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Last month, Ubisoft confirmed that its Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake was set to launch before April 2026, which led to rumours of the game potentially showing up at The Game Awards next week ahead of a reported January release. Well, the team has now confirmed that sadly, the title won't be showing up at TGA 2025. In a social media response this week, the Prince of Persia team says it's "sorry to disappoint", but "The Sands of Time won't be at TGA this year". We'll share this online exchange down below: Now, as far as we're aware, this Sands of Time remake is officially set to launch in Ubisoft's current fiscal year, despite this TGA no-show. The company recently revealed that two more of its titles are to launch by April '26, including this Prince of Persia title. Anyway, we suppose we'll have to wait and see exactly when and where Ubisoft deems it the perfect time to re-re-reveal this PoP project, but we can confirm that The Game Awards on December 11th won't be that time and place. View full article

December has gotten off to quite the start, hasn't it? With so many new games launching on Switch 2, we're sure that you're keen to find out how each and every one of them runs on the fresh hardware and, as ever, the tech experts over at Digital Foundry are here to do just that. This time, it's Assassin's Creed Shadows' Switch 2 port that's being put under the microscope. The above video sets a baseline of the Xbox Series S version and compares the technical flair of the new Nintendo hybrid from there. So, what does DF make of it? Visually, the Switch 2 has some obvious cutbacks from the Series S edition. Without SSR, the handheld version is lacking most water reflection and movement, and you'll notice some decrease in foliage at a middle distance. Textures also come in at a decreased resolution, and, ironically, the titular shadows don't hold up as well as they do elsewhere — though, at half the storage size of the Series S release, this is hardly surprising. All that said, DF describes the Switch 2 edition as "a pretty handsome rendition of the game", one that comes in very close to the Series S. In terms of image quality, the game utilises DLSS technology to help along the docked mode's typical 648p resolution, and produces a much better image than that number would suggest in the process. This is, of course, reduced in handheld play, where DF counted resolutions as low as 400p, but it all remains "pretty respectable" in action and is even considered "more reliable in portable play than when docked". The game mostly sticks to its 30fps target in typical play, though its frame pacing is rather poor, and there are occasional dips in particularly taxing locations or cutscenes. View full article

IO Interactive is in our good books big time off the back of all the premium-grade assassinating they've let us do across the globe as Agent 47. Now the team has taken up the mantle (the obvious next step for those paying attention) of James Bond himself, with 007: First Light. And ahead of the game's 27th March 2026 release date, IO has dropped the very first in a series of dev diary deep dives aimed at exploring this latest Bond adventure alongside interested players. What an absolute high this dev team has been on with the majestic Hitman: World of Assassination, and it looks like it'll continue here. We've already seen bits and pieces of the game, and we know it's a reimagining of the Bond origin story, featuring a young 007. But this first episode, which you can watch in full above, concentrates on gameplay, as the series as a whole looks to cover the design philosophy and creative processes. Images: IO Interactive It's interesting stuff, so make sure to check it out for all the new gameplay footage, and discussions about the game's blend of mechanics, which it seems will - in part at least - run with some Hitman aspects, developing on stuff such as questioning and observing, and blending into your surroundings. Oh boy, we can't wait. One example mentioned in the video is "enforcers", meaning NPCs who see through you because they "know" everyone who works in a particular building or area. So this then introduces a new puzzle style to work with. We also get some tantalising chat about how the devs want to balance thing to give players freedom to approach any situation the way they want as Bond, whilst also making it so the execution of any given plan you hatch can go wildly wrong and need re-tuning on the fly. All the good stuff we hoped we'd hear them speak about when approaching James Bond in their signature style, basically. Andreas Krogh, the gameplay director on 007: First Light also mentions new techniques they've come up with by "marrying" Bond's style with their take on stealth. So you have some new deescalation options, such as bluffing. Here we