Tell Us A Story - pics in GT7 locations where you have been IRL [Please read the OP first!!]

[Touring Mars]

Please share a Scape and a Race photo of somewhere you have been in real life, and - importantly - tell us something about the context of the pic. This thread will be moderated, so please make sure you include some text as well as a picture.

To make it more interesting, please also use a car that is either personally relevant to the time you were there, is specifically relevant to you, or simply is more fitting to the location. Also, please attempt to use a Scape location that you were physically present at e.g. you have actually been somewhere in the shot itself if you can. Please also identify the Scape by the name used in GT7. You may also use a Scape that closely resembles a location of somewhere you can tell a story about, but please make this clear in your post

Please also only make one post per location/country... you can always post other locations/stories in a different post.

Any editting of the pic is allowed provided the Scape location can still be easily identified.

Please also share your Scape in GT7 using the tag 'tuas' and include a one line description of the context there too.

Summary of thread rules:

• Post a Scape pic of somewhere you have been IRL
• Your post must include some text to tell the story of what the picture is about
• Please identify the Scape and location as per GT7
• Where possible, use a car that is specific to your experience there, or is relevant to the scene
• One country per post, no limit to number of pics per post
• Any formatting and editting is allowed, provided the Scape can still be easily identified
• Please share on GT7 using tag 'tuas'

-

Here's an example:

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In Ghods' Country​

Scape: Back Bay Drive
Location: California, USA

When I lived in Irvine, CA for a few months in 2015, my housemate took me out for a drive on my first night in California to show me Newport Beach. It was an amazing introduction to a beautiful part of the world, and I'm forever indebted to Navid for showing me such hospitality and friendship during my time working at UC Irvine. His car, a black Lexus like the one in the pic, made it so much easier to see loads of local places, since public transport in Orange County is not so great!

Spoiler

My mate's surname is Ghods, hence the title...

 

[TumeK5]

Has not been to any of the Scapes locations.

 

[Touring Mars]

Has not been to any of the Scapes locations.

I've updated the OP to suggest that you can use a Scape that closely resembles somewhere you have been, provided you explain the context.

 

[XSquareStickIt]

Not much of a story, really. My family of four went to Japan back in 2016, and some of the locations I took photos at wound up as Scapes locations in GT7 6 years later.

I specifically wanted to visit Gion in Kyoto, as it was a Photo Travel location in GT5. It then returned as a Scapes scene in GT7!

Gion
Scapes ID: C6U1

Nearby, I happened to shoot this junction for reasons I've completely forgotten. Turns out it became a Scapes scene as well!

Gion
Scene ID: UNHW

Being typical tourists, we also went into the Bamboo Forest, where, to our surprise, taxis share the same walkways as people!

Arashiyama Bamboo Forest
Scene ID: 4O2L

I guess, if there's any story to this, it's the last time me and my family all went on a vacation together, as we had just adopted the sweetest stray cat ever just before leaving for this trip. Her caretaker tells us she refused to eat or drink for three days straight, and when she came back into our home, she cried because she thought she'd been abandoned, and it broke all of our hearts immensely. Needless to say, we won't ever be going on a family trip again as long as she's with us for the rest of her life.

Then there's this time I went back to Japan on my own in 2017. Armed with a driving licence this time, I rented a Mazda Demio to drive to Daikoku Futou, an industrial reclaimed island not served by public transportation, and taxis never venture in there on their own. Every 7th of July (7/7), RX-7 owners from all over the country gather there to celebrate their cars, and I just wanted to be part of it, being a big fan of Mazda Rotary sports cars. It's one of the most unforgettable moments of my life, being able to drive in Japan and surrounded by the stuff of my childhood dreams.

Daikoku Parking Area
Scene ID: HMRA

Anyway, I know it's long and rambly, thanks for sitting through my reminiscing!

 

[ICEYOU3]

Scape: Woodward Avenue
Location: Detroit, Michigan

In 2015 I moved to Michigan where I would study Transportation Design at the College For Creative Studies. I always wanted to be a car designer with the hope of working for General Motors and even perhaps see one of my designs to be featured in a Gran Turismo game, unfortunately it was not meant to be. I would go on to study there for three years until my father's untimely passing which would ultimately put a halt to my education. It wasn't all doom and gloom though I enjoyed my time up there, made many friends and learned many valuable skills such as drafting, computer-aided design and advance sketching techniques. I do find myself thinking about what could have been and the Pizza🍕 quite often...

The Corvette Stingray (pictured below) was designed at GM's tech center in Warren county. This car in particular and the Vision GT project inspired me big time back in those days...

