Gran Turismo 7‘s latest update is a real treat for those of us who grew up with the franchise. It introduces three iconic Japanese cars that were modern when the original game came out in 1997, and it’s almost hard to believe they’re now bona fide classics. Playing these cars is what made us fall in love with the racing simulator back in the day, and it’s good to see them making a triumphant return.
The EG Civic SiR-II was still a common sight on the streets back in 1997. Of course, we looked longingly at the JDM SiR-II, whose B16A made 168 horsepower to our Si’s measly 125. That didn’t stop EG Civics from becoming one of the most popular tuner cars of the era though, and it was thrilling to find a game in which you could play essentially the same car parked in mom’s driveway.
The R31 Nissan Skyline wasn’t in the original Gran Turismo but, let’s face it, most Americans didn’t even know there were Skylines before the R32 back then. Then Gran Turismo 2 came out in 1999 with an unprecedented 600-plus cars and introduced us gaijin to the glory of Godzilla’s ancestors, including the R31. The boxy Bayshore cruiser is one of the least popular Skyline generations outside of Japan but it, particularly the technologically advanced GTS-R, deserves a spot in the Skyline hall of fame that is the Gran Turismo franchise.
Gran Turismo brought knowledge of JGTC to many outside of Japan. The original games brimmed with iconic liveries on Supras, Skylines, and NSXes. For the Y2K season, the Castrol-liveried Mugen-Dome NSX won the GT500 Championship and its driver, Ryo Michigami, won that year’s Drivers’ Championship. Perhaps this should be the next Castrol livery to be resurrected in NASCAR.
In addition, the May update adds Volvo as a manufacturer, with the classic 240 Wagon and V40 T5 joining the fray. It’s a mix of cars that’s extremely nostalgic for Gen Xers and Millennials, and we only hope that more updates like this are in the works.
In the early Gran Turismos, I basically just collected old “run of the mill” JDM cars.
Not many other games where you can buy/race/upgrade an st162.
I’d love to see more of the older generation cars introduced into GT7.
I started playing GT with GT3 when I my parents got me a PS2 way back when, and I have every main GT games for the Playstation series, including the one for the PSP!
I play single-player only, and I gradually grew out of these. Starting with GT Sports and now GT7, I got them, I played them and I enjoyed them, but it eventually comes to an end, playing on satudray morning, buying and trying every used cars I might enjoy, and then… that’s it, no more things to do… Older games had the market evolving between every race so there always was something new available to try, and I miss that enough that I got GT5 out of retirement for my winter saturday mornings.
These cars are what I miss most in the new games, I get that they go with the times and we want to see modern cars, but I really miss the little cars, the misfits, the mundanes like an ’80s pop-up headlamp FWD Celica that I could develop enough to win against some R32 GT-Rs. The bullet-shaped Prelude, 280ZX, Toyota Sera, there were so much “little” cars that should never have been on a racetrack, cars that we could dream of actually owning as a teenager, on a teenager’s budget, and race them one against each other!
I am truly glad to see the EG civic, the R31 and the Volvo making a comeback, but I know it will last me no more than a weekend’s worth of mornings, so I now fire up this game once every season, I’d say.
I will absolutely “purchase” the EG Civic and the not-quite-an-Iron-Mask R31 as soon as this downloads. LOVE both of these add-ins especially being the right age for seeing / admiring / driving / tuning the Civic in California as a teen
This was a great drop by GT7! I have already bought the Volvo wagon and the NSX, will mot likely get the rest as well, except the V40, which is an odd choice…. many more interesting Volvos available