Polyphony Digital has announced a short Nations Cup Exhibition Season for online racers, taking us through from the end of the current Manufacturers Cup Exhibition Season to the World Finals in December.
It’s another short, four-race calendar — matching the earlier Exhibition Seasons — running over successive Saturdays throughout most of November, giving American players the Thanksgiving weekend off.
There’s a pretty varied line-up of events this season which doesn’t currently include the very much acquired taste X2019 Competition as far as we know. The schedule is as follows:
GT World Series 2024 Exhibition Season 2 – Manufacturers Cup
- Round 1 – November 2 – Fuji International Speedway/Gr.4 – 17 laps
- Round 2 – November 9 – Special Stage Route X/Car Selection – 3 laps
- Round 3 – November 16 – Autodromo Nazionale Monza/Gr.1 – 25/17 laps
- Round 4 – November 23 – TBA/TBA
Your eye might naturally be drawn to that final race, as its combination is not currently listed — which generally, but not always, denotes the use of new content from an update that has not yet been announced. The event overview shows Sports Soft tires are required, which suggests a new road car will be available, while an unlinked page on the GT website shows the event will be at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps.
Otherwise there’s the famous “meme race” at Special Stage Route X, which comprises a full-throttle blast around the 18.8-mile loop in a range of highly tuned road cars. You’ll need maximum concentration for this three lap event at 260mph.
Varying race lengths are also a feature, with one of the three known races running shorter in the lower GT2/GT3 leagues. None of the listed events features mandatory tires, with only one grade available across the board, though that opening round at Fuji does look like a variable-weather race… As usual, GT1 league retains the “heavy damage” setting — requiring a pit stop to repair — across the board, while GT2 and GT3 have the self-healing “light damage” enabled.
The timings for the races are the usual range, but do be aware that in some countries (including the USA) there’ll be a summer/winter time zone change right after the first race. If that includes where you live, it’ll move the schedule an hour earlier in the northern hemisphere and an hour later in the southern, right between two of the races, so don’t get caught out in round two!
There’s ten slots for each round in GT2 and GT3 League, starting hourly across the bulk of daylight hours for the central timezone of each region — from 0800 to 1800 UTC in the EMEA region. The GT1 League players have fewer opportunities, with three slots that start every two hours in the afternoon/evening; that’s from 1400 to 1800 UTC in EMEA.
As usual, while you can enter as many slots as you wish for each round, only the last race you enter counts towards your score — even if you disconnect and score zero. Only your best two round scores are included in your points total, so don’t panic if you see grayed-out scores!
The Gran Turismo World Series is a more formal championship than the Daily Races, featuring longer races and a dedicated points system.
As you first enter the series — whether before the first race or the last — you’ll be assigned into a “League” that matches your current Driver Rating (DR) rank. Players with a DR of A or A+ go into GT1 League, if your DR is B you’ll head into the GT2 League, while drivers at C and lower slot into GT3 League. Your League will not change during the season, regardless of whether your DR rank does.
In each race you’ll be awarded points that depend on your finishing position and the average Driver Rating score of the players in that lobby. There’s more points available in higher Leagues, as you’d expect with it being based on DR, and top GT1 League racers could score almost 500 points for a win — compared to what could be single digits for winning in GT3 League.
However, just taking part is a good opportunity to get a bit of a credit boost. You’ll receive a bonus according to your overall League ranking within your primary and secondary geographical areas, country, and region.
For GT1 players that’s worth up to 6m credits, while GT2/3 players can score a maximum of 3m. Your ranking is based only on your points total for your best two rounds, so you don’t need to do much to pick up some decent rewards; even if you only take part in two GT3 races you’re just about assured 750,000cr…
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