Gran Turismo World Series: Back on Track?

[Jordan]

This is the discussion thread for an article on GTPlanet:

Gran Turismo World Series: Back on Track?​

It has been a while since we sat down to take a critical look at the Gran Turismo World Series. The high-water mark was set during a memorable and spectacular event in Sydney, Australia, which brought together a compelling combination of racing action, atmosphere, and production value. GTWS was rolling, with plenty of momentum and storylines to project it into the year ahead...

 

[RobertHammer]

Nice Porsche over there

 

[kjb]

I like that Porsche as well. I hope they continue to do well with GTWS but I hope moving forward they don't tie new vehicles or tracks to watching the race.

 

[i386]

(Fanatec provided gt dd pro wheelbases with the qr1 quickrelease system and 8nm but without the load cell pedals )

 

[dimassa19]

As I said in the other thread, I grew up watching Formula 1 and the main question for me has always been to determine who would be the best pilot each year. And for me, Formula 1 is the pinnacle.
So I don't get too excited about wanting to know which country is the fastest. I want to know who is the fastest pilot in the world! The Number One!

If there was a pool, my vote would go to the traditional model.

And yeah, Julia, Tom & Jimmy are fantastic! [The Galaxy Trio]. They are one of my motivations for watching the Show.

 

[Kriptical]

(Fanatec provided gt dd pro wheelbases with the qr1 quickrelease system and 8nm but without the load cell pedals )

I kinda get that decision. Some people complain about that lode cell being to soft. Mine is stiff as a board. So much that I stare at the v2’s every couple days. Although at two months its breaking in a bit. Anyway, too much variance.

I do wish we could see some of those 8nm alien settings! Think ive spent 6 of the past 8 weeks sacking my races because i can’t stop screwing around with wheel settings 🤦‍♂️

 

[kjb]

As I said in the other thread, I grew up watching Formula 1 and the main question for me has always been to determine who would be the best pilot each year. And for me, Formula 1 is the pinnacle.
So I don't get too excited about wanting to know which country is the fastest. I want to know who is the fastest pilot in the world! The Number One!

If there was a pool, my vote would go to the traditional model.

And yeah, Julia, Tom & Jimmy are fantastic! [The Galaxy Trio]. They are one of my motivations for watching the Show.

I agree I think the traditional works out so much better

 

[dazdilly75]

The thing I like most about the Commentary team is how diverse it is. 2 white males and a white female. Well done on the representation and demographic of those who play the game.

 

[Nebuc72]

The thing I like most about the Commentary team is how diverse it is. 2 white males and a white female. Well done on the representation and demographic of those who play the game.

Julia Hardy is openly non-binary, so whatever stupid point you're trying to make is not only misplaced, but also openly wrong.

 

[NAXEHT]

The three of them host the show fine and I see no big reason to change anything there. Who gives a toss about anything beyond that concering commentary?

 

[Lux Klonoa]

I'm going to sound like a broken record here (especially to you, Jordan. lol), but these live events still need a live concert from Daiki Kasho. I'm very much surprised Kaz still hasn't let him do one since the 2012 GT Asian Championship.

Get Daiki out there, and it'll be absolute perfection especially with the live audiences now.

 

[mef]

I’m mostly disengaged from the game now and don’t care much anymore about the World Series

 

[mastretta_mx]

For next year they should have 3 championships:

-Manufactures cup (current format)
-Nations cup (Nation team format)
-GT cup ( old individual format)

New team format is unfair for competitors that are good but are from small countries/ countries with less competitors like Argentina, Peru, Mexico, Portugal, etc. Also for nations cup they should have all AMS, basically with current format US and Canada are qualified by default in NA and you have a big batch of countries in central and south america fighting for 2 spots (npt to mention that Mexico is NA not central or south America lol)

 

[Ande3200]

Amsterdam was so much fun looking forward to seeing the racing in the next one👍

 

[PJTierney]

The “show” is as great as always, Sony make the most watchable sim racing broadcast out there. I don’t even own Gran Turismo 7 or a PlayStation and I still tune in to the live events.

