There has probably never been a better time to be an online racer. There are plenty of competitions to showcase your ability, and fast data means you can race against the best in the world regardless of where you are. Now imagine racing a Porsche GT3 and winning real cash. Well, now you can in the upcoming Porsche iRacing World Championship Series.

Click here to read our driving review of the Porsche GT3 RS.

Porsche partners with iRacing

The Porsche iRacing World Championship Series kicks off in January 2019. The virtual racing championship will comprise of 40 participants from different nations. Each will ‘drive’ an identical 911 GT3 Cup car. The competition runs over ten racing weekends and takes place exclusively online. The racers are competing for total prize money of US$100,000.

To coordinate the event, Porsche collaborated with iRacing, a leading provider of online racing simulations. iRacing has been hosting online world championships for ten years. The competition will take place under the World Championship Series title for the first time, connecting through the iRacing service.

Porsche and iRacing have also collaborated on several live tournaments including the Porsche SimRacing Trophy, which drew 40 participants when it was held at the Nürburgring in September 2018.

World’s fastest gamer

In 2017 McLaren hosted the World’s Fastest Gamer, a multi-stage competition held in conjunction with iRacing. The Formula One team eventually hired the winning driver. You can read all about how Rudy van Buren won the prestigious event by clicking here.

In his own words

“Porsche is more and more involved with esports and racing simulations. Putting together a world championship like this one is important evidence of our increasing commitment to the sport,” comments Dr Kjell Gruner, vice president marketing at Porsche.

If you’d prefer to just watch the world’s best gamers race each other then you can do so via the iRacing YouTube channel.