see that Bond can smooth talk his way out of a scenario where the only option for 47 would be to pan somebody in the head or run away. Images: IO Interactive Thomas Pulluelo, the game's level designer, also pops up to show how the rather nice looking environs on display are designed so that players can see opportunities more easily and naturally. So hopefully fewer shiny pipes and yellow footholds, and more feeling like you did it all yourself. Nice. There's are some fantastic sequences (so do make sure to check out the full vid) that show off the amazingly brutal action and combat we can expect in March of next year. This young Bond does some vicious CQC, he charges down foes and gets stuck in like a proper trained killer. Expect plenty of quick switching between fist fights, shooting with fancy guns, stealth action and lots of crashing of expensive cars and then reloading the game. Now, speaking of cars, where did we put the keys to our motor? It's been leaking oil slicks and randomly firing machine gun bullets out of its hood again. Honestly, Q's been right off their game recently. If you're looking forward to 007: First Light, make sure you check out Push Square's preview from back in September; they might be more excited than us! Images: IO Interactive Looking forward to 007: First Light? Think IO's style suits 007 down to the ground like we do? Let us know! View full article

Metroid has rarely been able to play with the Nintendo big boys as far as sales are concerned, so it's no surprise that Samus merch drops have been a fair bit rarer than those seen for Zelda and Mario. But, with Metroid Prime 4: Beyond finally here, Nintendo is changing that... in Japan, at least. Yes, a new wave of Metroid merch is now available exclusively at the Nintendo Stores in Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Fukuoka and the Okinawa pop-up. Just to really rub salt in the wound, it's also available on the My Nintendo Store, exclusively in Japan. sigh Back to looking longingly at plane tickets, it is. Update: Well, it looks like Nintendo has answered our wishes! Although it appeared that the merch outlined below was exclusive to Japan, many of the items have just cropped up on the UK My Nintendo Store, too. Time to beef up those Christmas stockings! Simply put, the new range is awesome. There's a super cute Baby Metroid keychain, a Morph Ball zip-up pouch, a 'gadget case' for all your wires and charging banks, and even glasses so you can 'cheers' Prime 4 in style. Images: Nintendo The real winners, mind you, are the Metroid ice cube tray (not available on the EU store) — because why have cube-shaped ice, when it could look like a tiny alien? — and the Arm Cannon pillow, which, yes, you can actually wear. Images: Nintendo The full collection ranges in price from 2,420 yen / £12.99 for the keychain, up to 6,600 yen / £37.99 for the Arm Cannon pillow. And if the above has got you in the mood for even more merch, the squishy Metroid amiibo is now back in stock on the UK My Nintendo Store for £12.99. Those unable to get their hands on any of the above can still take joy in Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, which arrives on Switch and Switch 2 today, instead. We called Samus' latest adventure "one of the very best Metroid games of all time" in our review, and today, the wait is finally over! View full article

While floppy disks may not have been the best storage medium when it comes to longevity and memory, there's undoubtedly something very nostalgic about them – if you grew up in the late '80s and early '90s, at least. Industry vets Andrew and Rob Hewson are aiming to tap into that rose-tinted feeling with Hyper Sentinel Fusion, a successor to Hyper Sentinel. It's described as "Uridium and Paradroid combined with extraction shooter and roguelite elements in an explosive fusion of gameplay styles." Launching on Kickstarter soon, Hyper Sentinel Fusion is an arcade shooter which will ship on a floppy disk – only this one isn't going to work in your PC, Amiga or ST. "Slide open that floppy shutter to uncover a secret USB stash, loaded with this new exciting retro game for the modern era (DRM-free) for PC & Mac, and crammed with bonus goodies—just like finding hidden cheat codes of the past," says the Kickstarter pre-launch page. A demo is available on Steam as we speak, and digital versions of Hyper Sentinel Fusion are expected to launch on PC, Mac, PlayStation 5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2. View full article

