Following the tight racing in yesterday’s Manufacturers Cup, today will see the new-format Nations Cup final at the 2023 Gran Turismo World Series Showdown in Amsterdam.
Traditionally the centerpiece for a live event, the Nations Cup has undergone a dramatic change for 2023 as it switches from a solo event to a team challenge with three drivers representing each country.
For this season it’s the top 12 nations from around the world who qualify, along the usual regional splits, based on their top drivers’ performances in the online stage held earlier this year. The five best nations from the Europe/Middle East/Africa region, the two best each from Asia, South America, and North America (which is automatically the USA and Canada), and the best from Oceania qualify.
That’s brought a lot of new faces into contention this year, with first-time appearances for drivers from Malaysia in the Nations Cup event and a number of newcomers in the second and third spots in some of the established nations.
Alongside the newcomers, there are some incredibly strong teams of veteran finalist drivers who will be working together rather than against each other for the first time.
Probably the most outstanding squad is Brazil, which counts two-time Manufacturers Cup champion, original Nations Cup champion, reigning Toyota GR GT Cup champion, and multiple World Tour winner Igor Fraga in its team. He was only the third-best Brazilian in the online stages, behind fellow World Tour round winners Adriano Carrazza and Lucas Bonelli.
The French team also look pretty scary, with recent revelation Kylian Drumont — current Manufacturers Cup champion — joined by Baptiste Beauvois who regularly troubles the podium and well-known online racer Thomas “Aphelion” Labouteley.
Italy too brings three World Tour/Series regulars, with 2021 world champion Valerio Gallo and first ever World Tour winner Giorgio Mangano joined by Marco Busnelli. It’ll also be difficult to ignore Spain, who bring double world champion Coque Lopez, yesterday’s Manufacturers Cup winner Jose Serrano, and — now he’s reached 18 and is eligible — Pol Urra.
The Chilean team will only be fielding two drivers and could face a difficult time. Again, Polyphony Digital has chosen not to replace Angel Inostroza with a substitute driver after his traffic accident last month.
The teams will qualify in the Ferrari Vision Gran Turismo car over a hot lap of the Grand Valley circuit — making its debut in a competition event — before a “qualifying race” which will consist of a ten-lap event for one selected driver in a range of high-performance road cars at the same circuit.
That will set the grid for the final itself, which is a 30-lap run of the full Autodrome Lago Maggiore GP circuit in the traditional Red Bull X2019 Competition car. Every driver on each team will be required to drive at least once, and the teams must use each of the Racing Hard, Medium, and Soft tires at least once and for eight consecutive laps.
You can also earn in-game prizes as a viewer of the Showdown. A special “Pick the Winner” campaign, accessible through the game, will allow you to pick which teams you think will win the Manufacturers Cup and Nations Cup this weekend, with one million credits per correct choice.
There’s also the “Viewer Gift” campaign, which will reward you for watching the event through Gran Turismo 7 itself. Tune in via the special tile on the World Map screen and you’ll receive the Toyota Ambulance Himedic ’21 through the in-game Gifts section on Monday August 14.
The race will broadcast at 1700 UTC, and you can watch it in the embed at the top of the page or via one of the alternative language streams below:
Alternative Language Streams
- French language stream
- German language stream
- Italian language stream
- Japanese language stream
- Portuguese language stream
- Spanish language stream
Competitors
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