Polyphony Digital has just introduced one of the strangest upgrades yet to the Gran Turismo series by introducing the Renault Avantime as a playable model for Gran Turismo 7. The French marque’s poorly-received minivan of the mid-2000s is one of four new vehicles being introduced as part of the specifically-named 1.62 Upgrade for GT7. And, despite two of them being variants of Chevrolet’s recently unveiled Corvette CX Concept, the Avantime is arguably the most notable.
All four new models, including the Renault, are immediately accessible as part of Gran Turismo’s latest monthly roll-out, and are also part of a raft of upgrades. These include three new ‘World Circuit’ tournaments, and a brand-new ‘Scape’ (Tokyo), a mode that allows players to photography their digital cars in real-world landscapes.
Though incredibly spacious and uniquely designed when it was first released in 2001 (Renault design chief Patrick Le Quement deliberately went with a minivan-sports coupe cross look to keep customers intrigued), the Avantime did poorly against the more established likes of Honda’s Odyssey, Jeep‘s Grand Cherokee, and even the BMW 3 Series. Indeed, a little under 8,500 of them were sold before Renault pulled the plug in 2003 (by contrast, BMW sold more than half a million 3 Series in 2002 alone). Somewhat fittingly, despite its poor reception, the Avantime has found a niche in the digital realm as, incredibly, this is the fifth game in which the French MPV has been featured, having debuted in 2004’s Gran Turismo 4.
MPV fans may be disappointed to learn that the playable Avantime is only available with a 3.0-liter V6. This produces a digital 204-horsepower – enough for an 8.5-second 0-60 MPH time and a 140(ish) MPH top speed, which can be sent to the front wheels via a five-speed automatic or a six-speed manual transmission.
The good news though is that, like the other 540-plus vehicles available in GT7, the Avantime can be specced to a player’s choosing, and, like the other three new additions to the game, can be used in three new World Circuit competitions offered as part of the 1.62 upgrade. And, let’s be honest, taking a 3,850-plus pound Avantime through Eau Rouge at Spa-Francorchamps for the World Touring Car 900 is something the lunatics among us would like to try at least once.
Alongside Renault’s former ‘future mobile,’ Polyphony’s upgrade also offers up the Afeela 1 – the all-electric collaboration between Sony and Honda that’s due to drop next year – the Corvette CX Concept, and its CX.R Vision Gran Turismo Concept alter-ego. Both debuted at the recent Monterey Car Week, are based on the C9 Corvette, and are the result of a collaborative exercise for General Motors’ worldwide design houses: the low slung Corvette nose, for example, was penned by GM’s UK division; the sleek aero body, complete with jet fighter-esque, lift-off cockpit emanates from California; and the concept itself was built in Michigan. The Corvette V8, meanwhile, has been replaced with four electric motors – one for each wheel – and a 90-kilowatt hour batter that produce a combined 2,000-plus horsepower.
Somehow, the CX.R Vision Gran Turismo goes even more aggressive with the aerodynamics, offering a lower ride height, a lighter curb weight, and an enormous rear wing for ungodly levels of downforce. Interestingly though, as hinted at by the customary yellow-black Corvette GT3 livery, the CX.R Vision does mate three electric motors with a 900 hp, 2.0-liter twin-turbocharged V8, with combined grunt again north of 2,000 hp.
Source: Gran Turismo
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