Update [Thu 4th Dec 2025, 4:30am]: My Life in Gaming and Game Sack's Electronic Gaming Monthly documentary, Pixels to Pages - The Story of Electronic Gaming Monthly, is now available to watch online for free. The 1-hour 16-minute-long documentary was released yesterday, across both My Life in Gaming and Game Sack's YouTube channels, and features interviews with former Electronic Gaming Monthly Editor-In-Chief Ed Semrad, the late EGM editor Martin Alessi, and the one-time managing editor Ken Williams, among others who were involved in the creation of the landmark magazine. Images: Game Sack/My Life In Gaming Frank Cifaldi from the Video Game History Foundation also makes an appearance, too, giving some valuable context about what made EGM stand out from other video game publications of the time. Some of the major topics discussed in the documentary include how EGM was originally started and its early association with the U.S. National Video Game Team, how Ed took the best video game screenshots at events (often leading to the magazine containing images of games that never saw the light of day), and its approach to reviews (including the origins and identity of the Review Crew's Sushi-X). If you're interested, you can watch the documentary below: Original Story: Founded back in 1988, Electronic Gaming Monthly (or 'EGM' to its friends) was one of the world's most famous video game magazines. From its first full issue in 1989 to its closure in 2014, EGM covered all of the important events in the world of video gaming, charting the NES's dominance to the arrival of 16-bit successors and the 32-bit wave that pushed the industry forward in the 1990s. By the time issue 264 arrived on shelves in 2014, the magazine had seen consoles such as the PS2, Xbox 360, Nintendo DS and Wii come and go. An internet-only relaunch took place in 2019, but at the time of writing, the last article posted on EGMNow.com is from the start of last year. While EGM is no longer in active production either as a physical magazine or a website, it remains a beloved part of video game history for many people – as was evidenced by the 2024 Kickstarter for The Electronic Gaming Monthly Compendium, a retrospective book which will celebrate EGM's legacy. It turns out that's not the only celebration we're going to be getting – the host of retro YouTube channel Game Sack has announced that he is directing and editing a documentary on the magazine in collaboration with fellow channel, My Life In Gaming. Game Sack's Joe Redifer has confirmed that the production will not be funded through a crowdfunding drive. There's also no release date in place, but he says it will hopefully be "soon." View full article

Update [Thu 4th Dec 2025, 4:15am]: Splatter World is now playable in English, thanks to the efforts of the fan translation community. "Splatterworld is several things," says Aeon Genesis, the entity behind the translation. "First, it is a cutesy RPG spinoff of Namco's Splatterhouse property. It's a sequel to the Splatterhouse Wanpaku Graffiti cutesy platformer on the Famicom, which was never released outside of Japan. It's a parody of horror films and loves to poke fun at them. It's also a prototype. The game was never commercially released, and was only made available online on Halloween night this year (2025). Naturally, I jumped right on it." Images: Aeon Genesis Aeon Genesis adds: Original Story: Namco's Splatterhouse series began life in the arcades before transitioning to consoles with its direct sequels (both on Sega Genesis / Mega Drive) and its Japan-only spin-off, Splatterhouse - Wanpaku Graffiti. That cute Famicom title was intended to get an RPG sequel of its own, named Splatter World, which was intended to launch in March of 1993 but was ultimately cancelled. It's not known why this happened, but promotional materials were being distributed to Japanese retailers at the close of 1992, so the game was clearly very close to being finished. Splatter World has been a highly sought-after title for some time, and we experienced a Halloween miracle at the end of last week when the game was dumped and released online. As reported by the Splatterhouse fan site West Manison, the ROM was uploaded to 4chan. It currently only works on the emulator FCEUX, which is apparently due to its use of an obscure Namco mapper. However, it's surely only a matter of time before hackers make it compatible with other emulators. View full article

Fans have been crying out for a new Banjo-Kazooie game ever since Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts was released in 2008. But apart from a strange audience-controlled interactive demo at SXSW in 2015, the occasional merch drop, and a playable cameo in Smash back in 2019, there hasn't really been much to look forward to when it comes to official news regarding the bird and the bear. Instead, it has mostly fallen to the Banjo fan community to keep the series's legacy alive, with developers creating spiritual successors, ROM hacks, and fan games to offer players that classic platforming experience that they've been so desperately missing. With that in mind, we wanted to tell you about the latest of these projects that recently crossed our radar: Banjo Kazooie: Mumbomania. This is an amazing new fan game