Hot on the heels of the Chevrolet Corvette CX.R Vision Gran Turismo, GT7 fans have news of another car in the Vision GT project coming our way — and it brings back a duet of brands that haven’t been with us in a while: Vauxhall and Opel.
Update (August 20): We’ve had confirmation from the relevant PR teams that the car in the game will only be present under the Opel brand, sadly. The wait for Vauxhall continues!
The sibling marques had been in the series as far back as Gran Turismo 2 — and in fact were partly behind a famous bug where European players could achieve 101.2% game completion — and stayed with us through Gran Turismo 6, right up until the series’ reinvention in Sport.
While the two brands had significant independent history, being founded within four years of each other at the turn of the 20th Century, their purchase by General Motors eventually consolidated them into a single entity. The difference between the two was that Vauxhall served the United Kingdom whereas Opel was sold on the European continent — which continues today under the Stellantis group.
Gran Turismo’s car roster reflected that, with Vauxhall originally being a replacement of the continental Opel marque in European/PAL versions of the game with English language selected. Every GT game to date has had identical rosters for the two brands through Gran Turismo’s life, with every vehicle under its umbrella being rebadged or — in the case of the VX220/Speedster — renamed and otherwise unchanged.
That looks set to continue in GT7 with the new Corsa GSE Vision Gran Turismo being presented in two forms: Opel and Vauxhall.
Both brands have issued a press release (with what looks like judicious use of Ctrl+H) regarding the new car, with concept drawings sporting both logos and some in-game shots of the Opel, so we’re going to presume that means both brands are returning in some form and the car will be available as both — but we’ll have to wait and see.
In either case, the Corsa GSE Vision Gran Turismo serves two purposes. The first is a preview of the next generation of Corsa, with the Vision based on the STLA Small platform that will underpin the Mk7 car, but it also highlights the recently reborn GSE performance sub-brand that was so hotly desired in the 1980s.
As well as being slightly longer and wider than the current Gen6 Corsa, the GSE VGT sports an updated variant of the “Compass” styling first shown on the GT Experimental concept car in 2018 and since featured on the Mokka — which recently had its own GSE and GSE Rally concepts shown.
Unlike the 1980s, the “E” now stands for “Electric”, so you probably won’t be surprised to learn that the Corsa GSE VGT is an electric vehicle — or that it’s been turned up to pretty high performance levels.
Each axle will sport a 350kW electric motor, adding up to an all-wheel drive monster that pushes 800hp to the track. That can be hiked by another 10% with a boost mode that delivers another 80hp for up to four seconds at a time, though it requires a little break before it can be used again. Interestingly the combined motor output is actually 939hp, so there’s some balancing going on.
Nonetheless, it can hit 62mph in two seconds and run on to 199mph, suggesting a pretty flexible range on the single-speed transmission. Despite toting an 82kWh battery pack, the Corsa GSE weighs in at 1170kg (2580lb), and there’s plenty of aero trickery to keep it glued to the ground including what looks like a giant pass-through duct to create a front wing.
If you happen to be in Germany in September, you’ll have two chances to see the Corsa GSE VGT up-close, as it’ll be presented as a full-sized model at the IAA Mobility Show in Munich starting on September 8. As you might expect, the car will also be on the floor at the Gran Turismo World Series live event in Berlin just under two weeks later on September 20.
Given that we already have screenshots of the Opel variant in-game, you might expect the Corsa to come along pretty soon (and play a role in the GTWS event) but we only have an “autumn” window at present. Luckily autumn begins the day after the Berlin round, and it could land as soon as September 25.
We’ll be keeping an eye on this one and bring you all the latest as we get it!
See more articles on Vauxhall and Vision Gran Turismo.
