Touring car racing started in the mid twentieth century as a long-format style of competition that took place on public roads between numerous towns.

The latter fields a works team, whereas the other two only sell racing kits to be installed on their cars, providing technical support to their customers.

Germany/Europe The DTM series, the initials standing for Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft until 1996, then following a hiatus, revived as Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters in 2000, features advanced purpose built 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo-powered space frame machines, covered with largely carbon fibre bodyshapes resembling the manufacturers' road machine (although the roof and roof pillars do originate from the production car).

[4] In order to lower costs, the engine power is limited to 610 hp (450 kW),[5] and transmissions, brakes and tyres (Hankook) are standard parts for all.

985 kg (2,172 lb) (without driver) DTM cars corner incredibly quickly and wear spectacular bodykits incorporating huge wheel arches and diffusers, plus a drag-reduction system (DRS) designed to encourage overtaking.

[10][11] Downforce levels were also reduced to encourage overtaking and increase top speeds to 300 km/h (186 mph) in order to improve the racing spectacle.

[12] In 2019, DTM formed a partnership with the Japanese sports car series Super GT which runs a near identical set of rules and regulations in its GT500 class.

Honda, Toyota – represented via Lexus, and Nissan each entered a wildcard entry for the final race of the 2019 season at the Hockenheimring.

Aston Martin withdrew from the event as they intended to focus on developing the Vantage package for 2020, however this never eventuated as the program was ended.

[13] Audi announced in late April 2020 that they would be discontinuing their involvement in the series after the end of the 2020 season, following the same path Mercedes-Benz did after the end of the 2018 season; focusing on electric motorsport, most notably Formula E. This will leave BMW as the sole manufacturer left, putting the series' future in serious jeopardy.

[14] Germany Since 1997, and nowadays still on the over 20 kilometres (12 mi) long famous old Nürburgring and other circuits worldwide, in average over 150 touring cars compete in the NLS series of ten typically four-hour-long races.

The cars are currently based on the Ford Mustang GT and Holden Commodore (ZB)[16] The minimum weight for a Supercar including driver is 1,395 kg (3,075 lb).

These events make up the Pirtek Enduro Cup, which is a championship-within-a-championship where the driver combination with most points collected over these three endurance races wins a trophy.

In Australia, Supercars enjoys a strong support base that is still driven in large part by the tribal Ford versus Holden battle.

[21][22] This compares favourably with other major sporting events such as the AFL Grand Final with 2.2 million TV viewers in 2019.

Attempts at further international expansion were made in China, Malaysia, the Middle East, and the United States during the 2000s and 2010s, none of which have survived.

Both Ford and Holden financially and technically supported their favoured teams and took an active role in promotion of the series from its beginning, but began to wind back and ultimately withdraw their financial commitments approximately in line with the decline in sales and eventual discontinuation of the Falcon in 2016[30] and Commodore in 2020 (the two models that exclusively competed in the V8 formula from 1993 to 2012).