505 Games and developer KUNOS Simulazioni are honored to announce Assetto Corsa Competizione, the flagship racing series has been selected as the official game of the 2022 FIA Motorsport Games’ esports competition.

Taking place from October 26th and 30th 2022, Assetto Corsa Competizione will allow GT fans to experience another level of cutting-edge esports racing across 17 disciplines in ACC’s roster of GT3 vehicles.

The FIA Motorsport Games challenges the world’s best esports competitors to compete in GT, GT Sprint, and Endurance disciplines to become the annual champion of the sim racing space and marks the first time Assetto Corsa Competizione has headlined the event.

ACC’s move into the FIA Motorsports Games coincides with today’s release of the American Track Pack DLC on PC via Steam, featuring renowned US speedways for the first time in series history, each laser-scanned and rendered for absolute accuracy. Watkins Glen, Indianapolis, and Circuit of the Americas (COTA), host of Formula 1’s United States Grand Prix all feature. Players can also customize vehicles with new liveries. The DLC debuts today on PC for $17.99 USD.

Assetto Corsa Competizione is available on PC via Steam, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One.

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Polyphony Digital Inc., the maker of Gran Turismo and the FIA, have announced that the ‘FIA Certified Gran Turismo Championships’ 2021 Series will begin on Wednesday, 21st April 2021.

All of the 2021 action will take place online, with the fastest competitors having a chance to showcase their talents during some special broadcasts throughout the year.

The FIA Certified Gran Turismo Championships is where Esports meets motor sport creating ultra-realistic and exciting racing within Gran Turismo Sport. Created in conjunction with the governing body of world motor sport, the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), the championships began in 2018 and are open to anyone (over 18 and from a participating country) with a copy of the game and a PS Plus subscription.

Players can enter two different series: the Nations Cup is an individual competition with players competing on behalf of their countries; in the Manufacturer Series, players compete on behalf of their chosen manufacturer.

The winners of both are honoured each year at the FIA Prize Giving Ceremony alongside the champions of real-world motor sport. Last year, a dominant season by Japanese racer Takuma Miyazono saw him crowned Nations Cup Champion as well as being part of the victorious Team Subaru in the Manufacturer Series alongside Mikail Hizal (TUR) and Daniel Solis (USA).

Following an exciting World Tour event in Sydney, the remainder of the 2020 action took place online, with some fiercely contested Regional Finals preceding a stunning three-day World Finals event. The FIA Certified Gran Turismo Championships achieved significant growth with over two million race entries from more than 159,000 competitors. There were 120 million views of championship content on our own channels with followers growing by almost half-a-million people. The scene is set for an even more exciting 2021 season that comprises the following elements:

ONLINE STAGE 1 – runs from 21 April and concludes on 26 June 2021. Competitors from around the world will race online over 10 rounds of the Manufacturer Series (taking place on Wednesdays) and 10 rounds of the Nations Cup (on Saturdays).

‘WORLD SERIES’ 1 & 2 – this period will also see the global top 16 Nations Cup and top 12 Manufacturer Series competitors (initially selected from the 2020 World Finals) taking part in two new ‘World Series’ events that will be broadcast on Sunday, 6 June and Sunday, 11 July 2021 respectively.

‘WORLD SERIES SHOWDOWN’ – The end of Online Stage 1 gives a chance to its best 16 Nations Cup competitors to challenge for a place in the World Series and World Finals against the 16 elite players who contested the first two World Series events. At the same time, team duties will return for the Manufacturer Series with 12 teams of three racers contesting their ‘Showdown’ with World Finals points at stake. The Manufacturer Series World Series Showdown will be broadcast on Saturday, 21 August and the Nations Cup on Sunday, 22 August 2021.

ONLINE STAGE 2 – Running from 7 July until 25 September 2021 a further 10 rounds each for the Nations Cup and Manufacturer Series provide a chance for competitors to win their place in December’s World Finals.

‘WORLD SERIES’ 3 & 4 – A new-look elite group of players will contest two more race events set to be broadcast on 3 October and 14 November 2021.

WORLD FINALS – Three days of World Finals will be broadcast on Friday 3, Saturday 4 and Sunday 5 December 2021. Friday features the support series, Toyota Gazoo Racing GT Cup. Saturday’s Manufacturer Series final will again see 12 manufacturer teams of three drivers contesting a series of races. Sunday’s finale will be the Nations Cup World Final with the 16 established World Series competitors challenged by 16 new racers who have won their place in Online Stage 2.

