When series creator Kazunori Yamauchi teased a ‘big’ Gran Turismo 7 update for February 2023, he wasn’t wrong.
There are four new cars, changes to how Scapes can be taken, a limited-time test for Sony AI’s Sophy agent and… drum roll please… the return of Gran Valley – although in a new and exciting way.
Grand Valley Highway 1, aka Grand Valley Speedway
Instead of implementing a 4K version of Grand Valley Speedway – a classic fictional race circuit that’s been in every Gran Turismo game apart from GT Sport and so far Gran Turismo 7 – Grand Valley Highway 1 looks to be a complete reimagining.
The full ‘Highway 1’ layout is over 5km in length, and while it looks different at first glance, it does appear to mostly follow the original 1997 configuration. There is, however, a 2km ‘South’ layout too. Previously, the shorter version was entitled ‘Grand Valley East’.
The stand-out feature is the high bridges placed on a cliff face above the crashing ocean waves.
The five new cars
As we predicted over the weekend, there is a classic Porsche, a garlanded Citroën and Honda’s first Formula 1-competing single-seater.
However, the concept car in the teaser image hinted at something all-new. Indeed, that’s what it turns out to be: the Italdesign EXENEO Vision Gran Turismo. It comes in two flavours too, a raised Off-road mode and a lowered Street variant, thus five cars for this update.
This futuristic SUV removes the Italian styling house from the list of confirmed Vision Gran Turismo participants who never completed a project. First seen in Gran Turismo 6, the scheme sees real-world car manufacturers create models exclusively for Gran Turismo.
The DS, meanwhile, is the later model, which features headlamp covers, while the Honda and Porsche were exactly as anticipated.
- Italdesign EXENEO Vision Gran Turismo Off-road Mode
- Italdesign EXENEO Vision Gran Turismo Street Mode
- Citroën DS 21 Pallas ’70
- Honda RA272 ʼ65
- Porsche 911 Carrera RS (901) ’73
Scapes updates
It will now, following Update 1.29 on 21st February 2023, be possible to raise and lower the height of the camera in Gran Turismo 7’s photography ‘Scapes’ mode, alongside creating shots of lurid slides thanks to a ‘Drift’ option.
Sophy AI Race Together
Sony AI’s division has been hard at work creating an artificial rival that learns with time and also races hard – be that attacking or defending.
Refined against the quicker Gran Turismo esports drivers in the world over the past two years, publically at least, Sophy will now be part of a limited-time test within Gran Turismo 7 entitles ‘Race Together’, which will disappear in ‘late March’.
Initially, there will only be four races to test your mettle with, ranging from Beginner to Expert. There will be a separate 1v1 Sophy head-to-head mode for those with ‘exceptional skills’. It will only be available for those with the game on PlayStation 5…
PSVR2 support
Speaking of which, this update also adds the ability to play all of Gran Turismo 7 – minus two-player split-screen – in virtual reality, one day ahead of the headset launch on the 22nd. It’s brilliant, we’ve tried it.
We’ll be back tomorrow with a full run-down of any further additions to the update, such as single-player events or Circuit Experiences.
