The anticipated timeline for the next Gran Turismo game looks to be a little more in doubt, with reports over the last few days suggesting that Sony is pushing back the launch of the PlayStation 6 console on which it was expected to debut.
Like many of you, we’ve been expecting Polyphony Digital’s development of the next Gran Turismo to be running close to Sony’s production plans for the next PlayStation, and have had the back end of 2027 lightly circled in our calendar for both.
However, recent reports have suggested that the hardware side of this equation is now in doubt, with Sony reacting to impending supply chain issues and contemplating moving the PlayStation 6 back even further towards the end of the decade.
It’s the second time in a few short years — and two console generations — that global conditions look set to impact the gaming world, though it’s a little more self-inflicted this time round.
Semiconductor Shortages of 2020
Gamers likely won’t recall the events of 2020 with any particular fondness, as console shortages meant it was difficult to buy the latest and greatest machinery — the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series — when it launched in November of that year. Supply issues and scalping meant that many retailers instituted a lottery system for any console batches they acquired and desperate gamers were paying well over the odds on re-selling sites.
The causes for this were manifold, but the natural world had its hand in affairs back then. A rapid spread of a respiratory tract infection worldwide beginning in early 2020, and measures implemented to prevent it, resulted in severe supply chain issues. Meanwhile increasing numbers of people working from home drove up demand for both office-oriented information technology and leisure devices like consoles, while the continued rise of cryptocurrency mining kept GPU demand high.
An already stretched semiconductor industry faced even more woes in the shape of a trade war between the US and China and a subsequent drought in Taiwan. The island nation is a world-leader in the production of semiconductor wafers, with one facility — TSMC — alone responsible for half the world’s output. It’s a highly water-intensive process and the once-in-a-century drought severely impacted production.
As a result, facilities prioritized higher-profit industries, such as smartphone manufacturers, over others. The automotive sector, leaning into more and more processing power for advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), was heavily impacted, but gaming consoles — which used AMD chips made at TSMC –were about as close to the bottom of the pile as it got.
PlayStation 5 Recovery and PlayStation 6
While that did all gradually ease, it took until December 2022 for then-Sony Interactive Entertainment boss Jim Ryan to declare that the supply chain issues were over. The PS5 has remained about as successful as the PS4 before it over its life so far, with a little over 90m consoles sold-through to date.
With the average time between new PlayStation console launches being just about six and a half years, gamers’ thoughts have been turning towards the PlayStation 6 in the expectation of a 2027 launch date. That’s a window broadly corroborated by others in the industry for both the next PlayStation and the next Xbox, with AMD’s Lisa Su recently suggesting 2027 for the latter.
For PlayStation at least, this now looks to be in doubt and again it’s due to demand for chips in other, more profitable industries but under rather different conditions — and even the smartphone manufacturers are worried.
2026: AI Driving DRAM Demand
This time round, the finger can be squarely pointed at the rise of “AI”. The rapid expansion of this technology contributes to chip demand like never before, with huge AI data centers requiring tens — if not hundreds — of thousands of AI accelerator chips, each of which packs hundreds of GB of DRAM. At present rates, AI will not only be the top consumer of chips but outnumber all other sources combined. Prices are already soaring, as anyone who’s tried to buy a stick or memory for their PC recently will attest.
Rumors were already circling that this may give Sony pause on its next home console, with an eye on the projected launch price given the cost of the last one. A report from Bloomberg has now suggested that 2028 or even 2029 might be a more reasonable window.
Price increases for the Nintendo Switch 2 might be on the cards too, while the future for Xbox is up in the air with the latest thoughts on Microsoft’s next-gen device hinting at a costlier PC-hybrid more able to absorb the impact of price changes.
Gran Turismo 8
With Gran Turismo 7 now rapidly approaching its fourth birthday, we’ve all been expecting some form of hint at Gran Turismo 8 for a little while. Most observers have been of the opinion that, with the PlayStation 6 likely to come in 2027 and the 30th anniversary of the series also coming up in December 2027, the next GT title would be a PS6 launch title next year.
Any delay to the PS6 puts a wrench in this particular alignment of stars and raises further questions about the platform(s) on which GT8 will debut and when.
Had GT8 arrived in 2027 as a PS6-exclusive it would already have been the longest interval between Gran Turismo titles since the interminable wait for GT5. If the console is going to be pushed further, that could imply a couple of things.
Firstly, and most obviously, GT8 could be a cross-generational game and land on both PS5 and PS6 — just as GT7 launched on PS4 and PS5, though that was at the same time. For GT8 this could instead be a base version arriving on PS5, enhanced for PS5 Pro, and then further enhanced for the PS6 console whenever it arrives down the line. That would mean GT8 could arrive pretty much whenever, as it wouldn’t be contingent on the PS6’s availability.
Alternatively we could see a situation similar to the gap between GT4 and GT5 — or GT6 and GT7 — with some interim titles to tide gamers over with a pared-back experience previewing what’s to come. The situation was slightly different, in that the console was already available, but those gaps saw Gran Turismo: HD and Gran Turismo 5: Prologue arrive on PS3 and Gran Turismo Sport for PS4.
There’s been a mild hint at that already, with the standalone My First Gran Turismo arriving as a free demo (much like GTHD) in 2024 and — though it requires GT7 to function — the more recent Power Pack DLC in 2025.
Whichever path Polyphony Digital takes for the next GT game, we’ll be keeping a very close eye on it all so watch this space for all the latest as we learn it.
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