This reminds me of the idea of the "ghost" competition in many popular video games. I first encountered it in the original Mario Kart back in 1996: You could race around a track and then do it again, competing against a recorded, "ghost," version of yourself. Competing against your ghost or that of a world-ranked competitor is now a pretty common thing in many games. It reminds me of how game innovations have constantly pioneered techniques that are transforming how we view, and play, real-world sports