October 27, 2010
Published on tags: General


It is with the greatest of pleasures then that the Administration can officially announce that, effective immediately, the incredible heritage, community and innovation of the Grand Prix Virtual World Championship (GPVWC) will be merging with the enthusiasm, dedication and action of Grand Prix Online (GPO) to create a brand new racing experience. The resources and communities of the two projects will be pooled to bring everyone a far greater, more detailed and extensive simracing league.

The administrators of both leagues have discussed the merger for some time now and what is abundantly clear in every discussion is that the ideals and goals in both leagues are identical. The passion for creating the best racing possible in an environment that pushes the possibilities of online competition is very much shared and will be a driving factor as we begin to prepare for the 2011 season.



What this will mean

While there are still many things to discuss and finalise, some points can be already made clear for the benefit of all:

Both leagues will operate under the name of Grand Prix Online due to the effectiveness of the name and the success the name achieved in attracting attention. The joint GPO will introduce a new and highly innovative World Championship, based on rFactor and on the GPVWC Superleague, which will benefit from the incredible systems and team management tools that the GPVWC have developed over their years of operation. This will mean a unique vehicle upgrades system as well as contract and financial negotiations that can play to or against the team as the season progresses. This will truly be a system unique to GPO and one that many drivers will relish the chance to take part in. The existing GPO Challenge and Sprint, as well as the GPVWC Supercup, will remain on the condition of interest being there to sustain both leagues. In the event of low numbers, only one series will remain. There will be revisions to the league names and the possible inclusion of sponsors; more details on names, mods and further features will be released soon. rFactor will be retained as the gaming platform of choice; we will attempt to use a lot of the tracks we ran this year in GPO to follow the F1 season as faithfully as possible. Some circuits were not up to the high standards we set ourselves so we may see some alterations to the calendar, such as the Road America event in 2010. Staying with rFactor will allow us to make good use of all the work that took place in 2010 and will give us the much needed consistency we need to develop and push the latest developments in the league in the way they deserve. The introduction of a World Championship will also see the introduction of prizes ?a new feature for GPO but a well-respected tradition in the GPVWC. These are going to be quite special but at this point in time we will keep their details behind closed doors. A new Forum and Website, redesigned and streamlined with tested GPVWC Technology, will be introduced for the 2011 season. This merger represents a huge opportunity for both leagues to create something truly unique in the world of simracing. The possibilities are very exciting and in this day and age of numerous race titles fighting for people's attention, along with decreasing grid sizes amongst most major leagues, this will give the new GPO some consistency and will bolster our community for the future.

The Administration hope everyone in the community will feel the same way and that both GPVWC and GPO communities will rally behind the project and show their support for this new venture. We promise to bring you something amazing in 2011 - so please come and join us, get yourselves on the grid and show us some great racing in return!

Kindest regards

The ex staff of GPVWC and GPO and now the new staff of GPO - featuring the GPO Virtual World Championship!



GPVWC and GPO: a brief background

The Grand Prix Virtual World Championship (GPVWC) is a stalwart in the simracing world. During the course of its history, the GPVWC established itself as one of the most successful, most respected and most enjoyable leagues on the internet. Founded in 2000 and now approaching its 12th season, the GPVWC offers a unique competition model that merges simracing at its best with a complex, detailed team management simulation.

The underlying concept behind the GPVWC is simple: in real Formula One, no one races alone. World Championships, victories and fast laps are the result of the tireless work of teams who put an effort, day in, day out, to provide their drivers with the best possible car to edge out their opponents.

At GPVWC, we acknowledge the importance of teams, and we developed a detailed Management system in which Team Owners have to administer their team's budget, deal with contracts and suppliers and develop their cars. All that is required is for people with a knack for leadership to step into Christian Horner or Stefano Domenicali's shoes, hire the best drivers, give them the fastest cars and enjoy the sweet taste of success ?or the agony of failure!

With a bespoke, purpose-built website developed by the GPVWC Administration, the whole racing experience is tailored to bring the best possible racing environment for managers and drivers alike: a result-reader, designed from scratch, allows results to be published and standings, finances and statistics to be updated within minutes of the chequered flag, while other systems are developed continuously to bring new features to what amounts to possibly one of the best simracing websites in the world.

At GPVWC, however, high-quality racing is not the only focus: we pride ourselves of the quality of our community, of the sense of belonging it fosters and of the lifelong friendships it creates ?some of our members joined as early as 2002!

Grand Prix Online (GPO) is a labour of love created by a small group of simracers at the start of 2010 and a very new but already well-established series with big plans for the future.GPO is a collective creation between four drivers who had grown frustrated with the complexities and negative dealings of other simracing leagues and wished to go back to the roots of pure, exciting and heart stopping on track action. Within the space of two months a mod had been created, an interface designed, forums and websites opened and two grids of drivers gathered for the start of this new venture. A further 8 months down the line, the league now finds itself with 17 races under our belts and a community that has grown to over 300 members. Some targets have been met, while the pursuit of other is pushing the league onto greater things for the future.

Sharing the ideas of the GPVWC, GPO has always been a supporter of maintaining definite team identities in a simracing environment. Week after week we all sit and watch our favourite teams and drivers in the world of real motorsport ?and we believe the same could be happening in simracing. The idea of making star personalities out of the drivers that line up on the grid is one that very much appeals to us at GPO and as we move forward into an exciting 2011 season we are looking for ways to push this idea and make it a reality.