The Gran Turismo franchise of games has featured endless cars over its history, but none are stranger than these five in our opinion. What are your favourite oddball cars from Gran Turismo games?
A few weeks ago, as part of its February update, Gran Turismo 7 received no less than three new cars to its roster. Alongside the traditional racing game formulas of a sporty two-seater drop top in the form of the BMW Z4 and the classic French hot hatch of the Peugeot 205 GTI, a rather unusual model joined the fray.
The 1962 Mercedes-Benz Unimog is a high-riding, agricultural and frankly slow utilitarian vehicle best-suited to military support work in remote locations with rugged terrain. But missing that sort of challenge in GT7, drivers will have to make do with pootling along aboard this 30 brake horsepower diesel truck on top-of-the-range race tracks.
This ridiculous addition to the Gran Turismo 7 car list, whilst totally useless and yet at the same time fantastically brilliant, got us thinking. What are the top five cars found in Gran Turismo games that probably have no right in being there? Here is our compilation of oddball GT cars, but let us know your top picks in the comments.
Back in the late-1990's, Toyota was one of the first manufacturers to give in to the new movement, introducing the first of the Prius models. However, it was not until the mid-2000's that the nameplate became widespread around the world and, as a result, a symbol against everything the petrol head lifestyle signifies.
But that did not stop the famous hybrid from making its way into mainstream racing games with the most recognisable second generation appearing in both Forza and Gran Turismo titles. In 2003 form, the sworn enemy of every car nut on the planet featured in Gran Turismo 4, GT5 and Gran Turismo 6, though the most recent game drops this 2003 version in favour of its facelifted 2009 sibling.
Gran Turismo 4 got a special Toyota Prius trial version.
With a staggering 75 brake horsepower going to the front wheels, this beast of modern engineering can truly prove a handful to drive. Oh no, wait. That isn't right.
Nevertheless, weighing in at just 1.3 tonnes, it is actually a featherweight in comparison to modern machinery and so, despite thin eco-friendly tyres, should handle corners nicely.
Of course, for what it represented to the younger audience, the Toyota Prius surely has little reason to fill up a spot on the Gran Turismo car list. But a modern road car fitting typical western dimensions, it is far from the most unexpected and pointless car in the GT series.
This is the Volkswagen Schwimmwagen and much like most VW creations from the period, it is a military personnel transport vehicle used by German ground troops for traversing fronts of a moist nature.
The Volkswagen Schwimmwagen must be the strangest car in the GT series. Image credit: Polyphony Digital
First appearing in Gran Turismo 5, the water-going Beetle made a return to the series in GT6, but with the arrival of online-focused Sport, Polyphony decided a slow, lumbering military vehicle that could be a touchy subject to some had no place in an eSports game and so it is yet to make its PlayStation 5 debut.
Produced in part by Porsche and weighing in at under a tonne, you could compare this example of unconventional wartime engineering to a modern-day GT3RS. It even has a rear-mounted boxer engine thanks to its Beetle-based underpinnings. But it is also at the engine that those comparisons end, as an aircooled four-pot from over 80 years ago certainly cannot pump out much more than 25bhp.
Yes, as part of its one-off Lunar Exploration mode, Gran Turismo 6 featured the 1971 moon buggy that took to the skies and beyond during the Apollo 15 mission. Sadly, this odd creation made famous by the fourth lunar landing is only accessible via the unique driving mode and so you cannot race other space cars in GT.
Whilst that idea makes sense with the sole real example left to spend the rest of its days on the lunar surface, we would love for the moon buggy to make its return to Earth one day as part of the Gran Turismo franchise for a NASA Grand Prix of some sort. Make it happen, Polyphony!
That being said, 3 brake horsepower almost makes it the least powerful car in GT series history, so a race full of twenty of these buggies equipped with garden chairs and a TV-ready satellite will never make for the most exciting spectacle.
Well, those in-tune with Gran Turismo lore will remember a craze that even we would not dare complete. As part of its car list full of weird, wonderful and outright silly additions, Gran Turismo 4 featured the 1886 Benz Patent Motorwagen, considered the first car ever produced. Though little more than a horse carriage with a one litre, single cylinder, single horsepower engine, we struggle to call it a car.
Back to the impossible trend however as countless videos online show GT4 players attempt to not only set a lap time around the Nordschleife, but simply complete a lap around the Green Hell. In most cases, this requires a lot of U-turns to clamber up hills and a top speed of no more than 20kph. On average, most players complete the famous track aboard this... vehicle in around four hours. Ain't nobody got time for that.
