Gran Turismo fans will have to wait a little longer to get their hands on the next full entry in the series, as Sony has revealed the game won’t make a debut this year.
Although Sony has never set a specific date for GT7’s launch, 2021 has always been the magic year. While some fans might have been hoping for the game to arrive alongside the new PlayStation 5 console in November 2020, most advertising has featured a 2021 launch window.
While initial adverts had the game set to arrive in the first half of the year, subsequent promotional material was a little more vague and reverted to the whole of 2021. Recently racing wheel manufacturer Fanatec said in a financial report that it was expecting GT7 to land in the second half of 2021.
However it now looks like the game has slipped to 2022. The information comes by way of an interview between the UK’s GQ Magazine and PlayStation president and CEO Jim Ryan. While discussing PlayStation 5’s launch and forthcoming games, the interviewer mentioned GT7 by name. According to the article, a Sony representative interrupted that line of questioning and provided the writer with a later statement on the topic. This statement reads:
“GT7 has been impacted by Covid-related production challenges and therefore will shift from 2021 to 2022. With the ongoing pandemic, it’s a dynamic and changing situation and some critical aspects of game production have been slowed over the past several months. We’ll share more specifics on GT7’s release date when available.”
Though unwelcome, it doesn’t come as too much of a surprise. Much of the gaming industry has been badly hit by the chaos of 2020, and with staff working from home development has slowed across the board. Gran Turismo relies on peripatetic crews capturing vehicles, tracks, and locations, and for much of the last year their roles have been all-but impossible.
The PS5 console itself has also been hit. Despite incredible demand, Sony has only been able to sell as many PS5s as it did PS4s, and plans to match PS4 throughout the PS5’s first full year on sale. That’s down to component shortages as semi-conductor manufacturers — themselves affected by public health restrictions — struggle to meet demand from mobile phones and car manufacturers, alongside consoles.
That means that Gran Turismo fans will have to keep on playing Gran Turismo Sport for at least the next 12 months, while they wait for the more traditional GT7. The good news is that it plays perfectly well on PlayStation 5, if you can get hold of one.
