Microsoft has announced a second season of the Forza Racing Championship, a series of tournaments for its racing game series on Xbox One. The event will give out $150,000 in cash and prizes starting on November 7.
Esports are a growing industry worth $493 million, but most of the popular competitive games are multiplayer online battle arenas (MOBAs), shooters, or fighting games. Racing titles haven’t made a big splash in the esports world yet, but continuing to promote events like the Forza Racing Championship could change that. I mean, people obviously enjoying watching real-life motorsports. Why couldn’t that popularity transfer to digital competition?
The tournaments will include two games. The Elite Series will focus on Forza Motorsport 6, the 2015 racing sim. The Recreation Series, however, features this year’s Forza Horizon 3, the open-world racer set in Australia. While the Elite Series will stream live on Twitch, with the grand finals taking place on December 11. The champion will take home $10,000.
The Recreation Series just requires players to set times in special Forza Horizon 3 events in the game. Competing can unlock players new cars for the game, including the 2017 Ford GT Horizon Edition.
If you want to sign up for the events, head over to esport organizer ESL’s site.