Since the conception of online and interactive gaming, players have looked to gain advantages over their opponents in a variety of different ways. Cheating in Esports seems to be rampant, whether it be in the form of supplemental intake or other ways like illegal grip tech.
Sim-racing currently has a massive cheating problem after a handful of Esport racing athletes have come forward as cheating via different controller modifications and hacks. The last few weeks have seen a ton of allegations against Esports racers for cheating. These streamers were in fact caught cheating by mistakenly talking about how they were cheating. Some unintelligent cheaters.
Thomas Ranhaar
Thomas Ronhaar, an F1 Esports driver, was caught cheating for using grip sheets during a F1 League race. It was alleged that Ronhaar used what are called “grip cheats” during an F1 league race.
While Ronhaar was being chased by Jarno Opmeer, it became obvious that his car had significantly better handling. Every turn that Opmeer and Ronhaar took, Ronhaar gained distance. By each turn, Opmeer got progressively frustrated with how the chase was going. But he knew something was up.
Alvaro Carreton
Another Sim racing driver that came under fire recently was Alvaro Carreton. Carreton was caught accidentally showing a folder of F1 grip hacks on while he was streaming.
Carreton refuted the claims that he was cheating and insisted that he was instead “testing the mods for Code masters.” EA Sports, the creator of the Forza racing game, did not confirm Carreton’s comments on the mods.
Daire McCormack
The third driver to feature in Jimmy’s video was Dáire McCormack. He called out driver Kirill Sadyrov for cheating on Assetto Corsa. He posted to Twitter a comparison of McCormack laps, showing that the laps are identical.
McCormack was allegedly using a hack called “Lap and Lock,” giving drivers an automatic track that their car is set to. McCormack later admitted he was cheating but explained himself by saying “99.9% of ACC pros do the same.”
Cheating in Esports needs to be curbed or the sport runs the risk of ruining its competitive reputation. The sanctity of competition should be paramount to any sports league.
