The headline contents for the next Gran Turismo 7 update, 1.52, have been revealed just as expected, ahead of its arrival on Thursday October 3.
Although we’re a little out of the usual schedule for updates, which have traditionally but not always arrived on the final Thursday of a month, the usual pre-update reveals have gone largely in the sequence we’d ordinarily see.
That began with a “silhouette” teaser from Polyphony Digital chief Kazunori Yamauchi just ahead of the GT World Series Round 3 Tokyo event at the weekend. Today’s broad strokes reveal has highlighted some of the major contents, and we’ll see more in the patch notes for the update as it goes live tomorrow.
Gran Turismo 7 Update 1.52 New Cars
We already knew that three cars were coming to the update, but not precisely what. It seems though that our guesses from the silhouettes were pretty close to the mark:
- Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII MR GSR 2004
- Nissan GT-R (R35) Premium Edition T-Spec 2024
- Toyota HiAce Van DX 2016
The GT-R is one of the newest cars ever added to a Gran Turismo game via update, and represents a curtain drop for the model as emissions regulations make the car obsolete. A redesign freshens up the exterior, while it’s the same GT-R we know and love under the skin with its 562hp VR38DETT. The T-Spec comes in some fabulous colors, including the Midnight Purple above (inspired by a color of the same name from the R33 and R34 Skyline) and Millennium Jade (from the R34 era).
Another all-wheel drive Japanese performance machine joins it in the shape of the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII. This returns from previous GT games and fills in a gap in the current Lancer roster in the title. It’s part of the CT9A family, based on the larger Cedia and beginning with the Evo VII, joining the Evo IX which was added earlier this year.
Our third and final car for this update can be filed under “E” for esoteric, as we get the game’s second Toyota minivan — after the Alphard — and the first based on a commercial vehicle.
The HiAce DX is a sibling of the HiMedic ambulance, added last August, but is in its original, van-based people carrier form rather than the dedicated, modified emergency vehicle. We’re hoping that this will come with an engine swap right out of the gate, but it’s likely to be a pretty popular canvas either way.
Gran Turismo 7 Update 1.52 New GT Sophy Courses
You’ll be able to race against GT7’s advanced, machine-learning taught Gran Turismo Sophy AI on two new circuits in this update, increasing the options for more engaging offline races.
It’s perhaps a surprise that Dragon Trail Seaside hasn’t been one of the available circuits to date, given that a lot of Sophy’s original training happened on this track, but it will be from 1.52 onwards in the forward direction only. You’ll also be able to race at Brands Hatch’s Grand Prix circuit.
Except on PlayStation 4, as Sophy remains a PlayStation 5-exclusive feature.
Gran Turismo 7 Update 1.52 New Races & Menu Books
There’s a total of five new races coming, with three of them in a new series for the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution line. It’s not yet been confirmed if this will form a new Bonus Menu Book in the GT Cafe area, so we’ll have to wait and see.
Those three, under the “Evolution Meeting” banner, will visit Monza, the reverse version of the combined Kyoto Yamagiwa+Miyabi track, and — a little unusually — the Colorado Springs Lake circuit. You’ll need dirt tires for this final race.
Additionally there’s now a new race at Circuit de Sainte-Croix A in the Nissan GT-R Cup, while the Sunday Cup gains a race at Tokyo Expressway Central Clockwise.
There is an additional Extra Menu Book that focuses on the Audi brand — and it looks like being a bit on the expensive side. From the images it appears you’ll need to collect the Audi Sport quattro Gr.B from Legends Cars, the 3,000,000cr Audi R18 e-tron 2016, and the first-generation Audi TT 3.2. At present the reward hasn’t been specified.
Gran Turismo 7 Update 1.52 New Scapes & Other Changes
Chicago features as a new Scapes location, with 20 locations from the Windy City available in this unique photomode. We haven’t seen all 20 yet, but from the preview it looks like there’s a good mixture of urban, industrial, and lake shore locations.
There’s no other details logged at this time — as usual we’re going to have to wait for the patch notes, and even then there’ll be other unannounced changes — but keen players might make a note of the fact that the version number has skipped one.
The most recent update, in early August, was 1.50 and that was only introduced to address a severe physics bug. We’d have expected 1.51 to be the next update, but — two months down the line — it’s actually 1.52. That could suggest some more work to the idiosyncracies still evident in the vehicle physics which have been particularly affecting the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo models, given that one more is being introduced this time along with three dedicated races and maybe a menu book.
Either way, we’ll find out more when the update arrives at around 0600 UTC on Thursday October 3. Watch this space for all the latest!
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