GT Auto

"Welcome to GT Auto! We offer a diverse variety of detailed services, covering everything from regular maintenance like washing your car and oil changes, to more serious maintenance such as engine and chassis overhauls. We'll even paint your cars or perform racing modifications, transforming your favourite car into a full racing machine. Everything you need to support your motoring life is available right here!"

―GT5 description

The GT Auto logo, taken from Gran Turismo 5.

GT Auto is a service area debuting in Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec. This place allows the player to do one of the following: Car Wash, Oil Change, Wheel Shop, and GT Wing (added in GT4).

Beginning with Gran Turismo 5, GT Auto gains more facilities such as Paint Body, Paint Wheels, Install Aero Kits, Overhaul Engine, Restore Body Rigidity, and Racing Modifications. This was simplified in Gran Turismo 6 with the menus sorted under five facilities: Tuning Parts, Racing Gear, Custom Parts, Paint, and Pit Service, which is where car washes, oil changes, and engine/rigidity maintenance are performed. Gran Turismo 7 simplifies it to three departments: Car Maintenance & Service, Car Customization, and Driving Gear.

GT Auto did not appear in Gran Turismo Sport (with the logo removed from the Mazda Roadster Touring Car in that game), but returned in Gran Turismo 7.

The Facilities

The GT Auto building as it appears in GT7's McLaren Menu Book showcase

Car Maintenance and Service

Car Wash

Washes the player's car, making appear shinier after driven for prolonged amount of time, especially on dirt courses. The washing procedure is described as done by hand using special soap with waterproof coating effects.

This feature debuted in the first Gran Turismo, prior to GT Auto's debut in GT3. A minor bug existed in early North American copies of GT2 where the price of car wash is incorrectly shown as costing Cr. 5,000, the price of Car Wash in the Japanese version of the game (due to yen pegging, vs. dollar pegging in international versions).

Oil Change

Changes the oil of the car using high-performance engine oil with excellent lubricating and cooling capabilities. This will also temporarily increase the power of a car.

As the player keeps driving a car, the player will be required to change the oil on regular basis; the state of the car's oil can be viewed from the oil lamp in the tachometer from GT3 to GT6, while in GT7 it can only be checked from GT Auto. (GT6 also allowed the player to view the oil status from GT Auto.) Another telltale sign of oil requiring replacement is loss of horsepower; failure to regularly change the car's oil (in addition to engine overhauling in GT5 onwards) can result in permanent loss of horsepower. Prior to GT7, changing a new car's oil will also give the car slight horsepower bump from the stock horsepower.

Overhaul Engine

Rebuild an engine that has been worn down due to extended driving in order to restore it to its full potential. Note that failure to regularly overhaul an engine on regular basis can result in permanent horsepower loss.

The status of whether a car needs an engine overhaul (as well as rigidity restoration) can be viewed from GT Auto in GT6 and GT7.

Restore Body Rigidity

Repairs damage caused to the car body during extended circuit driving, thereby restoring its original rigidity. This feature debuted in GT4, but is located in each dealer's tuning shop and is called Rigidity Refresher Plan.

Racing Modifications

Main article: Racing Modifications

Available only in GT5, this option allows the player to perform various racing modifications, which reduces the car's weight significantly and fitting a roll cage on selected few Premium cars.

Wide Body

Introduced in GT7, this option installs wide body fenders to a car, which can increase handling. Once a widebody is installed, the player cannot return to the original body. Additionally, some races (such as Sport Mode one-make races or time trials) prohibit the use of wide-bodied cars, and as certain cars features changes to GT Auto parts (for instance, some cars may have different front/side/rear parts or supported wheels depending on the car having widebody or not), styles created for a normal and wide-bodied cars cannot be installed for the other body type.

Wide bodies are also only available for certain road cars, with the Toyota SPRINTER TRUENO GT-APEX (AE86 Shuichi Shigeno Version) '00 (due to it reusing the same wide body kit from its regular model) and the NISMO 400R '95 being the only Professionally Tuned cars to support wide bodies, and the Ferrari 250 GTO '62 being the only race car that can accept a widebody.

Engine Swap

Main article: Engine Swap

Originally only available from roulette tickets, GT7's version 1.34 added the ability to perform engine swaps from GT Auto for players at Collector Level 50, at a cost.

Regardless of where the player swaps the engine (from tickets or GT Auto), engine swaps are irreversible and can strip the car's eligibility for races where Balance of Performance is in effect.

Customization

Wheel Shop

Purchase new wheels or change your car's existing set.

