The Playseat® SMS-R Series is the next major Project CARS 2 esports competition, and will take place in the PC version of the game with €20,000 in prizes up for grabs. In previous seasons we’ve seen teams like Oscaro and BAM win big cash prizes in spectacular hard-fought rivalries. In 2018, our previous SMS-R winners faced stiff competition in new tournaments, such as the Renault esports Series and the A1 esports League, battling the likes of Team Redline, VP Gaming, TX3, G2, Veloce and many more. You can expect to see many of these teams fighting for the title in the 2019 SMS-R Series.

The Race of Champions is holding its second annual sim-racing competition, the eROC, in Mexico early next year. Some of the fastest sim-racers from around the world, across a wide variety of titles, will compete in a virtual version of this year's ROC stadium track. They're fighting for a place in the real Race of Champions, where they will compete head-to-head in race cars against some of the biggest names in motorsport. Names like Sebastian Vettel, Mick Schumacher, and David Coulthard, to name just a few. 

Talent from the Project CARS esports scene dominated the online Invitational round for the E-Race of Champions. Veloce's James Baldwin, and Topa from G2 knocked out some fantastic drivers on their way to a showdown finale, including Red Bull Global Rallycross' Mitchell deJong, who actually worked on Project CARS 2, having helped to develop the physics and handling for its rallycross cars. Check out the final races of the Invitational below, in which Veloce's James Baldwin secured his place in the Semi-Finals in Mexico in January.

The McLaren Shadow Semi-Finals took place on the 1st of December at the glorious MTC in the UK. Eight talented sim-racers from some of the world's biggest racing games arrived to challenge each other across five games, including of course Project CARS 2. Amongst them was Kristian Kwietniewski, the winner of the Logitech G Challenge in Project CARS 2, which took place in Paris earlier this year.

The last race of the Semi-Finals saw the drivers tackling the legendary circuit of Monza in the spectacular and aggressive McLaren 720S in Project CARS 2. The car's immense power required a controlled approach from the drivers, and pushing out of the corners with patience proved to be the key to a good performance. You can watch the action in the video above.

Kwietniewski performed admirably across all five of the games featured in the Semi-Finals, and he gave his all in the Project CARS 2 action at the end. However, he ultimately pushed himself a little too hard with a place in the Shadow Finals at stake, and a few mistakes began to creep into his driving. This opened the door for Igor Fraga to step in after some very solid performances of his own, and he ultimately snatched a place in the Finals away from Kwietniewski, after outscoring him by just two points.

Look out for the McLaren Shadow Finals in January, which will once again feature Project CARS 2, alongside a host other challenges in both the virtual and real worlds.

In any competition, it's a huge challenge for an underdog to come through and take victory, but that's exactly what Kristian Kwietniewski achieved in Project CARS 2 in the Logitech G Challenge. Back at Paris Games Week, Logitech hosted one of this year's most impressive esports stages, where a big crowd and an eager online audience watched Kristian take on some of the world's top sim-racers. He battled with drivers from teams like TX3, Team Redline, F4H & Veloce, to complete a tremendous win.

Kristian's reward is a spot in the McLaren Shadow Semi-Finals, which will take place in December at the prestigious McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, UK. Read on to find out more about Kristian and his sim-racing journey. We sat down for a chat with him to discover how he pulled off that Paris Games Week surprise, and what his expectations are for the next steps in his young racing career.

The Actrollvision Community Racing leagues continue to be amongst the most popular in Project CARS 2. There is more action and excitement to come, with some tweaks and changes for the upcoming winter season, on all three platforms.