Visitors to the third round of the GT World Series next month, hosted at the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles, will be able to enjoy something of a Gran Turismo extravaganza with a range of attractions running throughout the day.
In what Sony Interactive Entertainment is terming the inaugural “GT World Series Fan Fest” — hinting at more to come in the future — attendees will be able to engage with a number of activities both directly and indirectly connected to the game itself.
NOTE: GTPlanet members get a 30% discount on tickets to this event in Los Angeles when using the code GTPLANET30 during checkout on the official website. We hope to see you there!
Gran Turismo Awards
After being an annual occurrence, it’s been a while since the Gran Turismo Award was presented at the SEMA (Specialty Equipment Market Association) Show in Las Vegas. In fact, the last winner was the Greening Auto Company Maverick in 2018.
The award will return this November, and not at SEMA but 300ish miles down the I-15 at the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles at the GT World Series live event.
Comprising its own motor show, the Awards will be by application only, with all adult residents of the US (50+DC) who are able to get their car to the Orpheum on the day of November 8 — one day after SEMA — invited to apply through a special site.
There’ll be four categories into which you can enter your vehicle: Asian, Domestic, Euro, and Hot Rod. Judging will take place on the day, and the overall winner (we assume selected from the four category winners) will join previous GT Award winners in being scanned for inclusion in Gran Turismo in the future.
Interestingly, neither of the cars chosen to illustrate the competition — the High End Performance G37 and HPA Motorsports TT — are currently available in the game, having only appeared in GT5 and GT6. We hope that’s not an accidental design choice and the vehicles will return one day…
Live Panels & Partner Showcases
Although not elaborated upon in today’s announcement, the event will also host displays, workshops, and “community panels” from invited guests.
Listed among the latter are people involved in the car industry though collecting, building, or photography, with no specific names shared at this point but announcements coming in due course. We’ll assume for now that some of the GT World Series partners — Mazda Spirit Racing, Toyota Gazoo Racing, Brembo, Dunlop, and Fanatec — will have their own areas too.
In addition, there’ll be a reveal of a new, limited edition capsule collection from LA-based streetwear brand Union — the latest in a long line of fashion collaborations with Gran Turismo.
Those attending with youngsters will be pleased to know that there’s a “kids zone”. While that’s a term not further elaborated upon, and usually used for Daily Race A with SR B-rated (or worse) players, it’s likely to be something more child-focused. Maybe some My First Gran Turismo almost a year on from its launch? Food stalls will also be available.
Gran Turismo 7 Spec III
In Berlin we saw several pods dotted about the public space previewing the Opel Corsa GSE Vision Gran Turismo unveiled at the same event, and it looks like there’ll be something along those same lines in Los Angeles — only (no offense to Opel) a good deal more exciting.
Attendees are promised “an early look” at the contents of the Gran Turismo Spec III update, scheduled to arrive in the live game build in December and bringing a whole load of changes as well as two new tracks and eight new cars.
Of course we do already know quite a bit about the update, with it bringing Circuit Gilles Villeneuve and the Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi, but nobody outside of Polyphony Digital’s offices has had a chance to try it out yet.
In addition there’s four mystery cars yet to be announced, whose identities will probably be revealed on social media within 90 seconds of the doors opening, and a bunch of new features that will include a raised level cap and a permanent form of Brand Invitations — though it’s unlikely anyone will be playing long enough to experience either in LA.
Gran Turismo World Series
There’s also the matter of the GT World Series itself in among all this action, and just like in Berlin the event will get underway with a live Invitational Race at 3pm local time (2200 UTC). That will see a dozen media — hopefully including GTPlanet’s own Jordan — and content creators going head to head in an as-yet unspecified race, with impressive prizes for the podium places.
That leads into the main event, with the Manufacturers Cup — featuring the 12 Americas finalists (except for Noah Lanuza at AMG) representing the qualified brands — an hour later before the top dozen racers resume their season-long Nations Cup battle at 7pm (0200 UTC on Sunday November 9).
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