Perez set to kick off AS Monaco’s final Ligue 1 game tonight

By May 17, 2014, 12:30 PM EDT
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Formula 1’s festivities in Monaco are set to begin next week as the rich and famous flock to the principality for the sport’s glamor event.

However, there is one final sporting occasion on the agenda for those in the principality before the race weekend, as soccer club AS Monaco plays its last game of the season against Bordeaux tonight.

Fitting in with the F1 weekend, Force India driver Sergio Perez will have the honor of kicking off the game at the Louis II stadium, as confirmed by the Ligue 1 club on its official website.

Rather aptly, both Perez and Monaco are enjoying something of a revival. Perez was seen as a young star following two excellent seasons with Sauber in 2011 and 2012, but a move to McLaren in 2013 proved to be a step in the wrong direction. He failed to score a podium finish all year, and was dropped in favor of Kevin Magnussen for 2014.

Perez subsequently secured a seat at Force India for this season, and has since rediscovered some form. He finished in third place at the Bahrain Grand Prix, which was only the second podium finish in the team’s history.

Monaco has enjoyed some success over the past decade, and reached the Champions League final back in 2004. However, the club was relegated from Ligue 1 at the end of the 2010/2011 season, suggesting that its heyday might have been over. Thanks to fresh Russian investment, though, it bounced back and got promoted last season.

With a sizeable transfer budget, the club has attracted some of the top players in Europe such as Falcao and Joao Moutinho. In its first season back in Ligue 1, Monaco has already secured second place in the league behind PSG, and will contest next year’s Champions League.

Tonight’s game will have no bearing on the team’s final position, so it is likely to be an enjoyable night that will kick start the Monaco Grand Prix weekend, arguably the most important in the principality’s calendar.

IndyCar disappointed by delay of video game but aiming to launch at start of 2024

By Mar 27, 2023, 3:00 PM EDT
IndyCar video game 2024
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An IndyCar executive said there is “absolutely” disappointment that its long-awaited video game recently was delayed beyond its target date, but the series remains optimistic about the new title.

“Well, I don’t know how quick it will be, but the whole situation is important to us,” Penske Entertainment president and CEO Mark Miles said during a news conference Monday morning to announce IndyCar’s NTT title sponsorship. “Motorsport Games has spent a lot of money, a lot of effort to create an IndyCar title. What we’ve seen of that effort, which is not completely obvious, is very reassuring.

“I think it’s going to be outstanding. That’s our shared objective, that when it is released, it’s just widely accepted. A great credit both to IndyCar racing, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, something that our fans love.”

In June 2021, IndyCar announced a new partnership with Motorsport Games to create and distribute an IndyCar video game for the PC and Xbox and PlayStation consoles in 2023.

But during an earnings call last week, Motorsport Games said the IndyCar game had been delayed to 2024 to ensure high quality.

Somewhat compounding the delay is that IndyCar’s license for iRacing expired after the end of the 2022 season because of its exclusive agreement with Motorsport Games.

That’s resulted in significant changes for IndyCar on iRacing, which had provided a high-profile way for the series to stay visible during its 2020 shutdown from the pandemic. (Players still can race an unbranded car but don’t race on current IndyCar tracks, nor can they stream).

That’s helped ratchet up the attention on having a video game outlet for IndyCar.

“I wish we had an IndyCar title 10 years ago,” said Miles, who has been working with the organization since 2013. “We’ve been close, but we’ve had these I think speed bumps.”

IndyCar is hopeful the Motorsports Game edition will be ready at the start of 2024. Miles hinted that beta versions could be unveiled to reporters ahead of the time “to begin to show the progress in a narrow way to make sure we’ve got it right, to test the progress so that we’re ready when they’re ready.”

It’s been nearly 18 years since the release of the most recent IndyCar video game for console or PC.

“(We) better get it right,” Miles said. “It’s something we’re very close to and continue to think about what it is to make sure we get it over the line in due course.”