“Due to the effect of Covid-19, we are missing the atmosphere of our World Series Events and the opportunity to meet our wonderful competitors directly, but we’re lucky that we can still test new ideas and continue to grow the FIA Certified Gran Turismo Championships even in this online environment,” explains Gran Turismo creator Kazunori Yamauchi.

“We’re excited by the new format for the series this year and, with new developments in our broadcast production integrating new technologies, we are certain that we can show everyone even more exciting racing action. While we are looking forward to getting back to meeting up with competitors and audiences in person, we feel it is right to keep the Championships purely online in 2021. I wish all of the fantastic competitors who will win their way through a competition involving several million people, both those that we already know in person and those that will be up and coming this year, the best of luck, and thanks for their continued support.

“I’m convinced that we will see some breath-taking, high-level racing again this year.”

The FIA’s Deputy President for Sport, Graham Stoker, said: “We are entering the fourth year of a very strong relationship with Gran Turismo and it has been such a success. Digital Motor Sport has come to the fore during the pandemic, and it was great to see so many competitors taking part in the Championships last year and to watch such an exciting World Finals. With previous winners from Brazil and Germany joined by last year’s winner from Japan, this is proving to be a truly global series.”

Anna Nordkvist, FIA Digital Motor Sport Commission President, added: “Aware of the need to bring the discipline’s stakeholders together in an ecosystem that benefits everyone, the FIA has worked on a strategic plan for Digital Motor Sport, which aims to promote its inherent qualities, namely mass participation, diversity, its affordability and its potential to drive interest in motor sport and become a grassroots discipline in its own right. The FIA Certified Gran Turismo Championships are one of the key assets of this strategy and we strongly believe that the future is bright for this form of racing!”

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With all the glitz of the Formula One Championship circus, the FIA’s most curious motorsports competition, the FIA Certified Gran Turismo Championships,rolled into Sydney last weekend on the first leg of the 2020 world tour.

Sydney’s iconic Luna Park hosted 50 drivers from 18 different countries. The park’s Big Top venue set the stage for the third year of the FIA Gran Turismo Championships. Attending the event was a president of Motorsport Australia, Andrew Papadopoulos, who was joined by Kazunori Yamauchi, the CEO of Polyphony Digital and creator of the Gran Turismo games.

The PlayStation 4’s premier motorsports game, Gran Turismo Sport is nearly three-years-old. Released to so-so reviews, with players complaining of lack of content, the game has gone from strength-to-strength, adding a single-player career mode to what was always intended to be a multiplayer-focused experience.As yet, the fidelity of the game’s visuals and car physics engine has yet to be beaten by any other racing game.

Gran Turismo Sport is the only racing game to be certified by the international motorsport governing body, the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile, better known as the FIA. These are the same guys that keep Formula One in check. For a videogame to have this accolade is a big deal. Players competing online, at home, on their PlayStation 4s, are effectively seeding themselves and part of a global championship tournament.

With the entry price for a seat in a real racing car getting prohibitively expensive, motorsport risks becoming nothing more than a load of moderately skilled, entitled rich kids smashing up other people’s cars. Gran Turismo Sport players around the world all have the opportunity to prove themselves and rise to become champions, with just a PS4 and a copy of the game.

The FIA and the likes of F1 world champion, Louis Hamilton, as well as a number of manufacturers have all added their weight to the Gran Turismo franchise’s world championship. As esports go, you really can’t get more legitimate than this.

PlayStation AU and Polyphony Digital invited Shane the Gamer along to an exclusive press preview of the weekend’s events. I met the drivers and competed in a special Pro-Am race on a digital recreation of Australia’s famous Mount Panorama circuit.

I was teamed up with Perth driver, Connor Healy. Managing a dire 12th place (out of twelve cars) in qualifying, I remembered just how unforgiving Gran Turismo Sport can be. It’s a game the needs to be driven as you would in real life. It has no time for heroics, the cars having a very realistic mass and velocity that take more than just slamming on the anchors to pull though the bends. The Bathurst circuit’s, Murray’s Corner continued to be the thorn in my side that I’ve struggled with since Codemasters’ TOCA Touring Cars games. For the five-lap race at least the first two laps had to be raced by the journalist member of each Pro-Am team. After my two laps, as per the rules, I pitted in, having gained two places to 10^th. Conner’s expert driving not only closed the huge gap I’d created between our car and the cars in front,he also gained another place, with our team finishing 9th.

