Gran Turismo 7 launch delayed to 2022 due to Covid

In June last year, Polyphony Digital released an announcement trailer for Gran Turismo 7, which is the next entry in the company’s famous racing simulator series. It’s been more than eight months since we saw the game run on a PlayStation 5, but if you’re hoping to get your hands on it soon, we have some bad news.

In an interview with GQ, Jim Ryan, who is the president and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), confirmed that the game’s launch will be heavily delayed. “GT7 has been impacted by Covid-related production challenges and therefore will shift from 2021 to 2022,” Ryan said.

“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,” he added.

So, there will be no new Gran Turismo this year, which is unfortunate because the game is certainly one of the most anticipated exclusives for the PS5. The game is the first in more than seven years (coming onto eight with this news) to be given a number at the end, and appears to be more fully fledged than the current Gran Turismo Sport, which is more focused on e-sports and considered to be more of a spin-off than the numbered series.

Fans of the series will be familiar with a full-on campaign mode, along with other favourites like the used car lot and tuning parts shop, all of which are in GT7. With the PS5’s hardware, the game also looks incredibly pleasing to the eye, with support for raytracing. As there’s still quite some time before 2022, you’ll have plenty of time to first source a PS5, which has become increasingly rare as current demand heavily outweighs supply.

GALLERY: Gran Turismo 7 announcement