built inside Media Molecule's Dreams for the PS4 and PS5 by the creator of Trip's Voyage, @Eupholace, in addition to @Piece_of_Craft and @duckenomics, which lets you revisit an expanded version of one of Banjo-Kazooie's most iconic levels: the pirate-themed Treasure Trove Cove. According to Eupholace, the one-level fangame reportedly took 14 months and 800+ hours to build, and features 30 jiggys to collect, as opposed to the 10 which were featured in the original game. There are also a bunch of brand new transformations included as well to discover, letting you transform from a fish to a cannon to a big rock monster to get around the level. Even better, these transformations are now instantaneous and won't require you to constantly backtrack to Mumbo's shack, with the witch doctor following closely behind the player at all times. Since its release yesterday, former Rare staff have responded to the announcement. The Banjo-Kazooie, Tooie, and Nuts & Bolts composer Grant Kirkhope responded to the trailer, for instance, with an eyes emoji, later adding, "I almost shed a tear." Steve Mayles, the "chief scribbler", art director and character designer, on Banjo Kazooie and artist on Tooie and Nuts & Bolts, meanwhile, told Eupholace, "I can see you had a lot of fun making this!" If you want to check out the game, you'll need a copy of Dreams and a PS4/PS5. Once Dreams is downloaded, no additional cost is necessary. You just need to search for the game in the list of publicly available creations. View full article

An interesting datapoint from Circana analyst Mat Piscatella reveals the PS5 was outsold by an unexpected US-based rival in the run up to Black Friday last week. While the Switch 2 being top-selling hardware SKU for the week ending 22nd November won’t come as a massive surprise, the NEX Playground Interactive Gaming System coming second is a bit of a shock. If you’ve never heard of this product, it’s effectively a standalone reimagining of the Kinect – or the EyeToy, if you remember the classic PS2 peripheral. Primarily aimed at families and kids, the NEX Playground allows you to enjoy a variety of minigames on your TV using your body as the controller. Options include a simple platformer, kart racer, and more. Piscatella is breaking up SKUs in this chart, so it’s possible the PS5 performed better overall when you combine all of its different SKUs, including Disc and Digital options as well as the PS5 Pro. We’d also, obviously, have expected it to perform better during Thanksgiving week, as the console was discounted and appeared to sell out on Black Friday weekend. But it’s still quite interesting to see a product like the NEX Playground seemingly come out of nowhere and perform so well. At $249 it’s not cheap either – although we’re assuming it was on sale in order to achieve these kinds of numbers. Nevertheless, we told you it was an unexpected rival. Bet you didn’t guess it before you clicked on the article, eh? Have any of you got one of these? View full article

Every game is getting in its final update of the year before the holiday period gets underway, and Sega has today rolled out a major patch for Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds. On the Nintendo front, this marks the arrival of the Switch 2 Edition as well as the Upgrade Pack for existing Switch owners. Apart from this, there's a lot of new content in this update. This includes new gadgets, an increase to the world match rating, additional friend settings, anti-cheat measure improvements and much more. Here's the full rundown of patch Ver 1.2.0, according to Sega's official website: Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds - Ver.1.2.0 (3rd December 2025)Thank you all for playing Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds! Today, we’re releasing patch Ver.1.2.0! Please update your game to the latest version to access the online modes, including World Match, and downloadable content. PS5/PS4: Patch Ver.1.2.0 Nintendo Switch/ Nintendo Switch2: Patch Ver.1.2.0 Xbox XS/One: Patch Ver.1.2.0 Steam: Patch Ver.1.2.0 Epic: Patch Ver.1.2.0 Content Update SummaryAdded new event mode “Legend Competition” Increased maximum World Match rating from 9,999 to 99,999 Added multi-round options to Friend Match Added 2 collaboration tracks to the Jukebox Added 12 collaboration decals Added 6 new gadgets Gadget balance changes Anti-Cheat measures Other adjustments and bug fixes Legend CompetitionA new mode “Legend Competition” has been added. This mode will occur regularly, with the first competition being held from December 4, 2025 through December 21, 2025. World Match RatingWe’ve increased the maximum rating from 9,999 to 99,999. Friend Match SettingsYou can now set races to have multiple rounds in Custom Matches in Free Race! No more going back to the lobby after each race! Jukebox TracksNo.1 - Crazy Raccoon Hongami Precious Moment - Inugami