With each passing year, the line between simulation and real-life blurs. GT Academy has been grooming serious talent for a faintly-believable seven years already (just count the successes here), while many professional racers are regularly known to bring their own sims to race weekends to practice. One of those drivers is none other than René Rast, who helped pilot the Audi R18 e-tron to 7th at this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans race. During the race weekend, Rast could regularly be caught practising on his sim of choice, Project CARS.
Playing project cars to warm up here in Le Mans 👍 pic.twitter.com/37tADvjzk1
— René Rast (@ReneRastRacing) June 10, 2015
Now Project CARS players can make the jump to professionals status too, though not in quite the same manner as Sony and Nissan’s program. To complement the existing lineup of Multiplayer features – including the ongoing SMS-R Driver Network Championship series – Slightly Mad Studios has paired up with the Electronic Sports League to bring dedicated eSports events to the fanbase.
Things got underway earlier this month with the ESL Kick Off Cups, with more events scheduled from now until right into 2016. The Kick Off Cups continue this weekend and next, setting up October’s Go4 series of tournaments, where players will be able to win weekly prizes of €50, and a grand final at the end of the month worth triple that. More details on the Kick Off Cup are available on the ESL website.
Racers in the UK looking to witness the competition live are in luck, as the third event will be shown at EGX 2015 (the UK’s biggest gaming convention) on the final day of the show, Sunday the 27th. As of this moment, tickets are still available, but levels are low. The stage will play host to live races each day throughout the show, with various prizes up for grabs, while SMS and ESL will have a full Twitch broadcast setup there for those unable to witness the event in person.
![PCARS-Formula-A-by-[Nor]MclarenF1](https://www.gtplanet.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/PCARS-Formula-A-by-NorMclarenF1-638x359.jpg)
Like what you see? Head over to our Project CARS forum to join in on the in-depth discussion!
Project CARS Photomode images by taz and [Nor]MclarenF1.
See more articles on Online Competitions, Project CARS, and Project CARS Tournament.
I’m glad to see the realm of sim racing as a whole expanding into more competitive waters. Giving more people more ways to tear up the track against one another is always a plus.
Who’s Kyle P.?
Kyle Petty. Isn’t it obvious?
The person who wrote this piece – and several others dating back to 2011.
>esports
>1v1
what a joke.
>esports
>not csgo
what a joke.
JK this sounds really interesting. As far as I’m concerned it’s the first realistic auto racing game to be played competitively. I would look into it.
Err… okay now, P CARS is a really nice racing game. But realistic? Then so is Gran Turismo and Forza. And as I posted on another forum, as much as I like this game, I consider it a similar flavor of simulation alongside GT and Forza. This is a good thing, because as iron sharpens iron – people saying competition inspires devs like T10, SMS and PD to aim higher – having these games on console together will inspire each developer to improve their game. This is what people say has already happened to Forza.
And Simply Mad needs to up their game for P CARS, because I expected a LOT more from this game the way the fans absolutely wet themselves over it.
Realistic in the way that it’s relatively accessible to both casual and highly hardcore audiences, while Gran Turismo and Forza are focused less on the gameplay aspects of the game (graphics and ingame experience/authenticity) and more on the fun parts that you establish over a period of time. PCARS doesn’t have extensive and personalized customization options like GT or Forza, but instead it has a highly competitive class-racing environment that mirrors real life situations rather well.
the game is literally broken, i would have expected iracing not invisible wall simulator 2015.
@TenD, how well do you manage your tire temperatures, brake duct openings, bump stops, caster, slow and fast damper rebound, slow and fast rebound bump, brake mapping, steering ratios etc in GT6 (don’t have Forza and don’t know what tuning options it has)?
I’ve heard slot of these stories of how esports has been televised on espn and how it should become an Olympic sport. Video games should never be considered “sports”.
It’s not about video games, it’s about humans competing against each other. ‘Video game’ is just a tool. Like ball or stone.