FIA-Certified Gran Turismo Championships

FIA-Certified Gran Turismo Championships

Tournament information
Location	Specified locations
Established	2018
Administrator(s)	Polyphony Digital
Website	Official website
Current champion
Takuma Miyazono (Nations Cup) Mikail Hizal (Manufacturer Series) Takuma Miyazono (Manufacturer Series) Daniel Solis (Manufacturer Series)

The FIA-Certified Gran Turismo Championships (also referred to as the FIA GTC) is a series of professional Gran Turismo Sport world championship esports tournaments, managed directly by Japanese game development studio Polyphony Digital and the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile.^[1] The series uses Polyphony Digital's latest racing video game Gran Turismo Sport, and the championship contains two series that are held concurrently throughout the year: the Nations Cup (entrants from their respective countries will represent them) and the Manufacturers Series (entrants will race for and represent their chosen manufacturer). The winners of each series are given a TAG Heuer watch, and a glass plaque, and are also honoured at the FIA Prize Giving Ceremony.

All virtual races in the tournament take place in specified locations all around the globe. In addition to the live studio audiences at the specified locations, the tournaments are streamed live in YouTube through several languages. The series is currently sponsored by Toyota, TAG Heuer, and Michelin,^[2][3] and the series is provided with clothing by Puma and peripherals by Thrustmaster.

The series has since made an impact in real-world motorsport, serving as a basis for virtual players in terms of possibly starting a career in esports before jumping into real-world motorsport.^[4]

Format[]

Before the "Online Series" is started, every season begins with a "World Tour" event, containing the top drivers from the season prior. The winner from the World Tour event gains direct access to the "World Final" event.^[5]

A phase dubbed as the "Online Series", which is essentially a qualification phase to decide the participants that will race in the live events of the championship tournament, kicks off every season. The Online Series is divided into four stages, with each stage hosting ten rounds.^[6] By the end of each stage, another World Tour event is hosted, which includes the top players from that stage instead of the top drivers from the previous season.^[6] The top players who are selected after the series must sign an application form in order to be able to participate for the World Tour events, and they must also be over 18.^[6][7] The Online Series goes on for five to seven months.^[6]

The "Live Events" begin after the Online Series. The Nations Cup category includes the top 90 players (30 per region) with the highest points across all four stages. Three different live events occur, with each live event carrying a specific world region. The top 10 players from those regions enter the "World Final" event, a championship stage to decide the number one player. The Manufacturer Series category includes the top 48 players (three players per region) and 16 manufacturers with the highest points across all four stages. The top players and manufacturers participate in the "World Final" event, to decide the top three players and the number one manufacturer.^[8] The winners of their respective series at the "World Final" are crowned either Nations Cup champion or Manufacturer Series champion.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was announced that the 2020 World Finals would be held as an online-based event.^[9]

Media coverage[]

The FIA GTC races are usually streamed live in YouTube under the official Gran Turismo channel, and is available to watch through several languages. The presenters for the livestreams include Jimmy Broadbent, Tom Brooks and Julia Hardy (English coverage), Rene Buttler and Florian Strauss (German coverage), Donald Reignoux and Pierre-Oliver Valette (French coverage), Emilio Cozzi and Andrea Facchinetti (Italian coverage), Alberto Perez and Lucas Ordóñez (Spanish coverage), and Duarte Félix da Costa and Filipe Albuquerque (Portuguese coverage).^{[citation needed]}

Event winners[]

There have been several event winners since the start of the FIA GTC at the "GT World Tour" event at the Nürburgring. Giorgio Mangano was the first Nations Cup event winner, while Philippe Nicolay, Matthew Thomas, and Anthony Duval, representing BMW, were the first Manufacturers Series Cup regional event winners.^[10][11] Formula Regional driver and former USF2000 driver Igor Fraga became the first ever FIA Certified Nations Cup World Champion, and Kanata Kawakami, Vincent Rigaud, and Tyrell Meadows became the first ever FIA Certified Manufacturer Series World Champions for Lexus at the "World Final" event in Monaco 2018.^[12][13][14]

Fraga, Hizal and Miyazono are the only FIA GTC event winners who have won both the Nations Cup and Manufacturer Series championships. Fraga is also the only event winner to have won a championship in both the FIA GTC and real-world motorsport.^[15]

Season	Title	Location	Date	Nations Cup	Manufacturer Series		Ref
2018	World Tour 2018 - Nürburgring	Nürburg	10-13 May	Giorgio Mangano	Philippe Nicolay Matthew Thomas Anthony Duval	BMW	[10][11]
	World Tour 2018 - Red Bull Hangar-7	Salzburg	22 September	Benjámin Báder Patrik Blazsán Ádám Tapái	Mikail Hizal Andrew McCabe	Nissan	[16]
	Nations Cup Asia/Oceania Final 2018	Odaiba	6-7 October	Ryota Kokubun	Not held		[17]
	Nations Cup European Final 2018	Madrid	19-20 October	Mikail Hizal			[18]
	Nations Cup Americas Final 2018	Las Vegas	31 October	Igor Fraga			[19]
	World Finals 2018	Monaco	16-18 November	Igor Fraga	Kanata Kawakami Vincent Rigaud Tyrell Meadows	Lexus	[12][20]
2019	World Tour 2019 - Paris	Paris	16-17 March	Nicolas Rubilar	Yoshiharu Imai Thomas Compton-McPherson Christopher Marcell	Aston Martin	[21]
	World Tour 2019 - Nürburgring	Nürburg	21-22 June	Igor Fraga	Tomoaki Yamanaka Rick Kevelham Simon Bishop	Toyota	[22]
	World Tour 2019 - New York	New York City	24-25 August	Igor Fraga	Cody Nikola Latkovski Bernal Valverde Anthony Felix	Mercedes-Benz	[23]
	World Tour 2019 - Red Bull Hangar-7	Salzburg	14-15 September	Mikail Hizal	Cody Nikola Latkovski Tom Lartilleux Anthony Felix	Mercedes-Benz	[24]
	World Tour 2019 - Tokyo	Tokyo	26-27 October	Ryota Kokubun	Angel Inostroza Tristan Bayless Matt Simmons	Porsche	[25]
	World Finals 2019	Monaco	23-24 November	Mikail Hizal	Tomoaki Yamanaka Rayan Derrouiche Igor Fraga	Toyota	[26][27]
2020	World Tour 2020 - Sydney	Sydney	15-16 February	Takuma Miyazono	Coque López Nicolas Rubilar Randall Haywood	BMW	[28]
	World Tour 2020 - Nürburgring	Nürburg	22-23 May	Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the postponement of 2020 24 Hours of Nürburgring			[29]
	Nations Cup EMEA Regional Final 2020	Online	22 November	Coque López	Not held		[30]
	Nations Cup Americas Regional Final 2020		29 November	Adriano Carrazza			[31]
	Nations Cup Asia-Oceania Regional Final 2020		6 December	Takuma Miyazono			[32]
	World Finals 2020		19-20 December	Takuma Miyazono	Mikail Hizal Takuma Miyazono Daniel Solis	Subaru	[33][34]
2021	World Series Round 1		6 June	Valerio Gallo	Angel Inostroza	Porsche
	World Series Round 2		11 July	Patrik Blazsán	Takuma Miyazono	Subaru
	World Series Showdown		21-22 August	Ryota Kokubun	Tomoaki Yamanaka Igor Fraga Coque López	Toyota
	World Series Round 3		3 October
	World Series Round 4		14 November
	World Finals		4-5 December

References[]

External links[]

• Official website