With the big reveal at the Copperbox Arena happening just weeks ago and GT Sport being playable at the Nurburgring 24H race, Polyphony Digital is aiming to keep up the momentum of coverage this weekend as Gran Turismo Sport will be shown off to Japanese audiences this Saturday at 11:15 local time.

What a difference a month makes. When we last caught up with the Pirelli World Challenge after Round 7 (here), Johnny O’Connell and Michael Cooper were leading the points tally in their pair of Cadillac ATS-V.R’s, followed closely by Alvaro Parente in a McLaren 650S GT3. A significant gap existed between Parente and the two Porsche drivers that rounded out the top five – Michael Lewis and Patrick Long. 2011 GT Academy winner Bryan Heitkotter sat in ninth, while his teammate JD Davison slotted in directly behind Patrick Long.

A key area of much discussion in the Gran Turismo series is the quality of audio. Compared to other games in the genre this is an area that GT hasn’t quite met the benchmark for in the past. However, Kazunori Yamauchi has confirmed to GTPlanet that there will be an entirely new system of reworked audio in place for the launch of GT Sport.

Polyphony have flipped the switch and let loose the latest batch of Seasonal Events in Gran Turismo 6. This week’s events take you to three high-speed circuits, covering three challenge levels and dominated by street-legal metal – no racing machines this week.

At this point, it’s been confirmed beyond doubt that the partnership between Polyphony Digital and Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (view the original announcement) will greatly influence the gameplay structure of the incoming GT Sport. But by how much?

Just as things are beginning to heat up on Sony’s front, new rumors have emerged suggesting Microsoft won’t sit idly by and allow Sony to continue holding the performance crown unchallenged.

We often hear of people transitioning to professional racing thanks to video games. The GT Academy initiative is perhaps the most obvious example, but it’s hardly the only one. Slightly Mad Studios, the studio behind Project CARS, has released a documentary focusing on the inspiring story of Nicolas Hamilton’s career progression.

https://youtu.be/djZToFEFw_0

For many fans, GT Sport is still largely a mystery. With the public beta officially cancelled, the chances of playing the game before its November release are limited. There are exceptions, like the Nürburgring 24H race this past weekend, and of course the big event in downtown London that wrapped up the week before.

Rally racing enthusiasts have suddenly become spoiled for choice in terms of console games. The mud-and-jumps sport has had two dedicated titles released thus far in 2016 – Sébastien Loeb Rally Evo and DiRT Rally – while October 2015 saw the release of WRC 5, the official franchise for the World Rally Championship. We now have word from the game’s producers that the sequel will be available on all major platforms this fall.

The 2016 season of Formula One has been a memorable one thus far, and this past weekend’s Monaco GP only helped to intensify the chaos that’s made for quite an entertaining string of races. Capitalizing on the current state of the season, and continuing to deliver the game as early into the season, Codemasters have officially announced F1 2016 for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC platforms and is due later this summer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4J1ovMtB04c

Kazunori Yamauchi has confirmed that Gran Turismo Sport will not feature dynamic time-lapsing or weather. In the interview conducted by GTPlanet, Kazunori made clear that there will be no ‘transitions’ during races and conditions will be chosen prior to entering a race. These features were two of the stand-out attributes for Polyphony’s PS3-era games, however they could only be accessed on specific tracks within the game’s track roster, which meant the level of quality each track had could vary depending on what was chosen.

When the Vision GT Project took off back in 2013, nobody really knew how long the collaborative effort between Polyphony Digital and leading automobile manufacturers and design houses was going to last. Speaking with GTPlanet in London last week, Kazunori Yamauchi confirmed the initiative is far from complete, and that players can expect further additions in this year’s Gran Turismo Sport:

In less than a month, citizens residing near Colorado Springs will get the chance to attend the 100th anniversary race of the Pikes Peak Hill Climb challenge, one of the most dangerous point-to-point racing events in the world. Conquering the peak of this 12.42 miles long course has always been one of motorsports’ cream-of-the-crop undertakings, with various numbers of unique machines trying to beat the environment in the hands of unbelievably talented drivers.

We haven’t forgotten about Forza Motorsport 6: Apex, the latest free-to-play release of the Forza series and the first one built for the Windows 10 platform. Although it doesn’t feature the traditional hallmarks of the console-released titles in the franchise (online multiplayer, wheel support and livery editor), with 63 cars and approximately 20 variations of 6 playable circuits, the game still offers a tease of what’s to come, as future Forza titles will be released on Xbox One and PC simultaneously.

The details that came out during last week’s London event were a veritable wave of information for Gran Turismo fans. GT Sport’s full retail release date was announced (November 15, 16, or 18, depending on region), but one date absent from the event was the public beta’s availability, which was announced at the original GT Sport unveiling last year. We’ve now got confirmation that it won’t be happening, from Kazunori Yamauchi himself.

In amongst the many announcements made at last week’s Copper Box blow-out of Gran Turismo Sport, Thrustmaster made a quiet reveal of their own on the show floor, showing off a new wheel coming in the future that will presumably be the official steering wheel of GT Sport.

Last week’s NASCAR expansion for Forza Motorsport 6 brought the biggest automotive series in America to the game. Those that purchased the add-on received a host of car’s from this season as well as a new track. In addition, numerous new gameplay features including rolling starts and new car spotting HUD elements were rolled out across the game’s community, even for those that hadn’t bought the pack.

It is never too late to share the latest developments in motorsport circles involving GT Academy graduates. Today’s spotlight is reserved for 2011 GT Academy graduate Jann Mardenborough, who recently won his first GT300 race in the second round of the 2016 Super GT season.