Can I Offer You A Nice Twingo?

It is a routine unlike any other that has defined the post-launch life in the past two Gran Turismo titles. A few cars, a few events, various odds and ends, and the ever-present minor issues that have been resolved every month or so have done wonders to allow both Gran Turismo Sport and Gran Turismo 7 to find their legs after both titles had shaky launches on their own terms. Gran Turismo Sport suffered from a lack of actual things to do at launch once you completed all the missions and was quickly remedied with the GT League mode that used the full extent of the ever growing carlist. Gran Turismo 7 failed to use that expanded carlist in the initial campaign, as well as failing to have anything resembling a post-game or a thought out economy which meant large swaths of the game was effectively inaccessible until major course corrections were made in terms of payouts and more races would be added. GT7 however still struggles to use it's car list to the fullest extent, and the capabilities for more unique races and experiences that are possible with the return of the full upgrade system haven't been utilized.

The cars and couple new races per update will keep rolling in, putting a lot of the onus on the player to make use of what they're given without Polyphony Digital really stretching their legs in terms of new events. If there ever was an update where more direct usage of the new cars is going to happen by both PD and the player, it would be one featuring four of the Le Mans Hypercars that are the biggest fixtures between IMSA GTP and FIA WEC. They will still deal with some of the same issues as the Porsche 911 GT3 R in terms of online infrastructures not getting adequate upkeep and the lack of unique experiences presented that allows the cars to play to their strengths.

Of course they are already overshadowing the cars that were added in the preceding months: these are the cars that have been grovelled for by the hardcore realistic racing crowd for the longest time in the hope they'd escape the confines of iRacing and Le Mans Ultimate on PC, or a game that was dead on arrival. In fairness, the Toyota GR010 was due for some friends and hopefully they're balanced to race against each other well. I can't help but wonder, as I did with the GT3R, if the goal posts have already shifted before those cars have even arrived; as if their introduction will simply never be enough.

There's only so much that could be said about racecars stuck within Gran Turismo's group system, but what about that funny little guy from the last update?

The first-generation Renault Twingo that was added to Gran Turismo 7 at the end of April is quintessential Gran Turismo. It's the kind of car that in another life would be the first car you would have drive in a Gran Turismo game because it's the car used in the very first license test about accelerating away from a standing start and then braking in a stop box. This would be a starter car if given the chance, and would provide an ideal means to demonstrate what performance upgrades do to a car that only made 60 horsepower when it left the factory. It would teach the dynamics of how body roll can easily demonstrate the limits of how much a car can pitch and rotate in the curves before putting on better suspension and tires. It's an ideal car for teaching people how to enjoy the act of spirited driving without overwhelming them with blinding speed in a car that is sharing in that joy with the driver.

A lot of that is an abstract and purposeful way of saying that the Renault Twingo is slow. But slow is good, you need slow; you want a variety of experiences in a franchise that has firmly entrenched itself to being a virtual museum for the automobile and a good baseline before moving to quicker machinery. Gran Turismo now is about that more grand celebration of the automobile, and the impact that it has made on lives across the globe in all shapes, sizes and speeds. The Twingo was a major breakthrough when it hit the streets in the early 90s, and set the standard for what city cars would be as car design took major leaps forward at this time. It was emblematic of the obsolescence of squared-off and boxy designs of the 1980s through a car that had a innocent and pure smile and smooth curves all around. To this day the first generation Twingo remains a favorite for drivers who want basic transportation with tons of style and character or as an option for in-car camping; with that smile helping to give it a cult status that those in North America can finally experience for themselves.

If someone doesn't have the means to import one from Japan or directly from Europe, there are few better places to give it a spin than in Gran Turismo 7. A part of the importance of realistic racing games now that graphic fidelity can act as a mirror to reality is preservation as much as it is immersion. The seats with their fabric pattern resembling a title card from Rugrats and the teal switch controls will never look this pristine outside of the Twingo that is in Renault's personal collection. Behind the wheel you are teleported back to the mid 1990s when it became the ideal car to navigate the streets of Paris, and the allure of a weekend getaway in the countryside using the folded flat seats as a bed. A car that greets you with open arms and a smile after you make it through another slog at work, before taking on any challenge you throw at it with a grace that makes small French cars truly special. That magic is fully apparent in the best digital recreation of the Renault Twingo there may ever be.

It wasn't just this French nugget getting digitally preserved by Polyphony Digital as of late either: as it joins it's predecessor the Renault R4 GTL as well as the Citroen BX 19 TRS and Renault Kangoo as more recent post-launch additions. A suite of French classics have gotten a new lease on life in the digital world and make up a great exhibit within Gran Turismo 7. Taking them away from the museum grounds they are all extremely photogenic come GT7's Scapes mode, and are stout off-road in what rallying can be done. They can embrace the absurd with some of the engine swaps that are possible: with both the Twingo and the Kangoo having access to the K24A engine swap from the Garage RCR Civic that won the Gran Turismo Award at SEMA. A more modest swap for both would be ideal, especially in recreating Rauh Racing's Twingo that's targeting a Nürburgring 24 Hour entry, but the K24A-swap providing more than six times the power that the Twingo came with from the factory turns it into a wild ride in the best way. But with more sensible upgrades and a roll cage, it becomes some of the best racing you can do with your friends where everyone is on the joke and here to have fun. It's Gran Turismo we're talking about: of course some of the best racing you can do won't be in the racecars stealing the headlines come any given Sunday, that's one of the biggest sticking points of the franchise.

Those Le Mans Hypercars being added next week will always be the cars that bring in the major headlines to outsiders of the Gran Turismo experience, but they remain a struggle after the last two games forced them into more one-note experiences by design both in the game and their real life regulations. They don't show the full potential for fun and creativity that exists in the automotive museum where you can do anything to the exhibits, especially when it's clear people will just use the Hypercars in the same way they currently do in iRacing and Le Mans Ultimate. In those games however, that's fine; that's what those games are built to do.

Gran Turismo is built to do much more than that, and is the ideal home for driving the weird and the wonderful and doing anything to them. A Twingo in these trying times feels like a 30 year hallmark of the most storied franchise in all of racing games, even as this is it's first official appearance in Gran Turismo.

Go out there and enjoy the happiest little guy.