The FIA Gran Turismo Championship Pre-Season Test took place during the launch event of Gran Turismo Sport on May 19, 2016 at Copper Box, London, England. Due to the nature of the event, the races are played on a pre-release build of the game.
Serving as a demonstration of how the game's live eSports event would look like, the event is divided into two tournaments, the Nations Cup and Manufacturer Fan Cup (later renamed the Manufacturers Series in the final game). During this period, the game was initially planned to be released on 2016 with FIA Gran Turismo Championship events beginning in 2017, but the game (and thus the plans for the first year of eSports events) were pushed back to a year.
Nations Cup[]
Qualifying[]
Qualifying took place as the first ever session of any kind to be played (although not shown on the stream) on Gran Turismo Sport. Although the qualifiers took place on Brands Hatch Indy, the text on the standings screen mentions Seattle Short Circuit instead. Additionally, the car that was used on the qualifiers, the Lotus Evora '09, was also removed from the final build of the game due to licensing difficulties after the game was delayed to 2017.
Regional Top 3[]
The top three drivers of each region (Europe, Asia, and Americas, totaling nine drivers) advance to the semi-finals immediately. These drivers also start in the top nine position of the Semi-Final Round race.
| Pos | Driver | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Yusuke Tomibayashi |
00:52.132 |
| 2 | Yuji Taneichi |
00:52.228 |
| 3 | Takuya Takahashi |
00:52.266 |
| 4 |  Matieu Thornton |
00:52.413 |
| 5 | Melvyn Abraham-Hogan |
00:52.537 |
| 6 |  JT Lauro |
00:52.715 |
| 7 |  Carlos Martinez |
00:52.772 |
| 8 | Tyrell Meadows |
00:52.817 |
| 9 | Nick McMillen |
00:53.388[q 1] |
Consolation Round Qualifying[]
Drivers ranked tenth and below that did not make their region's top three times proceed to the Consolation Round; this also determines their starting grid for the aforementioned race.
| Position | Driver | Time | Grid |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | Oscar Ruiz |
0:52.848[q 1] | 1 |
| 11 |  Patrik Schroderus |
0:52.868 | 2 |
| 12 | Fabio Assunção |
0:52.949 | 3 |
| 13 | James Garner |
0:52.979 | 4 |
| 14 |  Thomas Kiefer |
0:52.990 | 5 |
| 15 |  Tommy van der Donckt |
0:53.153 | 6 |
| 16 | Alexander Koeberle |
0:53.217 | 7 |
| 17 |  Simone Marceno |
0:53.298 | 8 |
| 18 | Nestor Javier Garcia |
0:53.384 | 9 |
| 19 |  Paul Broekmeulen |
0:53.459 | 10 |
| 20 | Brian Marsteller |
0:53.601 | 11 |
| 21 | Pascal Fuhrmann |
0:53.801 | 12 |
| 22 |  Marcos de Oliviera Magrini |
0:53.940 | 13 |
| 23 | Samuele Parella |
0:53.964 | 14 |
| 24 | Eduardo Martinho |
0:54.677 | 15 |
Notes[]
Consolation Round[]
The Consolation Round is the stage intended for players that did not qualify from the previous time trial sessions. It is notable as the first ever race played on Gran Turismo Sport. The top seven finishers of the event would advance to the next stage of the Nations Cup, where their starting grids are also determined in this race; for instance, the race winner would start tenth, the runner-up would start second, and so-on.
