something along the lines of: “How cool would it be if we could drive RC cars from all over the world?” And I just said: “Hell yeah, that sounds like a real-life Mario Kart, I’m in!”

I think this was the pitch for all future conversations: imagine driving RC cars across a gorgeous race track in Los Angeles, but you control the car with a standard game controller from the comfort of your own home. No matter who we pitched this idea to, everyone always got really excited about that vision.

2. Can the Das Race tech work with other types of RC vehicles, primarily racing quadcopters? If yes, do you think a virtual DRL (Drone Racing League) is plausible?

Sure. The tech we built into these cars has no limitations in terms of the vehicle that it’s attached to. Obviously a Drone would come with its own challenges as there are additional dimensions to track, but we could absolutely do that. We chose RC cars because we felt that this might be easier to follow for the spectator. We also love the aesthetics of these cool cars.

3. What was the biggest obstacle in making the perfect blend of real-life and digital aspects of the brand-new entertainment format? Was it related to the latency, control mechanics, RC car tech, COVID restrictions, race track assembly, or something else entirely?

The more challenging tasks were latency and finetuning the control mechanics as well as programming a backend for the players and sending all video signals across the globe into our production studio in Berlin. But considering how fast we were able to put everything together, I wouldn’t say that there was anything that was really an obstacle. It took us just three months to go from the basic idea to recording a pilot episode. It really shows what a team of creative and innovative minds can achieve when experts of various fields gather for a unique project that is fueled by passion.

4. Can Das Race bring the virtual RC racing to the mainstream? Do you think we could see more virtual RC racing events in the near future? Could we see the birth of a brand-new genre here?

We absolutely hope and believe so. On the spectrum from Sim Racing to Fun Brawl Racing we purposely chose to go a more fun route and include power-ups and funny gadgets into our format, because we feel that this way it’s more mainstream-compatible. Obviously, racing skills are still the most important factor for success, but due to the integration of these gadgets, we make it more fun to watch, more appealing to casual fans. We already have a lot of requests from brands and event organizers who want to become a part of Das Race, so I’m confident that we’re setting a new benchmark here. 

5. Were the COVID restrictions causing problems along the way or were you looking at them as an opportunity to better position Das Race in the esports/broadcasting ecosystem?

Das Race as an idea was actually born right when COVID really struck Europe, and I think there’s a connection there because we were specifically looking for cool new formats we could produce which wouldn’t require people to be on-site while participating. For us, this was the opportunity to push the boundaries of what has been done before in the gaming and tech world in a time when traditional events are not really possible. 

6. What sort of viewership numbers are you hoping to achieve with the first season? Is the second season already in the working or are you waiting for S1 results?

Well, obviously we want to attract as many viewers as possible. But it’s not just about viewership numbers, but also about engagement, average watch time, and viewers’ feedback. We will evaluate the performance of Season 1 after the six weeks and then decide what route we choose to move forward. As I mentioned earlier we already have a lot of requests from brands and event organizers who want to attach Das Race to their activations. I believe that there are so many scenarios possible: right now Das Race is a 30-minute entertainment content format that features personalities and their journey through a six-week-championship in a unique race. But we could also do just singular big shows or even find a way to let your average joe play Das Race from home by booking a slot. Now that the system is set up and the interest is there, the possibilities are endless. 

7. Are you satisfied with the final product?

 Yes!

That about wraps up our Das Race interview with Dorian Gorr, the Managing Director of Veritas Entertainment. We’d like to thank Mr. Gorr for his time and hope the upcoming episodes of Das Race exceed all expectations!