Last week Turn 10 announced that the Ferrari 312 P would be given to those who race in the Can-Am league and place in the top half of each division (see last week's WIR for the announcement). There'll be three week-long leagues, so it runs through January, with cars handed out each week. Apparently you can win the car multiple times, although I plan to only grab one and in the subsequent weeks do one or two races just to get on the board and help someone else get it.

So far I'm in good shape to grab one of the spots in the Elite league, last time I checked I was in the top 20% even with a limited amount of racing. Have read reports from others that achieving the car hasn't taken too much effort, partly because participation numbers are much higher than usual so there are more points to be made. Last week's supercar league had about 1,200 players in the Elite division after a whole week, the Can-Am Elite league had that many at the end of the first weekend.

One of the downsides of the large participation numbers, perhaps partly motivated by the Ferrari being handed out, is that a much higher proportion of the races contain poor race craft with lots of ugly crashes. In addition to the usual pileups in turn 1, I've seen deliberate crashes on straights, and I've got a replay of another driver taking me out mid-corner on the Alps circuit, for instance (said driver was using several assists and probably didn't like that my grip-tuned Lola bumped into them since they braked in odd places, probably due to assisted braking).

While I've had to prep an unusually large cup of patience for this league, it hasn't been all bad. The Can-Am cars are fun to drive and my speed-tuned McLaren M8B turned out to be quite fast on the short Road America course. Some of the races have been close and clean, as these leagues have brought out some highly skilled drivers. Also, many drivers use TCS since it's easy to spin wheels with those powerful V8s, perhaps particularly on rain tracks (I've chosen to drive without it). Some good tunes to be had too, in case you're not interested in tuning these cars yourself.