Esports world champion aims for the real world of motorsport

Eight weeks, hundreds of participants in numerous events and millions of pounds in prize money – but this was no ordinary sporting tournament.

Luke Bennett returns home as world champion from the first Esports World Cup in Saudi Arabia.

In addition, the 19-year-old from Bromsgrove in Worcestershire also returns £100,000 richer after winning the top prize in sim racing (short for simulated racing).

“It's quite surreal,” Luke tells BBC Newsbeat, but now he hopes a career in motorsport will give him the chance to make it a reality.

Luke is part of Team Redline – an offshoot of the Red Bull F1 team, whose former members include Belgian-Dutch racing driver Max Verstappen.

“It's like a car race in real life,” says Luke about sim racing. “But on the computer.”

The team was founded more than 20 years ago, but Luke says people are still surprised when he talks about his work.

He says people are shocked when he tells them how much prize money he has.

“It shows that it is getting bigger and bigger and that for some people it can be a career.”

Team Redline dominated the Esports World Cup, always finishing in the top four in the tournament finals.

“It's been a tough few months,” says Luke. “Every day – practice, practice, practice.”

“This whole burden is now lifted from our shoulders.”

Luke is not only fast on the virtual track. He says his career is also progressing at top speed.

“I started driving with a 100-pound steering wheel on my desk and had a little fun,” he says.

It wasn't long before other competitors recognized his potential and his parents helped him buy a better simulator.

“That’s when things really started to get going,” he says.

“I joined Team Redline and from then on it was all uphill until this point now.”

E-sports tournaments are still “quite a niche and relatively new,” he says.

“It wasn't that long ago that all this prize money started flowing and all these big competitions started, so there aren't many stories of people making it to the top.”

In this sense, he is a pioneer and admits that for e-sports champions “the future is somewhat uncertain”.

But as uncertain as the situation may be, the industry received a further boost last month when it was announced that from next year There will also be Olympic e-sports games.

Like the Esports World Cup, the games will be held in Saudi Arabia as part of a 12-year partnership between the Kingdom and the International Olympic Committee.

Before the World Cup, players, streamers and fans argued about the decision to host the World Cup due to the human rights situation in the Arab country that also financed the prize pool.

Homosexuality is illegal in Saudi Arabia and the country has been criticized for its stance on LGBT relationships and the lack of rights for women.

Critics condemned this as “sportswashing,” but the organizers defended the decision by told Newsbeat that no one would be discriminated against at the event.

Luke says the country was “a really cool setting” for the event and now has his sights set on winning more tournaments and making it to the Olympics – something he says would be “incredible”.

“I think I would find it a little weird to call myself an Olympian because I don't really feel like one,” he says.

“But it's something that would be very cool.

“The dream is still the same – we may be world champions, but there is always more.

“We want to become world champions in everything, so let’s keep going.”

And if he can be a pioneer in an online esports career, Luke sees no reason why he can't be a pioneer offline as well.

“I hope to enter the real world of motorsport one day,” he says.

“I see that more and more people are getting into sim racing and I hope that this will happen.

“If not, I still have plenty of time to decide what I want to do because I’m only 19.”

Listen to Newsbeat live at 12:45 and 17:45 on weekdays – or listen to Here.