India set to take part in first-ever Sim Racing World Cup

NEW DELHI: The Esports Federation of India (ESFI) will field an Indian contingent in the inaugural edition of the Sim Racing World Cup, to be held in Monaco on October 23.

The prestigious tournament–organised by the Monaco Esports Federation in association with the International Esports Federation –will feature one of the world’s most popular sim racing titles, Assetto Corsa.

In order to select the two sim racers, who will represent the country at the prestigious event, ESFI will be conducting the National qualifiers wherein playoffs will be held online as well as offline while the finals will be played in a hybrid mode.

Two players will be selected from an offline event and 18 from online as the 20 players will ultimately fight in the finals for two spots in the Indian contingent.

“The ESFI is incredibly excited for the inaugural edition of the Sim Racing World Cup which is the largest sim racing event to date and to expand to simulator-based esports. We urge all car racing enthusiasts to participate in the national qualifiers and show their real racing talent with their skills around karting and drifting in the game,” said Lokesh Suji, Director of ESFI and Vice President of the Asian Esports Federation in a statement.

“Racing games are very popular in our country and everyone has that nostalgic vibe with these games. It’s time to prove our mettle on the international stage and this will be a true representation of ESFI’s commitment to the growth and development of sustainable and responsible gaming in our country,” he added.

ESFI has joined hands with India’s largest eRacing organiser, IR Esports to conduct the National Qualifiers. IR Esports curates plans and executes custom motorsport-based campaigns via Esports across various mediums.

Simulated racing, popularly known as sim racing, is a single-player racing game software which attempts to simulate racing with real-world features such as fuel usage, damage, tire wear and grip, and suspension settings.

The Sim Racing World Cup will be played in two stages–Continental Qualifiers and Global Finals. Two players from each country will participate in the Continental Qualifiers and only one winning athlete from the continent will be qualified for the Global Finals.