Gran Turismo 7 was announced on June 11, 2020, during the PlayStation 5 unveiling. Despite its name, it’ll be the eighth game in the mainline franchise, which dates back to the groundbreaking Gran Turismo for the original PlayStation in 1997. The primary releases reached peak sales in 2001 with the launch of Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec on the PS2.
Jim Ryan, president and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment, a Sony rep confirmed that production challenges related to the pandemic have pushed the game back from 2021 to 2022.
“GT7 has been impacted by COVID-related production challenges and therefore will shift from 2021 to 2022,” the company told GQ as part of an interview about the PSVR 2 headset. “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.”
Sony and developer Polyphony Digital revealed the game last July, seven years after series creator Kazunori Yamauchi said “we don’t want to take too long on Gran Turismo 7.” The franchise is notorious for delays, so the fact that GT7 is sliding to next year probably shouldn’t come as a huge surprise. Still, it’ll come as a disappointment to fans who will have to wait a bit longer.
