Gran Turismo series producer Kazunori Yamauchi has cleared his Esports-FIA relationship and is hoping for an enhanced World Series spectacle in 2023.
On the eve of the Gran Turismo World Series Nations Cup World Finals, game series producer Kazunori Yamauchi detailed his current relationship with the FĂ©dĂ©ration Internationale de l’Automobile and his plans for virtual motorsport for the next season.
2018 hosted the inaugural Nations Cup and Manufacturer Series (now Manufacturers Cup), two eSports racing competitions within Gran Turismo tied to an FIA federation. They have returned every year since, initially using Gran Turismo Sport before switching to Gran Turismo 7 for this season.
Platform wasn’t the only change for 2022, however, as championships were no longer associated with the governing body, though they did appear in the game’s Brand Central.
“We’ve always had a very good relationship with the FIA,” Yamauchi-san told Traxion.GG.
“But the only reason we temporarily parted ways this year was because the characteristics we had in mind on our side and on the FIA ​​side were different. There was a discrepancy.”
This follows reports from Motorsport Networks Formula 1 Editor Jonathan Noble earlier this year after he spoke to FIA Director of Formula E and Innovative Sports Activities Department Frederic Bertrand.
“Polyphony Digital has been super honest with us,” said Bertrand.
“So we said, ‘Okay, let’s take it easy.’ We needed something for the upcoming Motorsport Games event, so we found an alternative option.
“Hopefully they continue development for 2023 at something that’s at the level we’re all expecting.”
Takuma Miyazono, Daniel Solis, Kylian Drumont – Subaru wins the 2022 Gran Turismo World Series Manufacturers Cup
The comments came after using Assetto Corsa Competizione, as opposed to Gran Turismo, for the recent eSports section of the FIA ​​Motorsport Games.
“The FIA ​​has welcomed a new President and the organization itself has changed,” Yamauchi-san continued.
“So, I think next year we’ll probably work together again.”
World Series changes for 2023
It seems that the FIA ​​partnership will not be the only element changing for the World Series next year either.
“At the 2020 Sydney event, the size of our World Tour event in terms of attendance was roughly the size of a Formula E event at the time,” Yamauchi-san explained to Traxion.GG.
“But you know the viewership has gone down because you can’t do the live events after that.
“We’re starting over this year. We used to do six events throughout the year, but now, you know, it was down to two this year.
“Next year I’d really like to see that we can do a bigger reboot of the series.
“When you run this type of event, you discover all these different types of problems and improvement points that need to be worked on. Next year we will definitely have a better event.”
Gran Turismo 7 has seen a turbulent first nine months of sales from an online perspective, with missing features compared to its GT Sport predecessor and stability issues. However, this has improved, which the game visionary Traxion.GG clarified yesterday.
“I think there’s still a lot more work to be done for Sport mode,” Yamauchi-san continued.
“We already have events like this [World Series]but I think there are more things we can do on the code side to make it even better for that.”
