After a steady stream of updates on its development, things have fallen silent for GTRevival - which seems unusual for Straight4 Studios' upcoming simulator.
The latter half of 2023 was interesting for sim racers curious about what to expectin GTRevival. After getting most of the band of the GTR and GTR2 days back together, Straight4 Studios - led by Ian Bell - continually published updates about their work, either via their own email newsletter, or through Bell's Twitter (or X) account.
Things hardly went quiet for GTRevival, a publishing deal already in place with PLAION. Screenshots of cars and tracks followed, and even a short video of a playable version emerged in early December. The latest communication came from Bell himself, stating that "huge great news relating to our upcoming game GTRevival and company developments" would be coming soon.
That was in late January. Then followed a Bell post about a new tire model, supposedly a successor to Seta. Additionally, Bell stated that chassis flex would be a thin in GTRevival. Since then, nothing new has emerged from the studio, with the latest on the "huge great news" being that the announcement would be "nearly there", according to a Twitter reply of Bell's.
However, the contents of the upcoming news is anyone's guess. GTRevival has shown GTR2-era - so early 2000s - GT cars in most of its screenshots, with the Lister Storm GT having been confirmed already. As for tracks, Sebring and Lime Rock Park are already announced to be in the game, although another circuit (Interlagos) was also part of the material released so far.
Both the Lister Storm GT and Lime Rock park have been confirmed for GTRevival already.
Additionally, two GT3 and three Group C cars could also be spotted, but neither have been confirmed yet. Meanwhile, a survey hosted by Straight4 Studios in Spring of 2023 hinted at the devs' desire to include historic content such as late 1990s Super Tourers or even the 1973 World Sportscar Championship.
So, the outlook for the game looks to be rather exciting, especially since there are many more interesting things like a very in-depth career mode or the implementation of AI-generated commentary and race engineers - although the demo videos for the latter are no longer publicly available.
With S4 aiming for a Q4 release for GTRevival, the project is not running behind schedule. Its WMD3 crowdfunding setup has been announced to be delayed until 2024 in the December newsletter, however it did not give an estimate as to when that might be the case.
In fact, countless mods and community-made patches have extended the game's lifespan considerably. But it is the core features of the title that made it great and that still hold up in some instances today. With several team members of what was SimBin at the time on board now for GTRevival, sim racers are hopeful for a similarly passionate approach towards the new title.
The first batches of info at least hint at this being the case. Whether or not the game can reignite the torch and then continue carrying it remains to be seen - with an update on the "huge great news" hopefully soon to come.
What do you hope for in GTRevival? Let us know on Twitter @OverTake_gg or in the comments below!
The latter half of 2023 was interesting for sim racers curious about what to expectin GTRevival. After getting most of the band of the GTR and GTR2 days back together, Straight4 Studios - led by Ian Bell - continually published updates about their work, either via their own email newsletter, or through Bell's Twitter (or X) account.
Things hardly went quiet for GTRevival, a publishing deal already in place with PLAION. Screenshots of cars and tracks followed, and even a short video of a playable version emerged in early December. The latest communication came from Bell himself, stating that "huge great news relating to our upcoming game GTRevival and company developments" would be coming soon.
That was in late January. Then followed a Bell post about a new tire model, supposedly a successor to Seta. Additionally, Bell stated that chassis flex would be a thin in GTRevival. Since then, nothing new has emerged from the studio, with the latest on the "huge great news" being that the announcement would be "nearly there", according to a Twitter reply of Bell's.
No Need For Concern Yet
Now, is this anything to be concerned about? No, not really. Big announcements like the one supposedly coming up are usually about some sort of deal - a cooperation, licensing, that sort of thing. And sometimes, these announcements can take much longer to be finalized, depending on the magnitude of them and the parties involved.However, the contents of the upcoming news is anyone's guess. GTRevival has shown GTR2-era - so early 2000s - GT cars in most of its screenshots, with the Lister Storm GT having been confirmed already. As for tracks, Sebring and Lime Rock Park are already announced to be in the game, although another circuit (Interlagos) was also part of the material released so far.
Both the Lister Storm GT and Lime Rock park have been confirmed for GTRevival already.
Additionally, two GT3 and three Group C cars could also be spotted, but neither have been confirmed yet. Meanwhile, a survey hosted by Straight4 Studios in Spring of 2023 hinted at the devs' desire to include historic content such as late 1990s Super Tourers or even the 1973 World Sportscar Championship.
So, the outlook for the game looks to be rather exciting, especially since there are many more interesting things like a very in-depth career mode or the implementation of AI-generated commentary and race engineers - although the demo videos for the latter are no longer publicly available.
With S4 aiming for a Q4 release for GTRevival, the project is not running behind schedule. Its WMD3 crowdfunding setup has been announced to be delayed until 2024 in the December newsletter, however it did not give an estimate as to when that might be the case.
Carrying On The GTR Legacy?
While 'wait and see' looks to be the best approach regarding GTRevival for now, looking back at the GTR series that kicked off almost 20 years ago - the first entry was released in early 2005 - is well worth it. The FIA GT Racing Game was a sign of things to come a year later in GTR2 already, the latter being an icon in sim racing and still beloved to this day.In fact, countless mods and community-made patches have extended the game's lifespan considerably. But it is the core features of the title that made it great and that still hold up in some instances today. With several team members of what was SimBin at the time on board now for GTRevival, sim racers are hopeful for a similarly passionate approach towards the new title.
The first batches of info at least hint at this being the case. Whether or not the game can reignite the torch and then continue carrying it remains to be seen - with an update on the "huge great news" hopefully soon to come.
What do you hope for in GTRevival? Let us know on Twitter @OverTake_gg or in the comments below!
