Hyundai’s specialist motorsport and performance division, N, has announced that it plans to collaborate with Gran Turismo for “various sim racing activities”.
The announcement coincides with this weekend’s Nurburgring 24 Hours, in which Hyundai will be seeking to defend its TCR category title — at the circuit from which the N division draws its name. There’ll be a three-car entry comprising identical Elantra N TCR models for this race.
Simultaneously the company has unveiled it’s sending four vehicles to take on the ferocious Pikes Peak International Hill Climb later this year, with two of its all-electric Ioniq 5 N road cars and a pair of specially adapted time attack cars based on the model.
The third-prong of this announcement refers to a collaboration with Gran Turismo, but the specifics of this are somewhat unclear.
Hyundai N’s statement notes that the two brands have worked together in the past, specifically on the hydrogen fuel-cell Vision Gran Turismo car launched in GT Sport in 2015. The release goes on to state that they “will collaborate again for various sim-racing activities including Pikes Peak International Hill Climb (PPIHC) participation”.
Exactly what that means is open for interpretation. For example, Hyundai will be hosting a special competition at a booth at the Nurburgring 24 Hours this weekend, with ten driving rigs set up for an unspecified challenge. This, obviously, doesn’t require any more than the game already offers.
Quite how Pikes Peak fits into it is also a mystery. Notably Gran Turismo sponsors the PPIHC event and has done as for close to a decade: the official name of the race is in fact “Broadmoor Pikes Peak International Hill Climb (PPIHC), brought to you by Gran Turismo”.
Additionally it’s widely accepted that Gran Turismo has an exclusive licence for the race, but despite rumors stretching back to 2010, there’s been no sign of the course outside of a promotional image for the Suzuki Vision Gran Turismo (which cannot be recreated in-game) since the short section of the track used in 1999’s Gran Turismo 2.
Naturally the announcement will cause some significant speculation, from the addition of Pikes Peak after all these years to a new gaggle of Hyundai N machinery for the game. The Ioniq 5 N TA, created for this year’s PPIHC race, seems like a natural fit, but Hyundai’s gaming reach has been expanding recently with vehicles like the N Vision 74 being added to Forza Horizon 5 this month.
Of course the Hyundai Motor Company already has a working relationship with Gran Turismo courtesy of premium brand Genesis’s position as a partner for the Gran Turismo World Series, so it remains to be seen how far this will go.
For Hyundai’s part, it leaves us with the tease that “more details will come later in this year”… Let us know what Hyundai content you’d want to see in the comments!
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