 

[SomePlayaDude]

Back in the winter of 2017, my family and I had an Italian escape. And of course I so happen to gotten myself into where a few of them Scapes have been taken. Here's the lot of them still strong in my head.. and my soul, perhaps.


1) SPD asks about entertainment in Colosseo


Scape: The Colosseum
Location: Rome - Italy

Let's begin with Rome, and the obvious visit to Colosseo. The Scapes locale I've chosen to reignite my memories here would be this day shot of The Colosseum, since I went there by late morning. It was partly cloudy and clear, though cold because winter. At the time, they've closed off parts of the road around Colosseo. I can't say it's because of either tourism, or the fact there's a Santa cycling charity event happening nearby.

Colosseo was.. boring but also interesting. An SPD paradox. Let's see if I can explain why.. Free entry, but they roofed off the bit where one usually fights the lions and whatnot. And for going around, they got modern elevators and rails in parts inside. As far as I know, the souvenir shops are around the Colosseum, not inside it.

My 3 day time in Roma would also be the only time I managed to bear witness an Alfa 4C prancing in its home turf. Actually, I forgot what color it was in.


The car of choice I've put here is the Alfa Romeo 4C. It passed by the Colosseo metro station with a modified exhaust, because that's the only way I managed to notice it when the roads around are blocked.

Here's a terrible shot of my ugly mug on that day. My apologies.. I don't have a better picture.

Stay tuned, for I have 2 moments that can be sorta Scaped out in Venice/Venezia, and another pair in Florence/Firenze.

 

[SomePlayaDude]

2) Facing a corner, in darkness.

Scape: Campiello San Vidal
Location: Venice - Italy

Venezia/Venice is quite a compact location, contrary to what the movies tell you. One thing I can say is that.. there are NO cars at all on Venice: you gotta walk, or take a boat. So just about any picture with a car on Venice is.. maybe a total lie. And the nearest place where there's cars is by a dock on the mainland, which the most notable nearby dock I think is by Piazza San Marco. Let's go to somewhere a bit quieter, and that's this one Scapes locale in Venice, named Campiello San Vidal.

Well, when you think an Italian trip will be full of Italian cars, here's one that didn't quite read the memo.


To reiterate: there are NO cars in Venice, so the one car I've selected has to come from the mind, and at the time, it was covered up by the Peugeot RCZ Gr.3. The reason being that with my mind still strong in GT Sport, I was still strongly having considerations on what manufacturer to represent at the time. Even to today, I never got into Sport mode in depth. However, though it carries a current meta position in 7, my love for the RCZ Gr.3 still remains to this day, though the PEUGEOT VGT would battle with that and eventually overtake the opinion later on.

For this Scapes location, it probably isn't the very same corner, but it strongly relates to me on what happened one night: I went out in the cold, looking for some food, and my B&B so happens to be a few paces by this corner. It's also just by a marketplace, but it's a cold winter night and it was 5 PM. Venice is a place which its blood runs through tourism. Hungry old SPD ended up in Rialto Bridge and there were boats, crowds, and crowds on boats. Pre pandemic tourism at its finest! Though, while Rialto bridge was one way, if I headed the other way, I'd end up at Piazza San Marco.

The in game description of it being near an art gallery: Accademia di Belle Arti, is accurate, but they didn't mention I had to cross the canal to visit it. Am unsure if the place's free entry. How does an art gallery survive within an entire art piece anyways?

No real life picture here this time. However, the next SPD entry is kind of spoiled if you clicked through my overly long Media album and found a couple shots just after that terrible selfie in Colosseo.

 

[Touring Mars]

A Scotsman in New York

Scape: Lower Manhattan
Location: New York, USA

I will never forget seeing Manhattan from the top of the One World Trade Centre - a mind-blowing and very emotional experience. I visited New York for the first time in September 2015, just days before the anniversary of both 9/11 and the passing of my cousin in 2010, as well as what would have been his birthday.

Spoiler

Upon visiting the tower, you're transported via a silent lift to a big, dark room with a massive LED display which shows images of New York, only for the screen to then open to reveal a spectacular view of Manhattan itself

I must admit, it was all a bit much for me - as I saw Manhattan for the first time, I was overcome with emotion. I then felt bad for being so emotional incase any other visitors thought I was crazy. I made a beeline for the bar and ordered a Hudson Bourbon, followed by a Bruichladdich single malt in honour of my cousin. I sat next to a young, married couple from Newcastle, England who joined me in a toast to my cousin, which was overwhelmingly kind of them.

I loved every minute of my 4-day trip to New York, but I'm glad that the first thing I did on the morning after I arrived was to visit the One World Trade Center and pay my respects there.