Unfortunately, this slowest of the slow Gran Turismo cars only featured in the series' fourth instalment. But we say don't be sad about it being gone, be happy it happened at all.
Most Gran Turismo titles have featured the Midget name in the form of the nameplate's second iteration. Though with a normal amount of wheels and upwards of 30bhp, that is way too mundane for us. Trawl through the GT4 car list and you will find alongside this modernised machine a three-wheeled workhorse from 1963.
As you would expect from kei car regulations, this diminutive commercial vehicle fits miniature dimensions and sports a 300cc two-stroke mono-cylinder for around 12 ponies.
Sadly, and much like the Benz Motorwagen, this Daihatsu Midget is not available to drive in most events due to its three-wheeled nature. Instead, dedicated races in Gran Turismo 4 and single-car time trials are all you can do with the Special Vehicle.
But with the advent of improved physics engines and more powerful consoles, we live in hope that this unstable three-wheeler will once again return to the Gran Turismo series of games.
The Mercedes Unimog joins Gran Turismo 7. Image credit: Polyphony Digital
Silly additions that you will only use once but look back on with fond memories keep the franchise grounded and give players a bit of respite from the leg shake-inducing online lobbies.
With that in mind, we are calling to Polyphony and the team developing the series to bring back the weird and wonderful of the automotive world, and the recent Unimog is the perfect start. Not as a priority, of course, but we'd still love to see it.
What oddball cars do you best associate with the Gran Turismo franchise? Let us know in the comments and join the discussion in our Gran Turismo forum!
A few weeks ago, as part of its February update, Gran Turismo 7 received no less than three new cars to its roster. Alongside the traditional racing game formulas of a sporty two-seater drop top in the form of the BMW Z4 and the classic French hot hatch of the Peugeot 205 GTI, a rather unusual model joined the fray.
The 1962 Mercedes-Benz Unimog is a high-riding, agricultural and frankly slow utilitarian vehicle best-suited to military support work in remote locations with rugged terrain. But missing that sort of challenge in GT7, drivers will have to make do with pootling along aboard this 30 brake horsepower diesel truck on top-of-the-range race tracks.
This ridiculous addition to the Gran Turismo 7 car list, whilst totally useless and yet at the same time fantastically brilliant, got us thinking. What are the top five cars found in Gran Turismo games that probably have no right in being there? Here is our compilation of oddball GT cars, but let us know your top picks in the comments.
Toyota Prius
Those of us that grew up alongside the Gran Turismo franchise of games would also have grown up during one of the most tumultuous times in motoring history. The emergence of the eco war and subsequent fight against large capacity and frankly wasteful engines meant that ridiculously fast cars became fewer and fewer.Back in the late-1990's, Toyota was one of the first manufacturers to give in to the new movement, introducing the first of the Prius models. However, it was not until the mid-2000's that the nameplate became widespread around the world and, as a result, a symbol against everything the petrol head lifestyle signifies.
But that did not stop the famous hybrid from making its way into mainstream racing games with the most recognisable second generation appearing in both Forza and Gran Turismo titles. In 2003 form, the sworn enemy of every car nut on the planet featured in Gran Turismo 4, GT5 and Gran Turismo 6, though the most recent game drops this 2003 version in favour of its facelifted 2009 sibling.
Gran Turismo 4 got a special Toyota Prius trial version.
With a staggering 75 brake horsepower going to the front wheels, this beast of modern engineering can truly prove a handful to drive. Oh no, wait. That isn't right.
Nevertheless, weighing in at just 1.3 tonnes, it is actually a featherweight in comparison to modern machinery and so, despite thin eco-friendly tyres, should handle corners nicely.
Of course, for what it represented to the younger audience, the Toyota Prius surely has little reason to fill up a spot on the Gran Turismo car list. But a modern road car fitting typical western dimensions, it is far from the most unexpected and pointless car in the GT series.
Volkswagen Schwimmwagen
Speaking of unwarranted inclusions into Gran Turismo games, how about an amphibious adaptation of the Volkswagen Beetle (and the Type 82, the Kübelwagen) from World War II era Germany?This is the Volkswagen Schwimmwagen and much like most VW creations from the period, it is a military personnel transport vehicle used by German ground troops for traversing fronts of a moist nature.
The Volkswagen Schwimmwagen must be the strangest car in the GT series. Image credit: Polyphony Digital
First appearing in Gran Turismo 5, the water-going Beetle made a return to the series in GT6, but with the arrival of online-focused Sport, Polyphony decided a slow, lumbering military vehicle that could be a touchy subject to some had no place in an eSports game and so it is yet to make its PlayStation 5 debut.
