With the Gran Turismo World Series World Finals only two weeks away — and hosted in Barcelona for the very first time — Polyphony Digital has announced a host of special interactive features around the event and teased a brand-new Vision Gran Turismo car.
Players who were around for the 2022 championship finale will be familiar with the offerings for 2023, as there’s special in-game races, a predict-the-winner campaign, and bonus in-game rewards for watching the finals through the game itself.
Starting today, you’ll be able to take part in two special events in Gran Turismo 7, under a Gran Turismo World Series Anniversary Race tab in the top-right of the main World Map screen. These are truncated versions of the Grand Final races at the event in both the Manufacturers Cup and Nations Cup.
Firstly the Manufacturers Cup is a 13-car race — the 12 finalists brands and you — over a single lap of the Nurburgring 24h circuit in Gr.3 cars. Curiously you’ll have a choice of any tire grade despite wear being off, and you’ll be able to earn up to 300,000cr for the race.
Similarly the Nations Cup is a 13-car race — the 12 finalist nations and you — for a five-lap run around Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in the Red Bull X2019 Competition (no purchase necessary). Again, tire wear is off, so slap on a set of Softs and gun for the 380,000cr first prize.
Your powers of prediction are also put to the test in the Bonus Campaign, also available in-game on a special tab on the World Map. For this you’ll need to guess which driver will win the Toyota Gazoo Racing GT Cup, which brand will win the Manufacturers Cup, and which country will win the first team-based Nations Cup.
In each case you have until the start of the Grand Final race in each event to place your prediction, so leaving it until after qualifying will likely yield the best results. It’ll be worth it too, with a 1,000,000cr reward for each correct prediction.
Watching the streams through Gran Turismo 7 itself will also yield rewards, as it did for the World Series Showdown in Amsterdam. Heading into the Viewers’ Gift tab in World Map will give you the option to do just that, and there’s a special prize for each day’s stream by way of a free Vision Gran Turismo car worth 1,000,000cr.
Clicking on the “Watch Stream (Entry Available)” button once the stream is live — and at any time up to 2359 UTC on December 10 — will gift you a free Toyota FT-1 VGT for the Toyota GR GT Cup, and a Mazda LM55 VGT for the Nations Cup, with the cars being delivered to your Gifts section on Monday December 11.
That just leaves the Manufacturers Cup stream, and the prize for this is a mystery right now but also bears the Vision Gran Turismo name. This is pretty likely an indicator that it’s a car we’ve never seen before and suggests that the finals will — once again — reveal a brand new Vision GT car.
This is practically a tradition at this point, with the 2019 finals revealing the Lamborghini Vision GT, the 2020 event accompanied by the second Jaguar Vision GT unveiling (albeit ahead of the finals), and last year’s final taking the covers off the Ferrari Vision GT. The VGT program celebrates its tenth anniversary this year too, and there’s a special zone at the venue that will feature several full-size VGT cars — making the reveal of a new one even more appropriate.
Assuming this to be the case, it remains to be seen what brand will be revealing its concept this time round. One we’ve been waiting for a while now is the Genesis Vision GT, first shown in September 2022, but we’ve had some surprises from Suzuki and ItalDesign thus far in Gran Turismo 7’s life too.
The 2023 Gran Turismo World Finals begin in Barcelona from 1800 UTC on Friday December 1, with the Manufacturers Cup following at the same time on Saturday December 2, and the Nations Cup at 1500 UTC on Sunday December 3.
Tickets are still available for the event, which is open to the public, but you’ll need to be fast as the Platinum weekend passes have already sold out and only a handful of General Admission tickets for the Friday and Saturday remain.
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