The most popular racing game on Sony’s PlayStation, Grand Turismo 7 got a new update today that includes new cars, tracks and features.
Importantly the version or SPEC 1.40 update includes an ultra-rare inclusion, a Tesla vehicle to drive in the game. It is strange how rare it is for Tesla vehicles to feature in the massively popular racing video game category. You would think that having gamers race in electric cars would help many be inspired by their performance and consider them in real life, but to date their inclusion has been rare and Tesla specifically almost never included.
Many have speculated the reason for this is down to the fact that Tesla won’t pay to have their vehicle and brand in games, as such they don’t get included, so it’ll be interesting to learn if any payment was made, particularly with the backdrop of Tesla’s change in stance to now dip their toe in the advertising game.
On the PlayStation Blog, they detail the new update and provide the following information on the car, included in the update.
Tesla Model 3 Performance ‘23
The bestseller from the company that changed the EV market forever.
(Can be purchased in Brand Central)
The Tesla Model 3 is a sedan EV first introduced in 2016. One of the most compact Tesla models at 4,695 mm long, 1,850 mm wide and 1,445 mm tall, it was apparently designed with considerations for Japanese mechanical parking garages. Inside the sporty 5-door hatchback-style body is a surprisingly simple cabin space. There are almost no switches on the dashboard or center console, with almost all functions of the car from the climate control to the “autopilot” system being controlled from a 15-inch touch screen. Many of these functions are also controllable via the Tesla smartphone app.
The most powerful model in the line-up is the Performance Dual Motor AWD grade which was available from its debut until 2023. This all-wheel drive system places an electric motor on each of the front and rear axles and while the total system output has not been officially published, it has a 0-62.1 mph time of 3.3s and a top speed of 162.2 mph. Based on these figures and its market price, the Model 3 is almost unrivalled in its cost-to-performance ratio.
That’s a pretty glowing summary of what the car has to offer and if I was a PlayStation owner, I’d definitely be jumping behind the wheel. Let’s hope that this is just the start for Tesla vehicles in-game and we see cars like the Model 3, Model Y, Cybertruck and more come to racing games on all platforms in the future.
The update also includes a number of other vehicles that drink dinosaur fuel.
