We’re coming up to three and a half years since Gran Turismo 7 first launched and, delightfully, it’s still getting more content. Given we’re yet to hear anything about GT8, though suspect it’s well into development, we’ll take any new additions we can get.
Even if that new content is pretty limited, as is the case with the just-revealed update 1.61. Coming to GT7 on Thursday morning, it’ll bring three Japanese cars of very different flavours to the game. Well, technically, two from Japan and one from err, Sunderland.
Most exciting of the three is another Nissan Skyline GT-R. It’s arguably the coolest of them all, though, and not inarguably the rarest. Just 19 examples of the R34 Nismo Z-Tune are thought to have left the Omori factory, and it’s no surprise that one became the most expensive Skyline ever sold just a few years ago.
Built from 2004, the Z-Tunes were based on used R34s bought by Nismo. Stripped back and given a reworked version of the RB26 with upgrades from the GT500-competing version of the engine and turbos from a Nürburgring 24 Hours-entered race car, the now 2.8-litre straight-six produced a monstrous advertised 493bhp. ‘Advertised’ because, in reality, it’s thought the true number was close to 600bhp but kept quiet for complicated warranty reasons.
Alongside the Skyline is a very different slice of JDM. The Suzuka-built Honda N-One has consistently been one of Japan’s best-selling Kei cars since its introduction in 2012, so it’s rather a surprise that it’s taken so long to come to GT7.
It’s here now, though in second-generation form, and in RS trim. Not Rallye Sport in this case, but rather, Road Sailing. The more you know.
Then from Sunderland, the car of choice for people driving 40 on national speed limit areas before continuing to do 40 in a 30, it’s the Nissan Qashqai. More specifically, this one’s the E-Power – its wheels driven by electric motors, with a battery charged by an engine acting as a range extender. It’s significantly more mundane than the tech makes it sound, trust us.
That’s all for any major new additions with update 1.61. No tracks this time, or extra in-game menus to play through. Just a handful of new races, the addition of Sophy support for High Speed Ring, plus a new scapes location set in California’s Inyo National Forest.