It’s felt like long wait since series creator Kazunori Yamauchi surprisingly announced the Gran Turismo 7 Spec IV update six weeks back, but the first part of it is now in sight with the update confirmed to arrive tomorrow, Thursday October 15.
For those unfamiliar with Gran Turismo terminology, a “Spec” entry is one that brings new features and more dramatic changes than mere content alone — although there’s usually plenty of content too. It’s something we’ve seen a couple of times in past titles, starting with GT5: Prologue, but this is the first “Spec IV” in the series’ history.
Unusually, Spec IV will be split into two parts, separated by a couple of months. That means some of the content originally announced will arrive in Part 2 in December — likely soon after the Gran Turismo World Series Finals in Tokyo.
Today is all about Part 1 though, with the full reveal building on what we already knew from the announcement earlier this month in Singapore.
Gran Turismo Spec IV Update Part 1: Sugo Circuit
New tracks are infrequent in Gran Turismo 7 updates, at about two per year, so they’re always a big deal when they come. These days they seem to be coming in pairs, with the most-recent being Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve and Yas Marina in last December’s Spec III.
Spec IV is delivering two circuits too, though they’re split across the two Parts this time. Part 1 will introduce Sugo Circuit, with Autumn Ring coming in Part 2.
Officially called Sportsland Sugo, the circuit is a staple of the Japanese domestic racing calendar, hosting Super GT and Super Formula racing amongst others.
Set in the rolling hills of the Miyagi Prefecture, it features some dramatic elevation changes — 70m of ups and downs per lap — as well as a couple of high-speed straights packed into its 2.3-mile layout.
Notably this will be the first new track location added to the game after launch to feature wet weather conditions…
Gran Turismo Spec IV Update Part 1: New Cars
This too isn’t a surprise if you’ve been keeping up with the news, with all six cars coming in Part 1 already detailed in the Singapore teaser trailer.
There’s a little something for virtually every taste (other than those for whom only a specific car will do), covering the spread from vintage slowpokes to four-figure horsepower EV concepts and most points between:
- Citroen 2CV Charleston 1986
- Ferrari F355 Berlinetta 1994
- Honda Civic Si Group A Version 1987
- Honda Stepwgn Spada 2023
- Mazda RX-Vision GT3 Evo
- Xiaomi Vision Gran Turismo
Only one of the entries returns from a previous game, although it’s had its name changed to something a little less sponsor-heavy. Originally called the Honda Mugen Motul Civic Si, in GT4–GT6, this little front-wheel drive race car was a monster in Group A — but we’re curious to see how it fits into the game as it’s far too light and underpowered to suit Gr.4.
The Ferrari F355 Berlinetta makes its series debut, with this 1990s icon being Ferrari’s solution for how close the Honda NSX ran its 348 predecessor. Of those yet to appear before now, it’s the most highly requested Ferrari in GTPlanet’s own Suggestions forums.
While we’ve already had a 2CV previously, with GT4-6 featuring an early, 11hp model from 1954. The Charleston coming in Part 1 is a far later car, representing just about the final form of the 2CV before it was withdrawn after 42 years in 1990.
The all-new Honda Stepwgn (yes, most of the vowels are missing on purpose) Spada is essentially a modern equivalent as a mass-production family car. MPVs are a rarely seen body style in GT series history, and we suspect this seven-seat, sliding door one-box will be ripe for engine swaps and all manner of visual upgrades.
That leaves the two we’ve known about for the longest. The Mazda RX-Vision GT3 Evo will be the first time we’ve seen an “evo”-type upgrade for a fictional Gr.3 car, and it’s been designed by Mazda itself to follow-up on the original revealed way back in 2019. Finally there’s Xiaomi’s entry into the Vision Gran Turismo program we learned about in London last June.
Gran Turismo Spec IV Update Part 1: Car Concierge
Arguably one of the more significant portions of the update, this feature tempers the final remaining “FOMO” (“fear of missing out”) aspect of GT7.
At present some cars are tricky to buy, requiring a lot of money and only appearing in a certain dealership once every couple of months. Car Concierge allows you to bypass this, by ordering a car that might not be in stock at present — and paying for it on delivery.
