The Renault Espace F1 is Returning to Gran Turismo After 25 Years

Possibly the coolest van of all time is returning to the Gran Turismo franchise as part of a free update next month.

Oh hell yes. After a quarter-century absence, the Renault Espace F1—the bonkers, 800-horsepower, F1-engined van—is returning to sim racing. As part of a new trailer for Gran Turismo 7, teasing the Yas Marina circuit's inclusion in the game's Spec III update arriving this December, there's a brief tease of the super-powered van, confirming it as one of the eight vehicles arriving as part of the free update.

The Espace F1 is the sort of wild vehicle that could only exist in the 1990s. To celebrate the Espace's ten-year anniversary, Matra built a carbon fiber chassis and dropped a pumped-up Espace shell on top, also made of the weave. A 3.5-liter V10 yanked from the Williams FW15C sat amidship, hooked up to that car's six-speed semi-automatic transmission for good measure.

There was just one working model of the Espace F1, and it posted the sort of numbers that wouldn't look out of place today. It could crack the 62-mph (100-km/h) run in 2.8 seconds, double that in 6.9 seconds, and wouldn't run out of steam until 194 mph (312 km/h). Braking was via F1 equipment too, so it could also pull to a complete stop from 168 mph (270 km/h) in under 2000 feet.

The Espace F1's return will mark its first time in the franchise in 26 years, and indeed across all of sim racing; it has only shown up in the card-based mobile game Top Drives since 1999's Gran Turismo 2. It will arrive alongside seven other cars, Yas Marina circuit, and Circuit Gilles Villeneuve as part of the Spec III update next month.

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