Some game. Some race.

Igor Fraga, who finished fourth in the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship as a rookie this year, blended those two passions to claim the Nations Cup in the first-ever FIA Gran Turismo Championships at the World Final for the video game in Monaco last month.

The achievement came after months of rigorous battles online against thousands from around the globe that had eyes set on becoming champion for the inaugural eSports tournament of the exclusive PlayStation 4 game. Fraga, born in Japan but residing now in Brazil, advanced to the World Final by winning an opening round of competition in Brazil and following that up by winning the regional competition that included eRacers from North, Central and South America.

The unforgettable experience still had the 20-year-old in awe as he recounted the dramatic four-race showdown to determine the champion.

“The Nations Cup World Final was very exciting, lots of drivers battling in different tracks aiming for the first place,” Fraga said.

“I went through the first race very well, but lost a bit in the second race and the third race was a disaster for me. On the first three races, we ran with random cars and, unfortunately, I got a vintage car for the third race, having a hard time keeping up with the pace of more modern cars from my adversaries.

“On the last race, the leader on the points table was starting in the pole position and I was coming from 10th. I knew it was going to be difficult but I still had a chance, so I went for it. It worked pretty well at the end. I won the race and also the Nations Cup World Final!”

There was also a Manufacturer Series Final, which saw Fraga team with two other drivers for a one-hour endurance race equipped with driver changes during the pit stops. After starting seventh, the group fell to 10th, but Fraga made a charge during the final stint all the way up to second. Poised for a podium, misfortune struck as he ran out of fuel on the last lap and finished 10th.

Fraga noted similarities to his USF2000 rookie campaign this past season – the first rung of the Mazda Road to Indy development ladder sanctioned by INDYCAR – where he scored a pair of runner-up finishes and six top-five efforts on his way to fourth in the final standings.

“It's possible to see that the basics of racing are pretty well inserted in both disciplines,” said Fraga, who drove the No. 91 Mazda/Tatuus USF-17 for Exclusive Autosport in 2018. “It's just a different category, you have to adapt to push the limits, and at the end, both disciplines help each driver to improve their skills.”

There are obvious differences, too.

“Nowadays, online racing is getting closer to real racing. But the sensation and feedback of the car is still not as vivid as real racing, which makes it difficult to feel the car and, consequently, harder to push it to the limits. That's why it's very difficult to simulate exactly the same as in real life, but this makes it a different category – just how NASCAR is different from INDYCAR.

“For me, sim racing is the newest category of motorsports.”

Overall, Fraga believes the biggest asset of online racing is accessibility, which helps level the playing field and intensifies the quality.

“It's exciting and as competitive as the USF2000 races, but I can say that the level between competitors is more leveled in the sim racing,” he said. “Since it is more accessible, more people can spend more time practicing, achieving a very high level, differently from not only USF2000, but real racing in general, where there are many other factors that influence in the results, like budget, that dictates the amount of practice we can get in real motorsport.”

Fraga hopes to use the virtual championship as a springboard into a successful 2019 campaign, but he isn’t ready to leave 2018 in the rear-view mirror just yet.

“I would like to use this opportunity to thank everybody that has been part of my trajectory this year in some way,” he said. “Every experience that I’ve been through made me stronger for next year.”

Watch Fraga's emotional victory in the Nations Cup final here: