The world of eSports has seen exponential growth as of late, becoming the de facto standard in representing the fierce competition available in some of the most popular gaming franchises currently available. That environment now has to contend with the first virtual championship of the FIA Formula E — the Race Off Pro Series, and it’s coming to Forza Motorsport 6.
Partnering with Microsoft and Turn 10 to bring this project to the virtual world, the championship series will consist of at least 4 rounds, and will serve as a preview of things to come for the real on-track action ahead of the Formula E series races in Long Beach, Paris, Berlin and London.
The partnership is a natural one, considering Forza Motorsport 6 is currently the only racing game available with the full ensemble of Formula E racers, and is fitting for the head-to-head online competition that’s likely to take place.
“Competitive gaming is at the heart of Forza and we are always working to innovate in the growing arena of eSports by engaging automotive and gaming enthusiasts in this new type of motorsport,” said Dan Greenawalt, creative director of Turn 10 Studios. “Forza Motorsport 6 is a natural fit for this partnership with Formula E.”
The first event begins Friday, March 24th with a Rivals event putting entrants behind the wheel of a stock Formula E car, and are tasked with setting the fastest lap around the Long Beach East circuit. The fastest 10 from each of the time trial events will then be invited to compete in the live Pro Series final, held in an online lobby and live-streamed by the ESL the morning of each race.
The top two from each Pro Series final event taking course over the four rounds will then be invited Battersea Park in London, all expenses paid, where they will compete against one another in the Race Off Pro Championship, with a €15,000 ($16,872 USD) prize fund as well as other prizes up for grabs for the winner.
The full schedule of the four round championship is as follows:
- Round 1 – Time trials: March 24 to March 31, Final: April 2
- Round 2 – Time trials: April 14 to April 21, Final: April 23
- Round 3 – May 12 to May 19, Final: May 21
- Round 4 – May 26 to June 2, Final: June 4
- Grand Finale – July 2 to July 3
Time-trials open 12PM GMT and close 11:59PM.
Make sure to keep an eye on the Formula E Race Off page for more on the competition as it becomes available, and remember to stop by our Forza Motorsport 6 section in the forum for further discussion on this exciting competition.
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Forza beating GT to the punch again with organized FIA e-sports. Hopefully this is live broadcast with commentary, I’d watch it for sure. Hopefully a GTP’er or two makes it to the finals!!
I thought it was coming first to the GT series since their sounds should be easy to mimic with vacuum cleaners.
Forza will just copy the vacuum sounds from GT just like everything else except handling. Forza will stick to Need For Speed for that.
I remember when I use to believe anti Forza propaganda.
@GT5 Level 41 come on, Forza car rooster is better than GT’s; agree on the handling but at least their fans doesn’t feel abandoned like the GT ones. Although Horizon is not a Turn 10 product I was expecting Driveclub might fill that void in PS but now Sony decided to close it.
Gotta laugh at people like GT5 level41 – seems some still live in the past and cant see through the fanboy glass
Being one (more like was one) i jumped wagon on Forza and it was best decision – Forza has bad handlong? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA – sorry kids,but you either deluded or never driven cars in RL – GT not even close to Forza here,just like anywhere else,Forza is so far ahead of GT that i have big doubts that PD ever manages to close this gap.And now Forza being released on PC just makes things better.
Electric cars, especially in a video game are totally not interesting for me!
Looks like formula-e-sports are on the rise now!
I’ll see myself out.