Gran Turismo has been one of the most successful driving simulators of all time, with an exciting journey almost as old at video gaming, through the hands of Polyphony Digital. And, for their latest installment, GT7, Polyphony has been fairly consistent at providing free of charge downloadable content, even years after the release of the full game. Be it new cars, new tracks, or new missions, you can rely on them to keep you attached your sim rig for a little while longer.
So, in their latest update, released in May, we got a few new cars that were teased in their X account. In usual fashion, minutes after the tease, the community fully knows what those cars are, and they are hardly a surprise by the time the update actually drops.
We got a Ferrari 812 Superfast, the C5 Corvette Z06, the Honda CR-V, and the Suzuki Carry kei truck. And even though it might seem I sorted these by value, I actually used another factor: relatability. I was in Japan last November and had an amazing time, and lost count of how many Carry I saw at every corner when exploring the land of the rising sun.
The Suzuki Carry is a truck, and a kei truck at that. The “kei car” is a category of compact cars built and developed for Japan, where space is at a premium, and there are stringent rules on emissions and power. The current rules allow for 660cc engines and 47kW of peaky, turbocharged power, even though it comes in the most bizarre form factors. I own every single kei car available in the game so, of course, as soon as the update dropped, I jumped straight into “Brand Central” and bought my first Carry.
Alongside car culture at large, the game is also big into customisation, allowing you to build liveries and templates you can share with the community. Even before I hit the track the first time, I went to see what was available in terms of making that truck my own. Some cars in the game have just a few options, with varying levels of effort from fellow players, to the point I just laugh and leave. This kei truck? Couldn’t be more different: people put so much effort into these templates, in so little time, that it compelled me to write this article.
My first option was a delivery truck, like the many I saw in the streets of Kanazawa, or Osaka. Cars are a great reflection of the place they come from, and kei trucks with a delivery company livery are even more so. They are absolutely everywhere, with their surprisingly large beds (considering the truck’s footprint) and compact size, making them very usable, and a common sight there. So while I didn’t take any track pictures of this, I had to spend some time with it in the city streets.
Alongside this popularity for work use, it should surprise no one that people grow fond of these, and end up spending copious amounts of money to make them look great following different schools of customisation: Itasha, Bosozoku, and even drift builds are quite common. And that was my next stop. I bought another brand new Carry and annihilated the competition in Fuji Motorsport Park with my 47kW engine, while sporting a beautiful D1-inspired livery.
With this update, Polyphony Digital shows once again that Gran Turismo isn’t just about lap times and leaderboard glory — it’s about automotive culture, in all its weird and wonderful forms. I can attribute most of my car-spotting skills to playing countless hours of Gran Turismo through the years, and way more often in kei/affordable cars than supercars. So while that Ferrari collects dust on the showroom, turns out kei trucks might just be the new cult heroes of the game.
