{"id":3622,"date":"2020-04-16T15:35:00","date_gmt":"2020-04-16T15:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/icrowdnewswire.com\/?p=2516486"},"modified":"2020-04-16T15:35:00","modified_gmt":"2020-04-16T15:35:00","slug":"formula-e-starts-a-new-battle-royale-online-series-this-weekend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/ipsnews.net\/business\/2020\/04\/16\/formula-e-starts-a-new-battle-royale-online-series-this-weekend\/","title":{"rendered":"Formula E starts a new \u201cbattle royale\u201d online series this weekend"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>The electric racing series is the latest to go virtual while COVID-19 rages.<\/h2>\n<section class=\"post-meta\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/abbformulaeraceathomechallengeinsupportofunicef-image-jpg-311723-original-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"No, I have no idea why it looks like someone&#039;s covered up one of the cars with a black box in this screenshot that Formula E sent us. \" \/><\/section>\n<section class=\"post-meta\">\n<div class=\"caption-text\"><a class=\"enlarge-link\" href=\"https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/abbformulaeraceathomechallengeinsupportofunicef-image-jpg-311723-original.jpg\" data-height=\"3648\" data-width=\"5472\">Enlarge<\/a>&nbsp;<span class=\"sep\">\/<\/span>&nbsp;No, I have no idea why it looks like someone&#8217;s covered up one of the cars with a black box in this screenshot that Formula E sent us.<\/div>\n<div class=\"caption-text\">\n<p>On Wednesday morning, Formula E became the latest real-world racing series to announce a move online to esports as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to make public gatherings impossible. Starting this coming Saturday, the electric racing series will start a nine-race esports competition using&nbsp;<em>rFactor 2<\/em>&nbsp;as the platform. And since the series has always been a little more socially conscious than more traditional forms of fossil fuel-powered racing, it&#8217;s partnering with UNICEF, collecting donations from viewers to pay for projects like buying protective equipment for healthcare workers and setting up home-schooling programs.<\/p>\n<p>The first race&mdash;scheduled for April 18&mdash;is going to be the equivalent of a pre-season test, with no points on offer for the winners. But for the following eight weekends, the championship will be scored in the usual Formula E fashion, including points for fastest lap and qualifying in pole position, plus double points for the final race. In fact, each Saturday will see two races held in parallel.<\/p>\n<p>One will be for the real-world Formula E drivers, with 14 of the grid confirmed for this coming weekend&#8217;s race. The second is for professional esports racers and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/coronavirus-covid-19-influencers\/\">influencers<\/a>, with entries going to the fastest 18 qualifiers of events held during the week leading up to each race. There&#8217;s a pretty good prize for the influencers&mdash;the winner of that championship will get a test in an actual Formula E car, which puts them in good company alongside&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnet.com\/audi-formula-e\/\">several colleagues<\/a>&nbsp;from&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2019\/5\/31\/18646098\/formula-e-gen2-drive-electric-racecar\">other publications<\/a>&nbsp;who have been&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/jalopnik.com\/i-drove-a-formula-e-car-and-the-future-is-ridiculously-1795560249\">lucky enough<\/a>&nbsp;to drive the electric race car for real rather than in a sim.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to the parallel races, Formula E is doing something else a bit different with the race format. Everyone gets a single qualifying lap to determine their grid position, and then the race will operate in a &#8220;battle royale&#8221; format, where at the end of each lap the last-placed driver is knocked out. Just 10 will remain for the final lap, which will be a dash to the finish, with points and glory on offer.<\/p>\n<p>The races will be broadcast on Formula E&#8217;s website, as well as its social media channels and YouTube, in addition to broadcast partners like Fox Sports (from April 25). Happily for racing fans (and the real-world and sim racers, plus commentator Jack Nicholls who plans on doing double-duty) the series has coordinated with other esports competitions like The Race&#8217;s All Star Esports battles to make sure there aren&#8217;t any schedule clashes.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"pullbox sidebar story-sidebar right\">\n<div class=\"story-sidebar-part\">\n<div class=\"story-sidebar-part-content\">\n<h3>FURTHER READING<\/h3>\n<p><a class=\"recommendation-further-reading\" href=\"https:\/\/arstechnica.com\/cars\/2017\/01\/sim-racing-hits-the-big-time-with-the-1-million-vegas-erace\/\">Sim racing hits the big time with the $1 million Vegas eRace<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Although the graphics of&nbsp;<em>rFactor 2<\/em>&nbsp;can&#8217;t compare to other racing sims, it&#8217;s a logical choice for Formula E. The series used the sim platform for its&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/arstechnica.com\/cars\/2017\/01\/sim-racing-hits-the-big-time-with-the-1-million-vegas-erace\/\">million-dollar esports race back in 2017<\/a>, and the game has the current cars and liveries already modeled, as well as some of the series&#8217;s real-world street circuits.