Kroone, Tomoya Ohtani Collaboration DecalsREJ Assemble REJ Chilidog REJ ALWAYS CHASING REJ SUPERCHAOSMODE REJ LOGO CR AKAMI KARUBI CR RAS CR VANILLA CR RION CR AMATSUKI CR JASPER CR x SONIC Gadget Additions and Adjustments in Ver. 1.2.0Since launch, we’ve observed two common strategies emerge in online matches: Using drift-type gadgets to maintain top positions. Staying in 9th – 12th place and using item control gadgets to get powerful items late in the race and quickly jump to top positions. Both strategies made it very difficult for those in 4th – 8th place to make a comeback. Therefore, in Ver.1.2.0, we’ve added and strengthened support-type and item-type gadgets to make it easier to make comebacks from 4th – 8th place. We will continue monitoring online gadget usage and win rates to adjust balance going forward. New GadgetsWe’ve added 6 gadgets!* Item Control Type Lucky Pair Double Down Support Type Ring Mercy Damage Mercy Item Mercy Strong Finish *Gadgets can be obtained once your Gadget Plate reaches "Silver Plate" or higher. The following gadgets which were previously distributed as Festival rewards can now be purchased with Donpa Tickets from the gadget customization screen**: Boost Character Kit Power Character Kit Handling Character Kit Comeback Kit Sea Dog Kit **These can be purchased if your gadget plate is “Master Plate” or higher Gadget AdjustmentsQuick Recovery Further reduced downtime after taking a hit. Previously, Quick Recovery provided a large benefit when hit, but losing rings often led to lower final positions. The gadget has been adjusted to allow more mid-position endurance. Acceleration Machine Kit Recovery timing further reduced to align with Quick Recovery’s adjustments. Wisp Chance UP Reduced the influence on item probability. Previously, Wisp Chance UP made it too easy to collect powerful items before the race’s end and aim for top positions. We’ve dialed this back a bit. Invincible Start Vehicles now flash just before the effect ends to make timing clearer. Other AdjustmentsAdjusted the appearance of Silver and Blaze’s AI skins and the color of Race Park rivals “Team Dimension,” as they could be mistaken for Invincible state. For the eagle-eyed, the new color scheme is based on the “Turquoise Blue” aura Silver the Hedgehog emits when activating his abilities! Improved machine handling after collisions with other machines in water areas. Improved directional input detection to make it easier to use items in the intended direction while drifting. Adjusted race communication to prioritize syncing information that affects race progression, improving correct reflection of Invincibility such as Ultimate Charge activation. Strengthened anti-cheat measures for races and race results in online play such as Global Match on PC. Concerning Anti-Cheat Measures Bug FixesFixed Festival announcements showing old information before events began. Fixed a bug where auto-acceleration failed to activate for several seconds after manual input. Improved smoothness and visibility of left/right movement in item warning display. Fixed a bug where Charge Dash would not activate when passing through Transform Rings in mid-air drift state using Dash type. Fixed a bug where attacks from the “King Bomb Boo” item could be avoided using Charge Jump or Handle Assist. Fixed a bug where “King Bomb Boo” item attacks in mid-air could cause fire pillar direction to be incorrect. Fixed a bug where using the “Laser” item caused Dash type machine appearance to break at certain times. Fixed a bug where using the “Boost” item obtained during Boost Frenzy at the exact end of Frenzy could make the item unusable. Fixed a bug where using the “Tornado” item during Boost Frenzy could make items unusable until Frenzy ended. Adjusted Dash Gate placement in Dash Gate Frenzy on certain courses where more gates than intended were placed. Fixed a bug in course “Wonder Museum” where machines could get stuck in the Tornado. Fixed a bug in course “Sky Road” or “Minecraft World” where using “Slicer” or “Homing Punch” when crossing Travel Rings or End Portals could cause incorrect tracking. Fixed a bug in course “Steampunk City” where colliding from the side with ground where trains run could cause machines to sink into the ground. Fixed a bug in course “White Cave” where using “Drill” in cave areas could cause machines to sink into the ground. Fixed several other gameplay-related bugs. View full article

