It looks like eSports are becoming the new hot-topic in the virtual racing world as following Project CARS’ recent eSport announcement, Big Ben Interactive have announced a similar initiative for their upcoming WRC 5 title.
Like Project CARS, WRC 5 will join forces with the ESL to organize an official 2016 WRC eSport Championship:
Video game publisher and distributor Bigben Interactive, WRC Promoter, Kylotonn Games and the world???s largest esports company, ESL, are proud to announce the 2016 eSports WRC Championship, a global tournament using WRC 5, the official 2015 FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) game.
For the first time, an official esports championship will run online in parallel with each WRC round throughout the 2016 season.
The FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) is one of the most challenging motorsport adventures, which pits drivers and production-based cars against some of the toughest and most varied conditions on the planet. WRC 5 naturally becomes the perfect link between drivers and players, between real rallies and virtual driving, encapsulating the excitement generated by these two different worlds. The eSports WRC Championship will begin alongside the 2016 WRC season in January and more details about the competition will be announced in the coming weeks.
???A great online experience is one of the most requested features expected by WRC fans. We spent a lot of time thinking about something new and really exciting for them??? says Alain Jarniou, Game Director of WRC 5. ???Esports is growing really fast year after year, but there are only a few motorsport games which propose an exciting online competition. We really think that WRC esports will be the best challenge ever seen for a motorsport game and for rally fans.??? concludes Alain Jarniou.
???We???re very excited at ESL to integrate such an exciting motorsport game into our esports ecosystem,??? said Samy Ouerfelli, Managing Director of ESL France. ???The official eSports WRC Championship is sure to be filled with the best of motorsport esports, as fans around the world rally behind not just the online competition, but also its real life counterpart.???
WRC 5 will be available in Germany, France and Belgium on October 9 with the world-wide release following a week later.
Buyers who want to settle for a virtual copy can start purchasing WRC 5 on Steam, Xbox Live and the Playstation Network on October 9, regardless of their location.
The title can now be??pre-ordered here.
