Polyphony Digital has announced a brief, surprise showcase season for the Gran Turismo World Series 2024 that can kick off this coming weekend and fill the gap in esports competition between the live events in Montreal and Prague.
Unusually, the season has been announced as a Manufacturers Cup only, with a compact four-race schedule featuring only the core Gr.3 cars from each of the 2 dozen brands represented in the sport. As of yet, there is no such thing as a accompanying Nations Cup event.
With just five weeks between the 2 live events — and an update due on Thursday, July 25 — the schedule suits in perfectly, with each race falling on an unbooked Saturday. The calendar looks like this:
GT World Series Manufacturers Cup Exhibition Season 1
- Round 1 – July 13 – Gr.3 – Interlagos – 20/30 laps
- Round 2 – July 20 – Gr.3 – Tokyo East, clockwise – 12 laps
- Round 3 – July 27 – Gr.3 – Autopolis – 10 laps
- Round 4 – August 3 – Gr.3 – Nurburgring GP – 15 laps
It’s price noting that there’s almost no difference within the races for the GT1 and GT2/GT3 leagues this time around, with the one obvious difference being the opening race being 50% longer in GT1. Of course, GT1 retains the “heavy damage” setting – requiring a pit stop for repairs – reasonably than the self-healing “light damage” of GT2 and GT3.
Also interesting is the relative lack of tyre wear or compulsory tyres within the second round in Tokyo. While other events have higher wear multipliers, in addition to compulsory changes within the two, in Tokyo it’s a set base value. This could indicate a wet weather event, so prepare for showers by choosing Intermediate and Wet Racing tyres.
With the mid-season update promising “new physics”, it should actually be interesting to see how the cars – and the balance of Gr.3 performance – change between the primary two and last two rounds.
Again, there are ten slots for every round within the GT2 and GT3 League, which start every hour during most sunlight hours in each region’s central time zone – from 08:00 to 18:00 UTC in EMEA. GT1 League players only have three slots, starting every two hours within the afternoon/evening, from 14:00 to 18:00 UTC in EMEA.
Although you’ll be able to enter as many slots as you have got available, only the last race entered in each round will count – even in case you disconnect and rating zero points. Only your best results from two rounds will count towards your total points, although you’ll only be ranked by your best round in R1-3.
If you're unfamiliar with the Gran Turismo World Series format, it's essentially a more formal and longer championship format than Daily Races. In the Manufacturers Cup, you have got to decide on a brand to represent, which locks you into that manufacturer for a four-race season and lends you a Gr.3 and Gr.4 automotive to make use of – although you should use any suitable automotive from that brand.
When you choose to hitch the series (whether before the primary or last round), you will likely be placed in a “League” corresponding to your DR Rank. Players who’ve a Driver Rating of A or A+ move as much as the GT1 League, those with a DR Rating of B go to the GT2 League, and drivers with a DR Rating of C and lower go to the GT3 League. You will remain in that League no matter any changes to the DR at the moment.
The points awarded for every race are determined by the typical Driver Rating of players in that lobby, so GT1 lobbies will likely be price more—significantly more—than GT3 lobbies. In each race, the winner receives probably the most points, with each position behind them being price about 5% fewer points. While a GT1 League race win will be price around 475 points, GT3 races with players as little as D-ranked can only award single-digit wins.
No matter which league you race in, there are good points to be earned for participating. You will receive a bonus in line with your overall league position, with rewards for position in major and minor geographies, region and manufacturer.
Even in GT3, a full series of gold medals in these 4 categories (for ending in the highest 5%) can be price 3,000,000cr, so by entering a number of races you’ll be able to get an honest return in your time invested!
