The 2021 edition of the FIA Gran Turismo Championships was broadcast on December 3-5, as a trio of prerecorded streams. It was certainly a great showcase of some of the best e-sports drivers in the world, but just how good was the event as a whole? In this article, I’m going to assign pluses and minuses to the event that was, analysing every aspect of the competition and broadcast. The goal is to figure out what GT e-sports is doing right, and where it still needs to improve heading into 2022 and Gran Turismo 7.
December 3: Toyota Gazoo Racing GT Cup
On Friday it was the Toyota Cup, previously run as the Supra Cup, but rebranded and reinvented this year. 24 competitors were split into 2 semi-finals, with the top 8 in each advancing to the final. Both semi-finals were 10 laps around a wet Red Bull Ring in performance spec Yaris’s. The final was then 6 laps at Le Mans in the 2021 Toyota 86. A simple format, but a good one in my opinion, so PLUS.
Qualifying sessions across the three days were a single lap shootout. Some co-operation was required between the organisers and competitors to make it work online, but they were able to avoid slipstream shenanigans and run a reasonably fair format. I wish they had shown more extended highlights than they did, but I’ll still give it a PLUS.
On the subject of slipstream, it was set to “Weak” throughout the Toyota Cup. But “Weak” means strong in GT Sport, with “Strong” meaning ludicrous. “Real” should be the only setting considered for high level competitive play, and not using it exclusively means a MINUS.
In semi-final A, Daniel Solis was penalised for what appeared to be him out-braking himself and causing a collision. But a YouTube comment by Deafsun pointed out that he was punted, and since Deafsun is a respected high level player, I believe him. Nathayos Sirigaya appears to be the culprit, but the broadcast did not show this, conveniently hiding the stewards error. MINUS.
Rikuto Kobayashi, who is only 16 years old, stole the show in semi-final B. He took pole with the fastest time across both groups, and led his semi-final from start to finish. A masterclass in driving earns a PLUS.
For the final at Le Mans, there was a mandatory pit stop, but no requirement to take tyres or fuel, so even with x8 tyre wear, only one player took new tyres (by mistake). There was still strategy to the drive-through however, and Kobayashi, who waited until lap 4, got jumped by his countrymen who stopped on lap 2 and made a faster slipstream train in the interim.
Kobayashi couldn’t get back past, and after multiple lead changes on the final lap, Tomoaki Yamanaka emerged victorious ahead of Takuma Miyazono. It was Yamanaka's first individual title in GT e-sports, and a great, clean race to end day 1 gets a PLUS.
December 4: FIA GT Championships, Manufacturers Series
Saturday was reserved for the team-based event. Covid has adversely affected this the most, as Gran Turismo cannot do mid-race driver swaps online yet. That is something Polyphony Digitial should look into making possible in the future.
The format was 3 races, with each driver doing one race, and the grid for races 2 and 3 set by results from the previous race. All races used Group 3 cars, GT3 or equivalent. Race one was 10 laps of Lago Maggoire reverse, race two was 10 laps of Tokyo Expressway East (both GT original tracks), and race three was 5 laps on the Nurburgring combined circuit, worth double points. There were also bonus points from earlier events in the year. Considering the game limitations, this format is a PLUS.
In qualifying, Coque Lopez took pole position for Toyota. Race 1 itself was fairly quiet, with the biggest position changes coming via the mandatory pit stop. In particular, Shota Sato of Nissan pitted on lap 3 and was able to jump from 6th to 3rd. Lopez meanwhile won the race, with Jose Serrano for Porsche just behind.
I question the decision to use a narrow highway loop with an obscenely long front straight for race 2. There were better tracks to choose from, and it wasn’t good for BoP either, with Subaru in particular disadvantaged. It’s harsh, but I have to award a MINUS.
