Legendary original circuit Grand Valley will return to the Gran Turismo series this week, with the course included in the already huge v1.29 update, due February 21.
Grand Valley Speedway is of course one of the circuits which appeared in the original Gran Turismo, 25 years ago, and has been in every main release since. However it was, like all the other old-guard circuits, culled from GT Sport’s list, and hasn’t been seen since — aside from appearing as an icon of the East circuit in the game representing race tracks as a whole.
After the return of Trial Mountain, High Speed Ring, and Deep Forest, and the pre-launch tease of Apricot Hill (among others), Grand Valley is one of the tracks GT fans have been convinced will be making its return in GT7 — and it’s arrived a lot sooner than we thought.
Like the other original circuits returning, Grand Valley looks to have had something of a makeover. The name, for starters, is a little different as it appears as “Grand Valley Highway 1” in the teaser video rather than “Grand Valley Speedway”.
We haven’t yet seen video of the entire track in action, but there are certainly some unfamiliar pieces on the brief glimpses we do see as well as in some of the images provided. The oceanside location is also new, and the official announcement states that the circuit has an “all-new look”.
Along with the main circuit there’s also a new “South” layout. This shorter course comes in at 2km (1.24 miles) and promises “harsh elevation changes and blind corners to keep drivers on their toes”.
The layout changes will no doubt prove to be divisive, as fans are still split over the changes to Deep Forest and Trial Mountain, though we’ll wait to see the completed circuit in action.
It’s a significant item in an already major update which sees not only the addition of full support for PlayStation VR2 on PlayStation 5 but the debut of the new Gran Turismo Sophy AI in a limited game mode — only a year on from when it was first revealed.
There’s also four new cars coming, with the Citroen DS21 Pallas, Honda RA272, and Porsche 911 Carrera 2.7 RS joined by two versions of a new Vision Gran Turismo car from legendary Italian atelier ItalDesign.
The v1.29 update will be free to download and is available at around 0600 UTC on Tuesday February 21.
See more articles on Gran Turismo 7 Game Update.
