The Avon Tyres British GT Championship has joined forces with The Online Racing Association or TORA to launch a digital equivalent of the UK’s premiere GT championship. The TORA Avon Tyres British GT Championship will be contested over seven rounds using the new Project CARS game from Slightly Mad Studios.
“Sim racing and real world motorsport have tended to exist separately up until very recently, but we’re hoping to help change that,” said championship manager Benjamin Franassovici.
“We’ve been approached about this sort of opportunity before but never felt like the technology could do the championship justice. TORA’s active community, stature and organisation allied to the accuracy of Project CARS changes all that and I can’t wait to see how the partnership develops. Hopefully fans and gamers alike will gain an insight into each other’s respective championships, which can only be a good thing for British GT as a whole.”
The new online championship will start with a virtual ‘Media Day’ on the Brands Hatch Indy circuit, one of seven events which match the 2015 calendar of the real championship. Thereafter the championship will take on six of Europe’s finest race circuits. All the action will take place on Microsoft’s Xbox ONE platform.
The virtual calendar includes two rounds outside of the UK along with visits to many of the regular British GT Championship venues. The only difference between the real calendar and the virtual comes as a limitation of the software, there is no virtual representation of Rockingham Motor Speedway, so the online championship will head to Zolder instead.
Media Day: Brands Hatch Indy 24/05/15
Meeting 1: Oulton Park 07/06/15
Meeting 2: Zolder 28/06/15
Meeting 3: Silverstone 500 05/07/15
Meeting 4: Spa Francorchamps 19/07/15
Meeting 5: Brands Hatch 26/07/15
Meeting 6: Snetterton 09/08/15
Meeting 7: Donington Park 16/08/15
“The Avon Tyres British GT Championship is the premier sportscar series in the country and I’m very proud to be associated with it,” said TORA President Matt Hunter. “The opportunity to finally represent it accurately through the TORA championship structure is outstanding and a true validation of what we do.
“TORA GT has been a mainstay championship at The Online Racing Association since day one and the move from production-based GT road cars to thoroughbred GT3 and GT4 machinery is a very exciting one. TORA’s staff are relishing the challenge ahead!”
The Online Racing Association is the only console racing club which is authorised by a national governing body. The organisation runs officially sanctioned MSA championships and have run the TORA MSA GT Championship for twelve seasons.