Goodbye Formula Drift (sort of)
I stopped watching Formula Drift about 10 years ago after Forsberg crashed into Wang. I don't like Forsberg because he always appears to be immature and often unprofessional (such as the NOS IG post). I also never really liked how inconsistent FD was with judging/processes, especially in this case.
Make fun of me all you want but I enjoy LZ and was excited to see him compete in Formula Drift so I started watching the streams on YouTube again for him. Over time I've become dedicated again and was watching Pro Top 32 and Top 16, and occasionally Prospec Top 16. LZ was 100% responsible for getting me to watch Formula Drift events in full again and becoming invested in multiple drivers.
If I spent enough time on it I would've figured things out probably, but I'm always busy adulting and had limited patience trying to get the Top 16 to stream on my TV. Probably largely user error but Formula Drift also just really doesn't seem to be doing a good job handling the transition away from YouTube as I struggled to find instructions.
Formula Drift is entitled to make the business decisions they want, and hey, maybe this new streaming strategy is better for their bottom line, but there is no reason for Formula Drift to treat fans like idiots in the the YouTube Top 32 stream. Truly unbelievable for a "professional" organization to be so clueless. YouTube is ubiquitous for online video and Formula Drift should've 100% expected heavy dissatisfaction from this segment and prepared accordingly to gently encourage fans to try an alternative streaming option. Or just don't reply to these fans at all.
Anyways I'm done with Formula Drift.... again... sort of. I've mostly been skipping LZ's Formula Drift recap videos on YouTube because I'd see his runs live on Formula Drift's YouTube stream but moving forward I plan to depend on his Instagram/YouTube Formula Drift posts to see what happened. I'll also do the same for all my other favorite drivers who use these platforms. (Now how funny would it be if Formula Drift changed the rules to prohibit competitors from sharing official stream footage on their socials?)
/ rant