The 2026 Gran Turismo World Series is back this weekend, with Round 2 broadcasting from Polyphony Digital’s Tokyo studio on Saturday, August 15. The Manufacturers Cup gets things started at 13:00 UTC, with the Nations Cup following at 15:00 UTC, and you can watch both streams right here.
This is the round that effectively replaces the cancelled Abu Dhabi opener, and it’s a very different animal from the Milan season opener back in May. There’s no venue, no tickets, and no crowd. In fact, there’s not even any live racing.
The event was actually recorded behind closed doors at Polyphony’s studio a few weeks ago, and the “live streams” going out this weekend are replays of that session. It’s the first time the World Series has aired pre-recorded races since the championship was forced online during the pandemic years of 2020-2022.
Table of Contents
Manufacturers Cup — 13:00 UTC
The Manufacturers Cup opens the show at 13:00 UTC, and it brings a complete driver changeover.
Where Milan fielded each team’s Europe/Middle East/Africa representative, Tokyo hands the cars to the Asia-Oceania drivers. That means every driver who scored Manufacturers points in Milan is now watching from the sidelines.
Porsche’s drive passes from Jose Serrano to Takuma “Takuan” Sasaki, Ferrari’s from record-breaking rookie Maximilian Kroll to third-year representative Jun Hashima, and Mercedes-AMG’s from Jack Balding to Kojiro Sasaki.
GTWS Manufacturers Cup point standings ahead of Round 2
Porsche leads Ferrari by a single point at the top of the table, with AMG two back, so there’s plenty for the new trio of drivers to protect.
There are few names worth watching. Kanata Kawakami (a two-time champion with Lexus, and known as “Mr Lexus” for good reason) is one of the elder statesman of this grid. Audi debuts 18-year-old Sota Moriyama alongside its point from Milan, and Mazda’s Ryota Kokubun is the only driver pulling double duty in Tokyo, racing here before lining up for Japan in the Nations Cup.
The race itself is a 27-lap Gr.3 contest at Fuji International Speedway, and the tire sheet includes intermediates and heavy wets, so weather could certainly play a factor.
Nations Cup — 15:00 UTC
The Nations Cup follows at 15:00 UTC with the same twelve drivers who lined up in Milan, and the standings could hardly be tighter at the top: Pol Urra leads Serrano by one point, with Takuma Miyazono another point back in third.
GTWS Nations Cup point standings ahead of Round 2
The format is a three-parter. A one-lap qualifier in the Red Bull X2019 Competition at Deep Forest Raceway Reverse sets the grid for a sprint race at Suzuka, run in a selection of twelve production cars which drivers pick in qualifying order (fastest chooses first).
The results of that sprint set the grid for the grand final: 35 laps back at Deep Forest Reverse in the X2019s, with all three tire compounds mandatory. That’s a proper strategy puzzle, and exactly the kind of race where Serrano’s recovery drives and Urra’s tire management have decided things before.
The storylines mostly carry over from Milan. Can Urra beat Serrano straight-up twice in a row? Does Miyazono, racing on home soil, convert his consistency into a first win of the season? And then there are the two redemption arcs: Samuel Moreno, whose brilliant debut collapsed into a tenth-place finish after leading the grand final, and Valerio Gallo, who had a podium in hand until the final two laps.
Milan’s big talking point was a “changing of the guard,” with rookies matching the established names on pace. Tokyo is where we find out whether that was a one-off.
There Will Be News…
Polyphony used the Round 1 broadcast to reveal the full details of June’s Hypercar Update, and the timing lines up for a repeat.
We already know a new GT7 update is coming next week with four cars (the Toyota Chaser and Mark II Tourer V, the Hyundai Ioniq 6 N, and the Caterham Seven Superlight R500), and this week’s shortened Online Time Trial hints the update may carry more than just cars. This broadcast is the obvious stage for the full reveal.
There may even be a sneak peek hiding in the racing itself.
Gran Turismo’s recent social media clips show gameplay at Suzuka with long-awaited updates to the circuit’s trackside graphics, and Suzuka happens to host the Nations Cup sprint race. We presume the refreshed circuit rolls out with next week’s update, but Saturday could be our first proper look at it.
Stealth Models for Tuning In
The viewer rewards return for a second straight round, and they’re a good pair: watching the Manufacturers Cup stream in-game earns a Toyota FT-1 Vision Gran Turismo (Gr.3) Stealth Model, while the Nations Cup stream delivers a Mazda 787B ’91 Stealth Model, a revival of one of the original GT5 Stealth cars. Neither will ever be sold in GT7.
To claim them, find the Viewers Campaign banner in the top-right corner of the GT7 World Map and load each broadcast from there. You don’t need to watch on Saturday; the window runs through Monday, August 31 at 8:59 UTC, with both cars distributed on Tuesday, September 1 via the Gifts tab in your Garage.
Hopefully it goes smoother than last time. The Milan campaign proved popular enough to knock parts of the Gran Turismo website offline mid-broadcast, leaving viewers staring at error screens while trying to claim their cars. Polyphony acknowledged and fixed the issue afterward, and with a two-week window this time, there’s no need for everyone to pile in at once.
The classic “Predict the Winners” campaign is also available until broadcast time, so be sure to submit your predictions to score up to 2 million in-game credits.
A Signed Shirt from Fanatec
Fanatec is celebrating the Tokyo round with a giveaway of a World Series T-shirt signed by Kazunori Yamauchi himself; entering just takes a photo of your rig posted to Instagram or X with the right tags. Full details are in our post from earlier today.
And, if watching the pros this weekend leaves you wanting an upgrade of your own, GTPlanet readers save 5% with Fanetec.com discount code GTPLANET5, which covers the Gran Turismo DD Extreme wheel the competitors used on stage in Tokyo.
Join the Discussion
The next round in front of a crowd is Singapore on October 3, but there’s a championship fight to follow before then. If you’re watching along on Saturday, drop into our forums via the comments link below for discussion during both broadcasts. See you there!
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