Sim Racing Leagues: The Series Worth Watching
A guide to the biggest sim racing championships — what each one races, how the season is structured, and where the broadcasts are.
Sim racing has no single top championship the way Formula 1 sits above motorsport. Instead there are several strong series, each built around a different kind of racing: sprint GT3 events, multi-class endurance classics, and oval championships with full-time professional drivers. The series below are the ones with the largest audiences and the most polished production.
Oval
eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series
The longest-running professional sim racing championship. Full-time drivers, real NASCAR team backing, and some of the closest racing you will see anywhere.
Endurance
Le Mans Virtual Series
Multi-class endurance racing with real Le Mans winners lining up alongside the best sim drivers. The closest sim racing gets to mainstream motorsport.
GT3
GT World Challenge Esports
SRO’s official GT3 championship, run in Assetto Corsa Competizione on the same circuits as the real series. The best entry point if you like GT racing.
How Sim Racing Championships Work
Most series follow one of two shapes. Sprint championships run a fixed calendar of short races, usually one evening per round, with a points table across the season. Endurance series run fewer but far longer events, from three hours up to a full 24, with driver swaps and strategy that plays out over an entire broadcast.
Entry is not open in the way public online racing is. Teams qualify through separate open competitions, so by the time a race reaches broadcast, the field is filtered down to genuinely fast drivers — which is why the racing tends to be tight.
Which sim does each series use?
Series are tied to a specific simulator, and that shapes the racing more than the rulebook does. Oval championships run on iRacing. GT3 series are usually Assetto Corsa Competizione. Endurance events have used rFactor 2 and Le Mans Ultimate. If you want to drive what you are watching, our racing sim comparison explains what each one costs and how it feels.