Gran Turismo 7 Adds the Lake District to its Scenic Photo Locations

Only a month on from an update which gave Yorkshire a starring role in the Gran Turismo 7 video game, a new update to the game has added further locations in the north with a set of Lake District views.

The locations are part of a game mode called “Scapes”. These are special photography locations in the game which allow players to place their vehicles into images of sites from around the world, including countryside, cities, industrial sites and — as you’d expect — race tracks.

However they are no mere photographs. Developer Polyphony Digital, part of Sony Interactive Entertainment, creates Scapes using a special process that involves digital cameras it has developed in conjunction with Sony itself. These Alpha units capture not just the scene but three-dimensional lighting information.

That means that, once in the game, players can insert their cars — up to three at once — into the image and generate pictures that look like the cars were there all along. They can even make it seem as if the cars are moving, with fine adjustments of speed, steering angle, dust and smoke, lights, and even glowing brake discs, as well as having full control over camera settings and the ability to apply all kinds of effects

Polyphony’s Scapes team captured a total of 19 locations in the Lake District, include several lakes like Buttermere, Derwent Water, Esthwaite, and Wast Water, scenes in the village of Hawkshead, and well-known roads like the A5084, the Hardknott Pass, and the Honister Pass.

In total there’s almost 3,000 Scapes images from around the world, with 111 in the UK and 55 spread across locations in the north of England — and in the right hands they can look just like the real thing.

We’ve been giving it a test to see how lifelike we can make it, and you can see some of our attempts below: