The 'Gran Turismo World Series' 2023 Nations Cup got underway on the 13th of May.

Round 1 took place at Spa-Francorchamps. The Japanese veteran Akagi_1942mi took the lead on the second lap, and managed to hold on till the finish line to claim the victory. His impressive score of 421 points looked to be a good omen for the rest of the series.

In Round 2, it was the turn of Japan's young stars to show off their speed. SZ_TakuAn22 won the first race, scoring 411 points, while TX3_tokari71 won the second, with 421 points.

Round 3 was a high-speed showdown that took place on the Deep Forest Raceway. The Round was won by SZ_TakuAn22, who scored 414 points to add to their impressive total.

Autodrome Lago Maggiore - Full Course was the setting for Round 4. Akagi_1942mi—who had struggled since winning the first round—secured pole position, and held on to first place going into the later stages of the race. With just three laps remaining, however, SZ_TakuAn22 rose up from fourth place to start putting pressure on the race leader.

On the final corner of the final lap, Akagi_1942mi took a defensive line. In response, SZ_TakuAn22 cut in from the outside, performing a slide as he overtook his rival to take the lead, winning the race and scoring 411 points in the process.
In their younger days, SZ_TakuAn22 had studied Akagi_1942mi's replays, so it was an incredible moment to witness the student getting the better of the master.

In Round 5, TX3_tokari71 was unstoppable from the start. They qualified in pole position, and went on to win the race, scoring 425 point and consolidating their hold on first place on the leaderboard.

LUA_CRV-86 went pole-to-win in the first race of Round 6, while Akagi_1942mi did the same in the second race. The two drivers at the top of the leaderboard decided to skip the round, however, meaning they were unable to add to their points totals.

Round 7, the final round of the Online Series, took place on Grand Valley Highway 1—one of SZ_TakuAn22's favourite tracks. Sure enough, they managed to win the race, but they weren't quite able to score enough points to move to the top of the leaderboard, finishing in second place overall.

All seven rounds in the Online Series had been sprint races, and the event was won by TX3_tokari71, who scored consistently well in all the rounds they entered.

There was also a fierce tussle for third place. Akagi_1942mi, the veteran, refused to give up on third, and entered every round in the hope of scoring the points that would get them there. In the end, however, he missed out to LUA_CRV-86 by just one single point, meaning that the top three places were all filled with young up-and-coming stars.


GTWS 2023 Nations Cup
1st / Japan / TX3_tokari71 (TX3_tokari71) / 1250 Points
2nd / Japan / たくあん (SZ_TakuAn22) / 1236 Points
3rd / Japan / CRV (LUA_CRV-86) / 1216 Points