The first live event in the 2025 Gran Turismo World Series is upon us, as the first of the season’s four in-person events gets underway from a brand-new location in London, UK.
As with the 2024 season, the first three rounds — each from new venues — will take place over a single day, with only a brief gap between the Manufacturers Cup, starting at 1440 UTC, and the Nations Cup at 1740 UTC.
The format remains the same as 2024, with the 12 drivers in the Nations Cup attending each of the four rounds, while the Manufacturers Cup goes regional. London will see the Asia-Oceania drivers for each marque take part, with the EMEA qualifiers attending the Berlin round, and then the Americas’ representatives in Los Angeles. Fukuoka’s world final will bring the trio together for a team effort.
With World Series points on offer for every event — up to six in each of the three preliminary rounds, before the high-scoring finals — that’ll mean that every race has something at stake again this year.
Along with the racing in London we’re also expecting a presentation of the upcoming collaboration with Xiaomi Auto which will see the 1,525hp SU7 Ultra arrive in the game as the first ever Chinese car in Gran Turismo, and maybe a peek at the game’s next update.
Gran Turismo World Series 2025 R1 – London – Manufacturers Cup
Although we saw a clear pattern emerging from online qualifying, the live events are something of a reset as they use a custom Balance of Performance (BOP) rather than the standard game version. It’s going to be tricky to guess who’s going to emerge until it actually happens.
What we can say is that all seven champion brands return for the 2025 season, after Nissan’s blip in 2024, along with nine drivers who’ve held the trophy aloft — five of those in London alone.
Two of those are Takuma Miyazono, twice champion for Subaru, who’s on double-duty in London as the defending Nations Cup champion as he seeks to guide the brand to its third title in six seasons. He’ll have some pretty stiff competition from Kanata Kawakami, also the winner of two titles with Lexus and driving as defending champion too.
2023 champion Ryota Kokubun has switched from his winning Nissan outfit to Mazda, replaced by the very rapid Hiroshi Okumoto. Seiya Suzuki, a race-winner at this level, will helm the leading qualifier BMW, and we’re going to keep an eye on Kenta Morimoto at Toyota.
The racing will comprise of a qualifying session at Tokyo Expressway South Counterclockwise in the Gr.3 cars — the same as the currently active Time Trial in GT7 — before a 20-lap race of the same with two different tire grades required. With the odd pit lane, almost two third through the lap, strategy is going to be a fun aspect here.
You’ll be able to tune into the stream from 1440 UTC on Saturday, June 7 (convert to your time here) and along with the usual additional language streams with commentary in French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, and Spanish, there’s a debut for Chinese commentary, and live-timing stream returns too.
Alternative Language Streams
- Chinese
- French
- German
- Italian
- Japanese
- Portuguese
- Spanish
- Live Timing (no commentary)
Predict the Winner/Viewer’s Gift
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 — so feel free to watch qualifying first — and watching any amount of the stream through your Gran Turismo 7 game will award you a Gr.3 car in-game. Which one will depend on which marque wins the race, and it’ll be delivered after the next game update.
Competitors
Gran Turismo World Series 2025 R1 – London – Nations Cup
As with 2024, we’ll see the same dozen players contesting all of the live events this year, from London through to the World Final, and there’s five champions among the group this year.
Once again, two of those titles belong to Takuma Miyazono, the only double solo champion in the series’ history as he guns for an unprecedented third. We’d never bet against Miyazono in the X2019s used in these events, but there are more than a few that could have something to say about that.
Pol Urra and Jose Serrano both have a title apiece, from the only team-format Nations Cup season in 2023 when they won as Team Spain with Coque Lopez. Urra wasn’t present in 2024, but Serrano came within a whisker (and stewarding decision) of the title. 2021 champion Valerio Gallo was in the mix too, as he seeks his first live title after being the online winner that year.
A very strong European contingent is rounded out by top qualifier Thomas Labouteley, 2024’s runner-up Kylian Drumont, and Kaj de Bruin who almost took the win last time out if not for a mild fuel miscalculation.
Popular racer Angel Inostroza, runner-up in 2022, continues his fine form since his injury to attend alongside the always enthralling Adriano Carrazza as the South American representatives, while Samuel Cardinal is the only newcomer as he qualifies at his first attempt (having previously done so but been ineligible through age) for Canada and North America.
Guy Barbara returns as the sole Oceania driver, and we’re hoping he can shuck recent live event misfortune and get among the sharp end. Last, and far from least, is Asia’s top qualifier Takuma Sasaki, who’s shown some great speed in live events and wouldn’t be a surprise to win the whole thing.
The format for the event will see the racers qualify the X2019 Competition at Grand Valley to set the grid for a five-lap qualifying sprint race at the 24 Heures du Mans circuit in the Aston Martin Valkyrie. That in turn sets the grid for the final, back in the X2019s at Grand Valley over 30 laps and with the requirement to use any two tire grades.
You can tune into the Nations Cup stream from begins at 1740 UTC on Saturday, June 7 (convert to your time here). Live timing is also available, as well as streams in Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, and Spanish.
Alternative Language Streams
- Chinese
- French
- German
- Italian
- Japanese
- Portuguese
- Spanish
- Live Timing (no commentary)
Predict the Winner/Viewer’s Gift
You can also select your choice of winner in the Nations Cup, with the chance to earn 1,000,000cr for getting it right. Again you have right up until the final race starts to make your pick, so go ahead and watch qualifying and the qualifying race first to get a bead on form. Tuning into the stream for even a glimpse through the special tile in Gran Turismo 7 will award you an Aston Martin Valkyrie, decked out in special Nations Cup colors — appropriate to the race winner — after the next game update.
Competitors
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