The Gran Turismo World Series made its first stop in Southeast Asia on Saturday, with Round 3 taking over the Sands Theatre at Marina Bay Sands in Singapore. Subaru’s Daniel Solis won the Manufacturers Cup from pole, and Takuma Miyazono’s surprise three-stop strategy took the Nations Cup in a wild final that ended with contact at the last corner.
The crowd was noticeably less rowdy than the one that chanted and sang its way through the season opener in Milan, but Singapore still made for an exotic and glamorous backdrop for the World Series.
Let’s take a look at everything we learned from a busy weekend in the world of Gran Turismo:
Spec IV Gets a Date
The big news came during the Nations Cup broadcast. Spec IV Part 1 (update 1.72) arrives on Thursday, October 15, and it brings Sportsland Sugo to GT7 alongside six new cars:
- Citroen 2CV Charleston 1986
- Ferrari F355 Berlinetta 1994
- Honda Civic Si Group A Version 1987
- Honda Stepwgn Spada 2023
- Mazda RX-Vision GT3 Evo
- Xiaomi Vision Gran Turismo
The Ferrari appears to replace the V10 BMW M5 from the original Spec IV teaser, which now looks set for December’s Part 2.
Jules Hardy and Jimmy Broadbent also walked through some of the features arriving with Part 1 on the broadcast. The Car Viewer lets you walk around your car and take photos in a choice of settings, a new Experiences mode adds events inside the Brand Central dealerships, and the Car Concierge lets you order rare cars you can’t currently buy.
The audience reacted out loud to each car in the trailer, though Broadbent was disappointed by the lack of 2CV enthusiasts in the room…
Xiaomi and Thrustmaster
The Manufacturers Cup broadcast opened with fresh in-game footage of the Xiaomi Vision Gran Turismo, which Kazunori Yamauchi and Jean-Arthur Madelaine, head of design at Xiaomi’s European R&D center, discussed on stage.
Yamauchi said an electric car’s ability to control each wheel independently made its physics and handling an interesting challenge to develop. Madelaine described seeing the car recreated in the game as something like watching it be born a second time.
Thrustmaster was also formally announced as a World Series partner, alongside the reveal of the T-GT III, a new licensed GT7 wheel that goes on sale December 3 for $749.99.
That makes Thrustmaster the seventh partner logo on the broadcast graphics, and the third wheel maker alongside Fanatec and Moza.
Manufacturers Cup: Solis Breaks Through
The Manufacturers Cup ran for 20 laps in Gr.3 cars on the Full Course Reverse layout of Autodrome Lago Maggiore, with all three tire compounds required.
Lexus’s Antonio Santos arrived the night before as a stand-in for Mateo Estevez (who said in his own announcement that he couldn’t get through customs) and topped the first qualifying session.
Solis then took pole in the top-six shootout by 0.130 seconds over Ferrari’s Nicolás Arriagada, with Santos third. Porsche’s Angel Inostroza missed the top six and started eighth, and Samuel Moreno, filling in for Calen Roach at BMW, had his only lap deleted for track limits and started last.
Solis and Arriagada ran clear of the field early, both starting on mediums. Arriagada kept the pressure on and survived a big slide over a curb, which looked like it would end in a spin. A track-limits penalty then cost him more than a second and dropped him out of Solis’s slipstream, undoing his early work.
The strategies split after that. Solis went to softs for the middle stint and Arriagada to hards, then they swapped for the finish. Solis ran medium, soft, then hard, while Arriagada ran medium, hard, then soft.
The gap between those two compounds ran about three seconds a lap, which is why Arriagada could chew into a lead that had stretched to 9.8 seconds. On the last lap he went looking for a way past on the inside, and Solis briefly left the door open before shutting it. Solis held off the challenge to win by 0.123 seconds, taking pole, fastest lap, and the win.
It clearly meant a lot to Solis, who dropped to his knees after the flag and was serenaded on stage the day after his birthday.
