Somewhat unexpectedly, Polyphony Digital has pushed out a second update in exactly a week for Gran Turismo 7, with 1.66 bringing a small list of changes that attend to a handful of issues.
The update comes in at just under 415MB on PlayStation 4 and a bit over 1GB on PlayStation 5, likely thanks to some of the changes centering on the PS5-exclusive Power Pack DLC.
Although there are only four items in the patch notes, there’s one that’s particularly interesting and has global effects. Listed under “physics simulation model”, the unassuming line states that players who opt to shift gears manually will have a downshift input ignored if it’s at “extremely high” engine speed.
This is a technique often used in some time trial events as — depending on the vehicle used — rapidly shuffling down the ‘box while the engine screams can assist with deceleration, even though it sounds absolutely awful. We’ve run a quick couple of tests and, while you can still over-rev the engine a little, on paddles at least it does seem to curb the ability to repeatedly downshift.
That’s one of a couple of items in the physics change section, with the others looking at changing certain aspects of a small number of vehicles — the three Jaguar VGTs, the Gr.1 Hyundai N2025, the Valkyrie, and the ID.R — and their Performance Point (PP) values.
Aside from that, there’s a couple of other global changes. One addresses an issue many players noted with the Multiplayer/Lobby area where only one page of player-created lobbies would be shown regardless of how many there actually were at the time. The other adjusts force feedback of steering controllers — although it’s not known what controllers are affected and to what degree.
Finally, and accounting for the double-stuffed size of the PS5 version, there’s a change to the Power Pack DLC. The bullet point notes that this updates “the game balance” and changes how the rival AI behave, but goes into no further detail.
From what we’ve seen on a quick glance this morning, the former point covers several adjustments to player car PP values across the pack including power and weight changes. AI cars also seem to have some adjustments too, with one particular example of note in that rocketship Elantra in the Willow Springs FF Tuning Battle race being a bit more beatable now.
We’ve spotted a couple of other changes in the Power Pack too, including a new results screen and the reactivation of Sarah in the intro and your first race on each path. The good news is that if you were mid-endurance race when the update launched — with little warning — the unmarked and automatic race-save feature will allow you to resume, even if the cars may be a little different than they were when you left off.
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