GT7 World Series 2026, Exhibition 1: The Full Nations Cup Schedule

The Gran Turismo World Series is back for 2026, and Exhibition 1 of the Nations Cup runs across six rounds, one every Saturday from 13 June to 18 July. Each round uses a Specified Car, so you pick from a set list of cars rather than bringing your own. What makes this one interesting is how much the cars change week to week, from old Le Mans racers to GT3 cars to a little Autobianchi A112 at the end. Here's a breakdown of every round: the track, the cars, and the settings you need to know.

A few settings hold across the whole championship, so they're worth stating once: every round has a 16-car grid, light mechanical damage, and both DR and SR affected. Starts are rolling except for the finale. Penalties are consistent throughout: light shortcut, other-car collision on, pit-lane cutting on, wall collision off. BoP and tuning are locked on for every round except the finale. Everything below covers what actually changes round to round.

Round 1: Le Mans, Circuit de la Sarthe (No Chicane), Saturday 13 June

A 12-lap race with 5-minute qualifying. Fuel runs 2x and tyre wear 4x. Cars run on Racing tyres in the Gr.1 category, with wide body and nitrous prohibited. Drivers choose from five Group C legends: the Jaguar XJR-9 '88, Mazda 787B '91, Sauber Mercedes C9 '89, Nissan R92CP '92, and Porsche 962 C '88. Settings are limited to brake balance, and there's one mandatory pit stop.

Round 2: WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, Saturday 20 June

A 25-lap race with 5-minute qualifying. Fuel runs 2x and tyre wear 4x. Everyone pilots a single car, the Gran Turismo F3500-A open-wheeler, on Racing tyres, with wide body and nitrous prohibited. Settings cover brake balance only, and one mandatory pit stop applies.

Round 3: Red Bull Ring, Saturday 27 June

A 25-lap race with a longer 7-minute qualifying session and notably lighter wear: fuel 1x, tyre wear 2x. Crucially, this round enforces a required tyre compound, so strategy revolves around the mandated tyre rather than fuel saving. It's a Gr.3 round with wide body and nitrous prohibited, and the eligible cars are the Audi R8 LMS Evo '19, Ferrari 296 GT3 '23, Lamborghini Huracán GT3 '15, McLaren 650S GT3 '15, and Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) '22. Settings cover brake balance, and there's no mandatory pit stop.

Round 4: Trial Mountain Circuit, Saturday 4 July

A short 10-lap race with 6-minute qualifying. This is the lightest round for wear, with fuel and tyre wear both at 1x, and the only round run on Sports tyres rather than Racing. Wide body and nitrous are prohibited, and the two eligible cars are the Toyota GR86 RZ '21 and Subaru BRZ S '21. Car settings are fully specified and locked, with no adjustments allowed, and there's no mandatory pit stop.

Round 5: Grand Valley, Highway 1 Reverse, Saturday 11 July

The endurance test of the series at 30 laps, the longest race, with 7-minute qualifying. Fuel is 1x, but tyre wear is cranked to 5x, the highest of the championship, making tyre management the deciding factor since there's no mandatory stop. Cars run on Racing tyres with wide body and nitrous prohibited. The eligible cars are the two Red Bull X2019 fan cars: the Gran Turismo Red Bull X2019 Competition and the Red Bull X2019 25th Anniversary. Settings cover brake balance only.

Round 6: Suzuka Circuit, Saturday 18 July

The finale is a quick 8-lap race with a generous 10-minute qualifying session, and it's the only round with a standing grid start (with false start check) rather than a rolling start. Fuel and tyre wear both sit at 1x. Cars run on Racing tyres with nitrous prohibited, and the single eligible car is the Autobianchi A112 Abarth '85, a tiny classic. This round breaks the pattern in a few ways: BoP and tuning are off, only the event-specified car is allowed (no garage cars), and settings are specified. There's no mandatory pit stop.

That's the full Exhibition 1 schedule. The biggest takeaway is just how different each round feels, so don't expect what wins you Round 1 to carry over to Round 4. Rounds 1 and 2 are the only ones with a mandatory pit stop, Round 5 is all about saving your tyres over a long run, and the Suzuka finale throws in a standing start and a one-make Autobianchi to keep things unpredictable.