Live event racing returns to the Gran Turismo World Series later today, with the first of 2024’s four rounds coming from a brand-new venue in Montreal, Canada.
It’s set to be a jam-packed evening of action as both the Manufacturer Cup and the Nations Cup events take place — with a mere hour separating the two on the schedule — as well as the live reveal of the contents of Gran Turismo 7’s 1.49 update, which we’re expecting during the latter stream.
A format change for 2024 has seen the Nations Cup reverting to a solo championship following Spain’s win in the one and only team event. We’re also going to see the Manufacturers Cup going regional as the Americas representatives for each brand race off here, before the EMEA qualifiers in Prague and the Asia-Oceania drivers in Tokyo later this year. Well, for the most part…
For the 2024 season, every round will enable the players to score World Series points which they’ll carry into the World Final — so there’s something on the line in every race this year.
Gran Turismo World Series 2024 R1 – Montreal – Manufacturers Cup
We’ll again see 12 brands competing in the Manufacturers Cup and we’re guaranteed a different outcome in 2024 as defending champion Nissan hasn’t qualified at all. Two of its winning drivers have, but for different teams.
Each of the three live rounds will see a different driver line-up this year, with the qualified drivers from the Americas region taking part in Montreal. However, due to other commitments and visa issues, there are some substitutions — perhaps most notably at top qualifier Porsche, where ASOC representative Takuma Sasaki (also in Nations Cup action, handily) will take the place of Arthur Mosso.
Aside from Nissan, all of the other previous champion outfits are back. Two-time winner Subaru will have Angel Inostroza taking the wheel, while fellow double-winner Toyota has Adriano Carrazza on duty. Lexus, which won the first ever title, returns and has to be among the favorites as triple-champ Igor Fraga has moved to his real-life race car brand.
The racing will consist of a qualifying session at Interlagos in the Gr.3 cars, leading into a 30-lap race with the same combination and with required tire changes. It’s certainly going to be a marathon for those drivers pulling a double-duty!
You’ll be able to tune into the stream from 2100 UTC on Saturday, July 6 (convert to your time here) and along with the usual additional language streams in French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, and Spanish, there’s a debut for a live-timing stream too.
Don’t forget that you’ll have up until the final race starts to select who you think will win the race for the chance to earn 1,000,000cr — and watching any amount of the stream through your Gran Turismo 7 game will award you a Six-Star (Car) Ticket.
Competitors
Gran Turismo World Series 2024 R1 – Montreal – Nations Cup
The same dozen players will contest all three rounds of the continental live events as well as the World Final later in the year, and it’s quite the heady field with the last five series champions all attending.
That includes the only double-winner, Coque Lopez, who backed up a controversial win in 2022 as part of the Spanish team victory in 2023. He’ll be joined by countryman Jose Serrano — but not fellow champ Pol Urra, who didn’t qualify — as well as 2021 winner Valerio Gallo pulling the double-shift and 2020 victor Takuma Miyazono.
There are eight other drivers too, all looking to claim their first title, and none are an outside bet. Angel Inostroza — another driver running both events — would be a crowd favorite, motivated by the events of 2022’s World Final and his recovery from injury, but we’d also not be surprised to see lightning fast qualifier Kaj de Bruin, perpetual front-runner Kylian Drumont, or the USA’s Calen Roach making their way to the checkered flag first.
It’s a wild format for the event, which will see the traditional X2019 Competition used for an initial qualifying session and the final, 35-lap race both at Road Atlanta. However there’s a qualifying race between the two, which sees drivers selecting one of 12 pre-tuned road cars for a seven-lap dash of Watkins Glen. They’ll be seeded according to the qualifying session, and the race results will form the final grid.
After a short break following the Manufacturers Cup podium celebrations, the stream for the Nations Cup begins at 2330 UTC on Saturday, July 6 (convert to your time here). Live timing is also available, as well as streams in French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, and Spanish.
You’ll once again have up until the final race starts to select your choice of winner, with the chance to earn 1,000,000cr — giving you the opportunity to watch qualifying and the qualifying race first — while tuning in for even a glimpse through the special tile in Gran Turismo 7 will award you a Six-Star Ticket too.
Competitors
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