There’s barely a moment to breathe in the life of Henrik Christian Drue. Based in Kolding, cloistered in Denmark’s network of fjords, Drue is a radiologist and surgeon by day and one of the world’s fastest gamers by night. During the few hours of spare time he can find, he sits down to play mobile racing game Gear.Club and he managed to catch the eye of McLaren by doing so. Drue was selected as one of the 12 finalists for the Formula 1 constructor’s ‘World’s Fastest Gamer’ competition. In other words, the surgeon was competing to become McLaren’s simulator driver and bag himself arguably the most exciting job opportunity in esports. Despite downloading Gear.Club just five days before qualification, Drue dominated the competition to make the cut. He defeated 26,000 fellow gamers and won with a remarkable margin of 4.8 seconds having practiced on his tablet during evenings. All that and Drue doesn’t own a games console or a gaming computer. “I’m not a gamer in the tradition sense - I don’t own a PlayStation, Xbox or a computer. I’m a bit different,” he told McLaren back in October. It certainly hasn’t fazed him, though, and those choice hours of practice quickly became very effective – seeing him rub shoulders with gamers of far more experience.

Although his job and family life ensures time comes at a premium, the skills of focus and execution under pressure have transferred from the operating theatre to the virtual cockpit. Drue cites the constant focus that envelops him and ensures absolute concentration until the chequered flag. The Dane reflected: “The moves, the judgments you make have consequences. You need to be focused all the time.” Gear.Club was the chosen game for the mobile cohort of McLaren’s competition and with good reason. The brainchild of French developer Eden Games, the free app blends the adrenaline rush of closely contested races with the fine details of the car industry as shown by simulated aerodynamics and engines. During the qualifying campaign, Gear.Club received in excess of 600,000 downloads and 6.5 million in total since its release. Moreover, the unveiling of an ‘Unlimited’ console version has opened up the market to new gamers eyeing esport success. Gamers compete to upgrade their cars, improve performance during races and make the delicate alterations to shed those crucial seconds. Drue told GiveMeSport: "Competing in Gear.Club, or any other sim racing game for that matter, helps one understand driving technique - how to choose the optimal racing line, attacking the different phases of a corner correctly and how to prioritise corners for one's greatest advantage. "Furthermore, Gear.Club helps improve your senses when driving. Even if you lack the tactile feeling when over- and understeering or engaging curbs to aggressively, you learn to sharpen your reactions in order to react and recover when necessary." It has allowed unlikely gamers such as Drue to walk through the halls of McLaren with skills refined in their own home and on their mobile. Such is the authentic nature of the game, McLaren’s top drivers Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne can reap the benefits from the time put in by the likes of Drue.