Gfinity has been awarded an exclusive partnership by Microsoft’s Turn 10 Studios to host their Forza Racing Championship 2017. The leading London esports promoter will not only run tournaments, but broadcast them weekly via Twitch, Beam and Youtube.

Coverage kicks off April 15-16 with the New York Invitational; a $25,000 prize tournament to be presented by Porsche at Microsoft’s flagship store on Fifth Avenue. Eighteen of the world’s best Forza players will be in attendance, along with professional motorsport racer Matt Campbell. This is just a warm-up lap before the Forza RC Season 3: The Porsche Cup, a racing esports programme that gives both elite drivers and casual players a chance to race for $100,000 in prize money.

Nevil Upton, the CEO of Gfinity plc said:

“Everyone at Gfinity is extremely proud to be appointed by Microsoft to manage their prestigious Forza Racing Championship and our technology and expertise means we are the only platform who are capable of showcasing such an important tournament. Gfinity has spent years dedicated to building the best eSports tournament designs and platforms in the world, and we are beginning to receive international recognition for it”

[perfectpullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]The critically acclaimed Forza series targets a professional motorsports audience with its focus on realistic graphics and gameplay[/perfectpullquote]

Like Bandai Namco’s Project Cars, the critically acclaimed Forza series targets a professional motorsports audience with its focus on realistic graphics and gameplay. Last year’s Forza Racing Championship Season 2 split the cup among two titles, Forza Horizon 3 (an open-world racing game) and Forza Motorsport 6, and mixed gaming sponsors such as Logitech and Playseat with traditional automotive brands like Michelin.

With Gfinity in the driver’s seat, competitive racing could make major inroads this year as a serious esport. The company reported revenues of £900,000 – a 45 percent increase – for the second half of 2016. Alongside their vast experience in tournament organising, they run LAN events at the UK’s only dedicated esports venue, the Gfinity Arena in London, and the Elite Series, a drafting tournament that allows amateur gamers to earn a place in professional teams.