The Gran Turismo Championship is the perfect spectator esport, not only are the races thrilling, the game’s graphics are virtually photoreal. With incredible visuals, along with live commentary, it was like watching actual life motor-racing on a big screen. The only thing giving the game away was the rows of drivers sitting in front of monitors, using top-end Thrustmaster racing wheel and pedal sets, instead of sitting in an actual racing car.

During the Friday session, the drivers competed in qualifying races to determine the grid positions for the weekend’s races. As with previous years, the 2020 tournament had the drivers competing in both the Nations Cup and a Manufacturer Series, where teams representing 12 manufacturers, from Hyundai to Aston Martin battle for the podium.

This year, it was Japan’s Takuma Miyazonowho took first place in the Sydney Nations Cup Final with Australian, Cody Nikola Latkovski, in second and Hong Kong’s Jonathan Wong in third place. The BMW team, consisting of drivers from Spain, Chile and the US came first, with Porsche in second place and Lexus third.

It’s great to see premium esports events such as this in our corner of the world, with Australian residents invited to come and watch the two-day event, live, for free.

STG (shanethegamer.com) would like to thank PlayStation Australia and Polyphony Digital for giving us a glimpse into the incredible world of the FIA Certified Gran Turismo Championships.

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The FIA Certified Gran Turismo Championships arrive in Sydney on Saturday, 15th and Sunday, 16th February, 2020.

The Gran Turismo World Tour Sydney event is the first of the 2020 season and will take place at the Big Top in Luna Park in front of a live audience and the TV cameras that will broadcast the spectacular racing around the world.

Fifty of the world’s fastest Gran Turismo racers will fly in from Europe, North and South America, Asia and New Zealand to join some home-grown talent in two competitions – the Manufacturer Series, that pits 12 teams of three representing different manufacturers against each other, and the Nations Cup, an individual competition with 24 players representing their respective countries.

Australian hopes will ride high with regular front-runner Cody Nikola Latkovski having finished second in both the Nations Cup and Manufacturer Series at the 2019 World Finals in Monaco in December. Latkovski will be joined at the Sydney event by former GT Academy winner Matt Simmons and World Tour-regular Adam Wilk.

An esport–motorsport hybrid, the FIA Certified Gran Turismo Championships is entering its third year in 2020 and continues to grow in popularity. The exciting racing is played out on racing seats on stage equipped with the PlayStation PS4 Pro and the Gran Turismo Sport game, with the action shown to a live audience on a huge screen and broadcast around the world on YouTube and Facebook.

Within one evening, the audience can be transported from watching formula cars racing around Interlagos in Brazil, to exotic concept cars on a street circuit in Tokyo or perfect recreations of Group 3 race cars on Bathurst’s Mount Panorama.

Tickets for the Luna Park Sydney event, which will run from 16.00 to 18.30 on both Saturday, 15th and Sunday, 16th February 2020, are being offered free of charge via the official Gran Turismo website.

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Still riding high from his 2018 EP Cali Vibes, Brazillian EDM producer FTampa is back with his new track, F.i.A – a club orientated track that will inevitably propel him right to the top of the EDM scene once again.

Following the success of Lakers earlier this year, F.i.A comes as part of a sequence of club releases for Ftampa. Starting off with a cross-pollination of high octane synth structures before escalating at a throttling pace, F.i.A, gathers momentum throughout whilst warping vocals to ‘boom’ the big room. With his inspiration often drawing on his musical upbringing and past, FTampa channels both creativity and emotion through every layer of the track to create yet another ultimate club track.

With 10 years creating music under his belt, FTampa’s career broke in 2012 when EDM legend, Hardwell dropped Kick It Hard on the Tomorrowland mainstage. Today, FTampa is the owner of a unique sound whose iconic production has filled the most sought-after stage spots at Rock in Rio Las Vegas, Tomorrowland Brasil, Lollapalooza Brasil, Burning Man and even the same spot where Hardwell boosted his career, Tomorrowland Belgium – where he was the first ever Brazllian to play on the mainstage.

