Gran Turismo 7 Sees Massive Player Spike After Spec II Update

Gran Turismo 7’s Spec II update was the most substantial yet, bringing new cars, GT7’s first snow track, four-player split screen, and a plethora of quality-of-life improvements.

While GT7’s monthly updates often disappoint fans, Spec II was well-received by the community. It’s effectively given the game a new lease of life, with series creator Kazunori Yamauchi confirming the number of active players spiked significantly after the update rolled out in mid-November.

GT7’s active player base doubles after Spec II update

Speaking with OverTake.GG during the World Series finals, Yamauchi confirmed that GT7’s active playerbase has doubled since Spec II came out. “We just released the Spec II update and the number of active users jumped up to double what it was before that,” he said.

While sales numbers aren’t available, Yamauchi added that “[Gran Turismo 7] has been a success and we have more users” compared to GT Sport.

Since launching in March 2021, GT7 has adopted a live service model with free updates adding new content on a regular basis. Despite this, Yamauchi is surprised that GT7 has sustained an active playerbase.

“We’ve been able to maintain a really high number of active users throughout the release,” he said. “That’s something very unique to Gran Turismo, that some other titles have not been able to see. I’ve heard that in the video game industry that’s quite rare.”

Will Gran Turismo 7 get a December update?

As for the future of GT7, we’re expecting the final update of 2023 to arrive sometime this month. Polyphony has yet to announce GT7’s Christmas update, but it will likely launch around a month after the Spec II update in mid-December.

It probably won’t be as substantial as Spec II, but we can expect a handful of new cars at the very least. If GT7’s next update is planned for next week, expect Yamauchi to share a traditional car silhouette teaser this weekend.

In the meantime, two new Vision GT cars were unveiled during the World Series finals from Genesis and Italian fashion house Bulgari. The Genesis Vision GT can be claimed for free by watching the World Series video on the GT7 World Map screen before 10 December.

The Bulgari Vision GT isn’t as easily accessible, however – you can only access it if you buy the Bulgari Aluminium x Gran Turismo Special Edition watch for an eye-watering £4,490.

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