Truck racing is the latest motorsport code to start a simulated season, as Coronavirus lockdowns continue to preclude live racing. The FIA European Truck Racing Championship, supported by Goodyear, welcomed drivers and fans to the ETRC Digital Racing Challenge on 24 May. Live racing in the championship has been suspended until 29-30 August, when the opening event will be held at Most, Czech Republic.
Bridgestone will be the official tyre supplier to the latest installment of the RIDE motorcycle racing video game series. The tyre manufacturer signed a partnership with the Italian game developer, Milestone for RIDE 4. The game for two-wheel enthusiasts will launch worldwide on 8 October 2020 on Playstation 4, XBOX One and PC. Bridgestone explained that the partnership targets solidifying its position as a market leader for motorbike tyres. The game also allows it to “showcase its products and legacy in the competitive racing world,” it added.
Nankang Tyre has launched two tyre games for Android and iOS mobile devices: Tyre Maker and Tyre Run. Both are available free to download worldwide on Android and iOS. The Taiwan tyre manufacturer says part of the purpose of the apps is “to relieve the boredom of being stuck at home due to COVID-19.” The games were developed in collaboration with digital design company King One Design. Users can download Tyre Maker here on iOS devices, or here on Android devices, while Tyre Run is available here (iOS) or here (Android).
As a replacement for suspended events during the COVID-19 pandemic, Formula E has launched its official eSports series on rFactor2 as a fundraiser. ABB Formula E Race at Home Challenge, in support of UNICEF, staged its test round at the virtual Monaco ePrix circuit on 18 April 2020 at 15:30BST.
Giti Tire Motorsport’s all-female racing team took to the grid of the second Digital Nürburgring Endurance Series meeting on 4 April. Professional WS Racing drivers Carrie Schreiner and Celia Martin got behind the gaming wheel of a virtual Giti liveried Audi RS3 LMS TCR for the three hour endurance race and finished 10th in the TCR Class.
Giti Tire Motorsport partner WS Racing achieved a top ten finish in its first race of the 2020 season – the Digital Nürburgring Endurance Series. At the virtual start in the Green Hell, drivers and teams from the Nordschleife racing series competed in a four-hour race against experienced simracing and real life racing professionals. Watch the full race below.
Bridgestone Corporation has been named as a sponsor of the first official video game of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC). As the first partner of ‘The Pegasus Dream Tour’, Bridgestone is committed to helping the IPC engage new and younger audiences to increase awareness and popularity of Paralympic sports.
The partnership between Trelleborg Wheel Systems and Giants Software continues for a fifth year with the two firms teaming up in the new Farming Simulator 19 game. Trelleborg has also decided to field an official team in the 2019/20 Farming Simulator League competition.
Sony has appointed Michelin ‘official tyre technology partner’ for its PlayStation brand’s Gran Turismo franchise. The collaboration was announced in New York on 23 August, at the PlayStation Theater on Broadway.
Davanti Tyres has recently entered its second year as a sponsor of the Premier League’s Everton Football Club, and is marking this milestone with an extension of its partnership into the predominant digital version of the Merseyside club’s home ground, Goodison Park. Davanti’s pitch-side advertisements will play prominently when players of the latest edition of the world’s most popular football simulation, FIFA 19, visit Goodison, just as they do at the real ground, rendered in 4K on the latest generation of consoles.
The latest official Formula One game for PS4 and XBOX has just been released and this 2018 edition features Borg & Beck, one of the premier racing division’s most well-known brands, evoking memories of an era when Borg & Beck received the design award for outstanding achievement in motorsport, with over 300 wins from vehicles fitted with OE Borg & Beck.
Partnerships between tyre manufacturers and game software developers are nothing new in motorsport simulations. However the broad range of tyre applications is being increasingly matched – much to the chagrin of the #GamerGate “campaign” – by the breadth of subjects presented in popular video games. Popular franchise Farming Simulator completes the cross-platform release of its 15th iteration this week, and with a large increase in the range of machinery brands presented in-game, publisher Giants Software has upped the ante considerably. Agricultural tyre manufacturer Trelleborg has been selected as the in-game tyre supplier, a partnership that the manufacturer has pronounced itself “delighted” to “associate [its] brand” with. Trelleborg even announced its intention to use the game as part of its stand at forthcoming agricultural exhibitions.
Team Falken completed the ALMS season-ending Petit Le Mans on a high note, taking first place in the GT class. Falken’s Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, prepared by team manager Derrick Walker, was driven by Porsche Works and Falken team driver Wolf Henzler and Bryan Sellers were again joined by co-driver Nick Tandy, who previously ran with the duo at Sebring.
Many tyre makers are involved in motorsport activities, and a racetrack presence can indeed do wonders for a brand’s public profile. Yokohama Rubber has announced its participation in a technical partnership with a difference – it recently became the first tyre manufacturer to serve as official technical partner to the popular ‘Gran Turismo’ series of motor racing video games. Yokohama lent its expertise to the latest version, Gran Turismo 6.
Software developer Turn 10’s Forza Motorsport series has yielded many plaudits for its hyper-realistic driving simulation – in tyrepress.com’s opinion the Xbox-exclusive betters even the impressive feats of the PlayStation-exclusive Gran Turismo series. But for the game’s fourth iteration, Turn 10 appears to have upped the ante, with what it terms the “most up-to-date simulation of how modern tyres grip or slip in a variety of racing conditions”. Tyre manufacturer Pirelli has reportedly provided tyre data to add to the almost photorealistic replications of cars and motorsport tracks from around the world. The game will be released this Autumn.
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