Gran Turismo 7 Dropped from 2022 FIA Motorsport Games eSports Competition

The FIA Motorsport Games and Gran Turismo esports partnership seems to be officially at an end. The Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) has announced it will not be using Gran Turismo 7 for the esports category of the 2022 FIA Motorsport Games, something that doesn’t come as much of a surprise seeing as FIA branding had been removed from the game.

Replacing Gran Turismo 7 for the second FIA Motorsport Games

The FIA first held their Motorsport Games event in 2019, using Gran Turismo Sport as their esports title. Covid-19 then put paid to the next two attempts to hold the Motorsport Games, but they’re finally getting the chance to run the 2022 FIA Motorsport Games in October. In between the two events, Polyphonic Games has released Gran Turismo 7, which has much less of a focus on eSports than its predecessor. Gran Turismo 7 has still included the FIA-certified Gran Turismo Championships, but there is a clear reduction in FIA branding throughout the game, leaving players wondering whether the eSports partnership would continue because of this.

All confusion has been removed with a clear answer from the FIA (as spotted by GT Planet); Gran Turismo will be replaced with Assetto Corsa Competizione at the latest event. Those taking part in the tournament will race in virtual GT3 cars within the game and developer Kunos Simulazioni will be making a custom version of the chosen track so players can’t start practicing now to gain an advantage. The esports completion will begin on October 27 with the final taking place on October 29. As for Gran Turismo, the franchise shouldn’t miss out too much on the eSports hype as it has been holding its own official esports series.

In other news, the creators of Alien: Isolation are making a new sci-fi FPS. Elsewhere, a new range of Sony gaming headsets has been leaked ahead of their official announcement.