Fans of racing games must feel ever so excited about some of the titles set to release in the coming months (and years): PS4 owners have the tantalizing prospect of the highly anticipated DriveClub, whilst Xbox One players only have to wait until 30 September to get their hands on Forza Horizon 2. Owners of both consoles will also have the chance to explore the massive world of Ubisoft’s The Crew in November.

PS4 owners have another title to add to their wish list, as it has now been confirmed that Gran Turismo 7 is being unequivocally developed by Polyphony Digital, with the much-loved PlayStation exclusive series making a comeback to try and keep its crown as Sony’s racing king.

Speaking with Eurogamer, Kazunori Yamauchi (head honcho of Polyphony Digital) let the news drop that a seventh iteration of the racing sim was already in development. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like the game will be appearing on store shelves in 2014. “We are working on the title,” Yamauchi confirmed, but when on to say “I don’t think it’ll make this year!”

Although there had initially been hints that Gran Turismo 7 was going to be little more than an enhanced port of Gran Turismo 6, it looks like it’s going to be its own fully-fledged entry in the franchise. Interestingly, Polyphony Digital is breaking its own trend by starting work on the development of the full game — rather than giving fans a taster in advance.

Gran Turismo 6 was a fitting send-off to the PS3, in spite of some flaws such as poor AI and criticism over the pricing of microtransactions, and the game has continued to have a stream of updates. Polyphony Digital looks to be taking on board some of the criticism of their last title in the development of Gran Turismo 7. In particular, Yamauchi says that Polyphony Digital are looking at the sound quality — as well as promising an improvement on the sixth edition of the series:

“I think the quality of the sounds in Gran Turismo 6 will be improved... But most of the work will be done in Gran Turismo 7.

"I doubt that we’ll be throwing away the standard cars. Each car has its own fans. So I think we’ll hang on to the archive. In the meanwhile, some of those cars we may be able to make into premium cars as they become available — but basically we’re more focused on increasing the number of premium cars.”

What do you make of the news, race fans? Are you excited about the prospect of a next-gen Gran Turismo title? Or are you looking more at the brand new DriveClub?

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Gran Turismo 7 has no release date, but will be available on PS4.

Source: Eurogamer