| Pos | No | Driver | Car | Time | Q Grid | S-F Grid |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Fabio Assunção |
BMW Z4 GT3 '11 | 7:30.098 | 3 | 10 |
| 2 | 28 | Tommy van der Donckt |
Audi R8 LMS (Audi Sport Team WRT) '15 | +0.154 | 6 | 11 |
| 3 | - | Thomas Kiefer |
Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 '13 | +0.613 | 5 | 12 |
| 4 | - | Oscar Ruiz |
Toyota FT-1 Vision Gran Turismo | +3.547 | 1 | 13 |
| 5 | - | Simone Marceno |
Jaguar F-type Gr.3 | +5.821 | 8 | 14 |
| 6 | 12 | Pascal Fuhrmann |
Volkswagen GTI Vision Gran Turismo Gr.3 | +10.046 | 12 | 15 |
| 7 | 11 | Brian Marsteller |
Renault Sport R.S.01 GT3 '16 | +11.005 | 11 | 16 |
| 8 | 2 | Patrik Schroderus |
Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 N24 Schulze Motorsport '13 | +16.686 | 2 | Out |
| 9 | - | Marcos de Oliviera Magrini |
PEUGEOT Vision Gran Turismo Gr.3 | +18.747 | 13 | Out |
| 10 | - | Eduardo Martinho |
Subaru WRX Gr.3 | +--.--- | 15 | Out |
| 11 | 10 | Paul Broekmeulen |
Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 '12 | +--.--- | 10 | Out |
| 12 | - | Samuele Parella |
Alfa Romeo 4C Gr.3 | +--.--- | 14 | Out |
| 13 | 9 | Nestor Javier Garcia |
Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 '11 | +--.--- | 9 | Out |
| 14 | 7 | Alexander Koeberle |
Chevrolet Corvette C7 Gr.3 | +--.--- | 7 | Out |
| 15 | 4 | James Garner |
McLaren 650S GT3 '15 | +--.--- | 4 | Out |
- Bold indicates drivers that advanced to next round.
- The early build of the game is known to be inconsistent when it comes to handling of number boxes; not all cars display the game-issued number boxes.
- Only gap times for the top nine finishers are shown during the stream, as the top seven advances to the next round; as a result, there is no gap times for tenth place and lower.
- All cars have "(S)" suffix on them, indicating separate instances of the cars for oval use. These were replaced with a set of oval Balance of Performance table for all race cars in the final game.
- de Oliviera Magrini's (and the Peugeot Manufacturer Fan Cup team) car has a plain, blank livery resembling the base model of the car.
- Marsteller's (and the Renault Sport Manufacturer Fan Cup team) R.S.01 uses the livery used by the Renault Sport R.S.01 '16 in the final game.
Semi-Final Round[]
The Semi-Final Round determines the eight drivers that will make it to the final round. This race features the N200 tuned version of the Mazda Roadster S (ND) '15, which was removed from the final game. For drivers that advance to the next round, this also determines their starting position for the finals.
| Pos | Grid/No | Driver | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | Takuya Takahashi |
8:08.072 |
| 2 | 2 | Yuji Taneichi |
+07.374 |
| 3 | 1 | Yusuke Tomibayashi |
+08.166 |
| 4 | 8 | Tyrell Meadows |
+08.166 |
| 5 | 5 | Melvyn Abraham-Hogan |
+09.053 |
| 6 | 4 | Matieu Thronton |
+10.141 |
| 7 | 6 | JT Lauro |
+10.979 |
| 8 | 11 | Tommy van der Donckt |
+11.415 |
| 9 | 12 | Thomas Kiefer |
+12.903 |
| 10 | 10 | Fabio Assunção |
+13.738 |
| 11 | 15 | Pascal Fuhrmann |
+14.253 |
| 12 | 13 | Oscar Ruiz |
+14.865 |
| 13 | 7 | Carlos Martinez |
+15.276 |
| 14 | 14 | Simone Marceno |
+17.111 |
| 15 | 9 | Nick McMillen |
+21.529 |
| 16 | 6 | Brian Marsteller |
+32.241 |
- Bold indicates drivers that advanced to next round.
Final Round[]
The Final Round determines the overall winner of the Nations Cup portion of the event.
| Pos | No | Driver | Car | Time | Q Grid |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | Takuya Takahashi |
Audi R18 TDI (Le Mans 2011) | 7:51.109 | 1 |
| 2 | 7 | Yusuke Tomibayashi |
Toyota TS030 Hybrid '12 | +03.550 | 3 |
| 3 | 36 | Matieu Thronton |
Alpine Vision Gran Turismo Gr.1 | +06.220 | 6 |
| 4 | 50 | Tyrell Meadows |
Hyundai N 2025 Vision Gran Turismo Gr.1 | +07.721 | 4 |
| 5 | 1 | Yuji Taneichi |
Peugeot 908 HDi FAP - Team Peugeot Total '10 | +09.407 | 2 |
| 6 | 12 | JT Lauro |
SRT Tomahawk Vision Gran Turismo Gr.1 | +10.235 | 7 |
| 7 | 11 | Tommy van der Donckt |
Bugatti Vision Gran Turismo Gr.1 | +19.214 | 8 |
| 8 | 55 | Melvyn Abraham-Hogan |
Mazda LM55 Vision Gran Turismo Gr.1 | +--.--- | 5 |
- Bold indicates the overall winner.
