Gran Turismo 7’s Huge Spec IV Update Shows It’s Listening To Players

Gran Turismo 7 will be getting another significant update before the year is out, series producer Kazunori Yamauchi announced during this morning’s PlayStation State of Play event. It’ll be issued in two parts—one in October, and then another in December—adding a total of 12 cars and two tracks to the game, as well as a host of features fans have been requesting for some time.

We’ll start with the tracks, because they’re both significant, for different reasons. Sportsland Sugo, a mainstay on the Super GT calendar located in Japan’s Tōhoku region, we’ll be making its GT debut first in October. It hasn’t appeared in a great many video games over the years, but it was featured in the Project Cars series, and real ones may remember it from Sega’s Ferrari F355 Challenge way back in the day.

Sugo is a fantastic circuit—not too long, tons of elevation change, plenty of very satisfying mid-speed corners, and some beautiful views. Personally, it’s one I’ve wanted to see in GT7 for a long time, and I’m excited it’s finally happening.

That said, longtime Gran Turismo fans will definitely be more excited for the other new track, which is actually an old one. Autumn Ring will return in December for the first time since GT6, and interestingly, it’ll be offered with two layouts. Kaz said that players “can race Autumn Ring with its original layout and scenery faithfully recreated,” but there will also be an “expanded” version, a “much larger racing circuit that offers a variety of new ways to drive.”

It’s unclear if this new take on Autumn Ring, one of the series’ oldest original tracks alongside High-Speed Ring, Trial Mountain, Grand Valley Speedway, and Deep Forest, is actually connected to the original circuit or separated from it entirely, like the two variations of Dragon Trail Speedway. It’s also uncertain if Autumn Ring Mini, the very short version of the track well-suited for low-power cars, will be included too.

The few still images Polyphony Digital has provided don’t provide us with an angle to see if the Mini layout is still feasible with the new track model. However, both screenshots are centered around Mini’s start/finish line, which is in a different spot from the full track’s main straight, so that could give us a clue.

Gran Turismo 7 – Spec IV Announcement Trailer | PS5 Games

Beyond tracks, there are a lot of other additions to name, so here they are courtesy of the official website:

October

・ Six new cars.
・ A new Spec IV opening cinematic.
・ Vintage, a section featuring cars no longer available to purchase new.
・ Car Concierge, a service for ordering Used and Legend cars.
・ Experience, a mode featuring brand-specific driving challenges.
・ Car Viewer, a feature that lets you admire the cars in your garage.
・ An increased Collector Level cap.

December

・ Six new cars.
・ Family, a new mode for players of all ages.
・ Shuffle Race, a luck-based race featuring randomly selected cars.
・ Online Drift Trial, a new mode where players can test their drifting skills against others worldwide.
・ The next evolution of Gran Turismo Sophy.
・ A new Power Pack difficulty level for advanced players.

Highlights include the Car Concierge, which will allow you to directly purchase a vehicle not currently offered for sale in the used or legend dealerships. It does appear there will be a delay as you wait for these to become available, and you’ll be able to view them as you can new cars, from a new “Vintage” section within each manufacturer’s menu. And GT5 fans will surely be excited for the return of Shuffle Races in December, a multiplayer mode that sets a performance cap and then gives every player a random car within it, for unpredictable battles.

We don’t know each of the 12 new vehicles coming, but Polyphony has provided images of a few. They’ll include the E60 BMW M5, Citroen 2CV6, a revised version of the Mazda RX-Vision GT3, and the Mugen Motul Civic Si Group A race car that competed in Japanese touring cars in the late ’80s.

It seems we may not learn more about Spec IV until the Gran Turismo World Series esports competition hits Singapore exactly a month from today, so we’ll have to be patient.

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