Produced in part by Porsche and weighing in at under a tonne, you could compare this example of unconventional wartime engineering to a modern-day GT3RS. It even has a rear-mounted boxer engine thanks to its Beetle-based underpinnings. But it is also at the engine that those comparisons end, as an aircooled four-pot from over 80 years ago certainly cannot pump out much more than 25bhp.
Lunar Rover
If a military bodge job is what you're after for your next league race, then NASA has you covered. Where all the Schimmwagen could do was conquer neighbouring European territories with a slight damp issue, the Moon Buggy - or LRV-001 as the American government nicknames it - will take on terrain as extreme as new planets lost to the vacuum of space.Yes, as part of its one-off Lunar Exploration mode, Gran Turismo 6 featured the 1971 moon buggy that took to the skies and beyond during the Apollo 15 mission. Sadly, this odd creation made famous by the fourth lunar landing is only accessible via the unique driving mode and so you cannot race other space cars in GT.
Whilst that idea makes sense with the sole real example left to spend the rest of its days on the lunar surface, we would love for the moon buggy to make its return to Earth one day as part of the Gran Turismo franchise for a NASA Grand Prix of some sort. Make it happen, Polyphony!
That being said, 3 brake horsepower almost makes it the least powerful car in GT series history, so a race full of twenty of these buggies equipped with garden chairs and a TV-ready satellite will never make for the most exciting spectacle.
Mercedes-Benz Patentwagen
"If 3bhp is not the most underpowered vehicle in Gran Turismo series history, what is?", we hear you ask.Well, those in-tune with Gran Turismo lore will remember a craze that even we would not dare complete. As part of its car list full of weird, wonderful and outright silly additions, Gran Turismo 4 featured the 1886 Benz Patent Motorwagen, considered the first car ever produced. Though little more than a horse carriage with a one litre, single cylinder, single horsepower engine, we struggle to call it a car.
Back to the impossible trend however as countless videos online show GT4 players attempt to not only set a lap time around the Nordschleife, but simply complete a lap around the Green Hell. In most cases, this requires a lot of U-turns to clamber up hills and a top speed of no more than 20kph. On average, most players complete the famous track aboard this... vehicle in around four hours. Ain't nobody got time for that.
Unfortunately, this slowest of the slow Gran Turismo cars only featured in the series' fourth instalment. But we say don't be sad about it being gone, be happy it happened at all.
Daihatsu Midget
For the last car on our list, let's kick things up a notch and jump to a whopping 12 brake horsepower, though we do remain on three wheels. As aforementioned, Gran Turismo 4 was a hotbed for wacky racing game cars. It would not be a Gran Turismo car list article without the odd Japanese kei car and so here is the Daihatsu Midget - first of its name.Most Gran Turismo titles have featured the Midget name in the form of the nameplate's second iteration. Though with a normal amount of wheels and upwards of 30bhp, that is way too mundane for us. Trawl through the GT4 car list and you will find alongside this modernised machine a three-wheeled workhorse from 1963.
As you would expect from kei car regulations, this diminutive commercial vehicle fits miniature dimensions and sports a 300cc two-stroke mono-cylinder for around 12 ponies.
Sadly, and much like the Benz Motorwagen, this Daihatsu Midget is not available to drive in most events due to its three-wheeled nature. Instead, dedicated races in Gran Turismo 4 and single-car time trials are all you can do with the Special Vehicle.
But with the advent of improved physics engines and more powerful consoles, we live in hope that this unstable three-wheeler will once again return to the Gran Turismo series of games.
More Please, Polyphony
In the title and at the start of this article, we mention that these cars probably should not be in the game. Whilst true from a hardcore GT3 at Spa-Francorchamps super serious sim racer's point of view, the sim racing hobby is all about having fun with virtual cars. And so, we would argue that these purposeless cars are part of what give the Gran Turismo series its purpose.The Mercedes Unimog joins Gran Turismo 7. Image credit: Polyphony Digital
Silly additions that you will only use once but look back on with fond memories keep the franchise grounded and give players a bit of respite from the leg shake-inducing online lobbies.
With that in mind, we are calling to Polyphony and the team developing the series to bring back the weird and wonderful of the automotive world, and the recent Unimog is the perfect start. Not as a priority, of course, but we'd still love to see it.
What oddball cars do you best associate with the Gran Turismo franchise? Let us know in the comments and join the discussion in our Gran Turismo forum!
