Gran Turismo 7 Patch 1.17 – Watkins Glen, new cars & multiplayer lobby settings

Following on from the traditional silhouette teaser, the contents of Gran Turismo 7 Patch 1.17 have been revealed with three new cars, the Watkins Glen International Circuit and a clutch of new menu book events to take on. The patch notes have also revealed that Polyphony has finally address one long-standing complaint with the game’s multiplayer. The update will is now live for the game across PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4, weighing in at around 2.25GB.

Update: Added further details and patch notes

As was speculated from the teaser tweet, the new patch adds the following three new cars:

• Suzuki V6 Escudo Pikes Peak Special ’98
• Suzuki Vision Gran Turismo (Gr.3 Version)
• 1932 Ford Roadster

However, what that tweet did not let on was that a new track would be added to the game. The Watkins Glen International Circuit is one of the icons of North American motorsport and a very welcome addition. While there was the 24h version of Spa-Francorchamps added in April, that doesn’t really count as a “new” circuit when Spa was already in the base game. Watkins Glen will be the first meaningful track addition to Gran Turismo 7 since launch. I can’t wait to try it out – I was literally racing this circuit in Forza Motorsport 7 yesterday and thinking how good it would be to have in GT7!

There’s also a trio of new ‘Extra Menus’ to be found in the Gran Turismo Café. These are:

• Toyota 86 Collection: Opens at Collector Level 20
• Honda Type R Collection: Opens at Collector Level 20
• Rotary Engine Collection: Opens at Collector Level 32

Gran Turismo 7 Patch 1.17 seems to be predominantly a content update, though we hope that the patch notes will reveal that Polyphony has made some changes and quality of life improvements in much requested areas like making online multiplayer lobbies not suck for people that want to do more than one race, refine certain vehicle physics quirks, or add promised features like selling cars. Those aren’t mentioned here, but we can cross our fingers.

Update: They’ve done it! They’ve finally enabled the ability to modify event settings after a multiplayer lobby has been created!

Gran Turismo 7 Patch 1.17 update notes

Main Features Implemented

1. Cars
– The following three new cars have been added:
・1932 Ford Roadster ‘63 (Purchasable at ‘Legend Cars’ from 24 June);
・Suzuki V6 ESCUDO Pikes Peak Special ’98 (Purchasable at ‘Legend Cars’ from 24 June);
・Suzuki Vision Gran Turismo (Gr.3 Version)

2. Tracks
– The ‘Watkins Glen International’ race track has been added in two different layouts:
・Watkins Glen Long Course
・Watkins Glen Short Course

3. World Circuits
– ‘Circuit Experience’ has been added to the ‘Watkins Glen International’ track in the ‘Americas’ section.
– The following new events have been added to ‘World Circuits’:
・Watkins Glen International
– American FR Challenge 550
– American Clubman Cup 700
– World Touring Car 800

These new events will become available at Collector Level 17.

4. Scapes
– The ‘Watkins Glen International’ location has been added as a featured Curation in Scapes;
– A new spot has been added to the Scapes demo roll.

5. Café
– Added 41 sets of new conversations with the Characters appearing in the Café. These new conversations can be accessed by changing cars in ‘Garage’ and speaking with the Character that is in the Café;
– New ‘Extra Menus’ have been introduced: these menus provide opportunities to complete new car collections and are accessible after a certain Collector Level has been reached. In Update 1.17, the following three Extra Menus have been added:
・Extra Menu No. 1: ‘Collection: Toyota 86’
・Extra Menu No. 2: ‘Collection: Honda Type R’
・Extra Menu No. 3: ‘Collection: Rotary Engine’

The new Extra Menus will appear after clearing Menu Book No. 39 (‘Championship: World GT Series’) and having watched the ending, with a player’s Collector Level of at least 20 for Extra Menu No. 1 and 2, and a Collector Level of at least 32 for Extra Menu No. 3.

6. GT Auto
– The following four new paint colours have been added:
・Ford Roadster Black
・Suzuki Escudo Pikespeak Red
・Suzuki VGT Gr3 Blue
・Suzuki VGT Gr3 Black

7. Options
– The ‘Horn’ command can now be assigned to a button in the controller configuration menu. ‘Horn’ is not available for race cars and certain other cars;
– ‘In-game Notifications’ settings for ‘Now Playing’ are now stored in the Save Data;
– A ‘Steering Controller Settings’ option has been added to the Controllers menu. This menu can be used to check connected steering wheel controllers and adjust related input values. Pedal sensitivity can also be adjusted from ‘Pedal Calibration.’

Other Improvements and Adjustments

1. Multiplayer
– Event Settings can now be changed after a room has been created in ‘Lobby;’
– The ‘Variable Time Speed Rate’ value in ‘Time / Water Settings’ can now be changed from 10x to 30x.

2. Race
– Added a ‘Refuelling Speed’ option to ‘Race Settings’ in ‘Lobby’ and ‘Custom Races;’
– Added a ‘Load Ghost’ option to the ‘Ghost Settings’ menu from [Quick Menu] > [Settings];
– The correct road wetness will now be automatically applied if ‘Custom Weather’ is selected from ‘Time / Weather’ options in ‘Lobby’;
– Fixed an issue wherein the rewards at the end of a race would not match the adjusted values following a change in the Event Settings in ‘Race Settings’ from the Quick Menu;
– Changed the number of laps set for each course in [Arcade] > [Single Race] when in Offline Mode.

3. Sport
– Added Gold, Silver, and Bronze target times rewards to ‘Online Time Trial’. It is now possible to obtain those rewards by re-entering ‘Sport’ after an Online Time Trial ranking registration period has ended;
– The following game stats are now displayed at the top of the screen in ‘Sport’:
・Races
・Victories
・No. of Top 5 Finishes
・No. of Gold Record Finishes (Online Time Trial)
・No. of Silver Record Finishes (Online Time Trial)
・No. of Bronze Record Finishes (Online Time Trial)

4. My Page
– The following items have been added to ‘Profile’ in ‘My Page’:
・No. of Top 5 Finishes
・No. of Gold Record Finishes (Online Time Trial)
・No. of Silver Record Finishes (Online Time Trial)
・No. of Bronze Record Finishes (Online Time Trial

– Fixed the calculation method for the following stats under the ‘Sport’ category in ‘Profile’ in ‘My Page’:
・Pole Positions
・Races
・Victories

5. Physics Simulation Model
– Adjusted the speed of certain hybrid cars when they ran out of fuel.

6. Sound
– Fixed an issue with the Ford GT LM Race Car Spec II engine sound.

7. GT Auto
– Fixed an issue wherein a livery data error would occur when transferring liveries from ‘Gran Turismo Sport’ with the following cars:
・Toyota 86 GT ’15
・Toyota 86 GRMN ’16
・Honda Civic Type R (EK) ’98

8. Others
– Various other issues have been addressed.

Grievances aside, Gran Turismo 7 is great. In our review, I wrote:

“Gran Turismo 7 takes everything that was excellent about GT Sport’s fantastic multiplayer, high fidelity cars and circuits and innovative Scapes mode, and builds up a more traditional GT experience around it. It’s got its own quirky new ideas which will likely be passing diversions to most, but at its core, this is the Gran Turismo you know and love. Broad and accessible, but with depth, nuance and competitive racing for those keen to find it.”

Source: PS Blog, Gran Turismo