 

[Moglet]

Not much of a story, really. My family of four went to Japan back in 2016, and some of the locations I took photos at wound up as Scapes locations in GT7 6 years later.

I specifically wanted to visit Gion in Kyoto, as it was a Photo Travel location in GT5. It then returned as a Scapes scene in GT7!

I love that area of Kyoto, I managed to get this photo when I last went, I might try and take a similar one in GT7 for a post in this thread!

 

[Touring Mars]

It's on my list of places to add too @Moglet I stayed in a hotel just around the corner from that exact spot, and I love the Gion district too.

 

[mintyone]

This is located about 2 blocks from my house. I dropped in my first car in the game that I've slowly been adding goofy decals to personalize and keep fresh and still using because it's the closest to my actual daily driver commuter car in game. In real life this warehouse is part of a Bollinger Ships propeller repair plant where they fix tugs and oil field bound watercraft. I drive past this location regularly (although not as much the past few months as the bridge that lets me bypass normal traffic on the way home has been closed since March) I've been having a lot of fun goofing with the new scapes, and I hope to push myself to make some creative compositions.

 

[SomePlayaDude]

3) Loitering around San Marco


Scape: Piazza San Marco
Location: Venice - Italy


Even though it's one picture on Media, I actually went to Piazza San Marco twice on my trip.

The first was at a dark evening. Here's the photo, and it was an idyllic night with hordes of pigeons hanging about. By the way, that iPhone 7 just retired a week ago, may you rest in piece, my old friend.

The second was during midday.. it was horribly crowded, but mainly because unlike the evening, more shops and attractions were open. While completely irrelevant, I had a gelato on each trip from the same shop.

If you travel just to go shopping, Venezia probably isn't the place for you. Far as I know, the contents of what's around Piazza San Marco would be about the kind of accessories you'd spend a hefty chunk on, like watches, jewelries, and of course souvenirs. There are a few eateries around, and yeah: I guess it's a very Mediterranean thing to just leave chairs and tables out. I'm sure it's obvious these restaurants don't do that when they're closed, backed up by the Scapes shot underneath.

In the dark of night, I see something.. old and Italian. I was going to say that clock tower in the distance, but this works just as well!


As mentioned earlier, there are no cars in Venezia. So, I'll have to make something up. Since last week I had a completely left field French racecar strong in memory, Piazza San Marco made me think quite strongly on a certain Italian classic. That classic was the Lancia Stratos. Looking at it makes me feel like it's at home here, with the old Italian architecture around.

I mean, if there was a rally stage in Venezia with the Stratos, it's quite a spectacle already in my head. Water as a hazard shouldn't stay in golf.

 

[Touring Mars]

Godzilla at the Hotel Gracery

Location: Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan

I believe this is a newly added scape, and it shows 'Kabuki Central Road', aka "Godzilla Road" in the heart of Shinjuku, Tokyo... a lifesize 'Godzilla' can be seen tearing into the side of the Hotel Gracery, where I stayed for my last two nights in Japan in 2018. Below the hotel is a massive IMAX cinema, and the hotel even has a room which has Godzilla's claw ripping into the room itself. My room was on the 'ground' floor' which is actually where Godzilla's head is in this picture...

Shinjuku was an amazing place to visit, though arguably not my favourite part of Japan, and indeed it was literally the only place I visited in two whole weeks in Japan where I saw anything 'dodgy', though the Golden Gai district in Shinjuku is a fascinating throwback to the 'old' Shinjuku that is rapidly disappearing (apparently the Japanese authorities consider it a bit of an embarrassment, as the area used to be pretty wild, and is still home to some, erm, very niche interests...)

My photo of the same scene...

​

 

[GBO Possum]

Birthday trips to Quebec City, Quebec, Canada

Scape: Château Frontenac

Quebec City is one of our favorite cities. Ten years ago, we had returned again, and once again stayed in the Hôtel Château Bellevue, a little inn overlooking Parc Des Gouverneurs. It’s a stone’s throw from the iconic Château Frontenac.

Mrs Possum and I drove up from Massachusetts in our Centennial Edition C6 Corvette Grand Sport

Of course it’s not possible to park in the scape spot. However, many is the time that we walked up and down those stairs, to and from the Hôtel Château Bellevue where our Corvette rested.

Our plans to return yet again this year for another milestone birthday were thwarted by Covid, so I’ll just post some photo memories instead.

