You don't need a closed loop in order to have a race. First across the finish line wins. The track is 20 km long and since it's all uphill it will take more time than a lap around the Nordschleife.
I predict this will actually be an "Early March" update to coincide with the 3rd year anniversary of the game. Otherwise to join the "big" update hype:
Circuit:
Twin Ring Motegi (Apparently under development, I'm picking this to go against the grain of everyone saying Pikes Peak)
Cars:
Nissan R390 GTI (Endless doom pick that could very well arrive one year after the GT-One)
Audi Quattro SI (datamine)
Mazda Autozam AZ-1 (datamine)
Tesla Cybertruck (not a fan, but I have a feeling this is coming eventually)
Ferrari 812 Superfast considering it was shown on the leaked list
BMW M3 CS or CSL that was a car seen at World Finals event
Mercedes AMG G Wagon another car seen at World FInals event
Track:
Motegi, we had the hint since long so why not in february?
Cars:
As always, three or four, I'll go for three this time especially if we have a one month span between updates.
One for UCD, one for LCD and one for Brand Central.
I'll go for an american car for UCD, why not the Corvette C5
For the LCD, I'll stick with my BMW 507 prediction
For Brand Central, Honda Civic FL4
I'm not against one more surpise, a truck or a bus.
Race cars that are not PD-original (Mazda3 Gr.4, F3500) generally need some real-world achievements. You've all heard my reasoning on this before, but the pattern is PD would much rather reach back for something like the V12 LMR because it won rather than take something like the BMW M that is current but hasn't done anything IRL yet.
Road cars generally fit into a few categories: Cars that extend the generational timeline of important models, weird/unique cars from brands PD have a good relationship with, popular standalone cars that generally have appeared in other games first (again unless they are Toyota/Suzuki/Porsche/Tesla), and generally-American classic cars. Not every car fits in these buckets (the RUF RGT for example), but 90% do.
There's also the the SEMA/Pebble Beach/VGT guaranteed additions to consider
I seem to like spending time on tables that go through each update recently, so let's plot that out:
Update month
Victorious, infamous, or PD race cars
Standalone road car, 1985-onwards, generally not GT-unique
Cars adding a generation to a model's timeline
"Unique" cars from PD-favourable brands
American classics
SEMA, Pebble Beach, and VGT
Other
January 2024
F3500
Ioniq 5 N
Civic EF
C-HR
November 2024
W194
Escort Cos.
911 Turbo
Mission X
Jimny Sierra
October 2024
'24 GT-R
Evo VIII
Hiace
July 2024
Impreza WRC
430 Scuderia
Gallardo
E36 M3
Genesis Gr.1
RUF RGT
May 2024
NSX GT500
Skyline R31
Civic EG
Volvo 240
Volvo V40
April 2024
Chevelle
Skoda VGT
Afeela
March 2024
GT-One
Urus
R8
February 2024
TTS
Evo IX
Renault R4
January 2024
Jimny
Bulgari VGT
Genesis VGT
November 2023
Challenger Demon
LFA
190E
Model 3
992 GT3 RS
Nismo 400R
Charger
September 2023
Mazda3 Gr.4
Civic FL2
RCR Civic
August 2023
MC20
GR Corolla
Himedic
C1 Corvette
June 2023
Valkyrie
Evo III
Impreza
May 2023
R32 Nismo
Maverick
Giulia GTV
April 2023
AMG GT3
SF23 / Toyota
SF23 / Honda
XJ220
March 2023
RS5 DTM
Porsche 904
959
Alphard
Mazda3
February 2023
RA272
901 Carrera
Italdesign S
Italdesign O
DS Pallas
December 2022
Celica WRC
Giulia GTAm
Corvette C8
Chiron
Ferrari VGT
November 2022
M2
Sierra Cos.
S14 Kouki
October 2022
MX-5 NR-A
Kenmeri GT-R
GT-R GT3 (movie)
Merak
September 2022
ID.R
S14 Zenki
Porsche Spyder
August 2022
MP4/4
Cayman GT4
GTO Judge
July 2022
Skyline Group 5
918
A6GCS
June 2022
Escudo
Ford Roadster
Suzuki Gr.3
May 2022
GR010
Suzuki VGT
Rampage
April 2022
BRZ GT300
BRZ gen 2
Cappuccino
What does that mean? I have no idea yet, and I'm going to wait until at least the next GTWS exhibition schedule to make an actual prediction. But there's some data for you all, to help you out with yours.
Very informative! But I feel like some of the "other" additions could be lumped in with the American classics to just create a "classics" category. I wouldn't say there's as much of a particular focus on just the American ones in the updates.
I'm predicting a fire engine. We've got a police car (Charger, even with the police searchlight) and an ambulance. Put them together, it just makes sense...
