Where are the fastest racers from? Here we have an amazing stats review courtesy from a report presented to us at simrace247.com.
With the F1 season opener having just passed this weekend in Bahrain, a new study has revealed where the best F1 drivers in the world are from… when it comes to a virtual racetrack!
Pentagon Motor Group analysed the high scores and fastest laps logged on every single Codemasters F1 game since the official series for the sport began in 2009 and found that it’s Japanese gamers who stand at the top of the podium, having logged the highest amount virtual race wins per capita. New Zealand players came in second, while German gamers took bronze.
The research comes as a part of a larger study, that looked at more than 800 driving games in total to crown the most skilled driving gamers in the world. While Japanese players crossed the finish line in first for the F1 series, the overall champions were Finnish gamers. With the small country of Finland having won the most in all driving games per capita and adding more truth to the saying ‘if you want to win, hire a Finn’.
Legendary Finnish racers can you name them all?
PlayStation Drive: Report Reveals The Best Virtual Drivers In The World – And The Brits Don’t Even Make The Top 10!
- The people of Finland, a country renowned for its gaming culture, are most skilled when it comes to driving games, followed by Estonia and New Zealand
- Pentagon Motor Group used data from more than 800 driving games to rank countries on their playing prowess, including favourites like Forza & Mario Kart
- American driving gamers managed to squeeze into the top ten at 8th, while UK gamers appear to need a trip to the test centre, ranking as 15th best overall
Finland tops the podium when it comes to the world’s best virtual drivers, following research of the high scores and ‘achievements’ logged on more than 800 driving video games.
Pentagon Motor Group reached its definitive ranking of the countries that play home to the most Michael Schumachers of the virtual world, by using data from gaming leader board speedrun.com. After analysing more than ten thousand achievements that include high scores, fastest laps and completion times from hundreds of driving titles, Finland ranked in pole position, with Finnish gamers responsible for the most achievements per capita.
Estonia and New Zealand claim silver and bronze, while American gamers could only sneak in at 8th. However, the United Kingdom, home to some of the world’s greatest real-life racing drivers, from Lewis Hamilton to Colin McRae, only placed in 15th. However, there’s still reason for Welsh gamers to celebrate, as they ranked as the best in the nation, followed by Northern Irish and English virtual racers.
Top 15 Virtual Driving Nations:
- Finland
- Estonia
- New Zealand
- Australia
- Switzerland
- Sweden
- Lithuania
- United States of America
- Denmark
- Canada
- Uruguay
- The Netherlands
- Bulgaria
- Hungary
- United Kingdom
To help silence the arguments of online gaming and give official bragging rights to the most skilled nations, the Pentagon Motor Group research also details where is best at particular fan favourites in the driving genre.
The findings reveal that Dutch gamers are the best at Mario Kart, Japanese players number one for the F1 series and American gamers leaders at the beloved Gran Turismo titles. With Grand Theft Auto Online, in particular, featuring a large amount of driving and racing, Estonian gamers gained the prestigious title of best GTA players, having amounted to the most achievements for the series, while the virtual racers of Finland again won for cult classic The Simpson’s: Hit & Run.
World’s Best Virtual Drivers (game-specific):
| Mario Kart | Gran Turismo | GTA | The Simpson’s Hit & Run | F1 | |
| 1 | The Netherlands | USA | Estonia | Finland | Japan |
| 2 | Denmark | Australia | Bulgaria | Australia | New Zealand |
| 3 | Germany | New Zealand | Denmark | UK | Germany |
| 4 | Sweden | UK | Hungary | Canada | UK |
| 5 | Finland | Russia | Norway | USA | Netherlands |
Johnathan Lingham, Marketing Director at Pentagon Motor Group, commented: “With stay-at-home restrictions have been in place around the world for the best part of a year now, many might have driven more on virtual roads than they have in real life. This got us thinking about whether certain nationalities might be more skilled than others when it comes to getting behind a control pad and logging the fastest laps.
We included games that date all the way back to 1973’s ‘Astro Race’ so have no doubt the rankings are a true reflection of virtual driving skills around the world and hope they inspire some friendly competition between players while we’re still at home”.
The full findings, including definitive rankings for some of the most popular driving games, can be found at: www.pentagon-group.co.uk/news/where-is-best-driving-video-games