Still though, I find it odd that Gran Turismo doesn’t embrace the esports scene as much as their broadcasts would suggest.

Maybe it’s trying to be more like the Olympics where “the honour of competing at the highest level” is the end goal for competitors, rather than a traditional sports/esports league where there is an ecosystem, sponsorship and prize structure or franchise model in place for teams/drivers to turn competition into a sustainable business model.

Nothing wrong with going down either path, but I feel there’s a reason we don’t see Gran Turismo esports as much of a thing outside of the official events, despite the game clearly being capable of sustaining such a thing. I find it to be an interesting contrast between what’s happening with Street Fighter 6 for example, where the prize pools are astoundingly large.

 

[05XR8]

I'd love to see VR being used.

 

[RACECAR]

The “show” is as great as always, Sony make the most watchable sim racing broadcast out there. I don’t even own Gran Turismo 7 or a PlayStation and I still tune in to the live events.

Still though, I find it odd that Gran Turismo doesn’t embrace the esports scene as much as their broadcasts would suggest.

Maybe it’s trying to be more like the Olympics where “the honour of competing at the highest level” is the end goal for competitors, rather than a traditional sports/esports league where there is an ecosystem, sponsorship and prize structure or franchise model in place for teams/drivers to turn competition into a sustainable business model.

Nothing wrong with going down either path, but I feel there’s a reason we don’t see Gran Turismo esports as much of a thing outside of the official events, despite the game clearly being capable of sustaining such a thing. I find it to be an interesting contrast between what’s happening with Street Fighter 6 for example, where the prize pools are astoundingly large.

In fairness, Street Fighter is pretty much a household name in the competitive scene so it (And the FGC in general) was if anything already a built-in audience perfect to build upon for eSports. In contrast, Gran Turismo has the name but nowhere near that same cache or experience when it comes to competitive gaming. When you think about it, the closest GT has even been to anything resembling a tournament has been GT Academy (that and the Japan exclusive Red Bull Sports thing they had for GT6, but that was purely for one category even). If anything, I'm not entirely sure the crew really have the necessary tools or experienced people to even remotely establish that model or system you refer to. ACC and F1 can do that because they already by default have competitive elements and/or tools to build upon that and make it work (And it helps that one has the SRO on their corner while one has the FIA on their end), Same for NASCAR (Though it really helps that they have a partner in iRacing, who had a platform well before that ended up having the perfect tools to be adapted for eSports) whereas I don't think GT is even remotely close to ready nor have the proper tools to do so and I wouldn't be surprised if they themselves know this as well.

 

[Fozzie]

For next year they should have 3 championships:

-Manufactures cup (current format)
-Nations cup (Nation team format)
-GT cup ( old individual format)

New team format is unfair for competitors that are good but are from small countries/ countries with less competitors like Argentina, Peru, Mexico, Portugal, etc. Also for nations cup they should have all AMS, basically with current format US and Canada are qualified by default in NA and you have a big batch of countries in central and south america fighting for 2 spots (npt to mention that Mexico is NA not central or south America lol)

This and agree with all other points @Jordan made.

 

[wagnerFAM98]

That's it! Just finished reading the article, and really, the only major problem I see with the current GTWS events is the lack of new content to tease, everything else is pretty good. Doing this would increase views and interest in a more natural way... I'm looking at you, Viewers Campaign.

I know this is not exactly GTWS-related, but if I recall correctly, there's the grand final event for the Toyota Gazoo Racing Cup in November with details still to be confirmed. You might know where I'm going, as this is literally the perfect opportunity to tease the Toyota GT-One as the grand final car for a potential December update. Everybody's insane for it to make a comeback to the series, it's a pretty quick race car that would fit the adrenaline of a grand final, and of course, most importantly for them, it would drastically increase the interest of people to watch the live stream. So, considering the GT-One is not coming before November, this may be the best strategy they've got to keep most of us interested in this particular event.

 

[Ipirialmighty]

I'm opposed to continuing the team format in Nations Cup too.

GTWS needs history and consistency.

If the team format is adopted at the World Finals, there will be three Nations Cup champions this year. Is that right? I don't think so.