A new team Nations Cup format will be used for the first time this season at an Amsterdam-based Showdown event.
Managing Editor, Traxion.GG
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After a triumphant return to an in-person LAN final last season in Monaco, the popular sim racing platform’s two main World Series Esports competitions – the Nations Cup and Manufacturers Cup – return for another season with a few significant changes.
Once again, anyone with a PlayStation 4 or PlayStation 5 and a copy of Gran Turismo 7 can participate, entering the in-game qualifying rounds before taking on established World Series drivers in an August Showdown event. in August in Amsterdam.
From there, the World Finals will take place in December, although the location has yet to be announced.
The most significant change for 2023 concerns the format of the Nations Cup. A championship that has always decided the “fastest” country, traditionally it’s a solo competition that informally determines the best Gran Turismo driver in the world.
Meanwhile, the Manufacturers Cup saw three drivers per team as part of a team event. This remains the case this year, but now that the Nations Cup will borrow the format of the trio.
For the Showdown, for example, Nations Cup finalists will be paired with promising drivers from open qualifying to create a team for each region.
It all starts in Gran Turismo 7. Qualifying began in-game, with seven rounds online for both competitions through July 1 preceding the in-person events.
Takuma Miyazono, Kylian Drumont and Daniel Solis celebrate winning the 2022 Gran Turismo World Series Manufacturers’ Cup Final for Subaru
Photo by: Thomas Harrison-Lord
Next is the Showdown event in Amsterdam on August 11-12, which helps determine the entry list for the World Finals which will take place from December 2-3.
Also present in December is the final round of the Toyota Gazoo Racing GT Cup, with qualifying also already underway.
Last year, Igor Fraga took the spoils for Toyota ahead of Subaru by taking the spoils for the Constructors and Spaniard Coque López in the Nations Cup.
The World Series is separate from the upcoming Olympic Motor Sport competition, although this uses Gran Turismo 7, which is a collaboration between developers Polyphony Digital, the IOC and the FIA.
