There’s Bad News For Gran Turismo 7 Fans

With theaters closed around the world, just about every major Hollywood blockbuster movie has suffered a long delay. Originally slated for a theatrical release in April 2020, the new James Bond movie ‘No Time to Die’ was recently delayed a second time until November this year. Reports are also claiming Fast & Furious 9 will be delayed until later this year, but the film is currently still on track for a May release at the time of writing.

It’s not just the film industry that’s suffering in the entertainment sector, however. Covid restrictions have brought challenges to the video game industry too, so it’s not surprising that some of the most anticipated new games are taking longer to develop. Unfortunately for racing game fans, Sony has announced that the upcoming PlayStation 5 racing simulation Gran Turismo 7 has been delayed until 2022 due to “Covid-related production challenges.”

“GT7 has been impacted by Covid-related production challenges and therefore will shift from 2021 to 2022,” Sony said in a statement issued to GQ. “With the ongoing pandemic, it’s a dynamic and changing situation and some critical aspects of game production have been slowed over the past several months. We’ll share more specifics on GT7’s release date when available.”

Gran Turismo 7 didn’t have a firm release date, but was expected to launch in the second half of 2021. The news will come as a blow to PS5 owners looking forward to playing a new racing game that takes advantage of the next-generation hardware. Apart from DiRT 5, there isn’t a lot of choice for racing game fans on PS5 right now. A new Need for Speed game is expected to be released later this year.

Forza Motorsport is also currently in development for the rival Xbox Series X console, but it also doesn’t have a release date yet. Fortunately, the PS5 is backward-compatible with the PS4, so it’s the perfect excuse to replay some of the many excellent racing games available on PS4 such as Gran Turismo Sport, Driveclub, Project CARS, and Need for Speed: Heat.

The first numbered entry in the Gran Turismo series since 2013, GT7 will return to the series roots with a traditional single-player campaign that will presumably allow you to race and collect hundreds of cars. From the trailer, we know the Aston Martin DB11, Acura NSX, and Ford GT will feature in the game – and they will look more realistic than ever before running at 4K resolution at 60fps. Gran Turismo 7’s delay was announced on the same day Sony confirmed a new VR headset is in development for PS5 as a successor to the PSVR, so perhaps GT7’s release will coincide with it.