The first-ever Olympic Esports Series will take place in Singapore this June, and among the multi-discipline competition is virtual racing.
Anyone can qualify via Gran Turismo 7, with an online time trial now live between 27th April and, depending on your time zone, the early hours of 8th May 2023. That’s a 10-day entry period, whereby entrants must set a competitive lap time around Deep Forest Raceway in the Toyota GR010 Hybrid ’21.
The World Endurance Championship and 24 Hours of Le Mans-competing car has been outfitted with a special black and white Olympic livery, and the venue features new Olympic-themed banners.
Tuning is not allowed, and neither are set-ups apart from being able to tweak brake bias on the fly.
To enter, visit the Sport Mode from the main World Map within the Gran Turismo 7 game on PS4 or PS5. Within the Online Time Trial section, you will find the limited-time ‘Olympic Esports Official Licensed Event’.
Once there, you must accept the terms and conditions and enter your contact details, then simply set as many laps as you’d like until the closing date – the quickest of which will be your qualifier for the competition.
Only a select few will secure spots at the LAN-based finale. But, no matter, because in-game credits could be yours too.
Unlike a regular Lap Time Challenge, two of which also went live on the 27th April, there’s a +100% reward increase applied, but the payout zones are smaller.
Be within three per cent of the quickest time, and 4,000,000 credits will be yours, which is usually three per cent:
- +1.5% – 4,000,000 credits
- +5% – 2,000,000 credits
- +20% – 500,000 credits
Several of the Gran Turismo World Series competitors have already submitted their times, alongside drivers for esports teams such as BS+Competition who has signed 2022 Toyota Gazoo Racing GT Cup finalist Will Murdoch.
While the Olympic Esports Series is a new concept, the IOC has used Gran Turismo before for the Olympic Virtual Series, where GT Sport driver Valerio Gallo won back in 2021.
