Esports tournaments are big business right now. They can attract millions of online viewers, have huge prize pools worth six or even seven figures, and they generate significant amounts of profit for the companies behind them. An upcoming Gran Turismo 7 tournament is unlike others as it’s going to involve the governing body of the automobile industry, namely the FIA (International Automobile Federation).
The tournament in question is the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Esports Championship. It’s run in previous years, but this time round it will have FIA added to the beginning of its name in recognition of the new partnership.
The 2025 event is sure to attract many viewers and even bettors who place bets on the outcome.
Many people join online sportsbooks with favorable eSports odds so they can get more value out of their wagers if they win. The esports category is growing fast, with many people around the world regularly placing bets on multiplayer video game tournaments such as this Gran Turismo 7 event.
Details About the MENA Esports Championship 2025
The FIA MENA Esports Championship launched in 2021 and has always been held in Amman, Jordan. It’s become one of the biggest esports racing competitions in the region, thanks in part to support from the FIA Sport Grant Programme.
This year’s event is scheduled to run from 13-15 November. As in previous years, it focuses focus on the game Gran Turismo 7, a racing simulator from Sony Interactive Entertainment released in 2022. This game is the eighth main instalment in the Gran Turismo series and the thirteenth overall. It was received well by critics and has sold well, with its US launch being the best ever for a title in the Gran Turismo series.
While the game was reviewed favourably by critics, some players had a negative opinion of it. This was because of the game’s need for grinding and its use of microtransactions, something which many gamers dislike. Because of this, Gran Turismo 7 was review-bombed and went on to receive the lowest ever Metascore for any game published by Sony.
There will be two semi-finals in the FIA MENA Esports Championship that will whittle down the competitors to just a dozen. These twelve racers will then take part in the final showdown, which will be pre-recorded and broadcast online on 28 November. The overall winner will be invited to the FIA Awards ceremony, which will be held in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, in December.
Last year’s event attracted around 1,200 competitors and was viewed by half a million people over the internet. This year’s event could be just as big in terms of its numbers, or even bigger.
What the FIA Sanctioning Means
The FIA is the official governing body of international motorsport championships, most notably Formula 1. Now that it’s formally involved in the MENA Esports Championship, it’s going to treat the event just like any other series of races. The FIA will therefore appoint people to various roles such as a race director, two international stewards and a sporting coordinator.
Most importantly, the FIA will determine how the event proceeds. Back in December 2024, the organization announced it was going to add an esports-specific appendix to its International Sporting Code. This paved the way for the FIA to get involved in esports events, which is exactly what it’s doing now.
Niroshan Pereira, the President of the FIA’s Esports Commission, has said the following about the first FIA-sanctioned esports tournament: ‘We are delighted to present the FIA MENA Esports Championship, which will further raise the profile of this thriving motor sport discipline both at the regional level and on a global scale.’
He mentioned that the event is proof of the FIA’s unwavering commitment to doubling the participation of motor sports internationally. As well as this, he thanked the people who have worked hard on making the event happen and those who came up with the idea of the event in the first place.
Going Forward After The Gran Turismo 7 Tournament
The FIA’s involvement should help transform esports racing from what is essentially a video game hobby to a more serious and professional pastime. Right now, it’s not certain whether the FIA will sanction other events. If the FIA MENA Esports Championship 2025 is anything to go by, there’s a strong chance that the governing body will decide to sponsor more esports racing tournaments.
What’s also worth pointing out is that viewers and players alike have to approve of FIA’s handling of the Gran Turismo 7 event. If the reaction to FIA is mostly negative, this could result in the governing body not sanctioning future events. If it’s positive, which it should be, this can only be a good thing for esports racing and will pave the way for more FIA-sanctioned events.
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