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AUTOSPORT, IEM, DREAMHACK, RED BULL 5G - THE BIGGEST EVENTS

2016 kicked off with a bang as Project CARS headed to bigger and more prestigious Esports events, starting straight away in January with Autosport International where both Ben Collins and Nicolas Hamilton were on hand to show their skills and sign some autographs, as well as drivers from the Time Attack Championship who were aiming to set a fast pace on our Power Lap board...

Immediately after, we headed to the London Motor Show where both the public and celebrities such as Piers Morgan, David Ginola, and Tiff Needel got to race their favorite supercars around some of the most iconic virtual tracks...

In July, we then headed over to the Amsterdam Arena for the ESL Benelux Championship where Project CARS was in attendance alongside other Esports titles such as Overwatch, Hearthstone, and League Of Legends...

Thanks to everyone that turned out for @projectcarsgame at the @ESLBenelux Championship. Here's a recap #esports pic.twitter.com/bBATYG8F6m
— Andy Tudor (@realandytudor) July 8, 2016

Following this, and as part of a larger strategy, Project CARS Esports then headed across the globe for the Intel Extreme Masters in both Shanghai and Oakland where attendees got to experience Project CARS being played on Vesaro rigs in heated competitions to find both China's and America's fastest sim racers. Both utilised VR via Oculus Rift headsets for ultimate immersion and winners took home prizes courtesey of Intel...

As the Autumn months approached, Project CARS was then Red Bull's racing game of choice in their prestigious 5G Tournament.

With Regional Finals taking place in both the North and South of England, as well as East and West of Japan, players in both countries fought for the right to represent their region and ultimately head to the Final held in Tokyo...

Watch live video from on www.twitch.tv

Finally, closing out the year, Project CARS Esports headed to Dreamhack Winter in Sweden where fans raced for prizes courtesey of Gigabyte and their #XTREMERACER initiative...

SEASON TWO - WHERE DYNASTIES WERE BORN

February saw big changes being made to the 2015 SMS-R Driver Network Championship as we expanded into two sponsored competitions running in parallel - the Logitech G Championship Series and the NVIDIA Challenger Series.

Each brought a different flavor of motorsports with the LGCS running open wheel and prototype cars with allowed vehicle setups, and the NCS focusing on GT and US content, with no modifications being allowed to the cars.

A "Pre-Season Draft" allowed teams to register their drivers before the season began - a new process we introduced to ensure teams remained balanced whilst also providing more strategy and formality.

Without a doubt, this proved to be a huge improvement with teams scrambling to lock in their picks. Well-regarded drivers from the previous year transferred to other teams, promising hopefuls got scouted, and free agents got snapped up by the most prestigious teams.

As Draft Day approached, we picked our "Ones To Watch..." with SDL Motorsport, Team Shark, BAM Esports, Unity Motors, TSA, eSports+CARS, and VP-Drivers all featuring prominently.

SUMMER SPLIT

In the LGCS, SDL dominated in the PC Division with their two newly-sponsored teams by Logitech G and Hauppage and raced to victory as the Summer Champions early on.
In the Console Division however, it was a three-way battle as SDL battled with PSF Racing, but ultimately it was Team Shark who took home the mid-season glory.

Over in the NCS Console Division, SDL re-ignited their rivalry with Team Shark from last year and it was neck and neck between the two going into the Summer Split.
Similarly, over in the PC Division, BAM's Khaki and SDL's Masa were swapping 1st and 2nd positions with each other during the first 5 rounds leading to a climactic finish at Watkins Glen.

AUTUMN SPLIT

The newly-introduced Mid-Season Transfer Window proved to be another great addition to the proceedings with a number of teams and drivers being swapped, dropped, or recruited in the spirit of improving the competitiveness of the participating teams...

With roster changes in place, the Autumn Split was dominated by SDL still in the PC Division, however it was free agent FinPro's rise through the drivers' standings that was the most exciting to watch as he gradually overtook Masa's performance finally ending the season in second place behind Mangator and rightfully earning the MVP Award.
Meanwhile in the Console Division, Unity Elite Raceway stormed past PSF Racing to battle it out for third place, whilst Team Shark and SDL held a grudge match repeating the showdown from the 2015 season, with SDL ultimately taking the crowning glory once again.

Newly-sponsored by Thrustmaster, BAM were neck and neck with SDL all year long as Khaki and TomiKillos fought againt Mangator and Masa for dominance of the PC Division. Ultimately though, it was Khaki's consistency that proved the winning strategy as he took home four consecutive wins and the win for BAM.Thrustmaster.
Over in the Console Division, Yinato and Atho and the rest of Team Shark continued to shut out SDL from the top points and ultimately they succumbed to the pressure, choosing to concentrate on their chances in the LGCS instead.

THE EVOLUTION OF RACING ON ESL

In March, having listened wholeheartedly to the feedback from players we worked hard behind the scenes with ESL to bring a 12-player racing format to events on all platforms.

With the location each week being selected by the community and a Qualifier/Semi-Final/Final structure put in place, these changes took us one step closer to our vision for regular, authentic, and professional Esports racing. And with Season Three around the corner, we can also tease that we've been working on similarly huge improvements that will be revealed in the new year.

On Xbox One, the ESL Weekly and Monthly Cups were dominated by SDL who had 7 of their drivers in the Top 10, with M Power having double the number of points of the second-place Alpine.

Over on PS4, the battle was between VP-Drivers and SRT Racing, with DriverR1 from eSports+Cars once again finishing out the season in first place over second place Ockerocker.

And finally, on PC, BAM and SDL battled it out with regulars Khaki and Mangator trading places and appearing regularly in the top spots, with Khaki ultimately taking the win for the season.

TOP DRIVER
M POWER
(SDL)
2555 PTS

TOP DRIVER
DRIVER R1 (ESPORTS+CARS)
2206 PTS

TOP DRIVER
KHAKI
(BAM ESPORTS)
2001 PTS

FREE ESPORTS TEAM LIVERY PACK

Available for free on all platforms, Community Pack #5 from the On Demand program contained 9 liveries for well-known Project CARS Esports teams. Grab it yourself for free from the Steam, PSN, and Xbox Game Stores, or as part of the Game Of The Year Edition.

MANUFACTURER PARTNERSHIPS

2016 also saw Project CARS Esports working with vehicle manufacturers to create bespoke Esports events and competitions that further blurred the lines between gaming and reality.

June saw Project CARS in association with Audi and CXC Simulations, connect four cities (Beijing, Paris, Moscow, and Berlin) for a virtual 24 Hours of Le Mans occuring simultaneously during the real race.

With the entire thing streamed live on Twitch, fans around the world were able to watch famous drivers and winners such as Edoardo Mortara, Nico Müller, Mike Rockenfeller, and Adrien Tambay racing for their city in front of a live crowd.

In September, we launched the Ginetta X Esports Cup that saw qualifiers running during November to get the Top 15 from each platform, before a livestreamed final in December. £4500 as well as GoPro cameras were up for grabs as drivers took to Oulton Park and Brands Hatch to battle it out. Check out the PC Final below...

WINNING DRIVER
M POWER
(SDL)
43 PTS

WINNING DRIVER
MAJIKL_1
-
45 PTS

WINNING DRIVER
KHAKI
(BAM)
40 PTS