Gran Turismo cancels opening round of World Series in Abu Dhabi

23 March 2026

As the current conflict in the Middle East rages on, continuous escalations are reaching more and more industries around the world and international esports are unfortunately no exception. On Saturday, March 28th 2026, the opening round of the fifth season of the Gran Turismo World Series was supposed to be held in Abu Dhabi, but the event’s organizer, Polyphony Digital, has just informed the public that it has been cancelled. Ongoing military action in the regio, including in the United Arab Emirates (of which Abu Dhabi) is the capital, makes it impossible for the first round of the 2026 Gran Turismo World Series to take place there.

Official statement

Originally, the opening race of the 2026 Gran Turismo World Series was set to be held at the Space42 Arena in Abu Dhabi, which can accommodate up to 3.000 guests. It was supposed to be the first of four races running throughout the year and planned almost in unison with the addition of the local Yas Marina Circuit as part of Gran Turismo 7’s recent Spec III update. Due to safety concerns, as a result of the ongoing military violence in the Middle East, the Aby Dhabi was recently cancelled, though.

“Round 1 of the Gran Turismo World Series, scheduled to take place in Abu Dhabi on Saturday 28 March, has been cancelled”, writes Gran Turismo on their own X account, “The safety of everyone involved in our events remains our highest priority. We will share further details in due course. For ticket holders: Your tickets for the event will be refunded in full through the Ticketmaster platform. For participants in the UAE Time Trial competition: We will follow up with you directly regarding next steps related to your result. We sincerely appreciate your continued support and understanding.”

Remaining races

As we wrote before, the 2026 Gran Turismo World Series consist of four races in total. With the Abu Dhabi opening race now removed from the calendar, that means there are three races left this year:

• Race 2: Milano (Italy) – Saturday, May 23rd, 2026.
• Race 3: to be announced.
• Race 4: Tokyo (Japan) – Saturday, December 5th, 2026.

The winners of the 2026 Gran Turismo World Series will be crowned after the fourth race in Tokyo. The reason for Polyphony Digital having not yet revealed the location and date for the third race is unknown (to us), but news in this regard is expected in the very near future.

Nations Cup and Manufacturers Cup

During the Gran Turismo World Series, teams and racers are competing for two cups: the Nations Cup and the Manufacturers Cup. The former is a competition for individual drivers for which only the top drivers from each region are invited to all events. The latter is a competition in which teams compete by sending one driver selected across three different regions. Both the Nations Cup and the Manufacturers Cup were set to kick off in Abu Dhabi later this week.