This is another end-game feature, available to players who’ve completed the main GT Cafe career and watched the ending movie. That makes one order slot for the Concierge available, with others unlocking as you increase your Collector Level.
Beware though, as it looks like there is a fee for this service, nudging some of the 20,000,000cr cars above this pricing for the first time in the history of GT.
Gran Turismo Spec IV Update Part 1: Vintage Cars
This is a new addition to the Brand Central portion of the game, allowing players to view cars from each brand that predate the 2001-present range available to purchase therein.
You’ll be able to check out each manufacturer’s Used/Legend cars here, and selecting them will jump you to the relevant dealership to purchase the car if it’s currently available there.
It’s not clear at this point, but we’d imagine this works in tandem with the Concierge feature above, allowing you to order cars that are unavailable at present.
Gran Turismo Spec IV Update Part 1: Car Viewer
A new feature that allows you to pore over your garage vehicles more closely, Car Viewer essentially comprises a selection of backgrounds — we’ve counted seven — in which to stage your vehicle.
You’ll be able to pose your car and change viewing angles (although there’s no evidence of interior angles at this stage), as well as adjusting the steering angle and lights. It’s not dissimilar to Scapes but more about the car than the setting, and photomode is enabled too.
Gran Turismo Spec IV Update Part 1: Experience
Experience comprises a number of challenges for each brand, setup in a similar manner to that found in previous GT games.
No details are available on what challenges at present, but the notes confirm the feature will be available for Hyundai, Polestar, Xiaomi, and Yangwang at first — all brands that are either exclusively battery-EVs or (in the case of Hyundai) with prominently featured EVs.
Gran Turismo Spec IV Update Part 1: Collector Level Cap
Spec III elevated the maximum Collector Level of GT7 from 50 to 70, and we see a similar boost here for Spec IV with the new cap being CL90.
This will serve to unlock more actions, such as new Extra Menu Books (below) and slots on the Car Concierge feature (above), and your level will be updated appropriate to your points when 1.72 goes live.
By our calculations, if you have acquired over 187,450,000cr in cars, you should hit CL90 immediately.
Gran Turismo Spec IV Update Part 1: New Extra Menus & Races
There’s also some new things to do with all the new content, with six new races — the usual amount, at one per new car, although it’s a little disappointing there’s not more in a Spec update.
Naturally these comprise new events at Sugo, in the WTC600, WTC800, and European Sunday Cup 400 series. Autopolis, Spa, and Dragon Trail get new events too.
There’s also three new Extra Menu Books, requiring you to collect three cars each. They’re themed to “High-Performance EVs”, “Tuned GT-Rs”, and “Le Mans Winners”.
One further challenge for these is that they unlock at Collector Levels higher than those in the pre-1.72 game, but you may reach these new levels automatically when the game updates.
There’s also two new Scapes curations for shutterbugs: Angeles Crest Highway and Sportsland Sugo.
Gran Turismo Spec IV Update Part 1: Opening Movie
This one might seem small in the grand scheme of all the other things you can do in the update, but new opening movies are always a highlight of a Spec update.
Of course we’re yet to see it, but these things never disappoint and we’re likely to see a lot of the new content in Spec 1 highlighted in action — and perhaps even a little tease of Part 2. Speaking of which…
Gran Turismo Spec IV Update Part 2
You’ll have a couple of months to digest the contents of Part 1 before Part 2 arrives in December. We don’t yet have a date for this, but with the Gran Turismo World Series Finals coming from Tokyo on the weekend of December 5-6, we’re expecting more information there ahead of a mid- or late-month update.
We do already know some details, with the headline addition of the Autumn Ring circuit — with two layouts — being one. The LCI BMW M5 E60 shown in the initial teaser is all-but certain to be one of the six cars coming too, with the other five unknown for now.
In feature terms there’s also the long-anticipated return of Shuffle racing, a new “Family” mode, the addition of Drift Trial to the Lap Time Challenge section of Sport Mode, and for PS5 players a Sophy update and a new “chilli” difficulty level in the Power Pack.
We’ll bring you more on that when we have information to share.
See more articles on Gran Turismo 7 Game Update and Gran Turismo 7 Spec IV.
