Throughout the history of the Gran Turismo franchise, there have been a few notorious instances of “Easter eggs”, or hidden surprises, tucked away in the game’s environments. Gran Turismo 7 builds on that tradition, perhaps more than any of its predecessors.
Let’s take a look at what we’ve been able to find so far.
Daytona: SpaceX Launch & Landing
Daytona International Speedway lies on the same bit of Florida coastline as Cape Canaveral, the former Air Force base which has served as the launchpad for the USA’s missions into space for over 60 years.
Although it’s a reasonable distance away, if you can park up with line of sight in the right direction — roughly south-east — you’ll catch sight of a rocket launch, and landing.
The rocket in question is SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy, which famously launched a Tesla Roadster into space in 2018. You’ll need to be quick to catch it going up, but if you wait around for a few minutes you’ll see the two booster rockets returning to the designated landing zones as well.
Trial Mountain: “Monkey”
This is a famous Easter Egg dating back to the Gran Turismo 3 in 2001, but it has changed in a few ways for GT7.
Firstly, it’s a lot harder to find. In older GT games, the monkey almost jumped out at you, sitting on a branch right over the top of the circuit. For GT7, our primate has moved to the top of a unique tree at the edge of the track, albeit in the same section.
More importantly though, it’s not a monkey any more. While the original monkey looked something like a tamarin or lion tamarin, GT7’s is clearly a chimpanzee — an ape, rather than a monkey.
Trial Mountain: “Nessie”
Another legendary Trial Mountain Easter Egg from GT games of old is Nessie: Scotland’s famous Loch Ness Monster. First appearing in GT4, the monster could be seen popping its head above the surface of the lake outside the track in the final sector.
That same lake appears in GT7, but you’ll need to be lucky to catch sight of Nessie this time round. Rather than a static image, the monster is a dynamic animal — resembling a member of the extinct plesiosaur family — which surfaces, flops around a bit, and then dives beneath the waters again.
Your best bet is to park at the top of the hill looking down at the lake. Nessie appears roughly every five minutes — although given the track’s new location near the California/Nevada border, perhaps it should be renamed Tahoe Tessie…
Trial Mountain: Bear
We’re not quite sure what it is that’s attracting all the wildlife to Trial Mountain, but there’s a new, third animal Easter Egg lurking near the track: a bear!
You’ll find the bear — which we reckon is a California Black Bear, given the track’s location — to the outside of the track, just as you head out of the very long tunnel on the new, longer back straight.
There is, amusingly, a yellow diamond road sign on the right side of the track declaring “Wildlife Crossing”. If you head back towards the tunnel from there and look between the trees and rocks, you’ll spot him. Hopefully he isn’t hungry, given how close the marshals are…
Mount Panorama: Alien Abduction
If you’re not careful, you might find yourself abducted by aliens in a new Easter Egg at the Mount Panorama circuit — as if you didn’t have enough trouble with deadly wildlife in Australia already.
This one is really hard to spot and depends on precise location and timing. You’ll need to be up at the top of Skyline on the westernmost section of the track, and you’ll need to wait for a good long while.
After about ten minutes a flying saucer will pop up above the hills in the distance and hover. It’ll beam up a luckless cow (why is it always cows?), then zip off in the approximate direction of Melbourne.
Mount Panorama: Kangaroos
You may recall from the days of Gran Turismo 6, when the Mount Panorama circuit made its series debut, that you could find a mob of kangaroos lazing around under a tree on the infield. GT7 has taken that a step further.
As you’re racing down the Conrod Straight you’ll find another, solitary ‘roo making laps of a field to the outside of the track too. It takes our friend a few minutes to make a full loop of the field, which is surprising as both the red kangaroo (which this appears to be) and the native eastern grey can top 35mph.
Thankfully PD has opted to keep the wildlife off the track, as kangaroos can cause serious problems during races at the real circuit when they hop into the middle of the action.
Willow Springs: Back to the Future
There’s a good chance you’ll spot this classic reference during normal gameplay as you progress through GT7’s GT Cafe Menu Books.
At one point you’ll be directed to race in the American Sunday Cup 600 at Willow Springs, where you’ll race a gaggle of American cars coming in at around 600PP.
Fight your way to the front and you’ll find that the pack is — somehow — being led by a DeLorean, although GT’s version is a fictional, resto-modded “Series 2” car. It’s a car that’s been in the game since GT4 in 2004.
However this time round it’s being driven by an AI called “E. Brown”. That’s clearly a nod to “Doc” Emmett Lathrop Brown, the scientist behind the DeLorean time machine from the Back to the Future film series — although this time when that baby hits 88mph, it doesn’t vanish from the continuum.
Special Stage Route X: Antonov An-225 Mriya
The massive oval at Special Stage Route X plays host to a number of background details, from cruise liners and cargo ships to a very busy airport — you might notice a massive jet almost clipping the light poles on the bridge section as it comes in on final approach.
However one is particularly interesting to plane nerds: the Antonov An-225, or Mriya. This giant aircraft was the largest and heaviest in the world, and originally designed to carry rocket boosters and the Buran space shuttle for the Soviet Union’s space program.
More recently it became a darling of air shows and set records for its airlift capabilities, lifting both the heaviest and longest air cargo in history. Unfortunately, while being refitted at its base — Antonov Airport in Hostomel, Ukraine — Mriya was destroyed by a Russian airstrike, shortly before GT7 launched.
Polyphony Digital & Sony Personnel
There’s myriad references to people who’ve worked on the Gran Turismo series peppered across the game, some more overtly than others.
One you’ll likely spot without too much trouble is “Translator-san” — Kazunori Yamauchi’s long-term translator — who appears as a member of pit crew in your garages and pit wall, sometimes more than once as the game’s own Agent Smith.
Other people include Toby Morrish, Penrose Tackie, and David Wilson, shown by name on several track-side signs. These various Sony staff members have all worked on a number of GT releases on the product marketing side.
There are other references to both Polyphony Digital and PlayStation staff in the Fantasy Logos section of the Preset Decals in the game’s Livery Editor. The Ken Chan Deli is a reference to US-based Gran Turismo Brand Manager Ken Chan, and Nicola Pizza Delivery is likely a reference to UK-based PlayStation PR Manager Nicki Lowe.
More restaurant-themed decals, including “Steakhouse Appel” and “Robberechts Bakery”, are shout-outs to long-time Polyphony Digital staff members Sascha Appel and Tom Robberechts. As you might have guessed, Tim Hodges and Toby Morrish are also Sony staff who have worked on the Gran Turismo series for some time now.
Elsewhere you might just catch sight of a plane bearing the name “Mulligan Airways” among all the ground traffic at the Special Stage Route X airport. This refers to Will Mulligan, part of Polyphony Digital’s track modelling team.
Another PD staff member making a very central appearance is Rupert Williamson, who appears as your Tuning Shop guide “Rupert”. Williamson is a very familiar figure to anyone who’s been to a GT World Tour event, and he previously worked with the HPS Jardine agency that managed GT Academy events.
Although not technically a member of Sony staff, famous video game producer Hideo Kojima is also in the game. You’ll find him at various circuits in the crowd, wearing a bright yellow t-shirt and an orange “CAMBERGANG” lanyard.
What Else?
Of course, there are surely plenty of other surprises to be found, and more are sure to be added throughout GT7’s lifetime. If you’ve spotted something you think we should know about, head over to the comments and let us know!
