With the 2023 Gran Turismo World Series now officially concluded — and Team Spain and Team Nissan crowned as champions — Polyphony Digital has announced the first Exhibition Series for 2024, beginning on December 30.

The relatively compact schedule sees four races in each of the two championships, and again running back-to-back as with the official 2023 championship rather than interleaved as we saw in Season 1.

Another reversion comes by way of the return of midweek races. Just under half the races will take place on a Wednesday, with slots throughout the day in the lower ranks and in the evening for central timezones within each region for GT1 League. The full calendar is as follows:

GT World Series Manufacturers Cup Exhibition Season 2

Round 1 – December 30 2023 – Gr.3 – Nurburgring 24h – 5 laps
Round 2 – January 3 2024 – Gr.3* – Watkins Glen Long Course – 15/10 laps
Round 3 – January 6 2024 – Gr.3 – Mount Panorama – 14 laps
Round 4 – January 10 2024 – Gr.3* – Dragon Trail Gardens – 14 laps

GT World Series Nations Cup Exhibition Season 2

Round 1 – January 13 2024 – Red Bull X2019 – Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps – 22/12 laps
Round 2 – January 17 2024 – Mazda 3 Gr.4 – Fuji Speedway – 17/10 laps
Round 3 – January 20 2024 – Super Formula SF23 – Interlagos – 30/20 laps
Round 4 – January 27 2024 – TBA – TBA – TBA

Eyes will naturally be drawn to the “TBA” in the schedule for the final round of the Nations Cup. That has, almost exclusively over the past six years, marked an event where either the car or the track required for the race — or both — is not yet part of the game but will arrive shortly beforehand in an update.

We are, of course, expecting a January update to add the Genesis X Gran Berlinetta Vision GT concept car to the game, and there’s a reasonable chance that this car will be the required vehicle for Nations Cup Round 4 — though we will have to wait and see. It does mean that you can at least lightly pencil in January 25 for the update.

Once again, the Manufacturers Cup series is exclusively a Gr.3 event for players in GT1 League, with Gr.4 cars only appearing for GT2/GT3 League players in two of the rounds. That also results in shorter races — or at least one shorter race, as the Dragon Trail race appears to run over the same lap count despite the slower cars — for GT2 and GT3 Leagues.

That carries over to the Nations Cup too, which sees GT1 players running 50%+ longer races in all three of the rounds about which we currently know. There’s also Heavy mechanical damage in GT1 League, compared to Light in the other classes. All rounds have adjustable Brake Balance enabled, with some rounds also permitting some suspension tuning.

If you’re unfamiliar with how the Gran Turismo World Series works, it’s a series effectively based upon your Driver Rating — and that of those players with whom you’re paired.

You are assigned a “League” from the moment you choose to enter the series, with players holding a Driver Rating of A or A+ going into GT1 League, those with a DR of B going into GT2 League, and DR C and lower placed into GT3 League. This will not change during the season, regardless of any changes to your DR in that time.

Points for each race are determined by the average Driver Rating of the players in any given lobby, with the winner getting the most and around 5% fewer points per position thereafter. A win in a GT1 League race where every driver has close to maximum DR would be worth around 475 points, whereas in a GT2 League lobby it could be around 125 points, and only single digits in a GT3 race with low D-ranked players.

Only your scores from your best two rounds count towards your final ranking, and we’re likely to see in-game credit rewards again for that which depend on how highly you place compared to others in your primary and secondary geographical areas, region, and manufacturer or country.

Each race has multiple time slots available each round — ten for GT2/3 League (except in Manufacturers Round 1) running hourly, and three in GT1 League — allowing you to do as many races as you like. However only the points you score in your final race each round will count, even if you disconnect and score zero.

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