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ESL R1 is the newest esports tournament coming from the well-known tournament organiser, ESL. The races themselves will be played on RENNSPORT, an upcoming sim racing esports game that ‘bridges the gap to professional virtual racing esports’ (as claimed by the ESL R1 organisers).
The sim racing genre is already filled with dozens of incredible sim racing games, including Assetto Corsa, Assetto Corsa Competizione, iRacing, rFactor 2, Automobilista 2, and more. However, RENNSPORT promises to bring something new to the table, so let’s take a look at what we know about it.
RENNSPORT is a new racing simulation game developed by Competition Company GmbH that consists of two main teams in two countries — Poland and Germany, as well as numerous team members from all over Europe.
Although RENNSPORT is being developed for PC, the devs have mentioned the possibility of introducing the game to consoles as well. There have also been talks of adding VR support, but it's unknown whether this feature will be present on release.
The game is also being created with esports in mind, so it is expected that the multiplayer aspect of the game will be at a high level, especially considering the presence of sim racing streams on Twitch and YouTube.
RENNSPORT is currently in its Closed Beta phase, where it will remain for a couple more months. If you want to get in the queue and sign up for the Closed Beta, be sure to visit the official ESL R1 RENNSPORT website.
Alternatively, you can wait until they announce the Open Beta, at which point nearly everyone will be able to get in on the action.
The first season of the ESL R1 esports tournament will feature 12 teams in total; eight of which are official partner teams, while four are wild cards. Here’s the complete breakdown of the teams and their chosen cars:
Only a few drivers have been announced to date, which doesn’t help a lot in determining the favourites. This might be problematic for punters who are looking to cash in their bonus betting on ESL R1 races, but things will change once we get a more complete look into the field.
Currently, the main team to watch is Team R8G Esports. After the first event in Katowice, they are marked in first place with 234 points on the Spring Season Team Standings Leaderboard. Their closest rival, Mouz, placed 2nd with 210 points, and closely behind is Apex Racing Team with 171 points in total.
The team championship is shaping up nicely 👀@MercedesF1Esp took a big jump up the ladder, but no one managed to knock @r8gesports off the top 😤 pic.twitter.com/dEDz8z8cpQ — ESL R1 (@esl_r1) February 12, 2023
The team championship is shaping up nicely 👀@MercedesF1Esp took a big jump up the ladder, but no one managed to knock @r8gesports off the top 😤 pic.twitter.com/dEDz8z8cpQ
— ESL R1 (@esl_r1) February 12, 2023
At the moment, these three are definitely the strongest of the bunch but things may change once the ball gets rolling.
The ESL R1 tournament will feature €500,000 in prize pool money that the teams and players will compete for over the course of almost four months. As for the tournament format itself, here’s what it looks like:
Here’s a quick breakdown of when the rounds will be held:
We believe that the esports ecosystem can only get better and more flexible with the addition of new games. While sim racing in particular has had an interesting appearance on the grand stage, it still hasn’t reached the heights necessary to be considered one of the leading game genres in esports.
The Future of Virtual Racing is here and it is called ESL R1 🏁 🔴🔴🔴🔴⚫️ Lights off at IEM Expo Katowice. See you very soon pic.twitter.com/RkuqxOoUoV — ESL R1 (@esl_r1) January 23, 2023
The Future of Virtual Racing is here and it is called ESL R1 🏁
🔴🔴🔴🔴⚫️ Lights off at IEM Expo Katowice. See you very soon pic.twitter.com/RkuqxOoUoV
— ESL R1 (@esl_r1) January 23, 2023
Nonetheless, its viewership numbers are growing, and with the activity of real-life champs such as Max Verstappen being more involved in the scene, there’s no doubt that sim racing will become even more popular with time.
The ESL R1 racing tournament is an attempt to revitalise and promote sim racing to the wider masses in an accessible and easy-going way. The developers claim that your gaming experience with RENNSPORT will be the same as the experience the esports pros are having.
While there is no way to confirm or deny this at the time (seeing how the game isn’t out yet and the ESL R1 esports season hasn’t started either), it is an interesting shift in perspective. We’re also excited to see how RENNSPORT compares to iRacing and its dominance in the sim racing esports scene.
It’s quite difficult to compare RENNSPORT to other sim racing games, primarily because not enough is known yet to make this distinction. What we do know is that RENNSPORT will feature a bespoke physics model but it’s hard to say how different it is from other games’ models.
For instance, iRacing does an excellent job with tyre behaviour and overall vehicle physics, but some players prefer Assetto Corsa’s approach. While both games are superb in this regard there are subtle differences between the two.
On top of that, iRacing is the absolute leader in sim racing esports, so RENNSPORT has quite the job ahead of it. Regardless, there’s no doubt that RENNSPORT, if successful, will bring even more people into the world of sim racing.
The ESL R1 championship is an exciting one to anticipate and probably even better to watch live. We’re very close to the start of the first few races of the tournament, so buckle up because the lights will soon go off and the drivers will begin their heroic new careers!
RENNSPORT is an in-development sim racing game that’s set to be released at some point in 2023 or 2024. The game is currently in a Closed Beta state, meaning only people who apply and are approved can get in on the action.
You can sign up for the Closed Beta by visiting the official ESL R1 RENNSPORT website.
The first two rounds of ESL R1 begin on the 11th and 12th of February, respectively. After that, there’ll be two to three rounds per month before the Spring Major arrives in the final week of May.
The ESL R1 features €500,000 in prize pool money. It is currently unknown how this amount will be distributed among the teams.
ESL R1’s inaugural season will feature 12 teams (with four drivers each) racing against each other throughout a three to four month period. Only the best 24 drivers will advance to the ESL R1 2023 Spring Major, where they will race in an attempt to come out on top and win the first season of the ESL R1 esports championship!
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