GT7 Spec IV Part 1 Arrives 15 October: Sportsland SUGO, the RX-Vision GT3 Evo and Five More Cars

GT7 Spec IV Part 1 arrives on 15 October with Sportsland SUGO and six new cars, led for racers by the Mazda RX-Vision GT3 Evo and a 1987 Civic Group A. Polyphony Digital confirmed the date on gran-turismo.com after showing the Part 1 trailer at the World Series round in Singapore on 3 October.

We covered the full shape of the update when it was first announced in September, so this piece sticks to what is new: the date and the six cars. The feature list for October hasn't changed. It's still SUGO, a new opening cinematic, the Vintage dealership section, Car Concierge, the Experience mode, Car Viewer and a higher Collector Level cap.

The car that matters for racing

Of the six, only one is likely to change what you race every week, and it's the Mazda RX-Vision GT3 Evo. Gr.3 is the category GT7 players race most. Across the last 90 days on our event statistics page, Gr.3 accounts for 18 of the 57 Daily, Time Trial and World Series events, more than any other group. The two most-picked cars across every category in that period are both Gr.3: the Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) and the Genesis Gr.3. The original RX-Vision isn't in the top ten at all.

The Gr.3 grid is the busiest in the game, and right now it belongs to a Porsche and a Genesis. A new Gr.3 car only shakes that up if its Balance of Performance puts it in the same window, and Polyphony hasn't published figures for the Evo yet. We expect it to arrive with a BoP that keeps it close rather than ahead, which is how most recent Gr.3 additions have landed. It will show up in our data within a week of release either way.

The other five

The rest of the list is a collector's update, and a good one. The headline surprise is the 1994 Ferrari F355 Berlinetta, a mid-nineties Ferrari with a manual gearbox is exactly the kind of car Sport Mode Dailies never touch but Time Trials occasionally do, so don't rule out seeing it in a one-make combo.

The Honda Civic Si Group A Version from 1987 is the one older players will notice. It carries the Mugen Motul livery was last seen in GT6. Group A touring cars of this era are light and narrow, and they reward carrying speed rather than braking late. Expect it to suit SUGO well.

Then come the fun ones. The 1986 Citroën 2CV 6 Charleston and the 2023 Honda Step WGN Spada Premium Line, a seven-seat family minivan, are not cars anyone will race seriously. They fit neatly with the Family mode arriving in December, and they will almost certainly turn up as Café menu or Experience challenge cars.

The sixth car is the Xiaomi Vision Gran Turismo, the electric concept whose footage was also shown in Singapore. Experience mode was briefly shown with Xiaomi-branded challenges built around this car and the SU7 Ultra. That suggests Experience will launch with at least one manufacturer's set ready on day one.

One car that isn't in the trailer is the BMW M5 (E60).

SUGO goes live for everyone

World Series players have already raced SUGO. It was used for Nations Cup qualifying, which is how most of the community got a first look at the layout. On 15 October it opens up to everyone, and it's a safe bet to appear in the Daily Races within the first few weeks. Short circuits with big elevation changes tend to produce tight leaderboards, so a SUGO Time Trial is one we would like to see early.

Final Thoughts

For collectors, Part 1 is strong: a Ferrari that should have been in the game years ago, a properly old-school Group A Civic and two cars that are just there to make you smile. For competitive players, it comes down to one car and one track. The RX-Vision GT3 Evo either finds a place in a Gr.3 field that two cars currently dominate, or it becomes another car that looks great and rarely gets picked. SUGO, meanwhile, is the first genuinely new circuit to learn in a while, and that alone makes 15 October worth looking forward to. You can follow the round that revealed all this on our World Series page.