Announcements, Information, etc.

Gran Turismo 7 - Update 1.49 Review

A few days ago, I discovered the announcement of the July 2024 Update of Gran Turismo 7 - 1.49

You may wonder why I decided to make a review? Well, because the content I know about that will be in it will pretty much make it the 2nd most popular Update in GT7’s lifecycle, after 1.40 aka Spec 2 of course. Keep in mind that this review includes references, so if you have some questions, you can ask in the comments. It also includes my own personal opinions, so please, don’t be rude. If you disagree with something I say, you can tell me, but it should be in a respectable tone, please. Anyway, let’s begin my personal review. 

Cars - The Update features 6 upcoming cars, which I’m going to review one by one. 

Tracks - The Update will involve a new track. 

Features - The game includes several new features. 

Rims and Tires - The game will include new Rim Models for the first time since March 3, 2022. 

Conclusion and final words. 

Cars:

1997 BMW M3 (E36)

2008 Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4

2016 RUF RGT 4.2

2007 Ferrari 430 Scuderia

1998 Subaru Impreza Rally Car

Genesis X Gran Racer VGT Concept

BMW M3 E36 - My personal favorite. This car has been quite underrated, and it felt almost forgotten within videogames, but the good news is that it will be added in the series for the very first time. While I surely am happy this car finally came to the series, I can’t help but wonder why it was missing for so long. I think that one popular appearance of the E36 would be the 1994 movie “The Chase”, which had a red E36 in it, and the titular character was played by Charlie Sheen. Also, the last time we got a BMW added was the 2018 BMW M2 Competition, back on (1.26). And this car had a very interesting glitch: due to the fact that the M2 was added alongside the 1994 Nissan Silvia K's Type S (S14) & the 1987 Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth, two cars which had Right-Hand-Drive, the M2, a Left-Hand-Drive car, had its wipers pointing toward the opposite direction, just like the ones of the 1990s Mercedes-Benz S-Class (W140). 

Lamborghini Gallardo - I am genuinely hyped. The fact that we got the Murciélago’s smaller sibling is pretty nice, especially considering that this car appeared in several more videogames. It appeared in GT6, and then went absent from GTS, as it was pretty much replaced with the Huracan. And no offense, but I just prefer the design of the Gallardo, over the one of the Huracan. We had Aventador & Huracan; now we got Murciélago & Gallardo. 

RUF RGT - This model is pretty cool in my opinion. The sport version of the Porsche 991 (2016 Porsche 911 GT3 RS in the game) is a decent looking car, with interesting potential. We already got the CTR3, alongside its donor car, the Carrera GT. Judging by the fact that the RGT has a relatively high PP rating, I really hope it can go above 800 PP. My opinion on this ride is neutral, as I don’t know how liked it is among others, but I hope I can use it for the Final Championship (WTC800) when I’m in the mood for an easy grind of 800 Grand in about an hour. 

Ferrari 430 Scuderia - We already have the regular F430 from 2006. And when tuned, the F430 has about 751 PP. In my case, that is with 4 Weight Reduction Stages, as the WRS5 is the most expensive tuning part in the entire game. So if my calculations are correct, the Scuderia might be marked somewhere between 750 & 780 PP, making it relatively slow for most Hypercar Parade events. The LFA had 750 PP without custom parts, now it has 763. And I say this, as I believe the minimum recommended rating for easy wins on the HCP events is probably 750, although the only condition is that you must drive Road Car, which I find disappointing, as I want to test my 400R on these events (804 PP). 

Subaru Impreza WRC - We got a Gr. B version of the Celica a while ago, so I think this car is okay. Not good, but not bad either. I’m not into Group based Race Cars much. Though I think Rally Fans will enjoy the Impreza, as I think it is based on the 22B version of the Impreza. 

Genesis X Gran Racer VGT - We already got the road version of this car, the Gran Berlinetta X VGT, which has a “questionable” behavior, when it comes to acceleration and top speed. And since it's a Race Car & VGT, I am definitely NOT going to buy it. If you want, you can buy it, I’m just stating my own personal opinion. 

Tracks: Eiger Nordwand

Eiger Nordwand is an Original track, based on an IRL location in Switzerland. The track is set in the Swiss Alps, and is supposed to be located near the Kleine Scheidegg Railway Station. The track appeared in PS3 titles of the series, from GTHD to GT6, so I really am looking forward to finally seeing and driving this track in HD. I never had a PS3, because when I was finally able to have a PlayStation, the PS3 had just ended production, so I bought the PS4 instead… At least we can finally see this track in modern quality. 

Tires: Michelin-custom tires

Michelin got added as a tire supplier. While I think it’s nice to see more manufacturers getting added into the game, I just hope that we can still somewhat remove the tire stickers. And I really hope that wouldn’t mean we would have to re-purchase all tires we owned in the game up to now, as for the Collector Players like myself, that would mean working really hard to purchase over 300 sets of Racing tires from each of the 5 types (and let's not mention the Dirt & Snow tires)

Rims: Pokal Racing Rims

We’ll get 15 tires, 5 sets of tires with each 3 of them being different colors & materials. Now, while I do admit this is cool, I’m kinda wondering why it took very long for the game to add new rims. My personal opinion? Tire designs are cool. I might check them out for any of my cars eventually. It’d be a bit long to buy all the tires in the game though. I own like 35% of them all or something like that. 

Physics: Updated In-Game Behavior

Polyphony Digital announced that they plan to update the physics. I hope that means they’ll fix the arcadey rally handling of cars. I really hope that won’t mean the PP ratings of the cars would get altered, as it always takes me a while to find the perfect numbers for each limit category (Historic Cars; WTC600; Porsche Cup; WTC700; WTC800 & etc.). So yeah, I’m neutral on this. 

GT Sophy: Coming to ALM & NBR24

Sophy will be coming to Autodromo Lago Maggiore & Nurburgring 24 hours. To be honest, I’m kinda worried, as after Spec 2, if you have fully maxed out cars, you will not race tuned up versions of cars that are similar ratings to yours when stock, but will go against cars that have similar ratings to your car with tune up… For example, using an 800 PP car that is tuned up will put against some Hypercars from the likes of the Vulcan & the FXXK. And that’s not just in Sophy, but in Arcade Race as well. Honestly, I really hope PD makes these events somewhat more fair with tuned up cars racing other custom rides, not putting custom tuned sports cars against Hypercars & VGTs…

In conclusion, I think (1.49) is a very awesome update, almost as great as (1.40) Spec 2. However, what worries me a little bit is the release date. I wouldn’t have minded if it was in the middle of the month or something like that, but on July 25 I might not be home, as my family will probably make me go on another summer vacation… And trust me, I hate that they always pick scorching Greek islands for them, where the temperatures are as high as the ones of the human body. While I might try to get a chance to stay home, I honestly can’t promise how successful it’ll actually be. Anyway, I really hope you enjoyed my review about Gran Turismo 7’s July 2024 Update (1.49). I’m giving it 9/10, because while it has some cool promising stuff in it, everything is still a little vague. Also, I just said my personal issue with how unlucky and unfair my life is…

So yeah. That was it. I’m really looking forward to (1.49). Hope it turns out to be as good as it is shown to be.