As we’ve been expecting since the pre-update teaser over the weekend, the next Gran Turismo 7 update is on its way this week, and we now have confirmation of most of the contents and the timing.
July’s update fits into the pattern that has been the norm across much of GT7’s life so far, arriving on the fourth (and usually final, but not this time!) Thursday of any given month. That means it’ll be pushed out on Thursday July 24.
You won’t be able to play it right away though, as the update will land with the usual game maintenance window — 0600-0800 UTC the same day — which requires the game’s online services to be taken offline. This will make the majority of features unavailable until after the update is downloaded and installed, and largely inaccessible until the maintenance window ends.
As we now have a full update teaser video, here’s almost everything you can look forward to with the 1.61 update:
Table of Contents
- Gran Turismo 7 Update 1.61: New Cars
- Gran Turismo 7 Update 1.61: New Races & Events
- Gran Turismo 7 Update 1.61: New Scapes & Other Changes
Gran Turismo 7 Update 1.61: New Cars
Although the “silhouette” teaser returned to its heavily shadowed form, we nonetheless had a good idea of the models arriving in the update — but the precise variants are rarely clear until the second stage in the update cycle.
Our broader guesses proved accurate, but the latest information gives us these model details and a much better idea of what to expect:
- Honda N-One RS 2022 – Brand Central
- NISMO R34 GT-R Z Tune 2005 – Brand Central
- Nissan Qashqai Tekna e-Power 2022 – Brand Central
It’s only the fifth time we’ve had an update with all of the vehicles originating from the same continent in terms of manufacturer, and the fourth that it’s been all-Japanese, but — other than the lack of circuit racers — there’s a little something for everyone here.
After all the guesses that it would arrive last month, fitting in with a trend of Japanese C-segment crossovers, the Nissan Qashqai finally makes its debut this month. It’s the pre-facelift third-generation model (or the current platform but not the current design) of Nissan’s best-seller.
It might not be one to excite Gran Turismo fans specifically, but the Qashqai has broad appeal further afield and will be one of those vehicles that may tempt people otherwise uninterested in racing games (or cars) to give it a whirl — especially in VR.
The bad news for people who are Gran Turismo fans is that, while it’s the highest-performance model, the 187hp e-Power is an EV and will thus be ineligible for most performance upgrades. Its 156hp combustion engine is a generator for the battery only, and provides no drive.
If it’s performance you want though, you’ll be pretty well served with the NISMO R34 Z-Tune. This will be only the fifth “Professionally Tuned” car added to the game, and the second NISMO in a row since the sibling R33-generation 400R arrived in update 1.40 (Spec II) in November 2023.
This highly limited, and probably the most sought-after, version of the R34 Skyline is, surprisingly, making its debut in the series — despite all the “duplicates” of previous games. NISMO built the car to celebrate its own 20th anniversary, and had to buy back 20 cars from customers to make it as R34 production had ended three years previously.
All 20, of which 19 were sold, were based on V-Spec models with less than 30,000km (about 18,600 miles) on the clocks. They were essentially stripped back to the chassis (which was rewelded to add rigidity) and rebuilt from there with upgraded components, majoring on lightweight. The stroked 2.8-liter engine, based on the Z2 racing block, also provided at least 500hp of shove to the recalibrated ATTESA Pro system.
We’ve got quite a bit less power on the third vehicle, but it’s one that’ll please Gran Turismo fans of old as it increases the Keijidosha (kei car) offering a bit further and in the most normal form we’ve seen so far.
While GT7’s kei stable includes the sporty options like the Beat, Cappuccino, Copen, and S660, and the utilitarian Carry and Jimny, we’ve not had an ordinary one before and the Honda N-One fits that brief perfectly. It’s the third Honda kei, but only the seventh in total; only GT1, GT3, and GT Sport (obviously) had fewer.
Subject of its own one-make race series in Japan, the N-One Owner’s Cup, the vehicle we’re getting is the second-generation N-One in RS guise. This is great news for players as it’s the only one specification with a manual gearbox, opening up tuning options for the 63hp, turbocharged box.
Until the update arrives we won’t know what the pricings for the vehicles will be, but we’d expect the Nismo to be comfortably the most expensive and likely a seven-figure car. The Qashqai and N-One are unlikely to reach six-figures between them, even if you buy two of each…
In addition to the three new cars, there’ll be a new livery for the Lexus RC F GT3 2017, comprising an updated Anest Iwata scheme to mimic the one raced by Gran Turismo World Champion Igor Fraga in the Super GT series, alongside a similar one from 2024.
Gran Turismo 7 Update 1.61: New Races & Events
Unusually we’re not seeing any mention of new Extra Menu Books for 1.61, so it looks like the collection-based tasks will miss a month. Neither are there any new Bonus Menu Books, though this is far less of a surprise.
However we will see three new races, as usual with each one keyed to a car from the update, and there’s more GT Sophy compatibility too.
Gran Turismo 7 Update 1.61: New Races
We won’t know the precise format or rewards for the new races until the update itself arrives, but we do have the broad strokes. Each features one of the new vehicles as its thumbnail, and they’re largely as you’d expect — though not entirely.
The NISMO Z-Tune will be the star of a new round of the Race of Turbo Sportscars at Fuji International Speedway, while the Nissan Qashqai is in for what looks like a frantic stage of the Japanese FF Challenge 450 at the chaotic Alsace Test Course. That leaves the Honda N-One, landing a round of the Lightweight K-Cup as you’d anticipate, but at the Nurburgring Nordschleife… We’d guess that’s a one-lapper.
Gran Turismo 7 Update 1.61: GT Sophy
GT Sophy has new capabilities again, with the advanced, machine-learning AI having learned another track since the last update. You’ll be able to race Sophy in a new dedicated event and custom races at High Speed Ring.
Gran Turismo 7 Update 1.61: New Scapes & Other Changes
You can pretty much guarantee Scapes in any given update, and so it proves in 1.61. While listed as a curation, it’s not immediately clear if the latest set of 20 is entirely new or drawn from existing spots — as several of the images of the “Lone Pine” set are similar to Scapes which are already available — though it looks at least as if the US west coast-oriented set was shot at a different time of year.
Further changes, such as new engine swaps, are kept under wraps for the patch notes, which arrive alongside the update when it lands at about 0600 UTC on Thursday July 24. There’ll be others, like new real car paints, that aren’t chronicled at all until the GT community combs through it all.
We can say though that a new circuit is incredibly unlikely, as it would almost certainly have been part of the pre-update material by now. That’ll mean GT7 players will have gone a full year without any new tracks — and even two years since the Suzuka Circuit updated signage was revealed in a live event without an appearance in the public version in the game (though the Nurburgring’s updated Xiaomi sponsorship arrived in a matter of days).
As usual there’s still plenty more to come, so watch this space for all the latest as we get it.
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