Ok, I have a couple-few (tm) predictions . . . but I think this will hit in March rather than February. Feel free to delete if this is out of order.
1) Buick Grand National/GNX. As I recall, this is in the datamine list. It would also go quite nicely in a Muscle Car Extra Menu with other classics. Super Bee anyone?
OMG I WOULD _______ MY ________ AND CHARGE _____ ON O.F. IF THIS HAPPENED. That said, it would make sense for the reasons Famine provided.
The third and last one would be bittersweet for me.
With this being the third anniversary (again, I assume this goes past the end of Feb and into March) the biggest . . . and unexpected . . . thing would be: Track Editor. It is the one feature I miss from previous games the most.
Reasoning: This is a big third anniversary of the game. This would also address (though not successfully) the continued requests for a new track. It would be a gigantic sendoff/celebration of the most successful (debatable, I know) GT to date.
The sad portion of this is I can see this being a sunset for new tracks being added to the game. With a track editor, you can create tons of new circuits to drive. One key hurdle would be making it equal among PS4/5 owners, and that may be why it hasn't happened yet.
I don't think I have anything else to go on for preditions.
With this being the third anniversary (again, I assume this goes past the end of Feb and into March) the biggest . . . and unexpected . . . thing would be: Track Editor. It is the one feature I miss from previous games the most.
Reasoning: This is a big third anniversary of the game. This would also address (though not successfully) the continued requests for a new track. It would be a gigantic sendoff/celebration of the most successful (debatable, I know) GT to date.
The sad portion of this is I can see this being a sunset for new tracks being added to the game. With a track editor, you can create tons of new circuits to drive. One key hurdle would be making it equal among PS4/5 owners, and that may be why it hasn't happened yet.
I can’t see this happening at all. With the amount of effort Polyphony put into creating Eiger I can’t see how they can make a track editor, that is user friendly, that will create an end product, to be useable by the player that doesn’t make it look like a cartoon.
The ones in GT6 were barely passable - maybe if you were drunk they didn’t look out of place!
I haven't done one of these in a while, but I feel like predicting.
I'm thinking if it's a new track, it might actually be Pikes Peak this time due to PD still having that license and it's been really long into the game's lifecycle at this point. 2nd guess would be Red Rock Valley based on past information mentioning Red Rock Valley being a possibility.
If Pikes Peak Hillclimb is added in this update, I imagine a series of challenges being added related to the track. Could be a special time trial challenge like how there were similar things added in GT6 (Sierra Time Rally) and GT Sport (Lewis Hamilton Time Trials). Going further, there will be certain cars being used for this challenge.
Also, some new Pikes Peak scapes based on a past render I've seen PD use when promoting a past update. I imagined the scapes just weren't released yet as they weren't finished and are saving them for a big update. Which could be this one.
For cars:
1. Pikes Peak Hillclimb car for the update (I'll say the Peugeot 208 T16 Hillclimb Car).
2. 2006 Subaru Impreza Sedan WRX STi, it's been a while since we last got a Subaru added to GT and since PD added both a Lancer Evo VIII and IX MR. I'm going to guess one iteration of the Hawk-eye STi will get added either now or at some point.
3. 1998 Mazda Roadster 1.8 RS (shown in the datamine) and Polyphony has added some Mazdas before in updates. Albeit newer cars, but still.
Since the update will have "a lot to talk about" I'm guessing it will be a big one - maybe "Spec III" with some new features. Last time we got weekly challenges so perhaps this time we'll get an endurance championship or B-spec mode. Or maybe something nobody could predict - who knows!
I reckon we'll get a track and a higher-than-usual car count. The last two tracks added were a snow circuit and a twisty road course respectively, so I'm guessing it will be something in complete contrast to those. Motegi is certainly a high possibility as it is so closely associated with past GT games, but I'm going to get very speculative and suggest that maybe we'll get Special Stage Route X's long-rumoured infield layout? It would be the perfect setting for all those futuristic VGTs and idk, I just think a track set in a military base that's not just a big oval would be really interesting and refreshingly different.
As for cars, well I think it's very likely there'll be some kind of returning GT legend car. The R390 GT1 is most likely as PD have a good relationship with Nissan and it feels inevitable after the GT-ONE and the Castrol NSX.
The big updates tend to be where PD adds the really in-demand cars that they know will be popular additions. I'd say the BMW M1 '79, Corvette (C5) Z06 '04, Mercedes AMG-ONE '22 all have a good chance. The other car slots will probably go to datamine cars that are duplicates or filling gaps - probably the NB or NC Mazda Roadster, the '91 RX-7, or the 2011-2013 Impreza WRX STi.
I think there'll be at least one totally random thing that nobody saw coming. Mitsubishi FTO maybe? Those Japanese FF events are very Civic-heavy, it would make sense to add some variety in that category.