The 2026 Gran Turismo World Collection is again this weekend, with Spherical 2 broadcasting from Polyphony Digital’s Tokyo studio on Saturday, August 15. The Producers Cup will get issues began at 13:00 UTC, with the Nations Cup following at 15:00 UTC, and you may watch each streams proper right here.
That is the spherical that successfully replaces the cancelled Abu Dhabi opener, and it’s a really totally different animal from the Milan season opener again in Could. There’s no venue, no tickets, and no crowd. In actual fact, there’s not even any reside racing.
The occasion was really recorded behind closed doorways at Polyphony’s studio a number of weeks in the past, and the “reside streams” going out this weekend are replays of that session. It’s the primary time the World Collection has aired pre-recorded races for the reason that championship was pressured on-line throughout the pandemic years of 2020-2022.
Desk of Contents
Producers Cup — 13:00 UTC
The Producers Cup opens the present at 13:00 UTC, and it brings an entire driver changeover.
The place Milan fielded every staff’s Europe/Center East/Africa consultant, Tokyo palms the vehicles to the Asia-Oceania drivers. Which means each driver who scored Producers factors in Milan is now watching from the sidelines.
Porsche’s drive passes from Jose Serrano to Takuma “Takuan” Sasaki, Ferrari’s from record-breaking rookie Maximilian Kroll to third-year consultant Jun Hashima, and Mercedes-AMG’s from Jack Balding to Kojiro Sasaki.
Porsche leads Ferrari by a single level on the prime of the desk, with AMG two again, so there’s lots for the brand new trio of drivers to guard.
There are few names value watching. Kanata Kawakami (a two-time champion with Lexus, and often called “Mr Lexus” for good purpose) is among the elder statesman of this grid. Audi debuts 18-year-old Sota Moriyama alongside its level from Milan, and Mazda’s Ryota Kokubun is the one driver pulling double responsibility in Tokyo, racing right here earlier than lining up for Japan within the Nations Cup.
The race itself is a 27-lap Gr.3 contest at Fuji Worldwide Speedway, and the tire sheet consists of intermediates and heavy wets, so climate might actually play an element.
Nations Cup — 15:00 UTC
The Nations Cup follows at 15:00 UTC with the identical twelve drivers who lined up in Milan, and the standings might hardly be tighter on the prime: Pol Urra leads Serrano by one level, with Takuma Miyazono one other level again in third.
The format is a three-parter. A one-lap qualifier within the Pink Bull X2019 Competitors at Deep Forest Raceway Reverse units the grid for a dash race at Suzuka, run in a number of twelve manufacturing vehicles which drivers decide in qualifying order (quickest chooses first).
The outcomes of that dash set the grid for the grand last: 35 laps again at Deep Forest Reverse within the X2019s, with all three tire compounds necessary. That’s a correct technique puzzle, and precisely the sort of race the place Serrano’s restoration drives and Urra’s tire administration have determined issues earlier than.
The storylines principally carry over from Milan. Can Urra beat Serrano straight-up twice in a row? Does Miyazono, racing on residence soil, convert his consistency into a primary win of the season? After which there are the 2 redemption arcs: Samuel Moreno, whose sensible debut collapsed right into a tenth-place end after main the grand last, and Valerio Gallo, who had a podium in hand till the ultimate two laps.
Milan’s large speaking level was a “altering of the guard,” with rookies matching the established names on tempo. Tokyo is the place we discover out whether or not that was a one-off.
There Will Be Information…
Polyphony used the Spherical 1 broadcast to reveal the full details of June’s Hypercar Update, and the timing traces up for a repeat.
We already know a new GT7 update is coming next week with 4 vehicles (the Toyota Chaser and Mark II Tourer V, the Hyundai Ioniq 6 N, and the Caterham Seven Superlight R500), and this week’s shortened Online Time Trial hints the replace might carry extra than simply vehicles. This broadcast is the plain stage for the complete reveal.
There might even be a sneak peek hiding within the racing itself.
Gran Turismo’s current social media clips present gameplay at Suzuka with long-awaited updates to the circuit’s trackside graphics, and Suzuka occurs to host the Nations Cup dash race. We presume the refreshed circuit rolls out with subsequent week’s replace, however Saturday may very well be our first correct have a look at it.
Stealth Fashions for Tuning In
The viewer rewards return for a second straight spherical, they usually’re pair: watching the Producers Cup stream in-game earns a Toyota FT-1 Imaginative and prescient Gran Turismo (Gr.3) Stealth Mannequin, whereas the Nations Cup stream delivers a Mazda 787B ’91 Stealth Model, a revival of one of many authentic GT5 Stealth vehicles. Neither will ever be bought in GT7.
To say them, discover the Viewers Marketing campaign banner within the top-right nook of the GT7 World Map and cargo every broadcast from there. You don’t want to look at on Saturday; the window runs by means of Monday, August 31 at 8:59 UTC, with each vehicles distributed on Tuesday, September 1 through the Presents tab in your Storage.
Hopefully it goes smoother than final time. The Milan marketing campaign proved common sufficient to knock components of the Gran Turismo web site offline mid-broadcast, leaving viewers watching error screens whereas making an attempt to say their vehicles. Polyphony acknowledged and stuck the problem afterward, and with a two-week window this time, there’s no want for everybody to pile in without delay.
The traditional “Predict the Winners” marketing campaign can also be obtainable till broadcast time, so you should definitely submit your predictions to attain as much as 2 million in-game credit.
A Signed Shirt from Fanatec
Fanatec is celebrating the Tokyo spherical with a giveaway of a World Series T-shirt signed by Kazunori Yamauchi himself; getting into simply takes a photograph of your rig posted to Instagram or X with the suitable tags. Full particulars are in our publish from earlier at the moment.
And, if watching the professionals this weekend leaves you wanting an improve of your individual, GTPlanet readers save 5% with Fanetec.com discount code GTPLANET5, which covers the Gran Turismo DD Excessive wheel the opponents used on stage in Tokyo.
Be a part of the Dialogue
The following spherical in entrance of a crowd is Singapore on October 3, however there’s a championship struggle to observe earlier than then. In case you’re watching alongside on Saturday, drop into our boards through the feedback hyperlink beneath for dialogue throughout each broadcasts. See you there!
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