4GR8Media

This online league was setup to fulfil the racing desires of both Esporters and karters during lockdown. With a lack of ‘decent’ handling karts from many sim titles, poor graphics and rendering of PC based titles such as RFactor2 (Modern Superkarts, poor replay action and overall terrible to watch) it was decided to pay homage to the liveries of bygone days using GT Sport on PS4.

The livery editor, paint schemes, rendering and graphics really do pay the highest respect to these legendary liveries and drivers. But what car would we use? F3? A bit unmanageable for the esports novices, the karts in GT Sport are shifters and truly awful. So we went for a Group 4 GT car, the BMW M4, loaded it with 303bhp and fully lightened it to under a tonne. A generic setup was devised in order that driver assists such as traction control, driving line, counter-steer, anti-skid, stability etc were turned off. No-one races with that on track so why use it here? Both ERacer Dazzman and Tim Gunter (Buzzin_TimG) spent many hours setting the car up and also a support race car, the 230bhp 1023kgs Toyota SFR Concept. 

A few karters & gamers tried and failed with the M4, especially as season 1 progressed. Some of the karters took to it really well though. There were a few issues with driving standards which needed to be ironed out before a second season took place it was thought. Club 100 racer Kireth took the SFR Championship with Buzzin victorious in the M4 (AshVinny, Buzzin, Callan and Dazzman only competing in the last round of SFR for non-points scoring positions). Little Buzzin Junior had an epic SFR win at Nordeschliefe with the 12 year old being flanked over the finish by an escort comprising of Ash, Buzz and Dazzman.

Season 2 saw a few drivers drop out due to them being front-line workers and other family commitments for others meant a new grid from Season 1. Entry included Club 100 karters, a superkart/historic champion (Martin Marks), historic class 1 and class 4 racers as well as the ERacers and ex-karters. The series had to start over Round 1 after one driver thought it was either banger racing or touring cars, where you push to pass. Not so, track limits must be adhered to and Karting Legend Paul Elmore was called upon to keep an eye on driving standards and track limits as Chief Steward. At the restart the competition was closer than ever with some epic battles, penalties and good mid-pack fights. Tracks included Brands Hatch & Spa to name but a few and regular trips to the podium resulted in Buzzin taking it from Dazzman to claim a second title. He made it three by taking an extremely competitive SFR class. Buzzin had a few trips out in the Motus 7 and Peak Revs liveries, but won it in the Anderson Mirage Tim Parrott livery which is his usual colours

Season 3 is expected to start October/late November with an all new format for the M4 and support races featuring a multitude of cars and disciplines. With the PS5 imminent (awesome graphics!!), backwards compatibility for GT Sport ‘plus’ a new GT7, we might see some changes afoot by the spring.

Many thanks to RetroRacer, Karting Legends, BHKC, Send It Magazine and BG4X4.CO.UK. You can view Season 1 and 2 highlights in the video playlist below as well as the promos. To see the I-Vision Championship and Head Candy Championship please visit our YouTube channel and subscribe!

Season 3 kicks off on 5th September 2020 with some new liveries and more power! The BMW is now at 382 BHP (completing the Nordschliefe in 6.41 with no warm-up lap or gear ratio changes) and the super fun Toyota SFR Concept running 300bhp. See Facebook ‘Tribute Liveries League’.

Below you’ll find the race videos, if you note to the right hand side there is a pull down menu to see all of the races – happy viewing!