Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
Moderators: dirtonly  /  dmantx  /  hosehead

My son and I really enjoyed the iracing event tonight on Dirtvision.  I know it's not like real racing, but it was kinda fun for someone in lockdown day 9.  Sure beats watching re-runs.  

Anyone else have an opinion?  

I agree, it was fun!!!! The show moved right along, the announcing was GREAT!!! It was a nice distraction of what is going on in the World today. I am in Public Works for a real job and also a Volunteer Firefighter and First Responder, so I have to go to work every day and it's like a ghost town where we live with all the shut downs. THANK YOU to all who made this happen and may everyone stay safe and I will watch more races if they have them. Phil Markman  MARKMAN MOTORSPORTS 77z

I found last weekend's NASCAR event entertaining but if I want to watch people play video games I'd watch the grandkids play on their phones for free.  I'm paying for two other racing PPV services, both broadcasting reruns aka classic racing events and that is enough to pay for what I thought would be spent on live racing.  While I don't blame the PPV services for filling in their slots with whatever content they can provide my money was spent with the intent of watching live events.  Reruns of past events don't hold my interest and I haven't been able to watch one from start to finish since the change in programming.  As much as I like watching live races on PPV I'm not so loyal to the sport that I'm going to spend my money on video game racing.  Somehow the thought of drivers proving their bravado by pushing a virtual Sprint Car further into a turn doesn't jive with the concept of drivers having bigger balls than us mortals.   

I'm from a generation that preceeded video games so younger people and those who consider it their duty to support specific PPV channels may not agree.  No guilt, my year long membership with Floracing and MAVTV on Tikilive is supporting racing PPV.

My opinion is that this would be a great opportunity to use the simulated Sprint Car races as a free offer like NASCAR is doing to expose WoO Sprints and dirt racing to a larger audience.  That could potentially result in more fan interest and more subscriptions in the future.  I know they have to keep the lights on but hey, so do I and paying to watch virtual racing isn't a wise choice for a lot of people right now.  If this shelter in place and restrictions on crowds goes on very long interest in paying for monthly PPV services will be hard to justify.   While services like Netflix are doing well services that depend on live events scrambling to provide content so as not to bleed off subscribers could have a tough go of it.

Stan Meissner

The NASCAR races aren't free.  You paid a subscription to something to be able to watch them.  Cable, satellite, streaming.  Whatever service you pay for is what allowed you to watch it on FS1.  They didn't just put it on free air or streaming for anyone who wants to watch to be able to get it for free.  

I get what Stan is saying, and you're also correct that the FS1 eNASCAR race technically wasn't free.  But the service that I pay for that provides me FS1 also provides me other entertainment opportunities outside of motorsports and is part of what I am already paying for.  For those who already have a DirtVision account I'm sure the race last night was fun.  But, like Stan, I don't have a DV account and was not interested in paying $10 to watch iRacing.  I also wouldn't have paid anything extra on top of my normal cable bill to see the FS1 eNASCAR race either.

Signature here.

True, it was part of the channel streaming package that my wife pays for.  I believe it was Direct TV Now but has since been bought out by AT&T.  By free I meant that there was no additional charge above our monthly budget but my wife is a TV junkie and has to have her channel package and movie channels.  As far as the NASCAR iRacing, if I didn't have the AT&T channel package I'd have watched the highlights on Youtube.  When I watched it last Sunday I was paying more attention to running guitar scales than the race.  It was a novelty at best and I wouldn't pay extra to watch any video racing.  Extra meaning more than our channel package which is my wife's indulgence.  If she didn't have to have those services I'd get by with free apps like Pluto, Youtube and use the HD antennaes for the local programming. 

$39 is a lot to pay to watch people play video games.  If they post it in their vault for free or I see a highlite video on Youtube I will check it out but I'm not going to pay extra for it.  You might think that makes me cheap, I'm not sure of your age or financial status but it's generous of you to be able to support a service that is not currently meeting their broadcast obligations for live racing.  In my house it's a couple of retired people so groceries and gas come before racing PPV.  I wouldn't even bring the idea of supporting a racing channel up to my wife right now if I want to see tomorrow.  LOL

Stan Meissner

I certainly get what you're saying.  My comment wasn't a shot at all.  I haven't paid for DV yet either and won't for the video games.  I likely will when racing starts again as they've upped the value of the subscription quite a bit.  I was simply pointing out that the NASCAR race wasn't free.  I wouldn't have paid extra for it either.  

If I were DV I might have considered making this first game a free view for all in attempt to lure some new subscribers.  But I probably wouldn't make them all free.  They have to protect their current subscribers to a certain extent.

You got me on a technicality but we agree on all points across the board so no worries.  I too think that making the Sprint Car version of iRacing free would expose the sport to new viewers but I suppose Dirtvision has to keep the lights on like everyone else.  Overall I think this shut down might have a wide reaching effect on how people view sports in general.

Stan Meissner

I thought it was great! Some really entertaining racing, actually. And the realism is incredible

The announcers did very nice job, couldn't have been easy. Always great to hear Johnny G on the call!