It’s one of the world’s most famous, most challenging race tracks. Unsurprisingly, it’s also one of the most in-demand tracks among fans of GT Sport. An impasse over licensing seemed to have dashed our hopes of ever seeing it in the game, but it now seems that it’s on the way — and a lot sooner than we’d thought.
Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, in the Belgian Ardennes, is simply one of the finest ribbons of asphalt in the world. Not only is it home to one of motorsport’s great corners in Eau Rouge/Raidillon, it’s got everything from extreme high speed straights to challenging hairpins, all wrapped up in highly variable weather conditions.
It made its debut in the Gran Turismo series back in GT5, as one of the first ever items of downloadable content. Spa came back for free, and from the beginning, in GT6, and as one of the tracks the FIA certified for accuracy it seemed to be a shoo-in for the FIA-certified GT Sport.
But it never made the transition, and this later turned out to be due to a very expensive sticking point: the price. The fee that the circuit required for licensing its use was in excess of what Sony was willing to pay, and would account for several other circuit licenses.
However, a Tweet from the official Gran Turismo account seems to very strongly hint that Spa is on the way. This Tweet follows on from a post on Facebook yesterday which it seems went public in error, and which the account very quickly removed — although not before some GTPlanet members spotted it:
🤔🤔🤔 #FIAGTC pic.twitter.com/yCApUmwLMK
— Gran Turismo (@thegranturismo) August 23, 2019
The clip centers on social media messages from fans to the official GT account wondering why Spa isn’t in the game yet. It ends with a knowingly chin-stroking emoji, rather firmly suggesting that the wait for the track is nearly at its end.
This both tallies with and contradicts some information we already had. There is an unknown track in the schedule for this weekend’s World Tour event, which is usually a solid indicator of a circuit that is waiting its grand debut. GTPlanet is on the ground at the event, and the rumors there were of a real world circuit coming to the game, but one that would be brand new to the series.
Meanwhile, Kazunori Yamauchi has also tweeted that a “long-awaited” course will be coming to the game. That — albeit alongside many others — would be an apt description of Spa-Francorchamps:
プラクティスが始まります。
待ち望まれたコースも、新登場。
ライブ中継は明日から。#GTSpoart #FIAGTC https://t.co/CJNsTg5Tt8
— 山内 一典 / Kaz Yamauchi (@Kaz_Yamauchi) August 23, 2019
We will likely have to wait until the grand reveal this weekend to find out more. It’s safe to say that with the five cars already revealed and wet-weather circuits, next week’s update was already pretty tasty, but if Spa-Francorchamps arrives as well, it’ll be a bit of a beast.
Stay tuned to GTPlanet for more information as we get it.
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