Gran Turismo World Series discussion (2026 Nations Cup Exhibition 1: 13 June - 18 July)

[stpatty]

Not the right car and not the right track layout but happy Group C at Le Mans day everyone

 

[DK]

A tale of two races for me, I wrecked my SR last night after having the bright idea of entering that Gr4 race at Brands Hatch Bindy. I cruised to a win at 10am, but that was only worth 71pts. I ruined my 2nd attempt by starting on Inters, thinking that it would lash down like in my 1st attempt, but nope, it barely drizzled and I had to pit in at the end of the first lap. I ended up tip-toeing around on my last 2 laps after burning my rears, and came home a distant 10th for about 80pts.

 

[stpatty]

How wet is it getting? Is anyone actually needing full wets? All of my practice attempts have been drizzle and inters.

 

[VillaJ100]

Just finished mine, low GT2 lobby, completely dry race and qualy. Picked the Nissan as that's my go to for Sardegna grind so more familiar with that. Qualified 8th in some bad traffic, going into the straight on Lap 1 was already 6th and the Nissan just keeps on pulling all the way up to 4th past two Saubers. A 787B was bump drafting me to help himself and we were soon running 3rd and 4th, behind another Nissan R9. They were slightly quicker than me but was making a mistake every lap so soon overtook when they got another penalty. The 787 ran wide on the corner just before the penalty line which broke the tow so I was then in a lonely race in 2nd until the pits.

I came in on Lap 7 in the lead as the leader and the 787 pitted lap 6. Came out about 8 seconds behind the leader and 5 ahead of the 787. On lap 8, I have no idea what happened but in the final two chicanes the 787 gained about 3 seconds on me and another half a second in turns 2 and 3 which I always struggle with. A Sauber had also joined them in 3rd and was bump drafting them meaning they were catching me on the straight, but not enough to worry about until lap 10 when I ran slightly wide on two corners before the straight and got a 1 second penalty! This meant the 787 could overtake but crucially the Sauber made a small mistake on the tight right hander coming off the main straight which meant I could stay ahead of them. The 787 was too far ahead on Lap 11, and even on lap 12 even though I was only 0.3 secs behind coming off the straight I thought that would be it. However they ran wide on the exit and got a 0.5 second penalty which meant I knew I would retake second.

However the Sauber was right on my butt and I knew it was the part of the track they would be strongest. I came out of the corner before the final chicanes a car length ahead and with the stronger pull of the Nissan managed to get ahead and cover the inside, and the Sauber didn't challenge it or try a divebomb meaning I came home in second in 40:40, about 11 seconds behind the leader.

The R9 I was battling with before the stops was nowhere and finished P8, but took the fastest lap so no idea what happened to them.

 

[FlapJackFlash]

How wet is it getting? Is anyone actually needing full wets? All of my practice attempts have been drizzle and inters.

I've seen the bar get into wet territory in practice quite a few times, but I found it didn't stay that way long enough to make W worth it

 

[stpatty]

I've seen the bar get into wet territory in practice quite a few times, but I found it didn't stay that way long enough to make W worth it

Yeah and I figure in actual race conditions the track will definitely stay dry enough. I just hope I get something interesting.

 

[Mumster]

Yeah. In the GT1 league -- DR A and A+ -- there are only three slots for each round now, scheduled in the evenings in most regions. In the GT2 and GT3 leagues, there are a lot more slots, starting earlier in the day.

Same the first for me is 21:00 then 23:00 then 01:00 supposedly the last is the cleanest.

 

[IORT_Fishtail]

Don’t forget to check weather after qualifying in the seconds before the race starts. Bone dry qualifying and zero weather on radar but switched radar just before the race was beginning and saw rain with wet conditions current.
Missed the chance to switch and so the misery ensured 😐

Was in the battle of staying on track with a few other misfortunate folks and it was no fun waiting out track drying.