If you're looking for a reason to jump back into Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds, Sega has this week released the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition of the game digitally. It's available for $69.99 or your regional equivalent, and will be released in physical form on this platform in "early 2026". If you're an existing owner of the Switch release and don't want to miss out, there's the Switch 2 Edition Upgrade Pack, which is also available. It's normally priced at $10.00 but you'll get an introductory discount (bringing it down to just $5.00) if you purchase it by 11th December 2025. Sega also notes how the Werehog DLC Pack is available to download for free for the first two weeks of the digital version's availability (until 17th December 2025). You can also carry over all of your content and progress in the Switch release to the Switch 2 Edition of the game. As previously revealed, the Switch 2 version of the game includes improved performance and resolution. Alongside the Switch 2 Edition and Switch upgrade, Sega has also released a major patch for this title today. View full article

If you keep up with the Nintendo Music app's release schedule, you probably noticed Nintendo didn't update the app at the regular time earlier this week. Unsurprisingly, it's all linked to the release of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, with Nintendo announcing it's added seven tracks from the new game as a special release. This adds up to 48 minutes of music and will give you a nice sample of the game's "main theme", environments and more. Here's the full tracklist and you can hear some of them in Nintendo's official sample below: Metroid Prime 4: Beyond - Nintendo Music Special ReleaseMetroid Prime 4 Main Theme Fury Green The Sacred Tree Vi-O-La Ice Belt Power On Carvex Volt Forge Although Nintendo Music has mostly received retro game soundtracks, this isn't the first time Nintendo has released an update based on a Switch 2 game. We've previously seen similar track releases for Donkey Kong Bananza and Kirby Air Riders. If you want to listen to music on the Nintendo Music mobile app, you'll need to have an active Switch Online subscription. In some other Metroid Prime 4: Beyond news, Nintendo has also released new custom icons today as part of the Switch Online 'Missions & Rewards' service. The first wave is available now and will be followed by weekly updates. View full article

After what feels like the longest two months in the game’s life to date, Gran Turismo 7’s Spec III update is now available as a preload ahead of being unlocked on December 4. It’s only the second time we’ve seen a preload available for a Gran Turismo 7 update, with the previous being the 1.54 update last November that brought PS5 Pro enhancements. That was a 32GB monster, while Spec III is a comparatively slim 15GB on PS5 and a daintier 9GB on PS4 — but still comfortably on the podium of biggest updates. The December 4 date is one we’ve been expecting for a good long while, but has now been confirmed both by Kazunori Yamauchi and other official game channels by way of the usual — if a couple of hours earlier — pre-update announcements. With 15GB of announcements to get through, there’s quite a lot going on — even if we do know a good deal about a lot of the content already — so let’s dig in. Gran Turismo 7 Spec III: New TracksWe’ve known for quite some time not only that Spec III will include two brand-new circuits, but also what those tracks are: Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve and Yas Marina. Both are famous F1 venues, and verging on the notorious for wholly different reasons. Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve — built on an artificial island in Montreal’s Saint Lawrence River, originally created for Expo ’67 — is something of an old-school track that runs on a layout partly comprising what used to be roads. It’s famed for its final chicane, the exit of which (also being Turn 13) is known as “The Wall of Champions” after it claimed three cars, all driven by F1 world champions, in one race in 1999. And Ricardo Zonta. Meanwhile Yas Marina is a modern-day, purpose-built arena designed by famed F1 architect Hermann Tilke. It’s about to stage its 17th grand prix, a championship three-way decider, but is perhaps better known for the seedy — and quotable — events around the 2021 finale. The Canadian circuit is limited to a single layout in the real world, but Yas Marina has multiple options that even include a rallycross course. However it looks like only the current grand prix course will be available in GT7, with no additional variations listed in the announcement. We’re expecting both tracks to support new Circuit Experience events, and we bet one of them will use the new Ferrari 296 GT3, giving a bit of quick cash early on if you want to pick up all the new cars. Speaking of which… Gran Turismo 7 Spec III: New CarsAfter several teasers and reveals across the last ten weeks, we already knew six of the eight new cars coming to the game in the Spec III update. Studio chief Kazunori Yamauchi’s usual silhouette hint yesterday — this time using cars literally under covers instead of heavy shadow — gave very firm clues as to the other two, but only now do we have proper specification information for all eight. They are