Last month Gran Turismo fans had oh so much to rejoice about when a jam-packed trailer for GT7 was shown at Sony’s PlayStation showcase event. We also got a release date of March 4 which, regretfully, is not now. I was really hoping for now.
Developer Polyphony Digital hasn’t been making a ton of noise in the leadup to GT7's release, so I half expected that trailer to be the company’s last word on the game until maybe next year. I’ve never been happier to be wrong.
On Thursday the official PlayStation YouTube channel posted another video. This one is less of a trailer and more of a collection of footage, featuring some words from series producer Kazunori Yamauchi. What’s especially noteworthy for the hardcore among us, though, is that this sub-two minute trailer has confirmed a bunch of new cars. Here’s what I and the internet’s keenest eyes have been able to spot:
- 1970 Chapparal 2J
- 1968 Alpine A220
- 1965 Aston Martin DB5
- 1997 BMW McLaren F1 GTR Race Car
- 1989 BMW M3 (E30)
- 1954 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Coupe
- 2014 Volkswagen Polo GTI
- 2019 Audi R8 LMS Evo
- Porsche 911 Carrera RS (964) [year unknown]
- 1996 Porsche 911 Carrera RS (993)
- 1955 Porsche Spyder Type 550/1500RS
- Chervolet Corvette (C4) [I believe it’s a 1990 ZR-1]
It wouldn’t be surprising if more new cars were revealed in that footage than I’ve listed here; at one point, the entirety of the game’s German roster is seen quickly scrolling behind Yamauchi, as he speaks in profile.
There are a number of highlights in that group. The Chapparal 2J — affectionately nicknamed the “washing machine” — was a standout in GT4's stable and one of the strangest cars ever to be featured in a Gran Turismo. Hell, it’s one of the strangest cars ever to grace a race track; that was sort of Jim Hall’s thing back in the day. The Alpine A220 is another surprising inclusion, as I don’t believe it’s ever appeared in a racing game before. The open-top A442B prototype was in a few Project Cars titles, but that’s it.
The inclusion of the Fina-liveried, longtail ’97 McLaren F1 GTR is also very exciting, given that we already know the 1998 Mercedes CLK-LM is in the game. GT4 players will remember both. You never want to see just one car cherry-picked from an era; it’s always good to include at least one or two of its rivals alongside it for proper period-appropriate battles. With that said, I think the Porsche 911 GT1-98 is due for an appearance, especially considering the homologation special Strassenversion was revealed in the very first GT7 trailer last year.
And if that’s not enough, some especially perceptive viewers noticed something about the light streaks that flow through multiple frames in the video:
Stitch them together and they form a familiar ribbon — specifically that of Deep Forest, one of the fictional tracks from the very first Gran Turismo. With the hype already surrounding Trial Mountain’s return in GT7, the potential of Deep Forest joining it is going to get longtime fans foaming at the mouth. And not just nostalgic nerds like me, I promise you! Case in point:
More than a decade ago in anticipation of GT5's release, I remember logging onto GTPlanet after coming home from high school almost daily, scouring the latest trailers and pausing frame-by-frame along with the rest of the community to get a glimpse of never before-seen cars and tracks hiding in plain sight. Days like this take me back, and with GT7's renewed focus on an old-school, rags-to-riches campaign, I suppose it’s appropriate. I hope Polyphony has a few more in store for us before March.