Leaders were on IM to start and pulled more than 2:00 before the gap quit growing 😭

 

[Bondwhar]

So far this has been a nightmare! Cloudy and rain expected so started on IM and both races have been bone 🦴 dry. 🙄🤠

 

[Nebuc72]

Bone dry quali. Pre-race showed like 2 hours of yellow/green rain and then a small patch of dry we were in. Track looked damp/slick.
Me and 5 other cars switched to inters on start. Track was bone dry. 4 of them quit in the pits after coming out 40 seconds behind the pack.

I did like 3 laps then quit also. Waste of time. Cannot understand how they don't have the most basic of game design mechanics as to allow you to know how wet the track is before you dedicate to starting the race. Stupid.

Also the worlds shortest qualifying so going wide in the outlap or getting hit or having anything to compromise the lap you are on ruins your whole session. Awesome!

 

[stpatty]

Bone dry quali. Pre-race showed like 2 hours of yellow/green rain and then a small patch of dry we were in. Track looked damp/slick.
Me and 5 other cars switched to inters on start. Track was bone dry. 4 of them quit in the pits after coming out 40 seconds behind the pack.

I did like 3 laps then quit also. Waste of time. Cannot understand how they don't have the most basic of game design mechanics as to allow you to know how wet the track is before you dedicate to starting the race. Stupid.

Also the worlds shortest qualifying so going wide in the outlap or getting hit or having anything to compromise the lap you are on ruins your whole session. Awesome!

This was the same as my race. Even though it was raining I stuck with the weather forecast knowing it would be dry. One guy (who qualified ahead of me) said in the chat he had no wet tyres and quit before the start. Whoops.

Anyway, started 6th. 1st-5th all started on inters, so I made up some places on the first lap. In fact looking at it, only four people started on mediums. Pole was the only one who stayed out an extra lap. He actually got quite a few penalties over the race on both kinds of tyres, he must have been struggling.

Stayed within range of a Sauber for the first stint, he got a penalty so I was ahead when we pitted on lap 6 and he had to fuel so he lost some more time. (he didn't fuel enough, ended up coasting the rest of the race with his hazards on and finished 7th) Only two cars passed us when we came out the pits, and after a few laps I managed to pass the Nissan in 2nd. After that it was a fairly straightforward run to the finish. I didn't really get within sight of the winner which was disappointing since he did ten laps on his mediums, but I've seen him before and he's a bit of a smurf. And by the last lap my car was randomly refusing to turn in on slow corners, so I think I'd used all of my tyre anyway.

Feels a bit weird calling a record 198 points in GT7 disappointing but I probably should have won that race. Still, can't complain with the result or the fact that I put in practice and was actually rewarded.

 

[Moose78]

GT2 - North America - 12 PM EDT - Nissan R92CP '92 - 238 points available (top split, yay!) - Door #4 - Q10 (3:19.182)

The weather had us starting in a cloud of lightest blue rain with a clear patch behind it. There was the possibility of heavier rain off in the distance. I opted for RM tires figuring I'd change to IM tires later with everybody else if it came to that.

An embarrassingly slow qualifying had me starting back in Q10. At least I was past the chicane when the flag fell.

On lap 1, I was keeping up with the pack and staying out of trouble for the most part. That changed at Indianapolis, when I was bumped from behind into the sand. Fell back to P12 as a result.

Then at the start of lap 2, I had to swerve wide at Tertre Rouge to avoid hitting somebody on auto-drive, giving me a half-second penalty. Down to P15 once that was taken.

I managed to keep my head, though, and just kept driving. With each passing lap, I was gaining positions, most of them to penalty takers and crashes, but there might have been one or two on the straight. The Nissan just flies there.

I went into the pits in P8 on lap 6 for tires. No fuel.

When all of the pitting was done, though, I'd risen to p6, thanks to some cars needing to take on fuel.

Fast forward to the final lap. I was on the tail of the P5 Sauber, who had picked up a 2-second penalty. I'd expected to overtake them in the penalty zone, but they gifted me the position early by going into the sand at Indianapolis instead (pictured above).

Up to P5, where I finished for 215 and a 2.8% boost to my DR B progress, taking it to 94.3%. A much better result than I was expecting after everything fell apart early on. I'm not going to risk trying again for something better.

