By Ross McGregor and Thomas Harrison-Lord
After initially announcing that it would begin in January 2023, followed by a period of silence, the upcoming sim racing platform Rennsport’s long-awaited closed beta will start soon, very soon.
6th June, in fact.
In the test, there will be four GT3 cars, seen in the ESL R1 esports competition, a new car, plus four tracks, including the newly announced Monza. The Goodwood Festival of Speed Hillclimb and Porsche Mission R are omitted for now.
Praga R1 confirmed
The Praga R1 will already be familiar to sim racing fans thanks to its appearance last year in RaceRoom and for being campaigned by popular YouTuber Jimmy Broadbent in the 2022 Praga Cup Championship.
Now, however, the car is on its way to Rennsport, boosting the nascent sim’s vehicle count up to seven in total. It will be playable within the beta too.
The R1, from Czech manufacturer Praga, has been around since 2012, but its latest all-carbon guise – the R1T – emerged onto the motorsport scene in 2021, featuring as a class in the Britcar Endurance Championship in the UK.
In 2022, a new Praga Cup support category was held, again in support of the Britcar package in the UK. And although grids struggled to reach double figures it was Broadbent and co-driver Gordie Mutch who took the title, driving for the Fanatec Praga Team87 outfit.
Weighing just 643kg and delivering 365bhp from its two-litre turbocharged engine, the R1 is seen as an excellent stepping stone into the world of prototype racing and is appropriately eligible for the Prototype Cup in this year’s British Endurance Championship support package.
Rennsport closed beta cars
- Audi R8 LMS GT3 evo II
- BMW M4 GT3
- Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo (2020)
- Porsche 911 GT3 R (992)
- Praga R1
Rennsport closed beta tracks
- Hockenheimring
- Nürburgring Grand Prix
- Spa-Francorchamps
- Monza
Apart from in-person showings at the Goodwood Festival of Speed and BMW Welt, plus this weekend’s ESL event if you’re in Munich, public playability of Rennsport has been on the slim side.
That changes with this closed beta announcement. It’s not yet clear how many codes will be distributed at first nor the functionality available, but more details are expected imminently. Access will be sent to those who previously signed up via the platform’s website.
Rennsport closed beta start date
6th June 2023
