Touring car and GT racing: race cars that start from road cars.

Touring cars and GT cars

Both kinds of car start life as production models, but from different ends of the showroom. Wikipedia (secondary) describes touring cars as four-seat race cars derived from road models and raced on road courses, and says their limited aerodynamics make close racing and passing easier. It names Supercars in Australia, the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) and the DTM in Germany among the major touring series.

GT racing, in the same source's description, uses production-derived two-seaters divided into classes. Wikipedia calls GT3 the most popular class and describes GT4 as a step towards top-level GT racing. It also gives approximate power figures for each class, but we have left them out because power in these classes is adjusted between cars and the numbers could not be confirmed.

Where GT3 and GT4 cars race

GT3 cars race in many different championships, including all of these:

• IMSA, whose GTD PRO and GTD classes both use FIA GT3 cars, according to RACER. GTD PRO is for professionals; GTD is pro-am.
• The FIA World Endurance Championship, where Wikipedia (secondary) says the LMGT3 class for GT3 cars replaced the GTE classes from 2024.
• GT World Challenge, run by SRO Motorsports Group for FIA GT3 cars (Wikipedia, secondary).
• The DTM, which Wikipedia says completed its fifth season under GT3 rules in 2025.
• Super GT in Japan, whose GT300 class takes GT3-style cars among others (Wikipedia, secondary).

GT4 and touring cars have their own outlets too. Wikipedia lists IMSA's Michelin Pilot Challenge as a series for GT4 and TCR cars.

How competition works

Formats differ from series to series. A few examples:

• Several races per weekend. Wikipedia (secondary) says the 2025 BTCC ran 10 rounds of three races each, with points for Race 1 pole, fastest lap and leading a lap, and that a Saturday-afternoon qualifying race was added at every 2026 meeting. The 2025 DTM ran 8 rounds of two races each.
• Two classes in one race. Super GT runs GT500 and GT300 together. Wikipedia describes GT500 as 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder cars from Toyota, Nissan and Honda.
• Success ballast. Super GT adds weight to cars that have been winning, per Wikipedia, and above a set level GT300 cars get a fuel-flow restrictor instead of more ballast.
• Sprint and endurance combined. Wikipedia says GT World Challenge Europe combines a five-round Sprint Cup and a five-round Endurance Cup into one overall title, with the 24 Hours of Spa worth the most points, and splits entries into Pro, Gold, Silver and Bronze classes by driver rating.
• A play-off. Supercars decides its title in a Finals Series that ends with a Grand Final in Adelaide. Wikipedia describes the rounds and points resets in detail, but we could not confirm those details against the series itself.

The main series

Each of these has fuller results on our touring and GT series page. Briefly:

• BTCC. Wikipedia (secondary) says 2025 was the 15th season of the NGTC (Next Generation Touring Car) rules and the first on fully renewable fuel, and that Tom Ingram (Hyundai) won the 2025 title. Autosport reports that Ash Sutton (Ford) won the 2026 championship, his record fifth, clinching it at Silverstone with four races to spare.
• DTM. Wikipedia lists Ayhancan Guven (Porsche) as 2025 champion. Autosport reports that Thomas Preining (Manthey, Porsche) won the 2026 title, his second after 2023, at the Hockenheim finale in October 2026.
• Super GT. Web CarTop reports that Sho Tsuboi and Kenta Yamashita (Toyota GR Supra) were the 2025 GT500 champions. The 2026 Super GT season was still in progress as of October 2026, with its final races at Motegi in November.
• GT World Challenge Europe. BMW's press release names Kelvin van der Linde and Charles Weerts (Team WRT, BMW) as 2025 overall champions. The 2026 season ended at Portimao on 17 October 2026, according to the series, and Sportscar365 reports that Maro Engel and Lucas Auer (Winward Racing, Mercedes-AMG) had already secured the 2026 overall drivers' title.
• Supercars. Wikipedia says Toyota joined in 2026 with the GR Supra, alongside Ford's Mustang and Chevrolet's Camaro, and that Chaz Mostert won the 2025 title. Autosport's results show Brodie Kostecki and Todd Hazelwood (Ford) won the 2026 Bathurst 1000 in October. The 2026 championship was still in progress as of October 2026, with the Finals Series to come.

How people get into it

In the US, amateur road racing is run by clubs, and the two national clubs in our research both offer a path to it:

• SCCA lists its road racing ladder as Race Experience, Drivers' School, Enduro, Regional Racing, the U.S. Majors Tour, the Hoosier Super Tour, the SCCA Runoffs and SCCA Pro Racing. Its licence path starts with membership, online Drivers School modules, a medical requirement and a Novice Permit.
• NASA describes its programs as running from High Performance Driving Events (HPDE) through Time Trial to wheel-to-wheel Road Racing. Its HPDE page says that after reaching HPDE 4 a driver can take the rules test for a provisional racing licence.

Racing schools are another way in. Skip Barber, for example, says its one-day and three-day schools use either its GT cars or its Formula cars depending on the venue, and that GT and Formula graduates of the three-day school are put on the path to an SCCA or USAC licence. Our licences and schools page lays out each step, and track days covers the usual starting point before any of it.