The sim racer is almost five years old
by Sammy Barker
A lot has been said of Sony’s failure to produce live service successes, but Gran Turismo 7 quietly bubbles away in the background as one of the PS5’s most popular first-party titles.
The sim racer, which is nearing its fifth anniversary, will get the first phase of its unprecedented Spec 4 update imminently – and it’s all because the game continues to grow at an unexpected pace.
Series creator Kazunori Yamauchi told racing website Traxion:
“Gran Turismo 7 is still continuing to sell very well, but we had not expected this from the beginning. We continue to provide additional content and game modes because there is this user base that is still continuing to grow.”
One thing I personally find interesting is that Gran Turismo 7 is one of the few Sony first-party games that’s never been included in PS Plus, so this is all organic growth through premium sales.
(The game does, of course, get discounted on the PS Store from time to time.)
Next week’s Spec 4 update will include six new cars as well as the Sportsland Sugo circuit, but it’s just phase one, with more content to follow in December.
I haven’t played Gran Turismo 7 for a while, but it’s not because I don’t enjoy it – I just haven’t had time to dive back in recently.
I’m not sure what the future holds for the game and series at large, but if Polyphony wants to lure me back, I think I could be convinced with the return of B-Spec.
I wonder how the wider community feels about that, and if there’s much demand for the “motorsport management” mode to make a comeback. I’d love it personally.
Regardless, it’s great to know Gran Turismo is going from strength-to-strength, though, and I’m sure we’ll eventually start hearing whispers of Gran Turismo 8 once the PS6 is announced.
[source traxion.gg]
As the Editor of Push Square, Sammy has over 15 years of experience analysing the world of PlayStation, from PS3 through PS5 and everything in between. He’s an expert on PS Studios and industry matters, as well as sports games and simulators. He also enjoys RPGs when he has the time to dedicate to them, and is a bit of a gacha whale.
