Gran Turismo 7 fans will have some new content to get to grips with later this week, with the next game content update, 1.55, now confirmed to be available on Thursday January 30.
It’s a return to the usual timings for updates, following a very early October update and the schedule readjustment around the GT World Series finals and the holiday period, with the final Thursday of the month being the traditional due date.
That process began, as usual, with the “silhouette” teaser from Polyphony Digital studio head Kazunori Yamauchi, posted to social media and revealing the vehicle contents in a disguised fashion — triggering the usual guessing game.
Today’s trailer more explicitly announces the cars and some of the more obvious changes, but we’ll have to wait until the update arrives with its associated patch notes for the full picture.
Gran Turismo 7 Update 1.55 New Cars
We already knew that four cars were coming to the update, and while we had a firm idea of two due to their appearances at the World Final event last year, two were a little more under wraps. It seems though that we were pretty close to the mark with our guesses:
- Gran Turismo F3500-A
- Honda Civic (EF) Si Extra 1987
- Hyundai Ioniq 5N 2024
- Toyota C-HR S 2018
Of the four, the Hyundai is the one we’ve known about for longest, following a little hiccup on the Gran Turismo website which revealed the car well ahead of time last November. Its identity was revealed as a reward for viewers of the World Series finals in Amsterdam, and confirmed for a January update, so we’ve been waiting a while!
The 5N is part of a trio of performance EVs from the Hyundai Motor Group, sharing its underpinnings with the recently refreshed Kia EV6 GT and the upcoming GV60 Magma from GT World Series partner brand Genesis. It’s been praised in reviews as the first actually enjoyable battery-electric performance car, with a dual-motor, rear-biased 641hp setup with a “simulated automatic gearbox” that can mimic traditional gear changes.
Meanwhile the Gran Turismo F3500-A is a new, fictional F1 car inspired by the 3.5-liter era of the early 1990s — in a similar vein to the F09x and Polyphony 001 cars from previous GT games. Drawing a lot of cues from the Williams FW14, the F3500-A was revealed and raced in the GT World Series finals last year.
That left our two more mysterious cars, but we did pretty well with the guesses. The car at the back of the shot did indeed prove to be a classic Honda Civic Si, but in the shape of the EF rather than the earlier AH (or AT).
Specifically, it’s the Si Extra model, which gained amenities like electric windows and optional ABS and sunroof at a mild weight penalty. It was still equipped with the same 130hp, ZC variant of the D16 non-VTEC engine and was the sportiest model until the SiR appeared shortly afterwards.
Finally we have a representative of modern motoring, by way of the Toyota C-HR compact crossover. This car, which actually shares some of its underpinnings with the GR Yaris and GR Corolla (and very much not-GR Prius), is represented in a relatively humble form as a front-wheel drive, 1.8-liter hybrid “S” specification, good for 138hp. We expect this one to come with a wild engine swap pretty soon.
We won’t know how much the various vehicles will cost until the update arrives, but we’re expecting seven figures for the F3500-A, six for the Ioniq, and five for the other two. Coming off the back of the most expensive update ever, it’s not going to be a too-dear month.
Gran Turismo 7 Update 1.55 New GT Sophy Courses
Two more circuits will be made compatible with GT7’s advanced, machine-learning taught Gran Turismo Sophy AI in this update, giving you a little more variety for races against this more engaging AI.
Both are southern-hemisphere real-world circuits too, as Brazil’s Interlagos and Australia’s Mount Panorama join the roster of tracks.
It should still be noted that Sophy is a PlayStation 5-exclusive feature, so this is one that PlayStation 4 players will miss out on.
Gran Turismo 7 Update 1.55 New Races & Menu Books
There’s a total of three new races coming, with what looks like a focus on the Civic and C-HR in this update.
They’ll comprise a new Sunday Cup at Kyoto Driving Park Miyabi, a race at Sardegna Road Track C in the Japanese FF Challenge 450, and the new World Touring Car 600 event at Interlagos — which appears to have the Hyundai in mind.
It’s not clear if we’ll have any new series for the F3500-A, although we are still waiting on something for its older, turbo sibling the F1500T-A so no breath-holding please.
There is an additional Extra Menu Book that focuses on Group C cars. It looks like you’ll need to score three cars from the Legends Cars dealer for this, collecting the Mazda 787B, Mercedes Sauber C9, and Porsche 962C, and they do pop up fairly often ahead of Weekly Challenges that feature them.
That’ll be pretty expensive, and the reward for collecting the three cars hasn’t been shared yet but we hope it’s not just a Five-Star Roulette Ticket…
Gran Turismo 7 Update 1.55 New Scapes & Other Changes
A range of 14 new Scapes locations, all featuring bright primary colours, will be added under the name “Chromatic Drive”. The highlighted spot is the famous Cheese Market Street in Brussels, although we don’t have any particular clues as to the other 13 spots.
There’s no other details logged at this time, so we’ll have to wait for the patch notes to find out more specifics, including any new engine swaps.
The update itself arrives at around 0600 UTC on Thursday January 30. Watch this space for all the latest!
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