Sabah GT Championship 2026: GT3 Sim Racing at Big Sale Sabah
26 October 2026 · 3 min read · by AKG Esports
Update: The Sabah GT Championship 2026 has ended. Read the event recap.
Sabah has a lot of car fans and a lot of gamers. The Sabah GT Championship puts them in the same seat.
It is a GT3 sim racing tournament on Gran Turismo 7, held together with Big Sale Sabah 2026 from 30 Oct to 1 Nov 2026. You get 5 minutes on track per play. Fastest lap counts. The top 12 move on to the finals.
What it is
The Sabah GT Championship is run by AKG Esports. There are two sim rigs, all GT3 cars, and a live leaderboard. It is open to the public, so you can walk up, play and see where you rank.
If you have never touched a racing sim, that is fine. We built the format so a first-timer and a seasoned racer can both have a real go.
Who can join
Anyone. Beginners are welcome, and so are kids with a parent, car fans, and people who just walked in to see what the crowd is about.
You do not need your own wheel or any gear. We provide the rigs. If you want to train before the event, the Sim Racing Academy runs coaching sessions in Kota Kinabalu.
How qualifying works
Qualifying is time attack over two days:
- Day 1, Fri 30 Oct: book a 5-minute run and set your fastest lap. Run as many times as you have plays.
- Day 2, Sat 31 Oct: last chance to crack the top 12. The board locks at the close of Day 2.
Only your best lap counts. A messy first run does not hurt you. Staff record laps at the rig, and players can also submit a photo of the lap screen for approval.
How the queue and live board work
There are 2 rigs and each slot takes about 10 minutes, including setup. That means a queue.
To keep it fair and easy, you register, and your phone shows:
- your place in the queue
- your estimated wait
- your best lap
- your rank
- your gap to the top 12
So you can grab food and walk the Big Sale Sabah floor instead of standing next to the rig.
Pricing
- Walk-in: RM10 per play, paid at the booth.
- Early Bird: RM30 for 5 plays. Register online before 30 Oct. After that, pay at the booth.
Five plays is the better deal if you want to chase a top 12 lap.
Finals format, Sun 1 Nov
Day 3 is where it gets tense.
- The top 12 run off for a place in the top 6.
- The top 6 go into a head-to-head bracket.
- Seeds 1 and 2 get a bye straight to the semi-finals.
- The others play the quarter-finals, then the semi-finals.
- A 3rd place race decides bronze.
- The final decides the champion.
Why byes? Six players do not fit a clean bracket, so the two fastest qualifiers skip a round as the reward for their lap. We explain how this works in our guide to running a fair tournament bracket.
Prize pool
The prize pool is RM700, shared between the top 4 finishers.
What to bring
- Your IC. We use it to verify winners before prizes are handed out.
- Comfortable shoes. You may be queuing.
- Your phone, for the live queue and leaderboard.
The venue is Level 5, SICC (Sabah International Convention Centre), Kota Kinabalu. Daily hours will be posted on the event page, so check there before you go.
How to register
- Open the Sabah GT Championship page.
- Go to the registration page and sign up.
- Choose Early Bird (5 plays for RM30) or pay per play at the booth.
- Keep your phone handy to follow the queue.
Online Early Bird closes on 30 Oct.
Planning your own event?
The same setup works for malls, schools and company events: sim rigs, a live board and a clear format. If you want something similar, talk to us. If you are running a smaller bracket for another game, try our free tournament bracket generator.