If you’ve been doing online races in Gran Turismo Sport recently, chances are you’ve noticed something new.
Since the end of the first official season of the FIA Championships, a few players have acquired a new Driver Rating, of “S”.
Originally, the S rank was available to players — pending ability — from the game’s launch in October, right up until April 2018. It was a standard part of the DR system, with S being the top rank, above A. But then Polyphony Digital mysteriously renamed it to “A+” in the v1.18 update that brought us the GR Racing Supra Concept.
So has it changed its mind and brought it back again? No, this time it’s a little different. The new S ranking is part of GT Sport’s “Star Player” system.
According to the official bumf, the intent of the Star Player system is to recognize those players who are at the sharp end of online racing. It’s only possible to score a Star Player nomination, and thus your S rank, in the FIA Championship events.
In order become a Star Player, you must reach the end of an official FIA season with any one of the following conditions met:
- Have a top 200 season point ranking at the end of a season or
- Be in the top 10 season point rankings in your Entrant Country or
- Place in the top 10 Manufacturer Series season point rankings for your chosen brand
If you make the cut, you’ll receive an in-game notification that you are eligible. At that point you can register for the Star Player ranking on the official Gran Turismo website.
That will earn you the S rank, which will then appear as your driver ranking until the end of the next season. If you come up against an S ranked driver, they’re either good enough to be in the top 200 worldwide, in the top 10 in their country, or one of the 10 fastest with a specific brand.
The S rank doesn’t reflect your actual Driver Rating points score, and there’s no requirement to have a high Driver Rating to get the S rank. However, it does act as a prerequisite for the Top 24 Superstar events.
These extra events, held periodically throughout an FIA season, bring bonus points to all participants. In order to gain entry you now have to be an S ranked driver, as well as meeting the “top 24” selection criteria.
Not everyone is eligible to become a Star Player, however. As the Star Player system is an extension of the official FIA Championships, the rules over who may participate cover Star Players too.
This means that you must be a resident of an eligible country, and meet the age requirements, in order to become a Star Player.
Featured image courtesy of sebmugi.
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