- Takahashi used the rare "race damage" variant of the R18 TDI.
- Thronton's car used the 3D model of the Alpine Vision Gran Turismo Race Mode, as the decision to redesign the Gr.1 Alpine Vision GT car have not yet occurred.
Manufacturer Fan Cup[]
The Manufacturer Fan Cup determines which manufacturer would be crowned as the champion of the series that became the Manufacturers Series in the final game. Each manufacturer is represented by two players, which had to take turns during the course of the race.
A qualifying time trial was partially shown before the race, however the qualifying times of each manufacturer team were not shown during the stream.
Entry List[]
- Country flags have been omitted from this entry list, due to inability to identify the origin of some players who only competed in this race.
- Nick McMillen's surname is misspelled as "McMillan" on the report on the Gran Turismo website. Ben Bishop's (who, like McMillen, is also a fellow GT Academy competitor) surname is also misspelled as "Bisshop" on the website's report.
Results[]
| Pos | No | Team | Time | Q Grid |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Renault Sport | 35:06.645 | 1 |
| 2 | 1 | BMW | +27.276 | 2 |
| 3 | - | Toyota | +27.681 | 6 |
| 4 | - | Subaru | +23.553 (+10s penalty)[pen 1] |
16 |
| 5 | - | Alfa Romeo | +51.914 | 3 |
| 6 | 12 | Mitsubishi | +1:14.442 | 12 |
| 7 | 8 | Aston Martin | +-:--.--- | 8 |
| 8 | 11 | Chevrolet | +-:--.--- | 11 |
| 9 | - | Ferrari | +-:--.--- | 5 |
| 10 | 13 | Mercedes-Benz | +-:--.--- | 13 |
| 11 | 7 | Nissan | +-:--.--- | 7 |
| 12 | - | Jaguar | +-:--.--- | 10 |
| 13 | 14 | Volkswagen | +-:--.--- | 14 |
| 14 | - | Peugeot | +-:--.--- | 9 |
| 15 | 28 | Audi | +-:--.--- | 4 |
| 16 | 15 | McLaren | +-:--.--- | 15 |
- Bold indicates the overall winner.
Notes[]
- ↑ The Subaru team crossed the finish line second, but was given a 10-second penalty following the finish after Yamada illegally pushed the BMW (driven by Taneichi) on the Karrusell in the final lap of the race.
Champions[]
| Nations Cup | Takuya Takahashi
| |
|---|---|---|
| Manufacturer Fan Cup |  Renault Sport
|
Yusuke TomibayashiCarlos Martinez
|
Aftermath[]
Most, if not all, of the participants in this pre-season live event would never appear again on a FIAGTC live event, although Nick McMillen did compete in the 2020 FIAGTC finals, while Kazuki Yamada went on to work for Polyphony Digital as their test driver. Furthermore, the event was built around the fact that the game was originally planned to be released in 2016, with the first FIAGTC season to be held in 2017; however, the postponement of the game to 2017 pushed the first semi-formal FIAGTC season to May 5, 2018 (the start of the 2018 Pre-Season). In the meantime, following the game's launch from November 2017 to April 2018, Polyphony Digital hosted 24 online test seasons of six races each, in order to prepare for the full running of the championship events.
With the online championships finally started, the first Gran Turismo live event following the launch of the game was held at Nürburgring on May 10-13, 2018, coinciding with that year's running of Nürburgring 24 Hours race. That event featured 30 specially invited European players, as the championship was just being started.
Trivia[]
- During the Manufacturer's Fan Cup race, the Mercedes-Benz team incorrectly used a Brazilian flag instead of a German one; nationalities during that race corresponded to each manufacturer's country of origin.
- The safety car used during the Northern Isle Speedway Manufacturer's Fan Cup race is simulated: a 17th driver entered the race and set as the polesitter. The Nurburgring race also feature a full course yellow feature that was not present in the final game (in the final game, yellow flags are for the scene of the accident only).
External links[]
- Full Report: Nations Cup Finals on gran-turismo.com
- Full Report: Manufacturer Fan Cup Finals on gran-turismo.com
| Previous event: None |
FIAGTC Live Event 2016 Pre-Season Test |
Next event: 2018 GT World Tour - Nürburgring |