Now that I've benefitted from the top-split bonus, I want to very publicly state that I think it is no good -- at least in GT2. Now that I have been awarded it once, I'm practically assured of a top-100 finish as long as I participate in the rest of the rounds. That's not fair or right. I should have to earn that position, not just coast into it because my DR is close to some arbitrarily chosen threshold.

 

[jimihemmy]

Nations Cup
GT2 - alt/alt account
NA - 13:00
84 points
Door 1, Q12, quit
Nissan R92CP

I was having a good run on qualifying but pick up a penalty towards the end nullifying my lap and putting me Q12 ahead of 4 others. I probably should have been Q2.... Weather radar shows rain has passed but you can hear the rain as we are waiting to get on track. I trusted the radar and should have trusted my ears. I came out on RM and didn't even make it to the Dunlop bridge. I quit.

GT2 - alt/alt again
NA - 15:00
87 points (?)
Door 5, Q7, P3
Nissan R92CP

Weird race. I quit my first race and ending up in a lobby with more points....
Anyway, I was able to put in a decent qualifying lap and was starting P7 on IM. The radar matched the sounds this time. Here is where the weirdness starts. Towards the end on lap one in P3, I pass a car just as we are about to enter the Porsche Curves and I get reset back to the penalty zone. I did not have a penalty and now I am in P11. I trudge on.....

Then on lap 5, I pass P6 just after what would be the second chicane of the Mulsanne Straight and I get reset to before what would be that chicane into P9 and end up P12 by the time I am back up to speed.

I end up in P3 thanks to P4 catching a penalty towards the end on lap 12.

What could cause the resets? Let alone two in the same race? I have never had that happen before. If anyone wished to see, I have shared the replay with the tags #gtp, #lemans, #teleport.

I would love some insight on this. I plan to race my main and main/alt later tonight.

Happy racing out there!

 

[Bondwhar]

Bone dry quali. Pre-race showed like 2 hours of yellow/green rain and then a small patch of dry we were in. Track looked damp/slick.
Me and 5 other cars switched to inters on start. Track was bone dry. 4 of them quit in the pits after coming out 40 seconds behind the pack.

I did like 3 laps then quit also. Waste of time. Cannot understand how they don't have the most basic of game design mechanics as to allow you to know how wet the track is before you dedicate to starting the race. Stupid.

Also the worlds shortest qualifying so going wide in the outlap or getting hit or having anything to compromise the lap you are on ruins your whole session. Awesome!

I have to totally agree. I watched the radar post race and twice it should have been wet 💦 but no it’s dry and I’m on the wrong tyres.
Then it’s completely dry and starts raining but the race is still dry! Running 4th and then boom 💥 it’s soaking.
I hate to admit it but gave up in the end so big fat zero so far!!!

 

[Thorson1987]

Just checking that you guys all realise that the pre race radar isn't a forecast.

It shows what the weather has been up to 2 hours pre race.

 

[VillaJ100]

Only thing I can think of was maybe outside of the two white lines for too long on the straight? As they are technically the track limits. I've done it once before looking for wet patches on a drying track.

Then on lap 5, I pass P6 just after what would be the second chicane of the Mulsanne Straight and I get reset to before what would be that chicane into P9 and end up P12 by the time I am back up to speed.

What could cause the resets? Let alone two in the same race? I have never had that happen before. If anyone wished to see, I have shared the replay with the tags #gtp, #lemans, #teleport.

 

[Nebuc72]

Just checking that you guys all realise that the pre race radar isn't a forecast.

It shows what the weather has been up to 2 hours pre race.

Yeah but it's functionally useless, it shows heavy rain for 2 hours and then because there's no immediate heavy rain when the race starts, the track will be bone dry.
It's super misleading. Feels like something that was never properly implemented.

Obviously it's something you can learn not to trust but I don't see why it's there if you shouldn't trust it.

 

[FlapJackFlash]

Yeah but it's functionally useless, it shows heavy rain for 2 hours and then because there's no immediate heavy rain when the race starts, the track will be bone dry.
It's super misleading. Feels like something that was never properly implemented.

