Image credit: Sony/Polyphony Digital
Gran Turismo continues with its cycle of monthly updates even after the one-year mark for the sventh instalment of the series has passed. While the content side saw nothing unexpected, as three cars had already been teased last week, a very interesting functionality has been added to the game - but there's a caveat.
A quick look back at the new cars inlcuded: The two rally legends that are the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo III and the Subaru Impreza STI 8 are sure fun to drive, and they come with cool visual customization options, allowing players to turn the Subaru into the S203 limited edition, for example. The vehicle to gather the most attention, though, is definitely the Aston Martin Valkyrie.
Competition for the GR010?
The addition of the British hypercar comes at an interesting timing, as rumors of a private effort to finally take the car through to its initially intended purpose - a WEC/IMSA racing program. This would not start before 2025 with financial backing coming from an entity with "not-insignificant motorsport credibility",
according to dailysportscar. An interesting finding in GT7: The first comparisons of the Valkyrie by esports drivers show the car to be well-balanced with the Toyota GR010. Granted, the Valkyrie is in road trim here, so it is hard to call it a fair comparison since it does not come with the same restrictions regarding engine power, KERS deployment and aero levels, but the tests still yielded interesting results, and a new feature included in lobbies could help BoP the car properly against the GR010.
The Aston Martin Valkyrie at Le Mans - a sign of things to come? Image credit: Sony/Polyphony Digital
That is, if that new feature did not suffer from a massive oversight: Put simply, Polyphony Digital decided to integrate new options to micromanage setup restrictions in lobbies. For example, players can decide to specifically lock away the natural frequency and damping sliders, while still allowing camber and toe adjustments. It is possible to have only the final drive adjustable on the gearbox - everything that can be tuned in the setup sheet can be allowed or locked, which could open up great possibilities for leagues and balancing cars under custom BoPs.
New Feature With An Oversight
The problem is that option is tied to the in-game BoP, which currently needs to be activated in order for all these parameters to become available to the lobby host. However, GT7's BoP setting also forces back all the default parts on the car players enter with, and those parts are non-adjustable on most cars in the game, bar a few exceptions. Even GT3 cars for instance come with non-adjustable gearboxes by default, so having that feature being teased but rendered effectively useless is rather frustrating for players.
One thing that the new update does get right is the new in-game prizes given out for taking part in Sport Mode official seasons. By ranking high enough, the amount of credits players will be granted can be substantial, with amounts of over 10 million credits for completing the season in a good enough spot being reported by players. Prizes are awarded for global, national and regional rankings, and start from being in the top 80% of players, so this should be a good incentive for everyone to give it a try by making Sport Mode not a waste of time in relation to the game's economics.
Sport mode finally pays off - in a big way, too: Over 10 million credits can be earned for completing an official season. Image credit: Sony/Polyphony Digital
In the workshop, more engine swaps have been included, all featuring Nissan cars getting better engines - with the exception of the new Alpine A110 being able to receive the R35 GT-R Nismo's VR38DETT engine (which also used in the RS01 race car). Igor Fraga's Anest Iwata GT300 Lexus livery has also been added to the game in an official manner as a tribute to the Gran Turismo World Champion's recent real life achievements. New Scapes, a few new events and a couple menu books have been added as well.
New Music Rally Challenges
Rather unexpectedly, new Music Rally challenges also make their way into the game. The last challenge added features Gran Turismo's original theme, Moon Over the Castle, which is the equivalent of a final boss music in the series, so players likely should not expect more of these to be added in the future.
The full patch notes can be found below.
Main Features Implemented
1. Cars
- The following three new cars have been added:
・Aston Martin Valkyrie '21
・Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution III GSR '95 (Purchasable at 'Used Cars')
・Subaru Impreza Sedan WRX STi '04 (Purchasable at 'Brand Central' and 'Used Cars')
- A new livery has been added for the following car:
・Lexus RC F GT3 '17
2. World Circuits
- The following new events have been added to 'World Circuits':
・Fisherman's Ranch
- Japanese 4WD Challenge 600
・Circuit de Sainte-Croix
- Hypercar Parade
・Red Bull Ring
- Japanese 4WD Challenge 600
・Autopolis
- World Touring Cars 800
3. Music Rally
- The following 6 events hvae been added to 'Music Rally'
・Good Old Days (Classixx Remix)
・DRIFT
・Marechia (With Célia Kameni)
・Hooked on America
・Life's Coming in Slow
・Moon Over the Castle GT7 version
4. Scapes
- The 'Monterey' and 'Field of Flowers' locations have been added as featured Curations in Scapes.
