FIA isn’t using Gran Turismo 7 for its Motorsport Games tournament this year, but that doesn’t mean its involvement with the series is over.
Casual players probably never noticed, but the hardcore Grand Touring 7 the public will have seen a major omission at this year’s Gran Turismo World Series esports tournaments. Namely the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA).
From 2018 to 2021, the tournaments were officially sanctioned by the FIA, which is something for Formula 1 and other motor sports. FIFA is for football. However, it appears to have no involvement whatsoever with the 2022 series, with the FIA name and logo completely absent from the series’ official website.
The fact that the FIA is also using another racing sim, Assetto Corsa Competizione, for its own FIA Motorsport Games tournament suggests its relationship with Gran Turismo studio Polyphony Digital has ended. It turns out that’s not quite the case.
Instead, their partnership has ended because Gran Turismo 7 does not currently offer a suitable online experience for professional play.
While the game is use of microtransactions is the most well-known issue, the online modes and lobbies are also plagued by technical issues, making them unsuitable for the FIA Motorsport Games.
As such, the FIA and Polyphony have agreed to temporarily suspend their collaboration until improvements are made.
When asked by Motorsport.com FIA Director of Formula E and the Innovative Sports Department, Frederic Bertrand, said: “It’s not over yet. For Motorsport Games, the difficulty we had at the time was that they weren’t necessarily ready to support the live event the way we wanted, because of GT7 and everything.
‘So we have agreed with them that we will work with Assetto Corsa on this. It’s also easier for us, because it’s more open to many countries.’
Bertrand emphasizes that this does not mean that the FIA and Polyphony will never work together again. In fact, both sides hope to extend the partnership into 2023, when Gran Turismo 7’s online issues are resolved.
“I’ll send my men and when we think it’s done, we’ll move on. And then we’ll probably have another project with Gran Turismo early in the first quarter of next year,” he explained.
Bertrand also took the time to talk about the FIA’s plans to create a global ranking system that covers all major racing sims, regardless of publisher.
‘We would like to be the one who creates the world ranking. So that drivers know at what level they are globally and at what level they are in their region and in their country,” he said.
‘It’s a long discussion. You can imagine how many people we have to convince that we can bring something.’
Concerning the Gran Turismo World Series, it started over the weekend. The first round is now over, but the Showdown event will take place this weekend on July 30 and 31 in Salzburg, Austria, followed by two more online rounds in September and October. The World Finals will take place from November 25 to 27 in Monte Carlo, Monaco.
A new update coming this week is expected to add three new cars to Gran Turismo 7, though their identities are a mystery, with director Kazunori Yamauchi’s Twitter tease showing only glimpses of them in the dark.
Gran Turismo 7 is available for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5.
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