This weekend brings the second of the 2024 Gran Turismo World Series live events, as the series once again heads to pastures new with a first ever visit to Czechia.
Prague takes on hosting duties for this second of the three preliminary live events on the 2024 calendar, following on from the Montreal event in July and the last event in the regular haunt of Tokyo. They’ll lead into the World Final which has yet to be formally announced but which leaked out as being Abu Dhabi.
After a brief, one-season experiment with a team-based championship for the Nations Cup, 2024 sees it revert to a solo affair. The Manufacturers Cup remains in its team format, although with just a single representative at each of the three events — in North America, Europe, and Asia — it’s pretty close to the old regional final setup.
The representative drivers for Nations and brands for Manufacturers were already decided after a somewhat brief and more than a little controversial online season earlier this year.
The venue for the event is — as befits a city with a heritage like Prague’s — a former church built on a site which dates back almost 400 years, having previously been a Benedictine monastery. Divadlo Hybernia (“Hibernia Theater”) was converted into an event space after renovations in 2006, and can seat more than 850 people.
That’s around twice the capacity of the Montreal event last month, and there’s still tickets available through the special page on the Gran Turismo website. There’s a Gold Ticket for those who want to watch the whole event — and pick up an exclusive event T-shirt — for 949 Czech koruna (Kč) or around $41/€38. Individual Manufacturers Cup and Nations Cup tickets are also available, priced at 349Kč ($15/€14).
The dozen Nations Cup representatives will race against one another in all four events this season, so the line-up remains as it did in Montreal where Takuma Miyazono scored a decisive victory to take the championship lead.
It’s all-change in the Manufacturers Cup though, as the teams’ second representatives — mainly the European drivers — will be taking to the wheel. The line-up is pretty well-stacked too, with eight championship titles between them, including the three for Coque Lopez who’ll be racing the Lexus which Igor Fraga took to victory in Montreal.
We should also get to see the debut of the Gran Turismo DD Extreme wheel from series partner Fanatec on the 12 driving rigs that the competitors will be using, as confirmed last month but before the brand’s latest troubles.
Once again, players who tune into the streams and those blessed with the powers of divination can earn some neat in-game rewards as part of a pair of tie-in campaigns.
There’s up to 2m credits available as bonus rewards for your Gran Turismo 7 bank account if you’re able to predict who’ll win each of the two races. You can make your selections, through an in-game tile, right up until the start of the final race in each event — allowing you to watch qualifying first to get a handle on it — and there’s a million credits available for each pick you get right.
You’ll also be able to collect some rewards for just watching the streams through the game too. Again you’ll need to click on a special portal within GT7 to watch — and just clicking is enough to qualify you — and earn a Genesis Vision Gran Turismo for the Manufacturers Cup stream and a Skoda Vision Gran Turismo for the Nations Cup stream.
The events take place back-to-back on the same evening, with the Manufacturers Cup beginning at 1500 UTC and the Nations Cup at 1730 UTC on Saturday August 10.
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