It’s time. The next installment of the beloved Gran Turismo car racing simulator series is arriving, tentatively, on March 4, 2022. It’s been four years since Gran Turismo Sport was released in 2017, which gave gamers a hugely competitive online racing community. It showcased exclusive vehicles and lots of automotive history sprinkled throughout the menus. It was, however, lacking in car and circuit selection compared to previous games. 

Granted, it heavily reduced the amount of Nissan Skylines. A trailer was released on September 9, showcasing several cars and tracks, and lots of gameplay. From the trailer, it seems VR is returning to enhance the experience. The graphics look great, and the gameplay looks about the same as it has in the last few games, except for the menu system. 

Back to Gran Turismo 4 roots

It seems the game has returned to a map format, where players can select what they want to do from either a U.S., Europe, or Asia-based map. Gran Turismo hasn’t had a menu system like this since its 4th installment, arguably the best in the series.

Individual car parts are back

Sport lacked the ability to buy individual parts for the cars as well. Up until Sport, players could buy turbochargers, brakes, clutches, etc. to upgrade their car’s performance. Sport got rid of all that but kept the ability to set up the car however the player wanted. A player could still upgrade the car, but it was reduced to simply increasing power, and reducing weight. Players could still tune the suspension. From the trailer, that aspect of the game has returned to Gran Turismo with the seventh installment.

The growing Gran Turismo roster

The trailer shows some interesting cars coming to the game. Gran Turismo 7 will be the first in the series to feature the FXX K, a track-only Ferrari based on the La Ferrari, with 1,332 horsepower from a naturally aspirated 6.3-liter V12. The trailer also showcased some returning cars, including the Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR, a homologated lightweight race car with a 6.0-liter V12. The Porsche 917 Concept and Alfa Romeo 155 make an appearance as well.

There’s only a short list of cars confirmed for GT7 thus far, but the selection as it stands is off to a great start. The Jaguar E-Type, the Porsche 996 GT1, the Lamborghini Diablo, and the Mazda RX-Vision GT3 are just a few. The game will also feature the BAC Mono, a single-seater that features a 2.3-liter 332 horsepower, turbocharged inline-four, weighing less than an F1 car at 1,257 pounds.

Lots to look forward to

The track list is sparse as of this writing but includes classics such as Spa-Francorchamps, Laguna Seca, and the Nürburgring. Cote d’Azur was suspiciously absent from Gran Turismo Sport, but will hopefully make a comeback eventually.

The game is releasing for PS4 and PS5. Given the PS5’s impressive 120 fps at 8k with real-time ray-tracing, hopefully, Gran Turismo 7 is the type of game that can take advantage. We expect Gran Turismo 7 to receive constant updates as was done with Sport, so if these cars or tracks aren’t yet impressive, just be patient. There’s a whole seven months before the game comes out, plenty of time for both lists to be updated.