2023’s Gran Turismo World Series Finals gets underway at 1800 UTC today with the Toyota Gazoo Racing GT Cup.

This global, one-brand championship has served as the curtain-raiser for the finals since its inception, and often predicts who’ll be successful in the two main events that follow.

For three of the last four years, the Toyota GR GT Cup winner has gone on to claim either the Nations Cup or Manufacturers Cup — or, in the case of Takuma Miyazono, both — with the only exception being 2022’s Igor Fraga who became the third driver to claim the Triple Crown.

Each season has seen a different champion and with three of the previous four winners absent it could well be the case again this year. Only 2020 champion Takuma Miyazono, who was top qualifier overall, can ensure a different outcome.

However he’ll be up against a very strong home crowd for the event in Barcelona as five Spanish drivers have qualified for the event — including the overall top qualifier Pol Urra and perennial nearly-man Jose Serrano. Defending Nations Cup champion Coque Lopez is also in the field, looking to complete his own Triple Crown.

Along with the top 21 qualified drivers from around the world, three drivers join from a separate competition among drivers from Asia. They include the extremely fast Andika Rama Maulana, returning from 2022, and Karl Etyemezian.

In total there’ll be four races to determine the 2023 champion. After a general qualifying session in the Toyota GR Corolla at the National layout of the local Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya the field will split into two seeded groups of 12 racing the GR Supra Racing Concept at Deep Forest and Grand Valley, with the top four in each qualifying for the final.

Positions 5-10 in each move to a last-chance repechage race in the GR Yaris at the new Lake Louise snow track, with just four more spots up for grabs. That leads into the final, a 23-lap race at the full Catalunya course in the Toyota GR010 — with tire strategy required.

Races

Qualifying – Toyota GR Corolla, Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya National
Semi-Final A – Toyota GR Supra Racing Concept, Grand Valley Highway-1
Semi-Final B – Toyota GR Supra Racing Concept, Deep Forest
Repechage – Toyota GR Yaris, Lake Louise
Grand Final – Toyota GR010, Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya

Don’t forget that, as a viewer, there’s two further ways you can get involved in the event. Firstly, by watching the stream through the game at any point up to 2359 UTC on Sunday December 10, you can earn a free Toyota FT-1 Vision GT for your GT7 garage. You can also earn 1,000,000cr for your game wallet by guessing the winner of the event.

Both of these contests — named Viewer Campaign and Bonus Campaign respectively — are available in-game through special icons on the main World Map screen.

The racing gets underway today, Friday December 1, at 1800 UTC (convert to your time here) and we wish all of the competitors the best of luck!

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Competitors

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