It likely won’t release for at least another five years or so, but Gran Turismo 7’s director is already brainstorming ideas for the sequel.
Considering Gran Turismo 7 launched less than a year ago, it’s far too early to expect any news on a sequel.
Yet it sounds as if Polyphony Digital has already begun some work, or is at least about to start work, on a potential Gran Turismo 8, according to studio CEO and series producer Kazunori Yamauchi.
All he’s said about the matter, however, is that he is ‘starting to run towards the next one,’ but he claims he’s unable to discuss any more about it.
Yamauchi apparently has an idea of where he wants to take the series, according to a recent interview with Japanese outlet Game Watch.
When asked whether there was anything he would like to incorporate into a future game, that can’t be done with current hardware or that was missing in Gran Turismo 7, he answered, ‘Actually, there is a theme.’
‘I’m starting to run towards the next one, but I can’t tell you yet. It’s a pity that I can’t talk much,’ he said (via Google Translate).
As you can see, there’s no hint as to what the ‘theme’ is he wants to explore but it may be related to VR, with an update for Gran Turismo 7 already planned for the launch of the PlayStation VR2 this month.
While it’s entirely possible we’ll see the next Gran Turismo release later into the PlayStation 5’s lifecycle, it most certainly won’t release anytime soon. It may not even come out until the PlayStation 6.
With AAA game development having grown more expensive and time consuming, the gaps between Gran Turismo games have become longer as well.
The series did see a release on PlayStation 4 with 2017’s Gran Turismo Sport, but its status as a true sequel is debated, considering it lacked a lot of content at launch, including any proper single-player modes.
Gran Turismo Sport was also practically an online service, with no offline support whatsoever, something Gran Turismo 7 has come close to repeating. While it does feature single-player content, the game still requires a permanent online connection to do anything.
Even if you do count it as a mainline entry, there was still a five year gap between it and Gran Turismo 7, which was made longer thanks to delays. That could partially be chalked up to the coronavirus pandemic affecting development, but the series has a long history of delays.
Also, if Gran Turismo 7’s use of microtransactions is anything to go by, we expect Gran Turismo 8 to be another live service title. Hopefully Sony will actually advertise it as such and not charge people £70 for it to begin with.
Sony hasn’t been subtle about its desire for more live service titles, saying it hopes to release 10 of them by 2026 and specifically bought out Bungie for its experience with such projects.
Gran Turismo 7 is available for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5.
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