Gran Turismo 7’s first update in a while arrived this week, with 1.52 adding three new vehicles to the game. The headline of those should’ve been the R35 Nissan GT-R T-Spec, the final R35 which has been a staple of modern Gran Turismo games.
If not that, the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII could’ve been a star too. Its inclusion means we’re now just an Evo I, II and VII away from the full set in the game. But oh no, nobody seems to have really been too bothered by that.
Really, it’s the humble Toyota Hiace that’s come along and stolen our hearts. You know, a van.
2016 Toyota Hiace DX, Gran Turismo 7
Granted, that’s not really a surprise considering modifying oddballs has long been one of the best things about Gran Turismo. Even GT7 has its fair share already, with the Toyota Alphard and the HiMedic, based on the Hiace, all in the game.
So with the arrival of the van, we’re delighted to see the community has taken a shine to it. It only took one cursory glance at Twitter this afternoon to see one being drifted with Eurobeat classic ‘Gas Gas Gas’ dubbed over it.
At this point, we should mention you’re able to swap a supercharged LS7 V8 used in a Subaru BRZ drift car in-game into the Hiace. That’s good for 1,037bhp… sent through the rear wheels of a van. You can see where that’s going.
Naturally, the game’s dedicated subreddit has been full of clips of people doing weird and wonderful things with that combination. One of our highlights is a beautiful 360-entry into a slide at Tsukuba.
Creators have had a field day, too. The game’s content gallery is full of delivery liveries, school buses… and several Renault Espace F1 tributes. Oh, and we found an extremely cursed take on the Cat Bus from Studio Ghibli’s My Neighbor Totoro.
If you’ve got GT7 and you’re yet to spend those 25,000 credits on a Hiace, go treat yourself. It’s entirely worth it.
