World’s first race-to-earn model combines fantasy team management with esports

COVID-19 brought many things to a halt, motorsports included. Although disruptive, the resulting digital reality boosted the sims racing experience, a reality driven by popular drivers now making an experience in virtual events. This list includes Formula 1’s Virtual Grand Prix, The Race: All-Star Series and eNASCAR featured on ESPN, FOX and other major TV broadcasters.

Although this initial frenzy has since subsided with the reintroduction of live races, sim-racing has proven beneficial in scouting new talent and inspiring entirely new communities by blurring the line between the real and virtual world.

With the world transitioning from pandemic to endemic, the question to the industry becomes, “how can this momentum be carried forward when the world is able to attend live events once again?” Fortunately, the answer isn’t far off, with blockchain technology and the greater metaverse presenting society with a new take on reality.

As this market pushes new all-time highs, the two worlds are believed to intersect in a new genre of virtual racing that rewards players for their participation, in turn spurring on engagement and building fan loyalty alongside live events.

Further advancing this new digital arena is AnteFame, a platform believed to be one of the world's first hybrid esports and fantasy league offerings. Here, players are invited to participate in a race-to-earn model that closely resembles the play-to-earn phenomenon that has taken over the gaming industry.

“After the successes of NBA TopShot in basketball and Sorare in football (soccer), we are excited to bring new levels of gameplay to motorsports and collectible platform,” AnteFame shares.

The project, defined as a combination of a club and play-to-earn game, has received initial support from ART Grand Prix, WRT, US Racing and other world-class teams known for producing legendary drivers, including Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel and Theo Pourchaire, amongst others.

Achieving excellence through passion

In AnteFame, players can build their dream team to acquire collectibles from drivers in various motorsport disciplines, starting with F1, with new rewards up for grabs weekly. As a Global Fantasy Motorsport team management league, players will hold digital trading cards that double as NFTs that can be purchased, traded and won. Drivers' performance in each race in the real world will determine the score of a player’s team. Therefore, the better a player can scout racing drivers, the better their team will perform and the more rewards they will receive as tokens and NFTs.

However, unlike other fantasy teams, AnteFame takes a hybrid approach, enabling players to compete to a point where they can replace a driver on their team with themselves and directly influence their team’s performance by participating in the virtual races.

To further bridge digital and real-world races, AnteFame is working with Maserati, the luxury Italian car manufacturer known for the longest racing heritage. Winners will enjoy a Maserati driving experience with one F2 driver at Maserati HQ and racing track to fully immerse themselves in the brand’s heritage.

Following this news, AnteFame is hosting a contest for a chance to get behind the wheel of a Maserati Levante MC Special Edition. The resulting contest exists as both a celebration of the Maserati spirit of achieving excellence and a rewarding opportunity for AnteFame participants.

To participate in the competition and join the club, AnteFame is releasing NFT “passes” organized in four tiers, with a total of 6301 Rookie NFTs, 3333 Confirmed and 333 Veteran NFTs and 33 Legend NFTs passes, each of which gives the opportunity to participate in the game, enjoy various levels of rewards and own collectibles that will be tradable on OpenSea. 

Launching the collectible marketplace

On March 18, the company is launching its marketplace for NFT pass owners to begin scouting their drivers’ NFTs and building their teams; and players will need to own ANTE tokens to do that. A private sale of the ANTE token is underway for early adopters on a “first-come, first-serve” basis.

Launching the Fantasy League 

On March 20, AnteFame will be at the Bahrain Grand Prix for the private beta launch of the Fantasy League, a focus for the team over the next year.

The project team aims to onboard 5000 players to their racing ecosystem in 2022.