GT Sport Update 1.47 Arrives, Introducing Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps

Possibly the most eagerly awaited update in GT Sport’s two-year history to date has arrived. Yes, it’s Spa day, as fan-favorite track Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps is now part of the game.

The update, officially known as 1.47, is available from today. It brings both a regular version of the Spa circuit and, for the first time in the game, a wet conditions version right from the start.

Despite appearing in both GT5 and GT6, the famous Belgian circuit seemed unlikely to come to GT Sport until fairly recently. There appeared to be a licensing fee impasse between the circuit’s owners and the studio. However, some time in August, the stalemate seemed to break and the track featured in the New York World Tour live event.

Fans had been waiting since then, but Polyphony Digital has been putting the track through quality control paces to ensure it’s fit for public consumption. With that process completed, the track has duly arrived.

In addition to the track, there’s four new cars — one of which made its name at the very same circuit — and all are new to the Gran Turismo series.

The Mercedes-Benz 300 SEL AMG is a pretty unlikely race car, built from the brand’s 16-foot long, 4,000lb luxury car. However, with 247hp on tap, even the road car was pretty sprightly. Stripped of much of its bulk, and fitted with a larger, 6.8-liter, 422hp V8, the SEL became a different animal — and one that, as the “Rote Sau” (“Red Pig”) model seen here, finished second in the 1971 24 Hours of Spa.

A more modern luxury German performance car comes in the form of the Porsche Taycan Turbo S. There’s no actual turbo here, because the Taycan is an electric vehicle — Porsche’s first full production EV. The name simply lets you know what kind of performance to expect in line with the rest of the brand’s cars, and it’s quite a lot. This model of Taycan can produce up to 750hp, enough to make it the fastest electric production road car around the Nurburgring Nordschleife. It’s the first of three Porsche models that will come to the game as part of a new partnership with the brand.

The Nordschleife is also linked to the third car, Lamborghini’s Aventador LP750-4 Superveloce, or SV. In 2015, the SV set a storming lap time of 6:59, as part of Lamborghini’s assault on the Green Hell with a series of sub-seven minute cars. The SV is an upgrade over the 2011 Aventador already in the game, coming with another 50hp and a fixed rear carbon-fiber wing.

Meanwhile, if you like things a little slower, the fourth car has barely anything to do with Nordschleife laps or 24 hour races. It’s Mazda’s entry level Demio hatchback — also known as the Mazda 2 outside Japan. The Demio is almost inextricably linked with Gran Turismo, having featured in one form or another since the very first game. This model is the car Mazda introduced in late 2014 in Japan to replace the old Ford Fiesta-based Demio. It uses Mazda’s new “Kodo” design language and entirely new, in-house developed technology known as “SkyActiv”. This particular car is also a rarity for Gran Turismo: a diesel road car.

  • Lamborghini Aventador LP 750-4 Superveloce ’15 (N800)
  • Mazda Demio XD Touring ’15 (N100)
  • Mercedes-Benz 300 SEL 6.8 AMG ’71(Gr.X)
  • Porsche Taycan Turbo S ’19 (Gr.X)

As usual, there’s also some new rounds for the GT League single-player mode. They’re spread across the four levels, with two new rounds in the Beginner Group 4 Cup, two in the Amateur Real Circuit Tours, two in the Professional Nostalgic 1979, and one in the Endurance X2019 Series.

You’ll also find some new Scapes, centered on the new Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps. Along with the official “various other issues”, there’ll doubtless also be other undocumented changes that you’ll find discussed on our forum.

If you’re still waiting for the 2.6Gb update to download and install, you can watch this brief preview of the content coming your way:

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