Hectic Sim Successes and Upcoming Competitions
It's time again for Hectic Motorsport News. Scan through the news list to keep updated with everything going on. Click through the links to dig into all the details.
First an update from the last newsletter. I put out a call for info about the Logitech McLaren G Challenge and have since learned that kiwi driver K1Z Tom is our regions Champion! The win earns him $3,000 along with a trip to the Spanish GP with a McLaren VIP package! By far the biggest winning for any kiwi sim driver in 2024 so far, and to think it almost flew under the radar.
Kiwi driver herbsthings also made the final and won $150.
NZ Sim Racing
NZEHL iRacing Championship announced. The NZ Esports Hyperfiber League has been announced for 2024 and it includes iRacing for the first time, kicking off in May. The series will be run by LetsPlay.Live (LPL) but different from past LPL events this series will provide races open to all skill levels. Full series details are yet to be announced.
Armageddon sim racing. There won't be a Red Bull Virtual Race at Armageddon this year but story is there will still be sim rigs present and even some Mario Kart action.
Wellington Arma - April 6/7th
Christchurch Arma - April 13/14th
Later: Auckland (June), Palmerston North (August), Auckland again (October)
International Sim Racing (open to kiwis)
Gran Turismo World Series 2024. We've been patiently waiting for news and now we finally have confirmation the season is going ahead with online qualifiers kicking off April 17. With that date fast approaching we're expecting more details very soon.
TrackMania Formula E. Formula E is coming to Trackmania in the form of a new game mode and with it a new esports championship. €10,000 is on the line across 9 races in March/May/June. See the official explanation and rules for all the specifics.
Esports WRC 2024. While we are yet to get any specific details it was once again confirmed that EA Sports WRC will feature an official esports series at some point in the future with the release notes for the latest update including this line: "Updated Achievement description ahead of upcoming esports activity, which will be revealed later this year".
FIA Motorsport games. More details have been revealed including the €800 entry fee for the esports categories (ACC & iRacing). Any kiwi drivers willing to front the cost + all the expense of traveling to Spain should contact Motorsport NZ and you could be representing New Zealand. Should we crowd fund to send over NZs top talent?
From Virtual 2 Reality
GT7 talent racing in Super GT. Two top Gran Turismo World Series drivers will be going head to head in real cars when the Super GT season kicks off in Okayama April 13/14th. Brazils Igor Fraga and Japans Rikuto Kobayashi are both racing in the GT300 category after competing in GTWS finals in Monaco last year (and other past events).
Top iRacing talent leads NZ Formula Ford Championship. Blake Dowdall, one of the top drivers in last years LPL Taimana Series on iRacing, has moved into the North Island Formula Ford championship lead after winning at Hampton Downs.
Extras
Supercars Taupo in April. With Pukekohe closing it doors Taupo now plays host to the New Zealand round of the Supercars and it's proving popular. Tickets for the Taupo Super400 on April 19-21 are selling out. With races both days and Six60 Saturday night it's set to be a big weekend.
Fanatec struggles continue. After facing heavy criticism for quite some time things continue to go awry at Fanatec with the latest drama being dismissal of their CEO on request of their bank. Are Fanatec at risk of imploding or is this something a new CEO will be able to quickly turn around?
F1 Esports is back. After the controversial cancelling of events and silence around it all (as we mentioned in the Hectic January newsletter) F1 Sim Racing as it now wants to be known as is back and they're squeezing as many races as they can into two LAN events to finish the season before the new game comes out.
New race strategy game 'Golden Lap'. The latest game to come from the creators of fan favourites Absolute Drift and Art of Rally has just been announced. Called Golden Lap it's a beautiful looking motorsport management game inspired by F1 of old.
Bottas funny ad. Valtteri Bottas, "very famous racing driver", released a hilariously Australian ad ahead of the Australian GP and you really have to just watch it to understand.
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