Obviously it's something you can learn not to trust but I don't see why it's there if you shouldn't trust it.

There is something in the top right of pre race screen showing track temp and % surface water - but not sure how reliable it is, pretty sure that's lied to me before as well

 

[Bondwhar]

Yeah but it's functionally useless, it shows heavy rain for 2 hours and then because there's no immediate heavy rain when the race starts, the track will be bone dry.
It's super misleading. Feels like something that was never properly implemented.

Obviously it's something you can learn not to trust but I don't see why it's there if you shouldn't trust it.

I completely agree with your observation. That said when you do get it right and there is rain it’s a fantastic race in VR.
Roll on next Saturday 🤠

 

[Talon16]

Yeah but it's functionally useless, it shows heavy rain for 2 hours and then because there's no immediate heavy rain when the race starts, the track will be bone dry.
It's super misleading. Feels like something that was never properly implemented.

Obviously it's something you can learn not to trust but I don't see why it's there if you shouldn't trust it.

Concur. I've complained about this before, too. I really couldn't care less what the weather over the track was an hour ago, I want to see what it is now and a projected X amount of time into the future; 15 mins ago to 30 mins in the future, that's all we need. Add to that a moisture bar reading at each sector of the track as it sits right now.

Not to mention it takes like 20 seconds to get to the "now" part when you have all of 30 seconds before the race starts. Doesn't give much time to decide what to do let alone get the correct tires on the car.

I do like random weather, but they could make the first lap the same every time so at least everyone knows what to start on. It's either dry, wet, or pouring on lap one every time, then the randomness picks up from there. Back when the quali laps were the same as the race laps that worked, too... but they don't do that anymore it would seem.

Anyway, I digress. This race looked like a lot of fun (all the aforementioned not withstanding) and a great combo from PD (and the timing was no accident I am sure). But I didn't do any as I am too involved in league racing right now which are run infinitely better that what PD do (like, even when the combo is good they manage to mess it up somehow).

 

[dazdilly75]

The only round I'll be competiting in this season of Nations, so I had to make sure it was a good one.

GT1 League
Slot 2 EMEA
263 Point lobby
Q: P13 (penalty lap invalidation on the last chicane)
F: P5 (219 points)

If I hadn't completely destroyed my quali, then this race was a definite podium for me. My race pace was absolutely incredible.

It was a completely dry race. I cut my way through the field from P14 like a hot knife through butter in my Nissan R92CP. The no chicane layout of Le Mans allows much more time to be tactical on the long straight, with bump drafting.

I took full advantage of the Nissans top speed, and made up most of my overtaking opportunities there.

By lap 12 I was in 4th place, as I had battled closely with P5 and P4 after the pitstop on lap 6 to finally take P4 on the final lap. Unfortunately, my joy was cut short, as I overshot my braking zone at indianapolis and went from P4 to P6.

I crossed the line in P6, but P5 got disconnected (pr quit) at the end of the race and I was promoted to P5! (Yay!)

219 points, but I was so annoyed at myself for messing up my race and losing a definite P4, even though I battled from P14. In retrospect, it was an epic drive in a very competitive A+ lobby in difficult cars and conditions. I'm off to enjoy a month long holiday with my wife and kids on Wednesday but I'll be checking in to see how you are all getting on with the rest of the exhibition season.

As usual I've attached my replay for anyone who wants to have a look!

Peace all! Take care!

 

[stpatty]

Reading the weather forecasts in this game is a skill. It's the only weather forecast in the world that shows you what's happened rather than what's about to happen. The pre-race moisture level is a lie. The track preview footage doesn't actually tell you anything you need to know. You get about 30 seconds to make the choice. If you get it wrong your race is completely ruined. None of this is ever explained or demonstrated anywhere in the game itself. But it is a skill.

 

[jimihemmy]

Only thing I can think of was maybe outside of the two white lines for too long on the straight? As they are technically the track limits. I've done it once before looking for wet patches on a drying track.

I would think I would get a penalty for that instead of a reset. It also happened in my main/alt race but this time it happened only once when I hit the brakes on lap 6 for the Mulsanne Corner and was coming up on someone and not near them.

