Just as it’s about to celebrate four months of activity, the GT Sport Closed Beta Test will reportedly come to an end July 16.
The news comes from various beta players, with the first sign of a public announcement belonging to Twitter user fu_ko1221111.
#GTSport クローズドβテストを7月１６日に終了します
グランツーリスモスポーツ・クローズドβテストは２０１７年７月１６日、２３:００（日本時間）に終了予定です。https://t.co/2iBO156RX6
— fu-ko@ツイッターはじめました (@fu_ko1221111) July 10, 2017
The beta just received an update last week, introducing damage and consumables into the mix. These features were part of the newest public build, which was present at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. Pit stops appeared to have taken on a bigger role in the game, with players getting the option to repair various parts of their cars while in the garage. With the game’s esports focus, this should add an extra layer of strategy to races.
The GT Sport Closed Beta originally kicked off back in March. A month later, Polyphony Digital added European countries to the program, as well as South America. At the end of May, version 1.06 expanded into Asia and Oceania. While neither PD nor Sony have shared player figures, estimates peg the beta count somewhere in the four digit range.
If you have access to the beta, you’ll want to get some final seat time in before July 16. This may not be the end, however: during our interview with Kazunori Yamauchi at E3 2017, he dropped a hint that a second, more feature-rich beta could arrive. Yamauchi put a pin in August — so it may not be a long wait at all. Gamescom takes place at the tail end of next month, too…
Even if a second beta doesn’t appear, GT Sport is still scheduled to release in Fall 2017. The beta had a few dozen cars available across three classes: the final game will include 177 vehicles, adding rally cars and the ongoing Vision GT program to the mix. GT Sport will feature 19 locations with 27 track variations across them.
See more articles on GT Sport Beta and Polyphony Digital.
