On 23 November at the World Finals held in Monaco, Gran Turismo announced that Mazda would like to become a partner of the FIA Certified Gran Turismo Championships and also revealed a sketch of the ‘MAZDA RX-VISION GT3 CONCEPT’, a new car set to appear in the next Championships Series.

The car was unveiled during the Mazda Trackside Talk held prior to the Semi-finals of the Manufacturer Series with Julien Montousse, Senior Director of Design at Mazda North America, and Gran Turismo Series Producer, Kazunori Yamauchi, present on stage.

Montousse provided an outline of Mazda’s extensive involvement with motorsports and was joined by Mazda’s Head of Global Design, Ikuo Maeda, via video message: “In the Esports world as well, I want many drivers to select Mazda and I want to support junior drivers". He also announced that the MAZDA RX-VISION GT3 CONCEPT will appear in the FIA GT Championships 2020 Series.

Maeda then went on to reveal that, “before that, Mazda will introduce a new model to the race: the MAZDA RX-VISION GT3 CONCEPT”. He explained that the car, “is based on the RX-VISION GT3 unveiled at the Tokyo Motor Show and features a beautiful design with a wide-tread and long nose. Its front mid-engine and low centre of gravity results in an ideal weight distribution of 48/52, which enables good stability, low aerodynamic drag and less tyre wear.”

Following this, Montousse then revealed the sketch amid great applause from the audience. Kazunori Yamauchi remarked: “I think all of you here will be able to tell, that with these proportions it will be a really good car to drive. The roof is obviously very low, and the 4 tyres are placed on the furthest corners, so you get the impression that this car will have high-stability”. He went on to announce that “this car is being modelled in Polyphony Digital as we speak.”

The audience was also invited to give their thoughts on the car, with Ryota Kokubun who represented Mazda in the Manufacturer Series this season commenting that “the design looks really beautiful and it’s great we’ll be able to race it on the track.”

The Trackside Talk was followed by a Pro-Am race featuring media guests and top drivers teaming up from a variety of countries. The 5-lap race with the Mazda Roadster on the brand new WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca circuit was won by the team of French automobile magazine Sport-Auto, and GT driver Simon Bishop from New Zealand.

The MAZDA RX-VISION GT3 CONCEPT is set to appear in Gran Turismo Sport in 2020.