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>As for resuming real-world racing, the series&mdash;<a href=\"https:\/\/arstechnica.com\/cars\/2020\/02\/coronavirus-cancels-f1-and-formula-e-races-could-make-eu-miss-co2-target\/\">which was one of the first to put races on hold<\/a>&nbsp;as SARS-CoV-2 started to menace the world&mdash;still has rounds scheduled for New York and London in July. Although right now,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/health\/archive\/2020\/04\/pandemic-summer-coronavirus-reopening-back-normal\/609940\/\">it seems highly unlikely<\/a>&nbsp;we&#8217;ll get lucky enough to see those happen<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p class=\"tags\">\n<div><strong>See Campaign: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2019\/5\/31\/18646098\/formula-e-gen2-drive-electric-racecar\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2019\/5\/31\/18646098\/formula-e-gen2-drive-electric-racecar<\/a><br \/><b>Contact Information:<\/b><br \/>JONATHAN M. GITLIN<\/p>\n<p><b>Tags:<\/b><br \/><a href=\"\"><\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/icrowdnewswire.com\/category\/news-category\/wire\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Wire<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/icrowdnewswire.com\/category\/global-regions\/united-states\/\" rel=\"category tag\">United States<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/icrowdnewswire.com\/category\/language\/english\/\" rel=\"category tag\">English<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\" alt=\"image\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" class=\"cwdfimg\" \/><\/div>\n<div>\n<h3>Contact Information:<\/h3>\n<p>JONATHAN M. GITLIN<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The electric racing series is the latest to go virtual while COVID-19 rages. Enlarge&nbsp;\/&nbsp;No, I have no idea why it looks like someone&rsquo;s covered up one of the cars with a black box in this screenshot that Formula E sent us. On Wednesday morning, Formula E became the latest real-world racing series to announce a &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/icrowdnewswire.com\/2020\/04\/16\/formula-e-starts-a-new-battle-royale-online-series-this-weekend\/\">Continue reading <span>Formula E starts a new &ldquo;battle royale&rdquo; online series this weekend<\/span><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/ipsnews.net\/business\/2020\/04\/16\/formula-e-starts-a-new-battle-royale-online-series-this-weekend\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue Reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":52,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,22,54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3622","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english","category-united-states","category-wire"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Formula E starts a new \u201cbattle royale\u201d online series this weekend - Business<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/ipsnews.net\/business\/2020\/04\/16\/formula-e-starts-a-new-battle-royale-online-series-this-weekend\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Formula E starts a new \u201cbattle royale\u201d online series this weekend - Business\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The electric racing series is the latest to go virtual while COVID-19 rages. Enlarge&nbsp;\/&nbsp;No, I have no idea why it looks like someone&rsquo;s covered up one of the cars with a black box in this screenshot that Formula E sent us. On Wednesday morning, Formula E became the latest real-world racing series to announce a &hellip; Continue reading Formula E starts a new &ldquo;battle royale&rdquo; online series this weekend Continue Reading &rarr;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/ipsnews.net\/business\/2020\/04\/16\/formula-e-starts-a-new-battle-royale-online-series-this-weekend\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Business\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-04-16T15:35:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/abbformulaeraceathomechallengeinsupportofunicef-image-jpg-311723-original-800x533.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"daudgill01\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"daudgill01\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/ipsnews.net\/business\/2020\/04\/16\/formula-e-starts-a-new-battle-royale-online-series-this-weekend\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/ipsnews.net\/business\/2020\/04\/16\/formula-e-starts-a-new-battle-royale-online-series-this-weekend\/\",\"name\":\"Formula E starts a new \u201cbattle royale\u201d online series this weekend - 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