Forza Motorsport’s a straightforward inquiry on Twitter turned out pretty shocking. They targeted the question “Who is your favorite Formula 1 driver and why?” and the replies were not complicated. Certainly, current stars as well as past greats of the sport shared the respect of the gamers, recognizing plenty of the motorsport history.
The very first person to be mentioned was Lewis Hamilton, who was the one receiving the most positive comments by far. One user, @HardyFuture, backed his opinion with all the statistics saying – 105 wins, 104 poles, and 7 titles (maybe 8 soon??). The word “GOAT” was used to describe him, and one could argue that it’s hard to disagree treating Hamilton’s figures that way. Responding to this, @PHerpen said “Just 7 and a has been dude” which is… wow, that’s really harsh? The Hamilton debate is definitely ongoing even in the world of racing games.
On the other hand, Ayrton Senna’s love is a real story as he is being remembered and cherished more than ever, even decades after his sad demise. The legendary Brazilian driver was highlighted as an all-time favorite by many people. @RENdeSiQUEiRA commented “Only Senna! Forever!” with some fire emojis. @Darkpet1981 mentioned Netflix’s movie making him even more iconic which is an interesting point since the documentary did bring the new generation to Senna. @TanVtec expressed it in a very nice way “Senna…because of racing…pure racing”.
After that, we started hearing all about the Michael Schumacher divine status. @richardm88 pointed him out as a favorite while he described the “massive shame of what happened to him” which is indeed a terribly sad situation. @TROUBLE0348 acknowledged Schumi for being “clean but dominant” which is somewhat the perfect pair for a racing star.
It was always about the outstanding racing personalities in the discussions. Max Verstappen is still very much in the game and he has his fan club as well, and @hero2004yt declared that they had been a fan of Red Bull for more than ten years and Max is their favorite. @AleD2Passos commended Verstappen for “doing incredible things even without having a competitive car” which, let’s be honest, we have all seen him perform magic in that Red Bull.
However, old-school champions were all around. Nigel Mansell was frequently mentioned by many, @willoto2000 just dropped his name with a pic. @shark_keeper posted maybe the most chaotic reply ever, then switching between Gilles Villeneuve, Jackie Stewart, James Hunt, and Stirling Moss… it was like seeing a person arguing with himself about racing history. And they concluded with “And so on, and so on for the next 15806 years” which is definitely a mood.
Some of the responses were really weird though. @X_Arduous_X took an enormous detour about Forza’s physics and AI settings, and it was so irrelevant that it was completely out of the topic of F1 drivers at all. They opened their post with “Not~ Senna?????????? Get it?” and then got lost in gaming development ideas. Sometimes Twitter threads do go through the most amazing and odd turns.
And the international diversity was there too – @AleD2Passos quoted Fangio “because I’m Argentinian” which seems quite reasonable to me, national pride and all that. @FribergEddie, on the contrary, stated that @AussieGrit (that’s Daniel Ricciardo for those who do not know) was their “all-time no. 1” but they confessed they were not sure why. Sometimes you just get a nice vibe from a driver’s attitude and style.
What is rather amazing is the strong gaming and real motorsports connection that was revealed by this one question from a racing game account. Gamers or rather car racers nowadays are not only playing Forza for its incredible visuals – they are actually competing in a dialogue with their real racing knowledge and their favorite drivers. They have strong opinions about drivers from different eras, they know the stats, they remember the legendary moments.
On the other side, there was this user @Caniac16 who simply said “Bring back Nascar and I will come back” implying that… okay, different sport but we understand your passion dude, Feel you.
The range of answers is actually impressive, staggering. From Senna purists through Hamilton stans and the Ricciardo smile people who are just cannot get enough – the Forza community is inclusive and covers the whole spectrum of F1 fandom. Besides, it’s pretty cool that a gaming account’s visit that generates this kind of authentic sports conversation is in the past. One wonders if Turn 10 is already taking notes for future driver inclusions or something, especially considering the ongoing PlayStation and Xbox dynamics in the gaming industry.
