Gaming

Once again the virtual motorsport world is filling in this weekend for where the real-world can’t. With large events and gatherings on a pause for the near future, drivers and fans find themselves at a loose end, and are uniting in the digital realm.

Famed war-themed first-person shooter series Call of Duty came out on top this week in an unusual legal challenge. The result, which hinges on the First Amendment to the US Constitution, could have wide-reaching consequences throughout the gaming industry, with sports and motorsports games at the front of the line.

Temperatures are rising once again in the UK, as Spring has made its grand return to Forza Horizon 4. This latest seasonal switch marks the final week of Series 20, with a fresh serving of events and content.

Today marks 22 years since Polyphony Digital came into existence as a game developer. April 2 1998 marks the start of a long path that has lead to the game’s best player standing alongside multi-millionaire celebrity race drivers to receive their trophy and recognition of their talents.

The realities of coronavirus quarantines around the world are starting to set in, but for PlayStation gamers at least there’s a crack of light peeking through the gloom. Off-road racing sim DiRT Rally 2.0 will become available for free to all PS Plus subscribers this month.

Racers on Xbox One can look forward to a titan of a racing game this April as part of Microsoft’s monthly “Games With Gold” program. Previous big-name titles that have gone free as part of Games with Gold include Forza Motorsport 6 and its open-world counterpart, Forza Horizon 2.

Polyphony Digital has taken the rather unusual step of announcing a raft of changes coming to a future game update well in advance of the update itself.

There’s another set of three GT Sport Daily Races for players to get their teeth into this week, and it’s an unusual mix which feature no road cars at all.

If you were planning on a nice evening of FIA races in GT Sport last weekend, technology seemed to have a different idea. Players around the globe reported server issues across the weekend, with Sunday’s event particularly badly hit.

Since most of the motorsports calendar has gone down the drain for 2020, esports has filled the gap. We’ve seen a number of series spring up — some official, some not — in the virtual world to grab the bored and quarantined eyes of the motorsports fan.

You’re going to need plenty of spare cash in GT Sport to get involved in this fortnight’s Time Trials, as it’s all about rare, road-going racers from the 1960s.

Like so many other championships, IndyCar has seen its calendar all but destroyed by coronavirus concerns. That includes the 2020 running of the famous Indianapolis 500 — one of three races in the Triple Crown of Motorsport — which is now due to take place in August rather than the traditional May date.

Winter has taken its hold across the UK for another week in Forza Horizon 4. The arrival of snow also means a new serving of content and more events for players to go after.

GT Sport contains a lot of weird and wonderful cars, modeled in great detail. From ancient slowcoaches to the fastest cars of the present day — and beyond — you’ll find a lot of variety packed into the 300-strong car list.

By now, we should all be used to seeing pro drivers trying their hand at esports events. Over the past couple of weeks, and in response to the near total cancellation of real-world motorsport, pros have raced against personalities in the sim-racing world in a series of exhibition races.

With the motorsports calendar in disarray this year, esports is experiencing a popularity surge. Viewers are tuning in to watch virtual sports in their hundreds of thousands on streaming platforms, and now it seems that traditional broadcast media is after some of that action too.

It’s fair to say that it’s a strange old time right now. Although responses to the viral pandemic across the globe vary, a lot more people are stuck indoors right now. For some, “social distancing” is a choice, but for others their city, state, or even nation may be under quarantine.

Update: We’ve updated this article to reflect the Xbox Series S announcements, and the more recent PlayStation 5 price and date reveal.

Unprecedented times mean unprecedented measures. The world is now attempting to practice “self-isolation” — keeping away from other people in order to protect each other from infection.

It’s all-change again as a new week is upon us, and brings a new set of Daily Races in GT Sport. This week’s trio contains two sets of race cars, and something a little bit more… pony.