We found the biggest virtual Type R fan, e-sports athlete Peter Jeakins, and gave him a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity: the chance to compete in an impossible race between real and virtual. First, Jeakins recorded his fastest lap time in a virtual Type R at the Road Atlanta race track in Microsoft Forza Motorsport 7. Then at the actual Road Atlanta, pro IndyCar driver Graham Rahal raced a real Type R against Jeakins’ virtual one.

To make the race possible, the real Type R was outfitted with a custom AR windshield. It used data from the gamer’s lap and GPS data to broadcast the gamer’s position on the track to Rahal in real time, allowing the two drivers to compete head-to-head. The worlds of real motorsport and racing simulation were merged like never before.

We teased the race on Honda’s social channels for a few days with polls asking people who would win a race between a pro gamer and a pro driver. When the video launched, a paid media blitz featuring multiple short form videos on Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook targeted at gamers and racing enthusiasts drove people to watch the main video.

Peter Jeakins, the pro gamer, and Graham Rahal, the pro driver, also used their social channels to build interest in the race by tagging each other and creating a rivalry between real and virtual. They drove people to watch the long form video and also each posted content on their channels to give their fans a behind-the-scenes look at the project.

After the first two weeks of an 8-week campaign, the engagement goal had already been surpassed by 38%. So far, the video has over 6,000,000 views. Over 68,000,000 PR impressions have been earned. And the campaign has over 70,000,000 media impressions.

For Jeakins, the project showed other brands that he’s a marketable e-sports athlete that can handle the spotlight.

For Rahal, the project helped him reach new fans, and proved to people that he’s truly willing to race against anyone.

For Honda, the project helped us sell 100% of the Civic Type R vehicles and on top of all the great press coverage and engagement metrics, it reminded people that Honda has racing in the blood.

R vs R was an online racing event where a real motorsport athletes competed against an eSport athlete via the Honda Civic Type R.

The Type R’s core audience is racing enthusiasts. It’s the kind of car that a lot of owners will take to the race track on weekends. So we wanted to create a piece of content that appealed to our core audience, while also appealing to the gamers who have been driving the Type R for years in games like Microsoft Forza, Gran Turismo, etc.

The legendary Honda Civic Type R has never been available in America. But that hasn’t stopped people from driving it. For years, hardcore Type R fans have turned to the only place they could get behind the wheel of one in the US: video games. So when the Type R finally launched in America, we wanted to bring those hardcore fans along for the ride.