It was his first individual World Series win, and he told Hardy it was the first time in eight years of competing that he had done something noteworthy on his own rather than relying on others.
He also credited the revised physics for making his Subaru BRZ easier to drive. This was the first live event since Update 1.71’s controversial physics changes, which have helped front-engine, rear-drive cars in general.
Samuel Cardinal took third for Mazda after starting seventh. Inostroza had climbed from eighth to fourth, only for Simon Rosenberger to pass him on the last lap with some contact. That gave Audi fourth and left Porsche with fifth and two points, one fewer than fourth would have paid. Lucas Bonelli completed the points in sixth for Mercedes-AMG.
Manufacturers Cup Grand Final Results
Manufacturers Cup Point Ranking
Porsche still leads the standings, but its margin over Ferrari is down to two points (14 to 12). Mazda moved into third on nine, Audi is fourth on eight, and Subaru picked up its first points of the season to sit fifth on six.
Nations Cup: Miyazono Takes the Win
The Nations Cup was Sportsland Sugo’s first big debut.
A one-lap qualifier and a 15-lap sprint were both run in the Dallara SF23 Super Formula, before a 24-lap Grand Final at Circuit de Sainte-Croix B Reverse in the Red Bull X2019 Competition, again with all three tire compounds required.
Kaj de Bruin took pole by 0.253 seconds over Kylian Drumont, with Pol Urra third. Defending champion Jose Serrano qualified last, more than six seconds off the pace after a mistake on his lap.
Drumont won the sprint after trading the lead with de Bruin early on, who set the fastest lap. Serrano recovered to eighth.
The Grand Final was a fuel and tire puzzle. Drumont started from pole, but a two-second penalty for contact with Gallo and de Bruin around the pit stops ended his challenge, and he finished sixth. Gallo set the fastest lap of the race and took fifth.
Miyazono started sixth and ran a three-stop strategy, saving the hard tires for a tires-only stop at the end of the penultimate lap.
He came out in the lead with Urra and Serrano charging on softs. Urra went for the outside at the final corner, the cars made contact, and Urra hit the barrier, which let Serrano through into second.
Miyazono won by 0.400 seconds, with Urra third and Moreno fourth (up from tenth on the grid, having also contested the Manufacturers Cup earlier).
It’s Miyazono’s first Nations Cup win since taking the 2024 World Finals in Amsterdam.
The stewards reviewed the contact and let the result stand. Miyazono was unhappy about it all the same, telling Hardy afterward that it reflected a lack of skill on his part.
He also races real cars (he took on the Nürburgring 24 Hours in May), and he said real-world racing had kept him busy since the opening round, though he didn’t want to use it as an excuse.
Serrano was the other story. He qualified last, recovered to eighth in the sprint, then finished second in the Grand Final despite a spin on a hairpin exit after catching a bump.
Nations Cup Grand Final Results
Nations Cup Point Ranking
Serrano now leads the standings on 12 points without winning a Nations Cup round this season, with Urra on 11 and Miyazono and Drumont level on 10.
Gallo and Moreno are tied on seven, Kokubun has four, de Bruin two, and Bonelli, Carrazza, Barbara, and Cardinal are still pointless. Three rounds have produced three different winners (Urra, Drumont, and now Miyazono), and as many as six drivers can still take the title.
What’s Next
The World Finals return to Tokyo on December 5-6, and the broadcast confirmed that Fan Fest returns alongside it. We expect to hear more about Spec IV’s December half there too.
Before then, the two Stealth Model cars (the Ford GT Race Car ’18 for the Manufacturers Cup and the SF23 for the Nations Cup) can be claimed from the in-game Viewers Campaign banner until Monday, October 19, as covered in our guide.
Predict the Winners rewards arrive in the Gifts tab on Monday, October 5. The viewers campaign worked on the day this time, a welcome change after server problems in Tokyo.
With four drivers within two points of the lead, the Nations Cup is about as open as it can be heading into Tokyo!
See more articles on Daniel Solis, Gran Turismo World Series, and Takuma Miyazono.
