Route du Rhum: what is Virtual Regatta, the virtual race that brings together 500,000 players?

“The ambition is to transform the viewer into a real participant. By understanding what is happening on the water, they experience the same as the sailors in the ‘same’ conditions,” explains Thomas Gauthier, product manager for Virtual Regatta. This virtual sailing game offers about sixty regattas a year.

And just like the real race, the virtual Route du Rhum will also launch this Sunday at Virtual Regatta. The race, which starts from Saint-Malo to reach Point-à Pitre in Guadeloupe, takes place every 4 years.

If the real skippers will not sleep much during this speed race, the game ones will also have work: it will be necessary in particular to choose the best directions for their ship according to the weather updates that will take place approximately every six hours, sometimes in between. at night, knowing that repositioning the ship takes about an hour.

For the more adventurous, it is possible to do from one to four regattas at the same time with boats of different speeds: Ultim, Imoca, Ocean Fifty or Class 40. For more than a week, the rhythm promises to be constant.

Experienced skippers and freshwater sailors.

About 500,000 players are expected for this edition.

It is one of the most important in the game because it counts more for the individual and team ranking.

The idea of ​​the game is to make it possible for everyone to play with or without the notion of navigation. “You’re on board your ship, you steer it with a cursor. Then there are a lot of weather subtleties that will make the difference between one normal player and another. By the end, everyone will have learned at least a few notions, not only in the game but also in the that a sailor experiences”, specifies the product manager.

For the 2022 edition, a novelty appears: the notion of pattern fatigue with an energy indicator. “It will make the game a bit more spicy,” enthuses Thomas Gauthier.

The Route du Rhum is an “offshore” race like the Vendée Globe, which lasts about a week. There are also “inshore” regattas that are simulations of regattas and are much faster but are aimed at a more experienced audience.