This feature debuted in the Gran Turismo 2, prior to GT Auto's debut, although plans for a wheel shop was included in the files of the Japanese demo (Taikenban) of the first game. In GT2, wheels of BMW cars cannot be changed (although it uses the message for when the player uses an ineligible car for a race event when notifying the player of such); in GT3, none of the F1 cars can have their wheels changed, and wheels are purchased on "buy once, fit many" basis; it is also possible to revert to original wheels in this game. The "buy once, fit many" model also applies for wheel purchases in GT7.

In Gran Turismo 4, "used" wheels from other cars can be installed in a section of the Wheel Shop called Today's Special; this is effectively the only way to return to a car's original wheels in the game. Additionally, wheels can be installed for each tire type (standard/sports, racing, dirt, and snow).

In Gran Turismo 5, wheels on a Standard car cannot be changed until Spec 2.0. In Gran Turismo Sport, where GT Auto does not appear, changing wheels is part of the Livery Editor (although wheels must be first bought in the Mileage Exchange).

Paint

See also: GT5 Paint Chips

In Gran Turismo 5 and Gran Turismo 6, the paint feature allows the player to repaint a car's body or wheels using one of paint chips that the player has. In GT6, brake calipers (from version 1.10, and only when Racing Brakes are equipped on selected cars only) and custom rear wings (from version 1.16) can also be painted.

Paint chips are single use in GT5 where the feature debuted, but are indefinitely usable in GT6. To paint a wheel, a custom wheel must be installed first; however, GT Sport's and GT7's Livery Editor allows painting of stock wheels. (In fact, in GT7, wheels are not stored with the livery, but rather with the style data as a whole, which also contains data for other customization parts.)

In GT5, special paint chips can be obtained as daily login prizes and from Seasonal Events, as well from the Paint Pack DLC. (Because of the single-use nature of paint chips in that game, the whole Paint Pack must be purchased again to recover a used paint.) All GT5-era special paint chips return in GT6 as Seasonal Events prizes, with a special Arancia Metallic Orange paint chip given on rare basis. GT6's Anniversary Edition also features a set of paint chips exclusive to that edition.

In GT7, paint chips are instead purchased for the player's use in the Livery Editor; paint chips were previously purchased from the Mileage Exchange in GT Sport. Most paint colors from road and even some race cars are available, as well as all GT Sport-era special paints.

Custom Parts

Purchase or change aerodynamic parts that create downforce at high speed to increase stability. Parts consist of the following:

• Aero kits (installed together in PS3-era games, separated into front/side/rear parts in GT7)
• Flat bottom (GT6 only, although some rear kits in GT7 also have flat bottom/diffuser parts)
• Rear wings (debuted in GT4; custom rear wings can be designed and painted in GT6 from version 1.06 onwards, as well as in GT7)
• Hood pins (GT7 only)
• Headlight bulbs (GT7 only)
• Front grille (GT7 only)
• License plates (GT7 only; plates can be placed on the rear only, however they cannot be fully removed)
• Miscellaneous parts, such as covers for the Plymouth XNR Ghia Roadster '60 and the Chevrolet El Camino SS 396 '67 (GT6 only)

Customization parts (including wheels) in GT7 are purchased on a "buy one, install to many" basis, meaning if the player owns multiple instances of the same car, the player is only required to pay for them once. However, parts for regular and widebody versions of a car (except for rear wings) are considered distinct parts.

Flat bottom parts in GT6, as well as some parts in GT7 such as rear parts (particularly those that adds a rear diffuser) and roll cages, can affect a car's Performance Points rating.

Livery Editor and Styles

Main article: Livery Editor

The Livery Editor, first appearing in GT Sport, is now part of GT Auto in GT7. With this, sharing of liveries is also moved to GT Auto and renamed to Styles, which also includes aero parts and wheels; the process is otherwise unchanged from GT Sport, except the player are now required to pay for paints, wheels, or parts that they have not previously owned. Additionally, styles designed for widebody cars cannot be used on cars without it installed, and vice-versa.

The ability to edit suit and helmet liveries was also split from the car liveries, under the Driving Gear department.

Other Services

Tuning Parts

In GT6, parts that can increase a car's performance, such as power upgrades and tires, are sold through GT Auto. Most parts can also be purchased on the car settings screen.

Driving Gear

Custom Driving Gear, consisting of driver suits and helmets, can be purchased through GT Auto in GT6; these suits were originally randomly obtained items in GT5. Some items, such as driver suits belonging to WRC and NASCAR drivers, must be worn together. In GT Sport and GT7, driver suits and helmets are now customizable in the Livery Editor, but decals cannot be added to them until GT Sport version 1.23.

