Polestar did the virtual thing this weekend by introducing the upcoming Polestar 5 into Gran Turismo 7 at the GT World Series event held in Los Angeles. The vehicle’s official launch in Gran Turismo 7 is scheduled for December 2025.
The integration resulted from a collaborative effort between Polestar and Polyphony Digital, a subsidiary of Sony Interactive Entertainment and publisher of the Gran Turismo series. Both companies granted each other access to their development facilities and teams to ensure the creation of an "accurate digital representation of the Polestar 5."
"I have long been impressed by Polestar cars for their advanced, clean, and elegant designs, and so I am delighted to collaborate with them to bring the Polestar 5 to Gran Turismo," said Kazunori Yamauchi, creator and producer of the Gran Turismo Series.
"It is the first time we have worked together, and it has been a very positive experience. The development team at Polestar put a great deal of care into crafting the car’s driving experience, and so I am sure the players will enjoy the experience of driving it in Gran Turismo."
To translate the dynamic qualities of the Polestar 5 into the game, teams worked closely with professional racing driver and sim-racer Igor Fraga.
Fraga was granted access to prototype Polestar 5 vehicles and R&D experts at Polestar’s development facilities in Sweden. The process concluded with a final sign-off phase conducted at the Brands Hatch circuit in England.
Experts at Polyphony Digital subsequently applied this real-world vehicle feedback to their handling and dynamics simulation to create a "precise digital representation of the car" and, according to Polestar, with the "right driver behind the wheel", lap times achieved in the game are directly comparable to those achieved in real life.
"Working with the Gran Turismo team to ensure the digital ‘feel’ of the Polestar 5 was as close as possible to the real thing was a really important step for us," said Joakim Rydholm, Head of Driving Dynamics at Polestar.
"The end result means the digital car 100 percent replicates the behind-the-wheel experience of the real Polestar 5, meaning GT racers will have just as much fun as buyers of the actual cars."
The Polestar 5 will be introduced into Gran Turismo 7 through the big "Spec III" update in December, with a special Polestar time trial event taking place within the game, the winner of which will receive an exclusive trip to Fukuoka, Japan, to attend the World Finals of the 2025 GT World Series.
Also featured in the Spec III update is the return of a fan favouite car from 1999's Gran Turismo 2 - and possibly the most ridiculously awesome car of all time - the Renault Espace F1.
The Espace F1 came from that wonderful era where all the carmakers were attempting to outdo each other with wild one-offs that had a motorsport link, which saw Matra (the company that built the Espace for Renault) combine Renault's recent F1 success with the Williams F1 team and the 10th anniversary of the Espace by jamming a V10 F1 engine from the Renault-powered Williams FW15C into a custom-built carbon fibre chassis draped in a carbon fibre replica of an Espace body.
The Espace F1 could rocket to 100km/h in three seconds and had a top speed well in excess of 300km/h. Matra built two, but one was just a static display model, while the other was used for demonstration laps with up to three passengers, usually driven by F1 drivers, including Alain Prost.
Alongside the Renault Espace F1 and Polestar 5, the Spec III update will also see another 6 new cars, including the Ferrari 296 GT3, Mitsubishi FTO GP Version R, Mine's Skyline GT-R V-Spec N1 and a new fictional single seater called the F3500-B, with two more left to be revealed.
There will also be two new tracks; the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi and Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Canada.
The Gran Turismo franchise is regarded as one of the most visually and dynamically accurate driving simulators available, and sales for the series recently surpassed 100 million units.
