If you want to qualify for the live Gran Turismo World Final in Monaco this November — and you’re not already one of the 12 Nations Cup finalists — your last chance starts in a week’s time.
World Series Online Season 2, the second of two online qualifying stages, gets underway on August 12, with eight rounds in each of the two championships running through to October 1.
For those unfamiliar with the World Series, now in its fifth season, it consists of a pair of very similar championships. There’s the Nations Cup, in which you represent yourself, and the brand-oriented Manufacturers Cup.
The latter series sees you select a marque to represent from the 26 eligible brands. Once you’ve picked, you’ll be supplied with a Gr.3 car and a Gr.4 car from the manufacturer to drive for the season; pick carefully as you can’t change brands mid-season.
In each case the online stage consists of a series of races which will see you matched to players of broadly similar abilities with a chance to score championship points. The number of points you score is directly related to the Driver Rating of the players in the lobby and your finishing position.
That means that in order to be in with a chance of being among the top drivers come October, you’ll need to already have a high Driver Rating — although the event is open to players of any ability and in countries around the world, so long as they have access to a copy of GT7 and a PlayStation 4 or PlayStation 5 on which to play it.
When you enter your first World Series race you’ll be assigned to a “League” in each series, depending on your Driver Rating at the time. GT1 League covers for drivers at DR A or better and is required for qualification to finals events, with GT2 for DR B drivers, and GT3 for those at DR C or below. You’ll remain in the same League until the season ends, whether your DR improves or drop.
Each of the eight rounds of the championship will give you five chances to enter each race, taking place at the top of each hour once the round begins. Only your last finish in each round counts, even if you fail to score or are disconnected, so sometimes it’s better to stick with decent finishes than push your luck.
However your worst scores won’t be counted towards your total, with only your best four rounds counted in each event.
The full calendar for Online Season 2 is as follows:
Nations Cup
- Round 1 – August 12 – Autodrome Lago Maggiore – 10 laps – Radical SR3 SL
- Round 2 – August 19 – Deep Forest Raceway – 18 laps – Gr.4
- Round 3 – August 26 – Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps – 15 laps – Super Formula SF19
- Round 4 – September 2 – Barcelona-Catalunya No Chicane – 12 laps – Gr.3
- Round 5 – September 9 – Fuji International – 12 laps – Gr.1
- Round 6 – September 17 – Alsace Test Course – 20 laps – Mazda Roadster TC
- Round 7 – September 24 – Suzuka Circuit – 14 laps – Toyota Supra GT500/Nissan Skyline GT500
- Round 8 – October 1 – Trial Mountain – 16 laps – Gr.3
Manufacturers Cup
- Round 1 – August 13 – Trial Mountain – 10 laps – Gr.3
- Round 2 – August 20 – High Speed Ring – 14 laps – Gr.4
- Round 3 – August 27 – Sardegna Road Track B – 15 laps – Gr.3
- Round 4 – September 3 – Laguna Seca – 14 laps – Gr.4
- Round 5 – September 10 – Kyoto Yamagiwa – 10 laps – Gr.4
- Round 6 – September 16 – Circuit de Sainte-Croix C – 7 laps – Gr.3
- Round 7 – September 23 – Dragon Trail Seaside – 14 laps – Gr.4
- Round 8 – September 30 – Circuit de Interlagos – 12 laps – Gr.3
Currently there’s two unknown slots, both in Nations Cup. This usually corresponds to new content that has yet to arrive in the game, and that tallies with the fact we already know an update is due on August 25 and should bring a new circuit for the Toyota Gazoo Racing GT Cup event on the following weekend. We’d expect the circuit to fill one slot, and a new vehicle to fill the other — as two new circuits is unlikely.
Update: As of the August 25 update these slots have been filled. A circuit change for Manufacturers Cup Round 5 has also been effected.
As usual, almost all of the races have a ten-minute qualification period, with the exceptions coming in consecutive rounds of the Manufacturers Cup. The R5 Blue Moon Bay event will have a shorter, eight-minute window, and R6 at Sainte-Croix a longer 15-minute slot.
There’s mandatory tires set for eight of the known races, with six in Manufacturers and two in Nations. In these events you will need to run the required tire for at least one lap or face a one-minute penalty after the race; other tires made available for each event are optional.
Balance of Performance (BOP) is turned on for all races we know of so far too, which results in the car being locked to a specific power and weight for car, with no vehicle settings available for adjustment. That also includes brake bias, which in GT7 is considered an upgrade part.
The timings for the race entry slots are different depending on whether the race is run on a Friday (rounds 1-5) or a Saturday (rounds 6-8) in some regions. For Nations Cup, and by the UTC time zone, these are as follows:
- Oceania (Fridays): 0800, 0900, 1000, 1100, 1200
- Oceania (Saturdays): 0700, 0800, 0900, 1000, 1100
- Asia: 1100, 1200, 1300, 1400, 1500
- Europe, Middle East, Africa (Fridays): 1800, 1900, 2000, 2100, 2200
- Europe, Middle East, Africa (Saturdays): 1400, 1500, 1600, 1700, 1800
- North America: 2300, 0000 (+1), 0100 (+1), 0200 (+1), 0300 (+1)
- Latin America: 0000 (+1), 0100 (+1), 0200 (+1), 0300 (+1), 0400 (+1)
Manufacturers Cup merges some regions together, with Asia and Oceania becoming one, and North and Central & South America also unifying. The timings for races are slightly different as a result:
- Asia/Oceania (Fridays): 1000, 1100, 1200, 1300, 1400
- Asia/Oceania (Saturdays): 0900, 1000, 1100, 1200, 1300
- Europe, Middle East, Africa (Fridays): 1800, 1900, 2000, 2100, 2200
- Europe, Middle East, Africa (Saturdays): 1400, 1500, 1600, 1700, 1800
- Americas: 2300, 0000 (+1), 0100 (+1), 0200 (+1), 0300 (+1)
When the season ends, the best 16 drivers (split by regional distribution and national limits) and the best ranked representatives in each region for the top 9 manufacturers (plus series partners Toyota, Mazda, and Genesis) will qualify for the World Series Final, at Monte-Carlo Sporting in Monaco.
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