► Uses Assetto Corsa and bespoke V10-powered car
► £100,000 prize fund
► Shown on BT Sport 2
Racing with real V10s may be a thing of the past, but that hasn’t stopped the V10 R-League, a newEsports series that aims to bring ten-cylinder racing back – albeit virtually. Created by Gfinity and Abu Dhabi Motorsport Management, it’ll will be one of the most widely distributed Esports leagues when it begins next week.
Viewers in the UK and Ireland will be able to catch the first episode live and season thereafter over on BT Sport 2, ESPN will cover the first two seasons for pretty much everywhere else. Those not subscribed to BT Sport will be able to watch the racing for free the following day.
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‘Lockdown has demonstrated a huge appetite for virtual motorsport, and we are delighted to expand our innovative work with Gfinity to bring this exciting new sim racing format to UK fans exclusively to BT Sport subscribers on Mondays and free to all online the next morning.’ said Simon Green, head of BT Sport.
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Regardless of where it’s being shown, the V10 R-League will only be successful with a decent field of drivers and team, along with an exciting car to race; thankfully it seems to have both.
The inaugural season of the V10 R-League will feature some of the motorsport world’s most popular Esports teams: BMW’s M Motorsport SIM Racing Team and Porsche24 Redline will form a grid alongside Ford’s Team Fordzilla, the Williams Esports team, YAS HEAT, JAESA Team Suzuki and the BWT Racing Point Esports team. Quite a few of those will already be familiar to racing and Esports fans.
What about the car?
Teams will use a full racing rigs with a copy of Assetto Corsa and race the GRS-1, a virtual, reimagined take on a contemporary V10-engined Formula One car. Weighing 700kg, capable of 220mph and powered by a 900hp virtual V10, organisers hope it’ll bring about close, exciting racing.
The cars will be identical, but it’s likely teams will be able to set them up as they wish.
The GRS-1 bears a strong resemblance to F1’s 2022 regulation cars, but also seems to pick and choose elements from several other ‘future-F1’ concepts, including one of Ferrari’s. Either way, the result is impressive.
There’ll be four matches between two teams every week, and each will consist of three race challenges on different tracks. That makes 12 short races a week in total, for a final prize of £100,000.