One of the most intriguing and mysterious features of Gran Turismo 7, engine swaps, has finally been confirmed — a day after the game launched — thanks to some very lucky gamers.
Engine swaps had in fact been teased by the lengthy State of Play presentation back at the start of February. In it, players saw a highly tuned Volkswagen Beetle roasting a bunch of other Beetles courtesy of its 911-rivaling speed. A brief glance at the tuning screen revealed that it actually had a 911 GT3 engine fitted, resulting in this prodigious pace.
However there’d been no other information released about this feature. Players with early access to GT7 thanks to a logistics error on behalf of Amazon and reviewers with preview copies — including GTPlanet — could not determine how to access the feature.
Even the “Extreme” tuning tab, which features direct-replacement engines, doesn’t reveal how it works, leading many to question if the tuned Beetle — which also appears in the game’s opening movie — was a one-off rather than an indication of a feature.
We do now have confirmation that engine swaps are actually included in the game, although the process by which to access them is a little convoluted.
New engines to swap are, it seems, only accessible via Roulette Tickets. These tickets are available for completing various tasks in the single-player mode, as well as for achieving your “Daily Workout” — driving 26.2 miles each day.
They come in various grades, from one star up to six stars (at least that we’ve seen so far), with higher value items like cars, expensive parts, and Brand Central “invitations” in higher grade tickets. As you’ll see above, there’s an engine available in four-star tickets.
However you need to get a little lucky in this lootbox-, or gacha-, style mechanism to win an engine. There’s at least the appearance of a one-in-five chance of winning the engine if it appears, although we can’t say whether the system is predetermined as with GT Sport or more random like Gran Turismo 3.
The engine that appears, as with other parts in the game, could be from just about any car. Including the Porsche-engined Beetle, we’ve so far seen three, with a Chevrolet LT1 and a Dodge Hellcat popping up for players.
These engines then appear in your home Garage “Gifts” screen, with a list of compatible cars that you also own alongside them. You can then fit the engine to the car and open up more tuning options for that vehicle.
As it’s pretty early days, we don’t yet have a list of available engines and compatible vehicles, but the collective membership of GTPlanet will be rapidly assembling one; keep an eye on the forums!