I think it may have been a hardware issue (DD Pro 5nm). After that race, I turned down the force feedback from 7 to 4 and had no issues on my main account race which I jumped into immediately after. I don't know why I had it set at 7. Maybe there is some clipping issue that caused the code to read something and reset me. I don't know.......

 

[Mumster]

Gran Turismo World Series 2026 Exhibition 1 Nations Cup GT1 Round 1 La Sarthe Summary

Driver: Mumster
Car: Sauber C9

La Sarthe without the chicane. My GT1 debut straight out of GT2 in the Sauber C9. Ran all three races.

Race 1 — Q7 P11. Early wall contact cost positions. Little did I know I should have stopped there.


Race 2 — Q13 P13. Two crashes. Poor driving.

Race 3 — Q14 P12. Cleanest of the three. Rain showed on the radar before the race so I started on inters. The rain came but stayed light and it hurt me. Pitted end of lap two on worn inters to mediums. Two drivers who waited until laps three and four to pit lost more than I did. Final lap the left rear hit zero and I got power oversteer at turn twelve, lost one spot. Still P12 for 90 points.

DR dropped by about 2K. Still A but close to the B border. More practice is the priority going forward.

GT1 is a different level. Three races made that obvious fast. Small mistakes cost real positions here. In GT2 you could bank on a few people going off and picking up spots. In all three races here the field made almost no errors. I cannot rely on that anymore.

The inters call was marginal and it went against me but the logic felt right. Rear tire wear on the long straights caused the late oversteer so that needs focus. Qualifying consistency is the other thing to tighten up.

Thanks to @Moose78 and the GTPlanet community for the tire data, strategies and race recaps.

 

[ZEE]

Yeah but it's functionally useless, it shows heavy rain for 2 hours and then because there's no immediate heavy rain when the race starts, the track will be bone dry.
It's super misleading. Feels like something that was never properly implemented.

Obviously it's something you can learn not to trust but I don't see why it's there if you shouldn't trust it.

I have to agree with you there, I had two bad races at 9pm and 10pm because of the pre-race weather radar forecast thingy, said rain then became dry in the actual race for all laps, and then vice versa forcing me to make incorrect decisions on my tyre choices and totally cocking up my races. Funnily enough I finished on both races in 11th, how bizarre. Also for some reason my delta timers were not working in the race at all, they were behaving very strange. Crashes and spinouts aside, it was not good.

I hated this race, wish we had the new Hypercars instead, made no sense to do it this way and there are some other lemon races coming in this nations cup I feel.

 

[Skidude88]

At least next round is 100% dry

 

[Moose78]

This combo for round 2 is brutal. The track and car demand absolute concentration at all times, just to avoid going off the track. I expect a lot of carnage on Saturday.

I've been doing a lot of testing today to figure out whether I should change tires or not on the mandatory pit. Right now, the no-change strategy is looking like the faster option for me, but there is so much variability in my lap times, I'm not sure I trust it.

For the tests, I did 25-lap custom races against one AI opponent. In all the tests, I pitted at the end of lap 12 as this is likely the optimal point for the tire-change strategy. Obviously, if you are doing a no-change strategy, you can pit at any time. Pitting on the same lap makes the comparisons easier.

I did two tests for each strategy -- tire-change and no-change -- then constructed an 'optimal' race picking the faster of each lap. Since the first 11 laps are strategically equivalent, I took the fastest laps across all the tests for those laps.

