Hectic Motorsport News is proud to be backing the GT New Zealand Championship in 2026. Hectics support brings a new element to the series, the Hectic Moment Award, handed out for each of the 6 championship rounds to the driver with the most Hectic race moment. Each winner will be picking up a $15 PlayStation gift card.

The GT New Zealand Championship (GTNZC) is a sim racing National Championship run on Gran Turismo 7. The series will run across a 6 week, 12 race season with the top 14 drivers racing to win a Toyota 86 Academy Day at Hampton Downs. All division 1 races will be broadcast live on NZ Sim Racing TV.

The Hectic Moment Award will be handed out each round to celebrate the wildest save, boldest overtake, biggest comeback, or any other memorable race moment. Drivers will be able to submit their moments during the week with the prize awarded during the following weeks broadcast.

The Hectic Moment Award is available to all drivers across all divisions. It’s also possible that two drivers may be awarded the prize, say if they both contributed to a great side by side battle that was kept clean through multiple corners, or there’s a double commentators curse on the broadcast that creates a funny moment.

The Hectic Award is a celebration of the best parts of sim racing. It’s the overtakes that leave you fizzing, the slides you can’t believe you got away with, the critical out laps that are make or break for your strategy. It’s the stories you can’t wait to share when you get out of the rig or the moments you laugh about with mates while you practice for the next race. It’s the hectic moments that keep bringing us back.

At hectic and GTNZC we want to promote close and fair racing, and as such any moment associated with a penalty being handed out will not be eligible for the Hectic Moment Award.

Hectic News has already been working with GTNZC, producing written articles and graphics for the series. The Hectic Moment Award builds on this partnership.

Hectics writing was posted on VelocityNews: https://www.velocitynews.co.nz/virtual-speed-real-rewards-toyota-gazoo-racing-nz-backs-the-gt7-new-zealand-championship/
Hectics qualifying leaderboards have been shared across social media: https://www.facebook.com/NZSimRacingHub/posts/pfbid0e7Ej2YqQTCRWkccmfMYGjHRcFtYBSGX53Qb7BMe6HiZwoT4vxMLciaSkQgid9eqVl
And Hectic has produced it’s own additional reporting on the series: https://buttondown.com/Hectic/archive/gt7-nz-championship-qualifiers-2026/