The $1,000,000 sim racing tournament is happening on (virtual) Las Vegas as the first big sim racing event endorsed by Formula E (and sponsored by Visa) sets to start. 10 sim racing players of rFactor 2 has been shortlisted to go up against 20 other Formula E drivers in he virtual track on the Las Vegas strip for a piece of the prize.
The Visa Vegas eRace is the first sim racing tournament to have such a big prize pool, and also to incorporate both gamers and pro racers to compete in a full virtual race.
The actual race is held at CES which is at Las Vegas. Instead of blocking parts of the strip and like any Formula E race, all the racing will be done in a recreation of sin city in rFactor 2. Here’s how the track looks like:
Introducing the @FIAFormulaE Las Vegas Strip Circuit for the Visa #VegaseRace, taking place at #CES2017 >> https://t.co/Ums2oPdVLG pic.twitter.com/z87BFjGy2n
— FIA Formula E (@FIAFormulaE) January 6, 2017
If you wish to catch the action live, the actual race will be streaming at 8am local time (+8GMT) on Twitch (on ELEAGUE’s channel) and on the Formula E website. Astro’s eGG will be broadcasting it live as well.
R U ready for the @FIAformulaE #VegaseRace? This US$1M prizepool tournament will be broadcast live on #eGGNetwork 8 Jan 8am(KUL) 11am(Syd) pic.twitter.com/qm5i1cG2SG
— eGG Network (@everygoodgame) January 5, 2017
Interestingly, there will be delayed broadcasts of the race on Fox Sports 3 and RTM TV 1. You can check the time here.
It will be interesting to see how professional drivers stack up with very good sim racing players in a racing sim. Should be a good deal of exposure. Who knows, maybe the future of motorsports do include racing games as e-sports?