Record-Breaking Yangwang U9 Xtreme Heading To Gran Turismo 7

Gran Turismo creator Kazunori Yamauchi has made no secret of his desire to include more cars from China’s exponentially growing automotive industry in the series, and off the back of the Xiaomi SU7 Ultra plus a Vision GT car from the same manufacturer being announced for GT7 a few months ago, it’s now been confirmed that a second mega-power Chinese EV is heading to the game: the Yangwang U9 Xtreme.

It’s a car that’s been racking up plenty of headlines over the last few months. A quad-motor EV supercar producing upwards of 2959bhp, it first became the fastest road-going EV of all time at 294mph, then one-upped that by becoming the fastest road car full stop at 308mph (although it bears mentioning that because these were only one-way runs, neither record is technically official). Then, just this week, it dethroned the SU7 Ultra as the fastest road-going EV around the Nürburgring with its 6:59 lap time.

If any Chinese car felt logical for inclusion in GT7, it was this one. Sure enough, after some rumours cropped up yesterday when a pair of U9 Xtremes were spotted on a transporter wearing Gran Turismo logo decals, official confirmation of the car’s inclusion has come on PlayStation’s accounts on Chinese social media platforms Weibo and Bilibili (a hat tip goes to GTPlanet for spotting this).

We don’t know for sure when it or the SU7 Ultra will actually debut, but we’re not likely to see any further additions to the game until the major Spec III update arrives in December, bringing eight new cars and two circuits.

Four of the eight cars set to arrive as part of Spec III are still unconfirmed. Anyone worried that Chinese EVs will start to dominate the series’ new additions can rest easy for now, though – among the confirmed cars for Spec III are two returning series staples in the Mitsubishi FTO and Mine’s-tuned R34 Nissan Skyline GT-R, a long-awaited addition to the game’s modern racecar roster in the Ferrari 296 GT3, and an open-wheel racer inspired by turn-of-the-millennium F1 machinery.