Over the last few years, the gap between real-world and simulated racing has shrunk smaller and smaller. Sim to reality stories have been popping up all over the place with some of the best on their respective games and sims getting shots at real-world racing competition.
Racing Prodigy, a groundbreaking sports, entertainment and media property, is a company that is looking to make that a more common occurrence. They announced a new venture on Thursday (1st June) that will look to make that a reality for some hopeful racers.
Through their newly-formed Prodigy Racing League (or PRL), which will encompass esports racing on multiple platforms that include iRacing, RaceRoom Racing Experience, rFactor 2 and Street Kart Racing, Racing Prodigy aims to make motorsport more accessible through virtual competition.
Calling themselves the first e2Real Sports League, the Prodigy Racing League has open signups now and the first tournament is slated for 19th June on the iRacing platform. The iRacing championship will be the PRL iRacing GR86 Cup Open Challenge, which will utilize the Toyota GR86 Cup car at Circuit Zolder.
There’s set to be a total of 12 tournaments from now through October that will figure out 15 top drivers participating in the competition. Those 15 drivers will be invited to race in a Radical SR1 race car during what will be called “Prodigy Week” from 30th October through through 1st November, taking place at Atlanta Motorsports Park.
Another 35 drivers will be taken from a future season for the series to have 50 total drivers, they’ll all have earned what will be called a “Prodigy Pass”. Those 50 total will get a chance to compete in a real-world racing series, and that’s due to launch in 2024 at some point.
Partners such as Asetek SimSports, GRID Engineering and SIM-LAB, have all jumped on board as founding partners of the series. Those companies will offer additional prizes to competitors.
More details can be found at the Racing Prodigy website, such as how to sign up and what the official rules are. For example, one of the rules is that you have to be 13 years old at least to register, which makes sense since iRacing accounts can’t exist under that age.
It’s definitely something with high aspirations, and for those looking to get their foot into the door of real world racing, this could be that shot. Also, if you want to follow along with the action, these races will be streamed on their official Twitch channel.
