While real racers battle at Le Mans, gamers compete in Audi’s ’24 Hours of LeForza’

This weekend, car fans around the world will tune in for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, but a select group will do more than just watch. Audi is hosting a 24-hour Forza Motorsport 6 endurance race in downtown San Francisco, which will be live-streamed on Twitch.

Dubbed the “Audi 24 Hours of LeForza,” the marathon gaming session will pit 12 teams of professional gamers and finalists from an Audi-sponsored contest against each other in a simulation of the legendary French racer. Participants will run stints of the same length as the actual Audi drivers racing at Le Mans, and even wear helmets and race suits. Because that isn’t silly at all.

Spectators can stream the virtual Le Mans on Twitch, and even interact with gamers via the chat feature. Of course, the actual 24 Hours of Le Mans will be going on at the same time, so even the most die-hard Audi fans might not want to get too engrossed in the 24 Hours of LeForza.

The winning 24 Hours of LeForza team will get a trip to Sonoma, California, to participate in a “real-world Audi sports car experience.” The second-place team wins a trip to Austin, Texas, for the Lone Star Le Mans World Endurance Championship race this September, part of the same race series that includes Le Mans. Third-place finishers get an Xbox One and a copy of Forza Motorsport 6, perhaps so they can practice for next year.

In the real-life 24 Hours of Le Mans, Audi will compete against Porsche and Toyota in the hopes of achieving its 14th overall win. The German carmaker was dethroned last year by Porsche, marking the end of a five-year winning streak. Audi had dominated Le Mans for the previous 15 years, winning 13 times.

Audi made extensive revisions to its R18 e-tron quattro diesel hybrid for 2016, but Porsche and Toyota will surely put up a good fight. The 24 Hours of Le Mans kicks off this Saturday.

from Planet GS via John Jason Fallows on Inoreader http://ift.tt/28Fxo2s
Stephen Edelstein