Soft and medium tyres were available here, and both had to be used. Yamanaka in the Toyota started on softs when everyone else went medium. It worked, as he broke out of slipstream range before the end of lap 1, and led from start to finish. Meanwhile, Lucas Bonelli for Mercedes started 11th, but finished 2nd, winning the four way battle for that position which lasted several laps. For Bonelli’s performance as well as the battle itself, PLUS.
That just left the Nurburgring race. Now there were three tyre compounds that all had to be used, testing the driver’s adaptability to grip levels throughout the race. Igor Fraga however gapped the field, making it a hat trick of victories for the Toyota team of Lopez/Yamanaka/Fraga. It may have been boring up front, but I still liked the idea of testing the drivers over 41 minutes of "the Green Hell", and a good midfield battle earns a PLUS.
Unfortunately, this was offset by the race director, who cut away from the midfield battle at it’s most exciting moment to show off some generic pit stop animations instead. Considering the prerecorded nature of this race, that’s a big MINUS.
December 5: FIA GT Championships, Nations Cup
It was time for the main event. But this is where the format got screwy; they wanted all regions to be represented “fairly” in the grand final, and hence made each region it’s own semi-final. This made the semi-final blocks uneven, and gave some drivers a better chance of making the final than others. The bonus points from earlier events would also detract from the final for reasons I’ll explain later, therefore MINUS.
The Asia-Oceania race was 8 laps at Bathurst in a modified Mazda Roadster. And “Weak” slipstream made a return no-one asked for. The organisers seem to think the slower road cars need more slipstream to make things interesting, but my earlier point about this being unfit for competitive racing stands. MINUS.
The big story from race 1 was Yamanaka’s elimination. A bad move at the Cutting on Guy Barbara resulted in a penalty for the Toyota Cup and Manufacturers Series winner. Moving onto the European race, it was 15 laps of Monza minus the first chicane, in the F1500T-A (1985 Lotus F1 in all but name).
There was a weird rule in place for this and the following races, where competitors couldn’t start the race on the compound they used in qualifying. Lopez qualified on hard tyres so he could start on mediums, and despite his poor grid position, he led the race by lap 2 when everyone else pitted off the hards early. Meanwhile, Valerio Gallo and Serrano would contest the win, as Lopez came out 3rd after his mandatory stop. Gallo won by less than half a tenth. PLUS.
For America, it was 17 laps of Blue Moon Bay infield (a GT original) in the 2017 Ford GT. Andrew Brooks, a man notorious for being unlucky, had another incident on lap 1, then got a penalty trying make up for it. Yet he still showed a lot of fight, and ultimately won the battle for fifth, earning the last spot in the grand final. Despite the first lap, it was another good race, hence a PLUS.
The grand final was 22 laps at GT original Dragon Trail Seaside, in the Ford GT LM Spec II, an iconic car from Gran Turismo 4. And it’s time to talk about the points. On paper, this race was awesome, with three drivers in contention for the win in the closing laps. The problem was, Gallo carried a large points advantage from World Series events earlier in the year, meaning he could come third in that battle and still win the title by some margin.
In my opinion, a season-long points system doesn’t work in a series with a tournament format, like it does in a series where the same drivers are sure to race each other round after round. At the very least, it turned the final moments of this race, where Baptiste Beauvois had a moment at the “Chicane of Death” and allowed Gallo back through, into a non-event. But still, the race winner and standout best driver this year, Valerio Gallo, was crowned the world champion for 2021. And because of that and an exciting final few laps on paper, I will award this finale a PLUS.
10 plus, 6 minus means Gran Turismo got more right than wrong here, but its not glowing praise either. This may seem harsh, but as a fan of the GT franchise for over two decades, I want to see the e-sports aspect thrive and be considered equal to other major sim racing championships. And I believe a lot of my perceived negatives here are easy to fix next year, it’s just a matter of whether or not the organisers will.
Afterword: Thanks for reading. I've been in contact with Bram recently and he's expressed interest in making Gran Turismo a more active topic on this website, whilst I in turn expressed interest in writing a review of the World Finals that were. I hope this was a quality article and enjoyable read for all, or at least most.
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