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Polyphony Digital boss now reckons Gran Turismo 7 will arrive on PS4 some time before 2017”, which may or may not mean 2016.
The date was given to SpazioGames, as translated by GameSpot.
"People will not wait so much,” Kazunori Yamauchi said when asked about a potential 2017 release. We are talking about Gran Turismo, we must not wait so long."
Yamauchi added that GT7 will feature more premium cars than its predecessor (which split its roster into high-detail ‘premium’ cars and lower details ‘standard’ cars) and features a reworked physics system for improved collision and damage simulations.
Back in August 2013, three months before the launch of Gran Turismo 6 on PS3, Yamauchi speculated that the game could at some point be released on PS4 under the name Gran Turismo 7 – something he at one point said could happen as soon as 2014.
In fact, just days before the launch of PS4 Yamauchi again predicted a 2014 release for GT7, although he admitted this was a best case scenario”. However, by the summer of 2014 Yamauchi had conceded that this was unlikely, and by the autumn the estimate had shifted to 2015 or 2016.
GT fans will remember the many delays that dogged GT5, of course, which was actually released five years after its first E3 reveal in 2005.
There’s a lot riding on GT7. Many remain unaware that Gran Turismo is by far Sony’s best-selling series, but Gran Turismo 6 was the worst performing GTtitle by quite some margin – a fate most attribute to the fact that it was released on PS3 after the PS4 had hit the market.
Also problematic is Polyphony’s unique approach to development. Yamauchi’s unrivalled commitment to detail may arguably still produce the best console driving simulation on the market, but in feature terms GT is finding itself trailing behind many of its rivals – many of which release annually.
