Today the Drone Racing League announced the launch of the DRL SIM Racing Cup, a competition that takes place entirely inside the DRL SIM flight simulator. Professional drone pilots used to control drones at 90 miles per hour will navigate the virtual environment and broadcast on NBC Sports Network (NBCSN). First flights take off Saturday at 5:30 pm PT.
“We’ve never done it before,” DRL founder Nicholas Horbaczewski told VentureBeat in a phone interview. “We’re effectively creating a full racing circuit using the best pilots in the world so it will really show what the simulation kit and pilots are capable of.”
About a dozen pilots will participate from their homes in Canada, Switzerland, the U.S., and the United Kingdom. Fans will be able to download DRL SIM to fly the same courses, and sponsor FanDuel will let fans create fantasy lineups ahead of virtual competitions. The league will end with a championship competition on July 5.
Pilots committed to donating winning proceeds from the competition to Direct Relief, a group that supplies health care first responders with personal protective equipment.
As professional sports leagues around the world postpone or cancel seasons, the Drone Racing League is moving some of its operations online and into its simulator.
Last year for the first time, the Drone Racing League launched AIR, which stands for AI Racing. The competition brought together teams from around the world to create autonomous flight systems and compete in DRL SIM. The winning team then competed against human professionals in a championship match for a $ 2 million prize.
Distinct from other leagues, DRL SIM is used to hosting annual competitions for the average person to try out to join the league from the comfort of their own home. Each year the tryout winner can sign a contract and join the league.
In a finale watched by more than 5 million people, last month Christian “Amari” Van Sloun, a 25 year old from Ames, Iowa, won this year’s tryouts and will compete in DRL SIM Racing Cup and the 2020 season set to begin this fall.
Horbaczewski told VentureBeat DRL Sim and its physics engine were created to help DRL build the world’s fastest quadcopter, but the DRL’s simulator puts its at a distinct advantage from other leagues, capable of combining human amateurs, human pros, and AI competitors into a single environment.
Horbaczewski envisions a future where the line between competing in the real world and in simulators continues to blur.
“It’s a unique element of our sport,” he said. “We are authentically a tech company putting on an incredible sports series, simulation is part of our sport, and we can lean into those different elements.”
DRL SIM is built on the Unity gaming engine. Also built on Unity, last year, Microsoft launched Game of Drones, a racing and AI challenge for its AirSim environment.
