Competitions will take place on 9-10 March;
➢ Phygital racing: Assetto Corsa + winter karting;
➢ 8 teams, 16 drivers;
➢ Among the participants are the winner of the Dakar Rally 2015 Ayrat Mardeev, champion of The Silk Road Anton Shibalov, multiple Russian champion in ice racing Mikhail Simonov, winner of the international Formula-3 championships Aleksandr Smolyar and other top drivers.
On 9-10 March Kazan’s Trudovye Rezerby stadium will be hosting the tournament in phygital racing discipline. As for the digital part, the participants will be showcasing their skill at driving the virtual LADA Kalina NFR R1 car in the Assetto Corsa simulator, physical stage will drift them away with winter karting on a specially designed ice-covered race track. Games prize money will amount to 1 million roubles.
The competitors’ lineup features a lot of well-known Russian racers: winner of the Rally Dakar 2015 Ayrat Mardeev, champion of The Silk Road Anton Shibalov, multiple Russian champion in ice racing Mikhail Simonov, European champion in rally cross Aydar Nuriev, winner of the international Formula-3 championships Aleksandr Smolyar and other top drivers. Moreover, team of Boris Garifullin – winner of the phygital racing (Assetto Corsa + karting) held last autumn – will be participating in Kazan.
“Our close friend Boris Garifullin came first at the last phygital competitions, so of course I heard a lot about a new competitions format. When I got the proposal, I accepted it right away and invited the teammates from our KAMAZ Master. I like this format, which is evidently engaging all sports and making them evolve. Thanks to the phygital idea, the competitions outreach is getting much bigger – they fascinate the racing fans, athletes themselves, and guys keen on computer games. It’s good for motor sport promotion and attracts more followers and sponsors.
I will meet the outstanding participants in Kazan. As for competing on the ice, I have some experience, because have recently partaken in the competitions in Naberezhnye Chelny but on trucks. Specifics is different, but we are trying to practice on the ice at our trainings,” Ayrat Mardeev said.
“Future belongs to Phygital, and we just need to get used to it. This is my first experience in Phygital Games, I’m a bit concerned about the computer play as I’m not very good at virtual space, but in the real race I will be feeling 100% confident. I’m going to polish up the skills with my teammates in computer games, so I think everything will be alright. I’m doing it not for the crowd but the result. I’ll be doing my best, although it’s something new for me,” Aydar Nuriev noted.
Among the competitions guests are former drivers of the Formula-1 teams Vitaly Petrov and Sergey Sirotkin. Famous streamers Dmitry Liks (Dmitry_Lixxx) and Aleksey Pchelkin (Pch3lk1n) will be attending the Phygital Games 4.
Schedule of the Phygital Games fourth edition is available on the “Games of Future” official website (https://gamesofuture.com).
Reference information:
“Games of Future” is a new-format international tournament merging the contests in 16 hybrid disciplines. Each is composed of a phygital (physical+digital) concept combining traditional sport and cybersport or VR/AR technology testing both athletes’ physical fitness and technical savvy. The Event will be held in Kazan in 2024.
Games of Future official channels:
Website
Phygital Games is a series of competitions in the phygital disciplines preceding the “Games of Future”. Kazan hosted the first Phygital Games on 21-23 September 2022 featuring four disciplines – phygital football (FIFA + futsal), phygital basketball (NBA + street ball), Beat Saber, and drone racing. The Phygital Games in racing (Assetto Corsa + karting races), wresting (Mortal Kombat 11 + MMA), and hockey (NHL 22 + 3-on-3 hockey) took place in November-December 2022. In February 2023 Kazan held the Games in cyber sport – Speerdun, Dota 2, MLBB, CS:GO, and Warface combined with laser tag.