eSports WRC Championship battle begins at Rallye Monte-CarloVideo game tournament runs parallel to WRC ralliesGamers fight for place in glittering season finale in Britain
Top gamers will begin their campaign for the inaugural eSports WRC Championship title during next week’s Rallye Monte-Carlo (21 - 24 January).
The excitement of the action on France’s treacherous Alpine mountain roads in the opening round of the 2016 FIA World Rally Championship will be matched by the fierce competition on global game consoles.
The battle for the eSports world title will be played out on WRC 5, the WRC’s official video game. It is the first rally / racing game to feature its own global eSports championship, allowing gamers to compete in multi-player tournaments run simultaneously with WRC rounds.
It will bring the best WRC 5 drivers together for a tournament that starts next week and continues until the world champions are crowned on-event at Wales Rally GB (27 - 30 October).
The eSports WRC season is split into two halves, with separate categories for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC players. Each half has five tension-filled qualifying rounds and a semi-final held at the same time as WRC events, with the three top drivers on each platform invited to the final.
It will use special stages new to WRC 5 from the rally concerned. The Monte-Carlo round will use the La Salle en Beaumont - Corps test, which players have been downloading since December for practice.
The eSports rally weekend will comprise four days of action-packed competition from Thursday to Sunday. Players will have one opportunity each day to record their best time and claim a semi-final place.
The tournament is organised by WRC Promoter, WRC 5 publisher Bigben Interactive and developer Kylotonn Games, in conjunction with ESL, the world’s largest eSports company.
“The response from the gaming community since we announced the eSports WRC Championship in December has been overwhelming,” said WRC Promoter managing director Oliver Ciesla.
“The hot atmosphere and pressure felt by drivers in the cockpit of a World Rally Car will be replicated by gamers at the controls of their consoles. They, too, will be fighting for the tenths of a second that make the difference between winning a world title and being an also-ran.”
WRC 5 allows players to drive 78 different special stages, six each from 2015’s 13 rounds of motorsport’s toughest championship for production-based cars. They include classics such as Argentina’s El Condor, the legendary Ouninpohja in Finland and Britain’s Hafren.
Gamers can choose from 20 World Rally Car drivers, including star names such as world champion Sébastien Ogier, Kris Meeke, Thierry Neuville and Robert Kubica.
Volkswagen Motorsport, Citroën Total Abu Dhabi World Rally Team, Hyundai Motorsport and M-Sport World Rally Team are all represented with their World Rally Cars displayed in 2015 liveries.
