A list of dystopian things WipEout has predicted so far
F9000 League - The current state of Formula One, especially in the last three years.
The organizers of F1, including the FIA (Federation Internationale de l'Automobile) has become quite corrupt and immoral to the point where they allegedly bend rules and fix races in favor of Max Verstappen of Red Bull Racing and show the most favoritism towards him, and have an utter lack of transparency from behind the scenes.
This was exemplified on a number of occasions such as the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and the revelation of Red Bull violating the cost cap the year later, all for the sake of entertainment value, and likely as a conspiracy to prevent Lewis Hamilton from achieving his eighth championship title and breaking the record of Michael Schumacher in terms of championships, which he is on par with, which led to public opinion of the FIA turning rapidly against them.
In WipEout, however, this was depicted in the F9000 League where after Tigron took control of Qirex, they discovered that the former parent company, Overtel Corp. (comparable to Liberty Media, the owners of F1) were involved on a number of crimes, scandals and illegal activities, which then led to Tigron blackmailing them to bend the rules in their favor, which led to the numerous cases of race-fixing in the first half of the F9000's history.
Not surprising considering Tigron will do absolutely anything, even if it's by means of foul play (hence, their extremely violent tendencies and bloodthirsty habits of eliminating others) to achieve any shape or form of success. As a result, the closest F1 constructor that Tigron may reference is indeed, Red Bull Racing. (Ironically, Tigron's craft was called the "BULL-666".)
Comparisons can also be made with Omarr Khumala being similar to Max Verstappen and Sveta Kirovski being that of Sergio Perez, where it was once said that in Vohl Square, which was said to be Sveta Kirovski's home circuit in her native Russia, they actually favored Omarr Khumala more. This is also quite true where the folks at Red Bull seem to prioritize Verstappen more than Perez, especially when it comes to their team tactics, instead of allowing the both of them to try to win races at their own discretion.
It also took one major event for everything to go down the drain, in this case with F1, being the manipulation of the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, and in the F9000, the Temtesh Bay disaster.
This is not to say that a controversial event has rocked the F1 scenes for the first time; the early 90s can also be considered similar to the F9000 era, in terms of the level of danger from within the sport, and reached a tumultuous point during the deaths of Roland Ratzenberger and Ayrton Senna during qualifying and the actual race, respectively, during the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix.
During the same season, and after Ratzenberger and Senna's deaths, there were rumors of alleged cheating by the Benetton team, of which the eventual champion, Michael Schumacher, was racing for, due to perceived use of electronic driver assists, and was eventually fined and given a two-race ban after failing to provide the team's engine management software.
However, much later on, off-track action around Formula One circles have begun to spiral out of control, with news such as Lewis Hamilton's shock transfer from Mercedes to Ferrari, then drama behind the scenes at Red Bull. The press releases from WipEout Fusion also seem to be somewhat similar to this in some respect. It could likely be used as a form of distraction or mind conditioning from the reality of how the sport is actually being handled.
Some people are even beginning to suspect that the racing in F1 is somewhat scripted and engineered in such a way, in order to fuel the drama in the "Drive to Survive" show, which is, a reference to Overtel, being a mass media company, taking control of anti-gravity motorsports in order to generate exposure and spectacle.
The re-establishment of Icaras during the FX300 - Brexit.
It seems as though Great Britain had to break away from F.E.I.S.A.R. just for the purpose. It was also possible that Brexit has since been undone in the far future by the series' timeline, but the UK being one of F.E.I.S.A.R.'s member states in the early years of the history of anti-gravity motorsport was the exemplification of this. This might cause on-track friction (or lack thereof, as it's anti-gravity motorsports) between F.E.I.S.A.R. and Icaras for reasons yet unknown.
If anything, it's also possible that Germany also broke away from F.E.I.S.A.R. when Van-Uber was established in the F9000 League. Or it could be possible that F.E.I.S.A.R. doesn't cater to those European territories under the Schengen and/or Benelux zone.
Paris Hair - Blackpink.
By far the most horrible act in the music industry today, this K-pop girl group is known for its terrible songs with nonsensical lyrics (especially compared to other K-pop groups, and the global music industry in general), lazy performances, over-sexualization, untransparent members engaged or involved in otherwise shady and corrupt activities, as well as controversies including, but not limited to: blatant racism and cultural appropriation.
They are also known for their notoriously creepy, toxic and morally bankrupt fans who would send death threats and other such offensive things to just about anyone who criticizes them. The members are silent about this issue, as if condoning this behavior.
This was exemplified when Blinks (their fandom) consistently stalked and harassed an Instagram model named Allissa Shin, who was said to be a look-alike of one of the group's members, Rose, and was considered an enemy of the group due to Shin's uncanny resemblance to her, ultimately leading to an attempted attack on Shin through a stabbing.
As a result of this, Blackpink can be considered as a cult. Most of the cult surrounding Blackpink seems to revolve around the group's leader, Jennie, and also to an extent, Lisa.
The Paris Hair track in the FX300 League, while it was designed for the Omega DLC pack in WipEout Pure, may have foreshadowed Blackpink to such an extent, where at least three of the girls in the track's surroundings actually foreshadow and resemble some of the members, with the girl in the start section resembling Rose, followed by the girl in the second corner, just after exiting the mouth, resembling Lisa, and the girl in the split section, just before the finish line, resembling Jennie.
Another thing to take note of is that the track's color palette seems to match most of their music videos, most notably their worst song, "Ice Cream". It does actually sound shocking that WipEout eventually predicted the most notorious K-pop girl group in history. Blackpink surely sounds like something belonging to the F9000 League instead of the FX300.
Arc Prime - Orwellian surveillance and neo-totalitarian states.
The description of Arc Prime in WipEout Pulse depicts the track as a neo-totalitarian venue where nobody could seem to escape from the constant surveillance, and that the track's "fortified walls and secure network channels offer privacy at a price" (sic). Given the track is located in Seattle, it is a predominantly left-leaning state, which would have been the least unlikely venue in order to do something like this. But if it's anything with how democracy and the world order is played out in the universe of WipEout, it may not be entirely utopian in some parts of the world, even past the F9000's collapse.
This may also be a reference to how modern-day life in China is like, with constant surveillance operated and engineered by the Chinese Communist Party to monitor its citizens, not to mention their planned use of their "Social Credit System". Nowadays, the mention of "fortified walls and secure network channels" may actually reference VPNs (virtual private networks), and that VPN's within the area of Arc Prime can likely be considered a luxury to those who could afford it.
Basilico - Cancelation of sports and major events, especially due to viral outbreak.
In the description of Basilico in WipEout Pulse, it seems as though nobody is actually watching the race live, only to be replaced by digital spectator avatars due to a viral outbreak plaguing the track surroundings.
This is a reference to the outbreak of COVID-19 (2020-2023) having canceled many events and gatherings all over the world, and with many world governments going on lockdown to mitigate the spread of the virus. The spread and the virus' lethality has mostly dwindled down with the rise of vaccines, thus allowing the world to operate normally again, but as with the case of Basilico, this could prove to be a very risky proposition, especially due to the FX400 being a global motorsport series, where much later on, pilots, officials and race crew would have to travel to the next venue, and any risk of contracting the Basilico virus may be highly detrimental and the cause of a potential pandemic.
Any other dystopian things that WipEout predicted?
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Originally Posted by Amaroq Dricaldari
