The biggest esports event of the week took place at FarmCon in Harsewinkel, Germany, and no one had to wait around for points to be tallied, unlike in the Fortnite World Cup. (I'm not sure who even watches that when there's wheat harvesting on.)
Farming Simulator 19 as an esport really is entertaining, if slow. Two teams race to harvest wheat, both delivering fresh grain to town and baling the straw. Sending those bales up a hay elevator scores points, while delivering grain ups the team's points multiplier.
With different equipment comes different strategies. Some teams piled bales in stacks of two and then sent them up the elevator as fast as possible just before time ran out, while others stored hay as they went. There were some close finishes, as well as near disasters, as in the clip below:
We also got to see some pro maneuvers, including this triple-bale barn shot:
The winner was team Trelleborg, which is made up of Felix Hasenberger, Simon Hollweck, and Lukas Bauer. For their combined combine skills, they took home €2,000, a €500 Nitrado voucher (it's a server rental company), and three Logitech G513 keyboards.
You can watch the full stream here. The next Farming Simulator League tournament will be an online tournament taking place on August 10 and 11. There will be a second tournament at the end of August at Gamescom, followed by many more throughout the year (full schedule here).
My only wish is for fewer camera cuts when things go wrong. Embrace that wonky physics and linger on it.
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