Kazunori Yamauchi has pulled the covers off the three cars coming to Gran Turismo 7 in next week’s update, and two of them are not quite what we were expecting. The series creator took to social media to reveal the Renault Twingo, Porsche 964 Turbo S, and Yangwang U9 (yes, U9, not the Xtreme) as the trio joining the game on April 23.
The confirmation follows last week’s teaser image, which showed all three cars under dust sheets. The Twingo was the easy call. The other two had us guessing, and in both cases the answer turned out to be the more interesting option.
The Porsche: A 964, But a Rare One
We knew the middle car was a 964-generation 911 from its silhouette. What we didn’t know was which variant Polyphony Digital had picked. Turbo models were on the shortlist, as was a Ruf given the recent Tokyo pop-up collaboration, but the Turbo S was not the obvious bet.
It’s a genuinely rare thing. Porsche built the 964 Turbo S 3.3 Leichtbau in 1992 as a homologation-adjacent, weight-stripped special, with only 86 cars made. A later 3.6-liter Turbo S followed in very small numbers for the US and Japanese markets. Either version would be the first 964 Turbo S in any Gran Turismo title.
The Yangwang: Not the Xtreme
Here’s the bigger surprise. When Yangwang first teased the U9 for GT7, the reveal trailer showed the 2,977hp Xtreme variant lapping Shanghai International Circuit. That’s the car with the unofficial 308mph one-way run and the 6:59.157 production EV record at the Nordschleife.
Of course it was going to be the Xtreme… xcept it isn’t.
Yamauchi’s confirmation shows the regular U9: still an extremely fast car at 1,270hp from four in-wheel motors, still with the suspension system that can literally jump the car off the road, but not the halo variant most expected. A video of the car in-action has also been posted on PlayStation China’s official BilliBilli account.
It’s an odd choice given that the Xtreme is what Yangwang itself used to announce the partnership.
For now, the U9 sits alongside the Xiaomi SU7 Ultra as the second Chinese hypercar-adjacent addition to the GT7 roster in recent memory.
The Twingo: As Advertised
The one car everybody correctly identified from the teaser was the original Renault Twingo, and the confirmation simply rubber-stamps it.
58 to 75hp depending on the engine, a cult following in Japan from its original run, and a car that exists in a very different universe from the 1,270hp EV it’s sharing an update with. We’re still assuming engine swaps will appear for this one sooner rather than later…
When It Lands
Polyphony has posted the server maintenance notice, confirming the update will land on Thursday April 23. Servers go offline at 02:00 EDT (06:00 UTC) and come back up at 04:00 EDT (08:00 UTC), which is when the update itself will be available to download and play.
During the two-hour window, only Arcade Race within World Circuits will be accessible, and game progress can’t be saved while the servers are down.
A more detailed PlayStation Blog write-up should surface soon, which will fill in the remaining details. Stay tuned!
See more articles on Gran Turismo 7 Game Update, Porsche, Renault, and Yangwang.
