As we were expecting after the sudden appearance of a Gran Turismo World Series Nations Cup Exhibition Season last month, there’s a new Manufacturers Cup Exhibition Season on its way soon too.
Getting underway on November 12, after the conclusion of this weekend’s GTWS Round 3 in Los Angeles, the six-round season mirrors October’s Nations Cup with a calendar just as long as that which had players qualifying for the real deal earlier this year.
It’s a pretty frantic schedule, given the six-week gap between the two live events — with the World Final in Fukuoka coming late in December — packing the events into just 17 days of racing:
GT World Series 2025 Exhibition Season 3 – Manufacturers Cup
- Round 1 – November 12 – Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps/Gr.3 – 20 laps
- Round 2 – November 15 – Road Atlanta/Gr.3 – 30 laps
- Round 3 – November 19 – Interlagos/Gr.4 – 12 laps
- Round 4 – November 22 – Red Bull Ring/Gr.3 – 28 laps
- Round 5 – November 26 – Blue Moon Infield A/Gr.4 – 23 laps
- Round 6 – November 29 – Deep Forest/Gr.3 – 15 laps
One thing leaps right out, as two of the rounds feature Gr.4 cars. It’s the first time we’ve seen Gr.4s return to the Manufacturers Cup lineup in quite some considerable time, and even longer for the top GT1 League players.
Given the series’ setup, picking a brand with a decent Gr.4 car is going to be a necessity for a good final ranking (and reward). The relatively unbalanced nature of the class suggests to us that there’s going to be a lot of people picking Genesis, Honda, and Mazda.
The circuit lineup is pretty standard fare with the exception of Blue Moon Bay Infield A making a surprise appearance — and for a Gr.4 race at that. Along with mandatory tire requirements in the second and sixth rounds, there’s also a limited opportunity for vehicle setup in the final round that you’ll need to keep on top of; check the GTPlanet GT7 Car Tuning forum for tips!
Once again there’s no difference between the GT1 League and the GT2/3 League races that we can spot, with all requirements and regulations still matching — and including only the self-healing light damage in all races. That’s with the exception of the entry slots, of course.
Along with retaining the Wednesday/Saturday format, we see that once again there’s three slots for GT1 players towards the end of each day while GT2/GT3 racers have the usual ten slots spread across the day. You’ll need to check your own time zone, but entry times tend to be keyed towards the middle slot being most convenient for the middle time zone or population center in each of the three regions.
As usual, you can enter as many of those slots as you wish for each round, but only the last race you enter counts towards your score. And that is “enter”, not “complete”: if you disconnect from a race your score will become zero unless you can enter another race after that and register a finish. You should therefore not get too greedy, as your next race might be worse — and you’re only allowed one missed or dropped round in the ranking, as your best five races counting towards your overall score.
Although it’s been running since 2018, some players may be unfamiliar with the Gran Turismo World Series. It’s a more formal championship than the Daily Races, featuring longer races and a separate, dedicated points system based on median lobby Driver Rating (DR).
Players are assigned a “League” appropriate to their DR rank — from A+ to E — at the point they enter the event. Anyone with a DR of A or A+ goes into GT1 League, while players at DR B slot into the GT2 League. The remainder — anyone at C and lower — race in the GT3 League. This is fixed at the point of entry, so you’ll remain in your initial league whether or not your DR rank changes during the season.
Every race awards GTWS points, and these depend on your finishing position and the average DR score of the players in that lobby. You’ll spot that players in top lobbies, where the participants are getting into six-figure DRs, regularly score over 400 points for a win, but GT3 lobby winners are usually only in double-digits (and single digits are possible too) — with GT2 League winners usually in the 100-150pt range.
Whatever League you race in, the GTWS is a good opportunity to get a bit of a boost to your in-game wallet and your Driver Rating. You can pick up more DR points for a good result in a GTWS event than in Daily Races — but that does also mean you could also risk losing more.
The bonus credits for taking part are a nice sweetener though. There’s up to 10m credits (5m in GT2/GT3) available depending on your overall League ranking within your primary and secondary geographical areas, region, and chosen brand — so if you go for a less popular marque there’s a chance for decent eight-figure bump at season’s end. Handy, with eight new cars coming to the game soon…
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