Imagine living every boy’s dream, growing up to make a living playing video games or driving race cars.
For Ian Porter, he doesn’t have to imagine – beginning with the 2024 Porsche Sprint Challenge North America presented by Yokohama, the RAFA Racing by JDX driver has done both.
In Porter’s previous life, he was known by his gamer tag of Crimsix. Porter began his professional life playing Halo in Major League Gaming. When the series dropped Halo, Porter made the previously unheard-of switch to a new game, Call of Duty. That’s essentially the esports equivalent of moving from road racing to dirt ovals.
Porter and his respective teams captured World Championships in 2014, 2017, and 2020, with Porter earning World Championship MVP honors in the 2020 season and a 2015 X Games gold medal. His 38 tournament wins make him the winningest player in Call of Duty history.
But by 2022, Porter had been in the first-person shooter world for 13 years – since he was 15. He was ready for a new challenge. And like anyone who had already lived one dream, that started with an important question – what was he passionate about?
Porter had acquired a sports car for the street and had become especially fond of Porsches. He began attending track day events, where he met up with the team at RAFA Racing, which sent him down a new career path.
With the RAFA Racing Team and Grid Finder backing him, Porter began training for a season that required him to “touch grass” outside instead of on the computer. Porter underwent rigorous pre-season physical and mental training with RAFA Racing, dropping 30 pounds as he got into race shape.
The results were immediate. He swept the opening weekend at Sebring in the Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport but fell in the second weekend at Barber to the more experienced Chloe Chambers.
He showed his progression later in the series when he topped Chambers and the rest of the field at Road America in her return, giving him nine wins in 12 races to open his career in Cayman Pro-Am and giving him a stronghold on the championship with just two races at Sonoma to go.
“The season has gone really well,” Porter said.
“Coming into it, I had no idea how fast I was. I’d never even timed any laps. Barber was a big hurdle. I got second, but during the test day my times were not fast. To come out and barely lose to Chloe and then win the next two at COTA was crazy.
“COTA was the turning point. Now, the expectation was to win every race. Considering where I was before the season started, it was a massive achievement.”
For good measure, he also won the class in the Porsche Endurance Challenge, driving solo against pros.
Even for Porter, who sets his expectations high, this season has exceeded his expectations. The work “IRL” (as the gamers say) and on the sim have merged to make him better at both.
“I think I’m significantly better than I was at the start of the season,” Porter said.
“There are a lot of things that I learned in real life that helped in the sim, and vice versa. I’m probably half a second quicker in general than I was a few months ago.”
Racing with RAFA Racing by JDX and now reunited with his old esports team, OpTic Gaming, he’s filling his time creating content online and improving daily.
None of that takes away from his ultimate goal, which is utilizing Porsche Sprint Challenge to launch a career in motorsports that takes him to the top.
“This Porsche Sprint Challenge season has been a significant step,” Porter says confidently.
“Its my first year racing and to come out and win a whole bunch of races, its setting me on the right path for what I want to do moving forward.”
Neither Porter nor his hundreds of thousands of social media followers have any doubts he’ll continue to succeed, both in his short-term goal to clinch the Porsche Sprint Challenge Cayman Pro-Am title and beyond.