Here are my current numbers:

Manufacturer	Model	Strategy	Laps	Opt time	Best time	Avg time	Total time
Gran Turismo	F3500-A	Tire Change	25​	1:08.083​	1:08.378​	1:10.369​	29:19.213​
Gran Turismo	F3500-A	No Change	25​	1:08.555​	1:08.832​	1:10.222​	29:15.541​

Lap times:

Spoiler: Raw data - lap times

Lap	Tire Change	No change
1​	1:09.882​	1:09.882​
2​	1:09.803​	1:09.803​
3​	1:09.100​	1:09.100​
4​	1:08.863​	1:08.863​
5​	1:09.260​	1:09.260​
6​	1:09.344​	1:09.344​
7​	1:09.026​	1:09.026​
8​	1:09.720​	1:09.720​
9​	1:09.226​	1:09.226​
10​	1:09.602​	1:09.602​
11​	1:09.044​	1:09.044​
12​	1:31.383​	1:26.510​
13​	1:12.636​	1:12.203​
14​	1:09.998​	1:09.988​
15​	1:08.818​	1:09.443​
16​	1:09.380​	1:09.275​
17​	1:09.012​	1:09.301​
18​	1:09.079​	1:09.296​
19​	1:09.461​	1:09.753​
20​	1:09.269​	1:08.832​
21​	1:11.445​	1:09.498​
22​	1:08.378​	1:10.001​
23​	1:08.404​	1:09.664​
24​	1:09.901​	1:09.013​
25​	1:09.179​	1:09.894​

Tire tread levels at pit:

Front left	Front right	Rear left	Rear right
80%​	75%​	80%​	75%​

Tire tread levels at finish:

Strategy	Front left	Front Right	Rear left	Rear right
Tire Change	80%​	75%​	80%​	75%​
No Change	65%​	45%​	55%​	50%​

I'm a bit surprised that I didn't see more of an effect on my lap times from tire wear. Apparently the way that I'm driving around the track is equally slow regardless of whether I'm on fresh or worn tires.

I might do some more tests yet, but I suspect none of it matters. I feel like this race is going to come down to surviving. If I have fewer crashes than the other drivers, I should do well.

 

[VTEC Driver]

The only round I'll be competiting in this season of Nations, so I had to make sure it was a good one.

GT1 League
Slot 2 EMEA
263 Point lobby
Q: P13 (penalty lap invalidation on the last chicane)
F: P5 (219 points)

If I hadn't completely destroyed my quali, then this race was a definite podium for me. My race pace was absolutely incredible.

It was a completely dry race. I cut my way through the field from P14 like a hot knife through butter in my Nissan R92CP. The no chicane layout of Le Mans allows much more time to be tactical on the long straight, with bump drafting.

I took full advantage of the Nissans top speed, and made up most of my overtaking opportunities there.

By lap 12 I was in 4th place, as I had battled closely with P5 and P4 after the pitstop on lap 6 to finally take P4 on the final lap. Unfortunately, my joy was cut short, as I overshot my braking zone at indianapolis and went from P4 to P6.

I crossed the line in P6, but P5 got disconnected (pr quit) at the end of the race and I was promoted to P5! (Yay!)

219 points, but I was so annoyed at myself for messing up my race and losing a definite P4, even though I battled from P14. In retrospect, it was an epic drive in a very competitive A+ lobby in difficult cars and conditions. I'm off to enjoy a month long holiday with my wife and kids on Wednesday but I'll be checking in to see how you are all getting on with the rest of the exhibition season.

As usual I've attached my replay for anyone who wants to have a look!

Peace all! Take care!

Enjoy your holiday and your relatives !

 

[dazdilly75]

Enjoy your holiday and your relatives !

Cheers bud!

 

[IORT_Fishtail]

I would think I would get a penalty for that instead of a reset. It also happened in my main/alt race but this time it happened only once when I hit the brakes on lap 6 for the Mulsanne Corner and was coming up on someone and not near them.

I think it may have been a hardware issue (DD Pro 5nm). After that race, I turned down the force feedback from 7 to 4 and had no issues on my main account race which I jumped into immediately after. I don't know why I had it set at 7. Maybe there is some clipping issue that caused the code to read something and reset me. I don't know.......

I had the same thing happen in free practice while running on the edge of the track. First time was just after the penalty zone and I thought it was a glitch of some kind because it was totally unexpected. I then had it happen on the right side of the track after running down cones at the first chicane. Was racing AI as practice and passed on to outside.

I can’t recall it ever happening before but took it as something to remember in race if hunting for wet conditions on a drying track.

No hardware issues to be concerned about. 😊