Gran Turismo 7's Surprise Spec IV Update Analysed

Like I mentioned at the start, it's Gran Turismo 7, which confirmed a free Spec 4 update, weirdly in two parts this time, one in October and one part in December.

This is really, really important, not just if you're playing Gran Turismo 7, but also if you're playing other titles in the Sims space.

This game has, I think, was it over 2 million active monthly users? We think it sold over 12 million copies.

It is a platform exclusive to PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5.

And it is also arguably Sony's one of only two or three successful live service games, which it clearly has turned into.

And also, I think, even if you have not played Gran Turismo for a while, Autumn Ring pulls at the nostalgia feels, doesn't it, John?

Oh, it certainly does.

That is, for most people, definitely for me, it's like the first track you think of.

Because for me, anyway, with Gran Turismo 4, which was my first kind of at-the-time Gran Turismo experience growing up, autumn ring mini was the first round of the sunday cup right so this was the first track you come across so i have all these memories and feelings that that get brought up as soon as autumn ring is mentioned which anyone outside of the world of gaming would be thinking what on earth is this guy talking about but it is a it's a brilliant little circuit great little flow of course that's autumn ring mini but we will also have the full version of the autumn ring and i think it's it's key while we're talking about autumn ring specifically tom to mention that um It is the original scenery and the original layout that will be there.

So this is not going to be like Grand Valley Speedway, where it's the similar sort of track in a completely different setting.

This is going to feel and look like the Autumn Ring.

But not only do we have some form of the original layout, we don't quite know the details of which yet.

We will also have a new expanded track for people to get stuck into as well.

So I think that's the perfect combination.

Yeah, so let's run through what has been announced so far and what hasn't been announced, I suppose.

So as we alluded to there, the return of Ultramarine to the series, I think it's the first time since Gran Turismo 6, in a redone way, well, reimagined, and the layout is the same.

Then an extra layout that's going to be new.

Kazunori Yamauchi, the series producer, says there's going to be two layouts.

But if you think about it, there was Ultramarine and Ultramarine Mini.

That's already two.

So we'll have to see.

Is it just going to be Ultramarine Mini that's faithful and then a longer one? Or is it going to be actually three?

Or, yeah, it could be two different kind of, let's say, full layouts of Autumn Ring.

And then within that, there's mini versions of it as well.

Yes.

Like I mentioned at the start, it's Gran Turismo 7, which confirmed a free Spec 4 update, weirdly in two parts this time, one in October and one part in December.

This is really, really important, not just if you're playing Gran Turismo 7, but also if you're playing other titles in the Sims space.

This game has, I think, was it over 2 million active monthly users? We think it sold over 12 million copies.

It is a platform exclusive to PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5.

And it is also arguably Sony's one of only two or three successful live service games, which it clearly has turned into.

And also, I think, even if you have not played Gran Turismo for a while, Autumn Ring pulls at the nostalgia feels, doesn't it, John?

Oh, it certainly does.

That is, for most people, definitely for me, it's like the first track you think of.

Because for me, anyway, with Gran Turismo 4, which was my first kind of at-the-time Gran Turismo experience growing up, autumn ring mini was the first round of the sunday cup right so this was the first track you come across so i have all these memories and feelings that that get brought up as soon as autumn ring is mentioned which anyone outside of the world of gaming would be thinking what on earth is this guy talking about but it is a it's a brilliant little circuit great little flow of course that's autumn ring mini but we will also have the full version of the autumn ring and i think it's it's key while we're talking about autumn ring specifically tom to mention that um It is the original scenery and the original layout that will be there.

So this is not going to be like Grand Valley Speedway, where it's the similar sort of track in a completely different setting.

This is going to feel and look like the Autumn Ring.

But not only do we have some form of the original layout, we don't quite know the details of which yet.

We will also have a new expanded track for people to get stuck into as well.

So I think that's the perfect combination.

Yeah, so let's run through what has been announced so far and what hasn't been announced, I suppose.

So as we alluded to there, the return of Ultramarine to the series, I think it's the first time since Gran Turismo 6, in a redone way, well, reimagined, and the layout is the same.

Then an extra layout that's going to be new.

Kazunori Yamauchi, the series producer, says there's going to be two layouts.

But if you think about it, there was Ultramarine and Ultramarine Mini.

That's already two.

So we'll have to see.

Is it just going to be Ultramarine Mini that's faithful and then a longer one? Or is it going to be actually three?

Or, yeah, it could be two different kind of, let's say, full layouts of Autumn Ring.

And then within that, there's mini versions of it as well.

Yes.