Polyphony Digital announced its partnership with governing body
Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile in June 2014 to provide a more realistic racing experience in virtual motorsport. It permitted the Japanese game developer to feature content certified by the FIA and launch an online championship in
Gran Turismo 6 for the following year in 2015. It would be the earliest example of an official online championship managed by Polyphony Digital and sanctioned by the FIA. The following year in 2016, Polyphony and the FIA announced the formation of the
FIA-Certified Gran Turismo Championships (FIA GTC). The series was established in
Gran Turismo Sport shortly after the game's release. Many test seasons ran from 2017 to 2018, and the first official season commenced that year. The first World Tour was also held at
Nürburgring, which saw Giorgio Mangano from Italy emerge as the first Nations Cup event winner, and Philippe Nicolay, Matthew Thomas, and Anthony Duval, representing
BMW, become the first Manufacturer Series event winners. Brazilian racing driver
Igor Fraga became the inaugural Nations Cup champion in 2018, and Kanata Kawakami, Vincent Rigaud, and Tyrell Meadows also became the inaugural Manufacturer Series champions that year. As part of the FIA's involvement as a sanctioning body, the champions were also honoured at the
FIA Prize Giving Ceremony. In 2019, Polyphony Digital and
Toyota Gazoo Racing introduced the Toyota GR Supra GT Cup. Originally a one-make series exclusive to the
Toyota GR Supra, the series was later expanded in 2021 to include the rest of Toyota's lineup available in the game. The series was later renamed the Toyota Gazoo Racing GT Cup. The series officially concluded in April 2025, with a post on
X by Toyota confirming its discontinuation. The format for the series changed in 2021 in the wake of the
COVID-19 pandemic. All previously planned live events were dropped, and the season would instead be held online. Italian player Valerio Gallo won the 2021 World Finals and became the final
Gran Turismo Sport champion. The series transferred over to
Gran Turismo 7 for the 2022 season. Polyphony's partnership with the FIA was also put on hiatus that year, with FIA's Director of Innovative Sporting Projects, Frederic Bertrand, stating that they would resume the collaboration once
Gran Turismo 7 becomes a sufficiently stable platform. As a result, the FIA name was dropped, and the tournament was renamed to the Gran Turismo World Series (GTWS). Two live events were reintroduced as part of the 2022 season, with the series returning to
Hangar-7 in
Salzburg,
Austria for the Showdown and
Monte-Carlo Sporting in
Monte Carlo,
Monaco for the World Finals. The first season held in
Gran Turismo 7 concluded in controversy in the World Finals for both disciplines, as the representatives for
Mazda experienced equipment issues and were forced to retire from the Manufacturers Cup, and eventual Nations Cup champion Coque López would win his first title following contact with fellow contender Angel Inostroza in a collision that was deemed a racing incident.
Exhibition events In addition to the professional events, the tournament has hosted exhibition races since 2019. One of these exhibition races is known as 'Pro-Am', where competitors of the series would pair with various personalities, spanning from content creators to professional racing drivers, including
Formula One drivers such as
Juan Pablo Montoya and game ambassadors
Esteban Ocon and
Lewis Hamilton. Exhibition races have also been hosted by
Sony's
artificial intelligence department, Sony AI, where select series drivers race against their
agent known as 'Gran Turismo Sophy', developed in collaboration by Sony AI,
Sony Interactive Entertainment, and
Polyphony Digital. This race is also used as a testing ground for Sony's AI team to evaluate Sophy's pace and behaviour on the race track. Competitors of the series have seen opportunities in real-world
motorsport through their participation in the series. Five-time champion Takuma Miyazono raced in the first round of the
2025 Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie, racing in the VT2 production car class with
Toyo Tires and Ring Racing. Racing drivers have also competed in the series, including Brazilian
Super Formula driver
Igor Fraga and Japanese
Super GT driver
Rikuto Kobayashi, the former of which has won four championships in the series. As of 2025,
Brembo,
Dunlop Tyres,
Mazda,
Toyota Gazoo Racing, and
Fanatec serve as the series partners of the World Series. The series is provided with clothing by
Puma and peripherals by Fanatec. == Format ==