 

[wfooshee]

My stepson was stationed in Hawaii from 2010 to 2013, and while he was there he got enamored of the Ford Raptor truck, and bought one. Also while there, he got divorced. (I'm not saying the two things have anything to do with each other...) Anyway, when his now-ex came back to the lower 48, he had her car and goods shipped by the Army, the way they do for soldiers with spouses. When his assignment changed and he was coming back to the continent, the Army informed him that since he was single and had already shipped a car and household goods, he was on his own getting his stuff home. Kinda didn't think that through all the way!

He looked at the costs involved in shipping the Raptor home, and decided to pick it up at the Oakland port and drive it home to Panama City. He also decided I was coming with him to help. That's exactly what I was looking forward to: driving a pickup truck from California to Florida. Well, he paid my airfare to San Fransisco, paid for the hotels and a lot of the food, and of course, the gas. OK, maybe this won't be so bad.

He then mentioned that his girlfriend was coming with us, and that my brother, who lives in San Jose, also wanted to ride home with us. Now there are 4. I asked him if he had a bed cover for the truck, and he said, "No, why?" The boy is a captain in the army and thinks we're going to drive across country with luggage loose in the bed of a pickup, and it'll be fine. No weather to worry about, no one nicking our stuff while we're inside eating... (When I thought there were just the two of us, I knew the luggage could ride in the back seat, but now we need that for people, as it's illegal for them to ride in the bed...) So we ordered a bed cover and had it shipped to his sister's house in Stockton. When we got to her house it hadn't arrived yet, which was worrying, but it arrived shortly after we did. Also, that day was my first chance to meet my third grandchild!!! Mark, the sister's husband, owned a Nissan Frontier truck that he was quite proud of, but he was sure pouty-faced while the Raptor was parked next to it!
So we installed the bed cover, had lunch, loaded up, and headed for Yosemite Valley. A bucket list item that I would probably never be close to again, and I threatened death to all if it wasn't added to the itenerary.

We took 120 and then Big Oak Flats Road into Yosemite, arrived mid-afternoon, had time to be tourists before it got dark. The roads in were snowy, this being early March, and the snow was present at exactly 5000 feet elevation! There was the sign showing the elevation, there was no snow until 5000 feet, there was lots of snow after that. Hard line! No snow on the valley floor, not even very cold, until it got dark, anyway. We stayed overnight in Yosemite Lodge, and took Wawona Road out of the valley, heading south.

Our truck was the 4-door, a 2013, not the 2011 crew-cab in the game, but there you are.

This would have been our morning view on the way out, before we hit the tunnel that would cut us off from the valley forever.

The other plans included a day or two in Vegas and whatever else we encountered on the way. We spent two whole days and nights in Vegas, including Fremont Street:

After Vegas, we saw the Hoover Dam, and actually got rained on there, probably the first rain they'd had in a very long time. The we set out across Arizona intending to get near the canyon and bunk down, but this happened (not a scapes photo, but what I-40 looked like for us.) Grand Canyon aborted...

We drove well into the wee hours, turned south at Amarillo on I-25, turned onto US84 at Lubbock toward Sweetwater to get on I-20. We found a motel in Sweetwater, and Josh discovered that we were there in time for the next day's Rattlesnake Roundup. NOBODY wanted to go, but he was insistent, so we made him swear to max one hour. Three hours later my brother has walked away to find a bus terminal, and I was close to going with him. Josh's girlfriend was trying to keep me calm, but she was just as angry. Josh didn't answer his phone, didn't respond to texts, and when he came out he had this giant grin on his face and started talking about how great it was. I wasn't having it, and literally yelled at him for several minutes about how we'd been out here for four or five hours with NOTHING TO DO, because we had no interest in snakes and weren't going to spend any money to go there, AND we had to now try to find my brother. Josh literally could not understand what the problem was, so things were tense. His plan to make up the time was NO MORE STOPS, just drive straight through. We were 16 hours from home, not counting food and nature stops, which conceivably could have been done starting first thing in the day, but absolutely not when starting at nearly 4PM! So we drove around town a bit, and miracalously did find my brother, who cursed violently at Josh and finally got in the truck.

We got as far as Lafayette, LA, where I-49 meets I-10, and bunked down again.

Here's something else we spent a good bit of time doing. The scapes scene is a lie, but the only functional gas station in scapes; we were not near the Nurburgring!
As for fuel, we actually didn't have to stop as often as you'd think... the truck had range of just over 500 miles! That doesn't mean it was economical, though, as it carried some 38 gallons! We got about 13.5 mpg on the trip. About 17.4 liters/100km for you metrics. Several times we had to use two cards to fill it up, as the pump would shut off at $100.

Total trip was just about 2800 miles over 7 days.

