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GT World Series Grand Finals 2023: The GT & Manufacturers Cups

We're in Barcelona, Spain for the GT World Series Grand Finals 2023, as the first two days of competition crowned champs for two cups.

We're in Barcelona, Spain, this weekend for the GT World Series Grand Finals 2023, checking out all of the races this weekend and the cups on the line. The folks at Michelin were kind enough to bring us out for this unique experience as we are in the crowd and backstage in the Fira de Barcelona for the game's end-of-year series of Gran Turismo 7 races happening from December 1-3. We've been here for the past two days, catching all the esports races they had planned out, where we got to see the action for both The GT Cup and The Manufacturers Cup.

GT World Series Grand Finals 2023: The GT Cup

On Friday, December 1, we got to watch The GT Cup take place. The rounds played out with those who had made it this far being split into two semifinal races. The top competitors from both sides would then move onto the Grand Final at night's end. The first race (Semi-Final A) was intense as they raced on Deep Forest, but it also didn't see a ton of changes among the group. Pol Urra from Spain and Ryota Kokobun from Japan both held the top two spots for the majority of the race, with few others making a dent into their lead. The back half saw a lot of action, but much of the race was seeing who of those two would come out on top, with Urra in 1st and KokoBun in 2nd at the end.

Semi-Final B had the better action of the two on the same map, but this race was almost entirely Spain-controlled as Coque López (the Nations Champion from 2022), Jose Serrano, and Alex López Murillo all controlled the track for the majority of the race. Didn't hurt having the hometown crowd rooting for all three of them as they fought off the main competitor giving them a run for their money, Martin Marza from Argentina. Baptiste Beauvious from France was also making a play, but kept being relegated to fifth for most of the race. They put up a valiant effort, but in the end it was a Spanish sweep as all three men took the top spots and popped the crowd going into the final.

The Grand Final was 23 laps set to run on Barcelona-Catalunya track because, obviously, they wanted to run it on one of the hometown tracks from Gran Turismo 7. Urra and Serrano ruled a good chunk of the race as they shared the top 3 for the bulk of it, with Adriano Carrazza from Brazil getting in the top five with Takuma Miyazono from Japan. A couple of hits on the course saw Guy Barbera from New Zealand climb up along with Kokobun, who returned to his top three spot from the semis. At one pint, Carrazza held the top spot while everyone was playing catch up from taking a pit stop, but Urra, Kokobunn, and Coque López all roared back to take 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, respectfully. This was a thrilling way to cap off the first night of the GT World Series.

The Manufacturers Cup

On Saturday, it was time to play for Pride as the Manufacturers Cup took place, as top GT drivers took on their favorite models and played for the pride of who was the best of the best in the game. The game started with a qualifying race to set up placement as the respective car companies had their chosen racers who would be representing them across the board. The first race was dominated by Toyota, Subaru, and Nissan, with BMW and Genesis rounding out the top five for a strong showing.

The second race took us into the rain for five laps on the Nürburgring track, and it looked like it might be a repeat of the qualifiers, but a couple of spin-outs and some wrecks changed the standings a bit to where Subaru went into the lead, followed by Lamborghini anise on two laps into the five. There was a heated trade-off midway into Lap 2, with Lambo taking the lead. However, further down the course, Nissan was able to secure first place going into lap three. Lab three saw multiple shake-ups that kept Nissan in the lead but saw Mercedes, Genesis, Honda, Renault, and Porsche move up the chain. As they hit the final lap, Nissan and Mercedes were leading the pack, with Honda and BMW fighting for the top spot behind them. A few different taps took other teams out of the running, but it was no good as Nissan took top honors in 1st, followed by Mercedes in 2nd, and Genesis taking third.

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