Fanatec have teamed up with German motorsport team BLACK FALCON for a livery design competition, and the prize is a proper dream one for any sim racer: your design could end up on a real race car competing at the Nürburgring. This isn't a digital-only contest, the winning livery gets applied to an actual BLACK FALCON car for a live event.
Here's everything you need to know about how to enter, what you can win, and the rules worth paying attention to.
What Is the BLACK FALCON Livery Competition?
It's a design contest run by Fanatec in cooperation with BLACK FALCON and selected retail partners. You create a livery design, post it on social media with the right tags, and a panel picks a shortlist of finalists before choosing one overall winner. Simple to enter, but the prize is anything but ordinary.
Key Dates
• Submission period: 3 July – 30 July 2026
• Winner announcement: August
Anything submitted outside that window won't be considered, so get your entry in before 30 July.
What You Can Win
This is where it gets special. The winner receives:
• Their livery applied to a real BLACK FALCON race car for at least one Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie (NLS) event
• A Fanatec ClubSport GT3 Wheel featuring the winning design
• The BLACK FALCON drivers' signatures on that wheel
• Public design credit on the race car itself and across Fanatec and partner channels
How to Enter
To get your submission counted, you need to:
• Publish your livery design on Instagram (some participating retailers may allow other platforms)
• Include the required tags:#blackfalcon_liverycomp
• The participating retailer (for example, @fanatec_official plus your local retailer if applicable)
• Make sure your post is public at the time of entry
You can submit multiple entries, so if you've got more than one idea, there's nothing stopping you entering all of them.
Design Guidelines
Fanatec have given some clear direction on what they're looking for:
• Base your design on a Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (992) or equivalent model
• Keep it clean and avoid excessive branding
• Stick to Fanatec, BLACK FALCON, XXL Nutrition, Bilstein and Dunlop branding only, third-party sponsor logos are discouraged
• Existing logos must stay in the same position and size. If you can't add them yourself, the organisers will add them to the final livery
Accepted formats are refreshingly open: in-game screenshots, renders, or hand-drawn and digital sketches all count. So whether you're liverying up a car in a game, working in proper design software, or sketching by hand, you can enter.
The One Big Rule: No AI Designs
This is the rule to pay real attention to. Any design generated or assisted by generative AI tools will be excluded from judging. Fanatec reserve the right to ask for source files, work-in-progress materials, or other proof that you created the design yourself.
So this is a competition for genuine creativity and your own work. If you're proud of a design you made from scratch, this is your competition. If you were planning to lean on AI tools, it won't fly here, and honestly that's a good thing for the artists in the community.
Final Thoughts
This is one of the coolest sim-to-real competitions we've seen in a while. Most livery contests end with a digital render and a pat on the back. This one puts your work on a real car at the Nürburgring, with a signed custom wheel to keep. The no-AI rule keeps it honest and rewards genuine creativity, which is exactly what a competition like this should do.
If you've got an eye for design and a Porsche 911 GT3 Cup to work with, get your entry in before 30 July.
Fanatec x BLACK FALCON Livery Competition: Design a Real Nürburgring Race Car
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