as follows: Ferrari 296 GT3 ’22 Ferrari 296 GTB ’22 FIAT Panda 30 CL ’85 Gran Turismo 3500-B Mine’s BNR34 GT-R N1 Base Mitsubishi FTO GP Version R ’97 Polestar 5 Performance ’26 Renault Espace F1 ’95 While the Panda hadn’t been officially revealed previously, it’s not exactly a surprise. The car was seen on-screen in a PD studio visit by Giorgetto Giugiaro — its designer — and every car we’ve been allowed to see in a similar manner has appeared in the relevant game only a few months later on. We now have confirmation that it is, as we expected, a first-generation model before the major refresh in 1986. Not only that, we also now know it sports the 29hp (the “30” of the name relating to quasi-metric power units), two-cylinder, 652cc engine from the FIAT 126. Interestingly, this Panda would be the only one that meets current Kei car specifications — although it would be too big under the regulations when it launched in 1985. Our other unknown — at least until the silhouettes — was the Ferrari 296, with this announcement confirming it’s the coupe-bodied GTB rather than the GTS convertible. By adding the road car in this update, PD is continuing a trend of new GT3 cars coming alongside or after their road car siblings. There was one final unknown, although only in terms of specification. The F3500-B, shown in the original reveal, is now confirmed to be a V8-powered tribute to 90s’ F1 cars, joining the V12 F3500-A. Interestingly there’s also six “new” cars in the Power Pack DLC, also launching tomorrow, though these appear to be pre-tuned variants of existing road cars and will likely not count as new entries in the Car Collection. Gran Turismo 7 Spec III: Power Pack DLCWhile not part of the free update itself, Spec III will add the ability to buy and participate in the new Power Pack DLC — for players on PlayStation 5 consoles only. Once you’ve passed Menu Book 9 (Championship: Tokyo Highway Parade), you’ll see a sailing ship moored at the woefully undersized jetty in the lower-left corner of the map with the Power Pack icon. Clicking on this will take you to a purchase page for the Power Pack DLC — coming in at $29.99/€29.99/£24.99 — or accessing the events if you’ve already bought it. We’re assuming that the icon will also be present on the PS4 version, but you won’t be able to access it as it taunts you to upgrade your device… Gran Turismo 7 Spec III: New Races & EventsAs you might expect, there’s a slew of new things to do coming in Spec III. In terms of new races it’s perhaps not quite as many as we’d been expecting given the two-month gap between updates and the much larger number in Spec II, but there are more collection-based “Extra Menu” books than in any previous update. Gran Turismo 7 Spec III: New Extra Menu BooksIn fact four new Extra Menu Books come along at once, requiring you to score a dozen vehicles to meet the requirements and pick up the — as-yet unspecified — rewards. Each requires a Collector Level above the previous cap to unlock. The first, Alfa Romeo Legends, requires you to own the Alfa Romeo 155 Touring Car, Giulia TZ2, and 2900B from the Legends Cars dealer. Legendary Road Racers will also need a trip to the Legends dealer, requiring the Ferrari 500 Mondial, Porsche 550 Spyder, and — again — the Alfa Romeo Giulia TZ2. It’s largely modern fare in the other two books, with the three generations of Audi TT in a book of the same name and three Mazdas — MX-5, CX-30, and RX-Vision concept — in the other. Gran Turismo 7 Spec III: New RacesA total of seven new events will be added, unsurprisingly with most being at the two new circuits. Race lengths and rewards are not yet known and will be revealed with the update. That’ll see Yas Marina host rounds of the Ferrari Circuit Challenge, World Touring Car 800, and Gr.1 Prototype Series, while Circuit de Gilles-Villeneuve gains stages of the Nissan GT-R Cup and Super Formula series. The exceptions are a new round of the European Sunday Cup 400 at the Goodwood Motor Circuit, and Blue Moon Bay Speedway Infield A staging a round of the Japanese FF Challenge. Gran Turismo 7 Spec III: Weekly Challenge and Seasonal MenuChanges to time-limited single-player content are also coming, with an update to how Weekly Challenges operate and the mystery of the new “Seasonal Menu” solved. The former looks like it’s going to be a collection task based on each update, judging by its initial appearance. Similar to an Extra Menu, the first instance requires you to pick up three specific vehicles that are all part of the Spec III update, giving you a Six-Star Roulette ticket as a reward. However, you only have a little over three weeks to accomplish this. If nothing else, this rather suggests that Polyphony Digital is planning many more free updates — and we are still due to receive at least two new vehicles from Xiaomi and Yangwang in GT7 — in order that this entirely new feature isn’t a