Esports Racing Round Up: Gran Turismo World Finals And F1 Esports Series Finale

Formula Drift, Indy Car, and Formula 1 all finished their 2020 seasons a while ago but this past weekend had a few big racing finales left.

The Gran Turismo Sport World Finals and F1 2020 Esports series both came to their conclusions last week with brand new winners crowned respectively.

Esports racing is quickly rising in participation but also viewership. While Esports racing isn’t quite a ladder to “real life” racing yet, if its rise in prominence continues, it may not matter. I can see a (not too distant) future where the ultimate goals of Esports racers is to win an Esports championship and not necessarily being called up to an F1 or Indy Car team.

In any case, it is likely that no matter what happens, the winners from last week will be leading the way. Here are some quick wrap ups of the Gran Turismo World Finals and the F1 2020 Esports series.

F1 2020 Esports Series championship results

Much like Formula 1 the F1 2020 Esports series has two championships: a team championship and a driver championship. Though unlike Formula 1, the Esports series driver championship winner is not from the team that won the team title.

Jarno Opmeer of the Alfa Romeo Racing OLREN F1 Esports team. Opmeer had a 16 point advantage over his closest rival, Frede Rasmussen. However, in the final race Rasmussen failed to score any points which meant that Opmeer only needed to finish mid-pack to ensure his championship.

However, Rasmussen could take some solace that his team Red Bull Esports Racing secured the team title.

Jarno Opmeer is the third different champion in the 4 year history of the F1 Esports series which is a clear indicator that the talent pool is definitely growing. Next year is shaping up to be quite competitive indeed.

Gran Turismo World Finals results

The FIA-sanctioned Gran Turismo World finals came to a close over the weekend and it could possibly the last Gran Turismo World Final featuring Gran Turismo Sport as the featured game.

There is strong evidence that Gran Turismo 7 will release for the PlayStation 5 (PS5) next year. Though, depending on the actual release date it is unclear if the Gran Turismo Championship series would be able to make the transition in time.

After all, they would need a significant amount of competitors to have already transitioned to the PS5 console for things to work out. Though that is a conversation for another time.

This year the Gran Turismo World Finals was done a bit differently. Normally the Finals is a huge event in which dozens of competitors all descend in an area for two days of competition which is hosted by Lewis Hamilton and Kazunori Yamauchi.

Though for obvious reasons, the Finals could not be held in-person this year. As such, all participants competed online from the safety of their own homes.

After several 2-race heats in different categories, it all came down to the Grand Final.

Despite finishing second in the Final race, Takuma Miyazono managed to earn enough series points to secure the overall win and become the Gran Turismo World Champion.

During a video feed, Miyazono appeared to be pretty dejected after finishing in second place during the final race. However, that was because he didn’t realize that he had secured the Championship.

“I really didn’t think I could win. I’m happy, but when I crossed the finish line, I was in 2nd place and unsure if I won the championship at that time.” Said Takuma-san.

Not only did Miyazono win the grand final, he also won the GR Supra GT Cup, Manufacturer Series, and the Nations Cup over the weekend completing the triple crown. An impressive feat indeed.

Next year things reset again as Gran Turismo players from all over the world compete for that Nations Cup. I think even more eyes will be on those competitors than ever before.