The forerunner of the modern series, the Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft, was a hotbed of competition between Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Opel, and eventually Alfa Romeo. The cars raced under increasingly sophisticated Group A and then Class 1 regulations, ultimately becoming so complex and expensive that the FIA internationalised the championship into the ITC (International Touring Car Championship) for 1996. The ITC was a financial catastrophe: a large proportion of revenue went to the FIA, costs spiralled beyond sustainable levels, and all three manufacturers — Mercedes-Benz, Opel, and Alfa Romeo — withdrew after a single season. The series was abandoned at the end of 1996.
After years of discussion about a replacement, DTM returned in May 2000 when Mercedes-Benz and Opel agreed to use cars based on a concept vehicle that Opel had displayed publicly. Because too many rounds were initially planned outside Germany, the series could not qualify for Meisterschaft (Championship) status from the German motorsport authority, and the initials were rebranded to stand for Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters rather than Meisterschaft.
The revived DTM initially used short two-door coupé-style silhouette cars. From 2000 to 2003, Opel competed with the Astra-based car while Mercedes used a CLK-based machine and the independent Abt team used an Audi TT. Laurent Aïello drove the Abt-Audi TT-R to the 2002 championship despite the car's design compromises.
From 2004, all three manufacturers switched to four-door compact executive saloon bodies based on the Audi A4, Opel Vectra GTS, and Mercedes-Benz C-Class, with identical wheelbases across all cars to equalise performance. Audi won immediately in 2004 with Mattias Ekström, who would go on to win a second title in 2007.
Opel withdrew at the end of 2005 due to cost-cutting within General Motors' European operations, leaving only Audi and Mercedes through 2011. BMW returned in 2012 after a twenty-year absence, taking the drivers', teams', and manufacturers' titles in their comeback season. The same year marked a return to two-door coupé bodies.
For 2019 the series introduced turbocharged engines for the first time since 1989, but Mercedes exited at the end of 2018. R-Motorsport ran Aston Martin-branded cars in 2019 before withdrawing after a single unsuccessful season. Audi's sudden departure following 2020 left only BMW with an eligible car, forcing the series to transition.
In 2021, the DTM adopted GT3 regulations, opening the championship to a wide array of manufacturers without requiring factory-level investment. The transition proved successful: BMW, Mercedes, Porsche, Audi, and Ferrari became regular presences, and McLaren joined in 2024 alongside Lamborghini. Aston Martin returned in 2025 with the customer team Comtoyou Racing, while Ford re-entered the same year through HRT.
In December 2022, the ITR — the parent body that had governed the DTM since its revival — was dissolved, with ADAC acquiring the championship name. From 2023 onward, the organisation and regulations differ significantly from the prototype era, though the name and German identity continue.
During the silhouette prototype era, DTM cars were rear-wheel drive with 4.0-litre V8 engines, later switching to 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinders in 2019. Performance was substantial: the V8 generation could reach 100 km/h in approximately 2.6 seconds. All cars used a common roll cage space frame chassis covered by bodywork visually referencing the relevant road car. Components were typically sourced from specialist suppliers — Hewland for transmissions, AP Racing for brakes, and either Dunlop or Hankook for tyres depending on the era.
Race weekends in the silhouette era typically featured a single long race of around 250 kilometres with mandatory pit stops. From 2015, double-header formats with shorter races were introduced. Drag Reduction System technology, borrowed from Formula 1, was used from 2013 to 2020.
The DTM has attracted a wide range of international talent over its history. Former Formula 1 drivers competing in the series have included David Coulthard, Jean Alesi, Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Ralf Schumacher, two-time world champion Mika Häkkinen, Bernd Schneider, and Robert Kubica. Among those who built their primary careers in the series, Mattias Ekström, Bernd Schneider, Gary Paffett, Bruno Spengler, and Marco Wittmann stand out as multiple champions or long-serving frontrunners. The series has also served as a launching pad for Formula 1 careers, most notably Paul di Resta, who won the DTM in 2010 before racing for Force India.
Six female drivers have competed in the championship at various points, including Vanina Ickx, Susie Stoddart, Katherine Legge, Rahel Frey, Sophia Flörsch, and Esmee Hawkey.
In October 2012, a cooperation agreement between the DTM and Japan's Super GT series was signed. The agreement aligned technical regulations between the two championships, with Super GT's GT500 class and DTM both using Class 1 specification cars. The alignment ran for several years before the DTM moved to turbo engines in 2019 while Super GT maintained a different path. The cooperation produced a non-championship Super GT x DTM Dream Race at Fuji Speedway in Japan, where cars from both series competed together.