 

[Nuschel01]

About 17.4 liters/km for you metrics.

Per 100km you mean

Nice story nonetheless, sounds like a cool road-trip 👍

 

[CodeRedR51]

Highway 128 from Moab Utah through the town of Cisco where the film Vanishing Point was filmed. I take this route every time I travel to/from Colorado.

 

[05XR8]

I used to live in Melbourne. Been to Etihad for one game. Also, worked for Subaru Docklands during my time there and the Subaru Australia 22B would be in the STI showroom.

Don’t know how long ago this Scape was taken, but Etihad been Marvel Stadium for the past few years.

 

[wfooshee]

Per 100km you mean

Nice story nonetheless, sounds like a cool road-trip 👍

Of course. Editing... don't know how I dropped that!!!

 

[HaoleHatingWRX]

Alahao Pl
Honolulu, HI

Not really an interesting story, but this scape is right outside of my workplace before we moved. I have no idea why it's in GT7 because there is nothing special about this road, no historic/famous places, it's just a random road in Hawaii.

The bugeye is parked right behind the scape location. Alahao pl

 

[HaoleHatingWRX]

Suzuka Circuit
Suzuka, Mie

The pic is from the 2019 Suzuka 300km Super Gt race. I've been going every year since '16 but that streak was ended thanks to covid.

 

[GBO Possum]

Six years ago, Mrs Possum organized a bunch of like-minded car owners for an extended weekend in the Finger Lakes area of New York State. We stayed in the town of Watkins Glen, and of course, visited Watkins Glen International.

She (Mrs Possum) got us a few curated laps on the track, with a pace car in front to keep us in check, and we finished up lined up on the start/finish line.

Our black Corvette C6 is in the second row, nearest the grandstands. If you look closely, it has a Gran Turismo banner across the windshield.

I was left itching for the opportunity to open it up at “The Glen”, because the track‘s “ribbon” is just so enticing. However, liability law, Yada yada …

So we contented ourselves with a few days of exploration of the beautiful area and wineries.

When this week brought us The Glen as a new track, of course I had to take “VETTE”, the replica of our C6, out for a run and a Scapes photo shoot.

 

[Moglet]

Godzilla at the Hotel Gracery

Location: Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan

I believe this is a newly added scape, and it shows 'Kabuki Central Road', aka "Godzilla Road" in the heart of Shinjuku, Tokyo... a lifesize 'Godzilla' can be seen tearing into the side of the Hotel Gracery, where I stayed for my last two nights in Japan in 2018. Below the hotel is a massive IMAX cinema, and the hotel even has a room which has Godzilla's claw ripping into the room itself. My room was on the 'ground' floor' which is actually where Godzilla's head is in this picture...

Shinjuku was an amazing place to visit, though arguably not my favourite part of Japan, and indeed it was literally the only place I visited in two whole weeks in Japan where I saw anything 'dodgy', though the Golden Gai district in Shinjuku is a fascinating throwback to the 'old' Shinjuku that is rapidly disappearing (apparently the Japanese authorities consider it a bit of an embarrassment, as the area used to be pretty wild, and is still home to some, erm, very niche interests...)

I'm not sure how I missed this when you originally posted it but my wife and I stayed at the exact same hotel in October 2018! I have a distinct memory of walking through the Kabukicho district early on a Sunday morning and seeing women in tiny dresses and high heels taking the bins out.

 

[HaoleHatingWRX]

Scape - STI Gallery
Location - Mitaka, Japan

I first visited the STI gallery back in 2015 and it was cool to see a 22B parked outside.

My second visit to the STI Gallery was in Dec. of 2022. You can sit in the actual race cars now, and being in Colin McRae's was pretty special. They are always rotating the display cars and you can check what's currently on display on the STI website. STI Website

 

[P-Courty]

I used to work in the lake district a lot and cross the Hardknott Pass but this was before GT7 days so don't have a picture of this location but...

Last week I was working in Whitehaven and Maryport which, taking a slight 5mile detour, goes past the Honister Pass.

It's a shorter road than I had thought and I would recommend to travel the opposite way to what I did as you get drastic brake fade coming down the opposite side into very tight turns and most of the road is near enough single car width.

It's rather bumpy so a car with soft suspension goes a long way.

It is a lovely landscape though and the Honister Slate Mine Shop is at the top of the hill for somewhere to park and get a coffee and some good pictures (although I didn't have time to stop there).

I tried to get as close as I could to the scapes photo, I stopped a little further back but close enough I think.

Scape: Honister Pass
Location: UK, Lake District

Spoiler

A few other pictures from the bottom, up to the top.