Gran Turismo 7's Next Update Completes the GT-R Family, But Brings No New Track
Image: Sony Interactive Entertainment
October’s monthly Gran Turismo 7 update arrives tomorrow, and it brings four new cars — one more than usual — though, disappointingly, no new track. At least the cars are pretty solid.
Leading the charge is the “Kenmeri” Nissan Skyline 2000GT-R — the second-gen GT-R, based on the KPGC110 Skyline. The previous KPGC10 GT-R is already in the game, as are all the versions of Nissan’s flagship sports coupe that would follow, so this completes the family. This GT-R was notably built only for the 1973 model year, and just 197 exist.
Image: Sony Interactive Entertainment
The next-oldest in the group is the 1980 Maserati Merak SS — a car known for, among other things, being central to one of Top Gear’s most classic moments. Unlike that “SS,” this one is a real SS, with all of its advertised 217 horsepower from the factory. It joins the 2008 GranTurismo S as the only other car from the Italian marque in the game.
Image: Sony Interactive Entertainment
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The other two additions are a little less exciting, because they’re built off cars already in the roster. The Mazda Roadster NR-A is a cool, club-racer take on the ND, with a roll cage, racing seats and harness. This MX-5 boasts an attractive livery, too, bearing the new Mazda Sprit Racing insignia we all began to notice last year. Rounding out the quarter is yet another GT3-class Nissan GT-R — a post-facelift chassis with the double-wishbone suspension and revised cooling system that Nismo introduced in 2018.
Image: Sony Interactive Entertainment
It’s reasonable to expect that this update will carry some additional events and Menu Books, as most do. But what it notably lacks is a new track or configuration for a preexisting one, which would be nice at this point in GT7’s post-release life. Frankly, meaningful updates feel as through they’re starting to dry up; the game didn’t have enough events at launch and could always use more, and the ability to sell cars, a feature requested by users since day one and officially teased in March, is still missing even though those who have snooped around the game’s files say it’s ready. A user by the name of Nenkai on Twitter, one such researcher, hinted at the possibility of Grand Valley Speedway making a return in the near future.
If Grand Valley — a circuit that dates back to the very first Gran Turismo, just like Trial Mountain and Deep Forest — is in fact coming back, it’s possible developer Polyphony Digital is holding onto that announcement until the World Final of the 2022 Gran Turismo World Series, which is scheduled for the weekend of November 25.
This is all speculation of course — both the very existence of Grand Valley in GT7 and the theoretical timing of its reveal. Polyphony has delivered fan-favorite tracks during its big esports gatherings before, like when it introduced Spa-Francorchamps in GT Sport during the New York round in 2019.
We’ll have to wait and see about Grand Valley, but you can look forward to the aforementioned four cars to drop along with patch 1.25 at 2 a.m. Eastern on Friday. During that time, the game will go down for maintenance for roughly two hours, so you won’t be able to enjoy the new content — or, indeed, the vast majority of GT7 — until the servers are back online.
