Gran Turismo 7 is Recapturing the Magic of the Original With SUVs

Hear me out.

Gran Turismo is an integral part of modern car culture. The series has been around for almost 30 years at this point: not only has an entire generation grown up with the PlayStation franchise shaping tastes, there are young drivers who’ve never even known a world without Gran Turismo. The sim racing franchise is arguably responsible for the Subaru WRX and Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution coming to these shores in the early aughts. Nevermind that, have you seen the prices ‘90s-era JDM icons are hitting on the used market?

Both the car industry and the culture have changed since GT1’s Manic Street Preachers-soundtracked intro first played on our CRT screens, too. How does Gran Turismo 7, the latest entry in a franchise that has sold over 90 million copies, stay relevant in the new era? By embracing the popular vehicles of today: SUVs.

Okay, let me clarify: I don’t mean real SUVs, like a Jeep Wrangler or a Toyota Land Cruiser. I’m using the term as a catch-all including crossovers, because that’s what the general population does. Since the start of the year, three of the four free updates to the game have brought with them small compact SUVs that are familiar sights on the world’s roads. January added the first-generation Toyota C-HR; an admittedly odd choice since Europe has already had the second-gen model for a few years, and we’ll see the all-electric C-HR early next year. March saw the Mazda CX-30 join the lineup, essentially a Mazda3 (also in-game) on stilts with a bunch of plastic cladding. Like the C-HR, the CX-30 is front-drive too. With the most recent update in May, developer Polyphony Digital added the previous-generation Honda CR-V Hybrid, a twofer in terms of what the public is clamoring for: a high-rider and a hybrid.

That’s not to say it’s only car-based rides showing up. In the last year, GT7 players have seen the likes of the Toyota HiAce van, the larger Suzuki Jimny “Sierra” model, raucous Hyundai Ioniq 5 N, Renault Kangoo, and even the Mercedes-Benz Unimog show up.

Gran Turismo has had a reputation for eccentric (and eclectic) vehicle rosters, so this technically isn’t anything new. Classics like the Unimog are important milestones in automotive history, too. But three new “everyday” SUVs this year signifies a shift—one that series creator Kazunori Yamauchi hinted at years ago.

In a (translated) interview with Japanese site Game Watch during the franchise’s 25th anniversary, Yamauchi talked about how new cars have changed. “It's not that we're focusing on it, but the types of cars are changing a lot now,” explained Yamauchi. “Of course, there are more minivans. Nowadays, car enthusiasts tend to drive SUVs. In the past, car enthusiasts drove sports cars. People who drove sports cars back then, people who were only just interested in driving cars, now tend to drive SUVs. I think we need to cover those types of cars as well.”

According to the IEA, nearly half of global new car registrations are now SUVs. One of the appeals of a game like GT7 is escapism, and while that can take many forms, taking one’s personal car to the digital Nürburgring must count as one. There’s a strong appeal to seeing your own car simulated, and with PSVR2, players can even poke around inside the cabin.

More than that, what made the original Gran Turismo such a success was that it didn’t follow the contemporary idea of a racing game. It had no Lamborghinis, no Porsches, no Ferraris; it had everyday cars, many of which had names players recognized from their local roads. Supercars are cool, but with the deep customization that has been a part of the franchise since day one, players could live out their own David and Goliath fantasies. And now, with GT7’s excellent livery editor, call-back designs give an even deeper connection to the original.

China’s car market is huge and underrepresented in video games. At the latest Gran Turismo World Series live event in London, Polyphony revealed that the Xiaomi SU7 Ultra will be arriving in a GT7 update soon, the beginning of an extended partnership between the Chinese automaker and the video game series. The SU7 Ultra throws down almost 1500 horsepower, and a prototype recently set a 6:46.874 lap time at the Nürburgring Nordschleife.

With North America essentially barring Chinese vehicles from sale, sim racers like GT7 will be one of the easiest ways to get a taste of what these models are like. And hey, it’s not like there have been forbidden fruit cars (and SUVs) that gained popularity in a video game, only to then arrive for sale a few years later. Maybe history just might repeat itself.

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