• @otp@sh.itjust.works
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      720 hours ago

      If robots were racing, people would be rooting for the remote pilot, or the team that built it, or the designers of the engine, etc…

      Does no one remember Robot Wars or any spinoffs thereof?

      • @postmateDumbass@lemmy.world
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        519 hours ago

        Did they get NASCAR ratings?

        And those battles were a quite a bit more action than oval track racing.

        Maybe you would get figure 8 courses or mario kart tracks, but i do not believe that will keep viewers interested long term.

        • @otp@sh.itjust.works
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          219 hours ago

          I dunno, maybe that’s true. People like watching humans be in danger, that’s true.

          Monster Truck shows probably don’t need humans though. We like watching stuff get crushed by big things even if humans aren’t involved!

    • CaptainBasculin
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      620 hours ago

      Not gonna lie, a pure engineering contest without the restrictions feel like a very cool idea. See what the true limits car engineers can achieve in a race if they didn’t even need to consider driver safety. There exists a lot of restrictions on racing leagues for driver safety, as it should. But without drivers, you can pretty much throw all of it away.

      • ms.lane
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        111 hours ago

        But without drivers, you can pretty much throw all of it away.

        I’m not sure you could - since spectator safety is considered more important than driver safety. (both are important)

        So unless it’s out in the middle of nowhere, with no spectators, no camerapeople, any pit crew would need to be in bunkers - just drones within a few kilometers of the track - it couldn’t happen either and such and event would probably be less exciting than watching someone else play the F1 PC/Console game…