Toyota has announced a new racing series for its Gazoo Racing team. In addition to world rallies, Le Mans, and more, the Toyota Gazoo Racing (TGR) squad will now tackle the challenging twists of cyberspace in the TGR GT Cup 2024, which will be held on the circuits of players’ PlayStations.
The Gran Turismo video game
The TGR GT Cup 2024 will actually be played out in the Gran Turismo game, long since famed for its accurate recreation of vehicles, their handling, performance, and even sounds.
Not just for Toyotas
It won’t be just for Toyotas, either - although of course, Toyota, Toyota Gazoo Racing, and Lexus vehicles will feature prominently - as cars from the likes of Subaru, Nissan, Honda, and Mazda will be part of the event, thanks to the fact that they and Toyota are partners in the Super Taikyu Waigaya Club2 from the Super Taikyu racing series, which is an actual, real, physical racing series, and so the online competition will be promoting real motorsports and e-motorsports at the same time.
Lexus Le Mans racer
The event will kick off with a round dedicated to the Subaru BRZ and Toyota GT86 and GR86 before moving on to a second round open to hybrid-engined cars, including the Prius. Other rounds will include more spectacular racing machines, including a digitised version of the Lexus RC-F GT3 car, which is competing in the GT category of the World Endurance Championship and the Le Mans 24hrs this year (the real ones, not the digital versions although probably those too we imagine).
Get your own GR010 Hybrid
Everyone who enters the competition will get a prize—a Toyota Gazoo GR010 Hybrid Le Mans racer, finished in the new matte-black colour scheme for 2024. It’s a digital version to be parked in your Gran Turismo garage rather than a real one you can park on the driveway, but that’s still a pretty cool thing to have. Toyota and Gazoo Racing say the idea is to promote both real and online racing series and to get closer to the online gaming community, many of whom are proper petrolheads outside of the gaming world. They will use their experience, knowledge, and interests to help design and make better motorsports-bred cars in the future.