5. Café
- The following two Extra Menus have been added
・Extra Menu No. 24: 'Collection: Subaru WRX' (Collector Level 26 and above);
・Extra Menu No. 25: 'Collection: Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution' (Collector Level 30 and above);
- Added new sets of conversations with the Car Designers and Characters appearing in the Café. These new conversations can be accessed by changing to the following cars in 'Garage' and speaking with the Characters in the Café:
CHARACTERS
- Chris
・Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint GT Veloce '67
・Aston Martin Valkyrie '21
- Jeremy
・Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution III GSR '95
・Nissan GT-R NISMO (R32) '90
- Stella
・Subaru Impreza Sedan WRX STi '04
6. Brand Central
- New Museum section for 'Fanatec' has been added for Europe;
7. GT Auto
- Car Customisation
・'Fanatec' has been added to the pre-set decals in the Livery Editor;
・13 'Real Car Paint' colours have been added to Paint Colour.
- Car Maintenance & Service
Engine Swaps have been added for the following cars: (Unlocked at Collector Level 50)
・Alpine A110 Première Édition '17
・Nissan Fairlady Z Version S (Z33) '07
・Nissan GT-R NISMO (R32) '90
・Nissan Skyline GT-R V･spec II (R32) '94
・Nissan Z Performance '23
8. Sport
- Rewards will now be awarded at the end of a Season based on the player's final ranking. Once the final ranking has been confirmed, eligible players may access their rewards by entering 'Sport' mode. This reward will start to be awarded from the 'Gran Turismo World Series 2023 - Manufacturers Cup.'
9. Multiplayer
- 'Settings Options' has been added to the Room Settings in Lobby mode. When the 'BoP/Tuning Prohibited' is set to 'On,' the 'Allowed' and 'Prohibited settings can be applied freely with this option.
Other Improvements and Adjustments
1. Physics Simulation Model
- Adjusted the effect of the 'Brake' while Auto-Drive.
2. Cars
- Fixed an issue wherein adding wide body modifications would cause visual aberrations in liveries around the front end in the following cars:
・Alpine A110 '72
- Changed the overtake indicator display for the following vehicles with boost functions such as KERS:
・Aston Martin Valkyrie '21
・Dodge SRT Tomahawk GTS-R VGT
・Dodge SRT Tomahawk S VGT
・Dodge SRT Tomahawk X VGT
・Infiniti Concept VGT
・Lexus LF-LC GT VGT
・Nissan NISSAN CONCEPT 2020 VGT
・Toyota FT-1 VGT
- Adjusted the motor gear ratio in the following cars:
・Lamborghini Lambo V12 VGT
3. World Circuits
- Fixed an issue in Custom Race wherein loading saved race settings that included cars prohibited from racing in dirt would allow said cars to be used on 'Dirt' tracks.
4. Café
- Cars yet to be obtained now display their availability status in the Extra Menu list.
5. GT Auto
- The engine start-up sound now plays after performing an Engine Swap in Car Maintenance & Service.
6. Sport
- Entry screens now display the 'Wall Collision Penalty' setting under 'Penalty Settings.'
7. Race Screen
- The pit-in menu during races now displays required tyres and previously used tyre types.
8. Sound
- The following tracks have been added to the list of BGM that may have copyright restrictions when streaming. These tracks will not be played when 'Broadcast Mode' is turned 'On':
・Bizcochito / Rosalía
・I Don't Care / Major Lazer featuring Lous and the Yakuza
・Unstoppable / Kim Dracula
・Baby It's You (George Fitzgerald Remix) / London Grammar
・Life's Coming in Slow / Nothing But Thieves
・VROOM / The FaNatTiX feat. Idris Elba, Davido, Koffee, Moelogo and Lil Tjay
・SQUAD / Disciples and GoldLink
・DRIFT / Jawsh685 + Click & Press
9. Controllers
- Adjusted the steering sensitivity of the left stick and directional buttons when using a wireless controller.
10. PlayStation®VR2
- Fixed an issue wherein using PlayStation®VR2 in '2P Split Screen' mode would cause VR replay to unintentionally play after the race.
11. Localisation
- Fixed various text localisation issues.
12. Others
- Various other issues have been addressed.
Your Thoughts
What do you think about the new content and under-the-hood adjustments of Gran Turismo 7's June update? What would you like to see in future versions? Let us know in the comments below!