one-and-done affair. Meanwhile the Weekly Challenges are getting a switch-up from the existing format. It does look like it’ll continue to be a five-event challenge, requiring you to perform the tasks within a seven-day period, but with new event types and not just races. These will include new Time Trial and Mission events, with at least the first set as presented being new challenges created just for the mode and not drawing from the current Circuit Experience/Mission events. Rewards look set to remain at the same levels as now, but they’re likely to take slightly less time than before. Gran Turismo 7 Spec III: Data LoggerWe’ve previously written at length about the Data Logger feature, and there’s nothing in the latest announcement that hasn’t been previously confirmed about how this operates. One aspect we’ll note here is that it appears that online multiplayer races won’t be available for analysis in this mode — which isn’t entirely surprising, as quite a bit of the telemetry required as recorded by your console is best-guess and imprecise — but otherwise you’ll be able to compare any two laps from any two replay saves in any two cars at the same track. That includes Online Time Trial events, so the forthcoming Polestar 5 challenge — which offers a VIP trip to the Gran Turismo World Series Final in Fukuoka — could be an interesting one as top players analyze each other’s data! Gran Turismo 7 Spec III: Collector Level & Unlimited InvitationsThe update will also bring an uplift to the Collector Level cap, raising it from the current 50 to — as we’d calculated from other information — a new upper limit of 70. We don’t yet know if the previous calculation for the points required will hold through the new levels, with the image above hinting that even if it’s not exactly the same it’ll be close, but you’re going to need a car collection worth around 110 million credits to reach the new cap. Previously it was teased that new Collector Levels would come with a new “unlimited” Invitation system, and that’s now been confirmed in the latest announcement. It looks as though you’ll still be able to get expiring Invitations as rewards from tickets (although we hope once you’ve got an unlimited one, these will be removed from possibilities…), but as you progress from 50-70 you’ll gain permanent invitations for the relevant brands: Aston Martin, Bugatti, Citroen, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Pagani and Porsche. As that only encompasses seven of the 20 new levels, we’d imagine there’s other unlockables — although it may only be the case that future Extra and Bonus Menu Books will require higher levels, as with the four in this update. Gran Turismo 7 Spec III: New IntroLike Spec II, Spec III will introduce a new cinematic intro for Gran Turismo 7. These movies are usually treats to watch (once, at least), and the preview images for this one shows off some of the new content — cars, tracks, and races — introduced over the last two years. Fans may recall that Spec II’s opening movie completely replaced the original, with no way to view the first one in-game any more. This is likely to be the case again, so if you’re a fan of the Spec II intro now’s the time to give it one last look. An option to view all three would be a nice thing to add, we reckon… Gran Turismo 7 Spec III: Other ChangesThere’s some other changes coming too, some of which have been announced, some of which you’d be expecting, and a couple that are still mysteries. We’ll be getting four new sets of Scapes curations, seemingly comprising three all-new locations — including Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve and Yas Marina — as well as a set based on existing spots but with an additional allowance for extra light sources. Dunlop tires will also be making their debut here. The Dunlop-branding will now be applied to tires bought in the Tuning Shop, and as standard on some cars, although — we presume due to certain brand/supplier agreements in the real world — not on all vehicles. A physics update is possible, but hasn’t been specifically mooted. While previously announced, there’s no mention in the latest brief of the “Improvements to online races”. That’s one we’re going to have to wait at least two-thirds of a day to find out more on, but could range from a shake-up of the Daily Race format to new Lobby options (manual host migration, perhaps?) or just the deployment of new netcode for stability. Other rarely announced items include new engine swaps for various cars — and we’d expect that Espace F1 V10 to be available for one of the two F3500s — and new paints from real vehicles, as well as the regular “various other” changes. There will certainly be plenty to discover tomorrow. You can download the update now, curiously now called 1.65 instead of the previously mentioned 1.64, ahead of it unlocking at 0800 UTC on Thursday December 4.