Having seen success with Who We Are, EDM Sux and Magical, FTampa is renowned for gaining millions of streams on Spotify for his tracks whose accolades speak for themselves. After a slew of successful releases, FTampa has ramped it up whilst catering for his core EDM fans and F.i.A as well as his long awaited upcoming releases fit into the mould perfectly.

FTampa – F.i.A is out now!

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Today, Mikail Hizal (PSN: TRL_LIGHTNING) from Germany was crowned the FIA Certified Gran Turismo Championships Nations Cup World Champion!

Hizal battled it out against 36 of the best Gran Turismo drivers from 19 countries this weekend who put everything on the line in Monaco in an attempt to be in the top 12 for the Nations Cup Final race this Sunday and chase the ultimate title.

Reaching the Nations Cup Final after a weekend of successful and strategic driving put him in pole position on the starting grid, Hizal held his nerve throughout the three races and Final to top the points leader- board and cross the line first at the Nations Cup World Finals. Hizal and was joined on the podium by Cody Nikola Latkovski (PSN: Nik_Makozi) from Australia and Takuma Miyazono (PSN: Kerokkuma_ej20) from Japan who achieved second and third spot respectively.

As the Nations Cup 2019 Series World Champion, Hizal will receive the same honours as real-world motorsport champions and be presented with his trophy at the FIA Prize-Giving Gala taking place in Paris in December. Hizal will join yesterday’s Manufacturer Series TOYOTA team Champions Tomoaki Yamanaka, Rayan Derrouiche and Igor Fraga at the Gala.

The FIA Certified GT Championships 2019 Series is designed to showcase the best in sim racing talent from across the globe and has been gaining traction amongst players, spectators, manufacturers and media across each of the Championship events. The World Tour events are breaking down the barriers to world class racing and are an incredible opportunity for anyone who has ever dreamt of taking the wheel centre stage to demonstrate their skills.

PlayStation 4 Exclusive GT SportTM offers all drivers the ultimate virtual experience behind the wheel. Designed to peak manufacturer standards and performance conditions, the cars enable drivers to test the same skills, precision and audacity as real-world experts.

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Codemasters has today announced DiRT Rally 2.0, the follow up to the incredible fan favourite that puts players in control of a collection of the most iconic rally cars against the most challenging stages around the world. 

To celebrate the announcement of DiRT Rally 2.0 Codemasters has released a trailer for the game (above).

DiRT Rally 2.0 will take you to six rally locations around the world where you can take on incredible hand crafted stages in a wide variety of cars from the history of the sport and modern day. The official game of the FIA World Rallycross Championship presented by Monster Energy, DiRT Rally 2.0 will also feature cars from the 2018 season as well as eight of the official WorldRX circuits at launch.

All pre-orders editions of DiRT Rally 2.0 will include access to the amazing Porsche 911 RGT Rally Spec as a bonus vehicle to use on the stages. In addition there will also be a DiRT Rally 2.0 Deluxe Edition which also includes the first two seasons of post-launch additional content, each with three locations (split between rally and rallycross) and five early vehicles unlocks (Ford Escort MkII, Lancia Stratos, Subaru Impreza 1995, AUDI Sport quattro S1 E2 and Ford Fiesta OMSE SuperCar Lite). The Deluxe Edition will also allow players to get their hands on the game four days early, launching on the 22nd of February 2019 and also includes upgraded starter cars for My Team, in-game bonuses and high reward events. More details about the seasons will be revealed soon.

“We are thrilled to finally be able to talk about DiRT Rally 2.0,” commented Ross Gowing, Chief Games Designer, Codemasters. “Rally is incredibly important to Codemasters and the entire team is absolutely dedicated to creating the most authentic experience possible in a game.

“Our passionate, knowledgeable community helped to make DiRT Rally a special title. We have been working with a selection of that community alongside a roster of real world rally drivers to ensure that we meet their high standards,” continued Ross. “We are not afraid to make a challenging game. Driving a rally car down a stage is not easy and we want players to experience that same adrenaline rush from driving on the edge.”

Marking a return to the simulation style off road racing that made the original such a hit with gamers, DiRT Rally 2.0 will launch on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox One X and Windows PC (via Steam) on Tuesday 26th of February 2019.

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