The following are a list of special outfits in the PlayStation 3-era games. Unless otherwise noted, these outfits are originally part of the Racing Gear Pack DLC from GT5; outfits that are pack of that DLC are purchasable without any DLC needed in GT6.

• Dale Earnhardt Jr. (2010 and 2011, plus 2013 in GT6)
• Jimmie Johnson (2010 and 2011, plus 2013 in GT6)
• Tony Stewart (2010 and 2011, plus 2013 in GT6)
• Jeff Gordon (2010 and 2011, plus 2013 in GT6; 2010 suit also available from an August 2011 Seasonal Event in GT5)
• Mikko Hirvonen (2008)
• Toni Gardemeister (2008)
• Petter Solberg (2008)
• Sebastien Loeb (2008)
• GT Academy Official Outfit (awarded for completing the 2012 event in GT5; 2013 edition purchasable in GT6)

The following special outfits are only available in GT6:

• 15th Anniversary outfit (pre-order/Anniversary Edition only)
• Ayrton Senna (1988 available at launch; 1980, 1983 and 1985 available with Ayrton Senna Tribute updates)
• Volkswagen Vision GT (tie-in to Volkswagen GTI Roadster Vision Gran Turismo)
• Alpine Vision Gran Turismo (No. 2 and No. 3 are tie-in to regular version; No. 1 is a tie-in to the Race Mode)
• SRT Vision GT (tie-in to SRT Tomahawk S Vision Gran Turismo)
• SRT Race G-Suit (for SRT Tomahawk GTS-R Vision Gran Turismo)
• SRT Development G-Suit (for SRT Tomahawk X Vision Gran Turismo)

Additionally, some Red Bull X-series cars and the Lunar Roving Vehicle LRV-001 '71 feature outfits that are exclusive to them, namely Sebastian Vettel (when used by an opponent, and by the player when driven in Arcade Mode) and a NASA astronaut suit, respectively. Some cars such as the Honda Project 2&4 powered by RC213V and the Lambo V12 Vision Gran Turismo also has a similar behavior in GT Sport/GT7 (see the Vehicles with unique racing suit category).

Trivia

A pre-release GT6 screenshot with the Body Repair menu that was removed from the final game. Also note that the background scene was originally from the previous game's Sebastian Vettel X Challenge.

• In GT4, the Formula Gran Turismo cannot enter GT Auto.
  • However, in doing so, the game thinks it is a "special" car (cars treated as such, like the Caterham Seven Fireblade '02 or the Chrysler Prowler '02, also cannot enter GT Auto), although the Formula GT can be used in any GT Mode race whenever it is eligible.
• Some aero parts belonging to certain premium cars in the PS3-era games actually originate from the Concept by GT tuned cars in Gran Turismo 5 Prologue.
• The paint preview items used in GT5 (for both car and wheel color) are actually treated as cars by the game, each named "Car Color Sample" and "Wheel Color Sample" by the game, although neither are meant to be driven normally.
  • A similar method was used for license logos and trophies shown when the player has completed a license level or a championship, respectively (as well as for per-test medals in GT1 and the Arcade Mode disc's race loading background in GT2) in the PlayStation-era games.
    • GT7's paint sample cars (Lancia DELTA HF Integrale Evoluzione '91, Toyota GR Supra RZ '20, and Volkswagen 1200 '66) are also actually coded as distinct cars, only with its manufacturer set to Gran Turismo and an equal horsepower rating. The paint sample versions can be seen on the garage in the Esteban Ocon vs Julien Fébreau event stream, but none of the cars can be driven.
      • Additionally, if a livery with a custom tire sticker is installed, the tire sticker will also appear on the paint sampler cars.
• Prior to the release of GT6, the Gran Turismo website featured a screenshot of a GT Auto menu that featured a Body Repair option. This option was removed from the final game.
• In GT6, the "work complete" scene, as well as the Pit Service background, is actually reused from the garage used in the opening cutscene in GT5's Sebastian Vettel X Challenge.
• The music used for GT6's GT Auto services has an unused, small end section, since it normally loops.
• In GT7, oddly enough, oil change was available for electric vehicles. It has since been patched.
• In GT7, the Porsche 911 Turbo (930) '81 and the Toyota 86 GT '15 are seen inside the interior of the GT Auto building.
• In GT7, the wide body fitment animation depicts four GT Auto employees pulling each fender of the car, while the engine swap animation depicts a GT Auto employee throwing an engine into a car's chassis, right after another employee removes the car's original engine.
• In early versions of GT7, exiting one of GT Auto's departments originally would return the player back to the map. This was later changed so that the GT Auto department selection screen appears first when the player exits GT Auto, ostensibly so that the player can switch departments quicker.
• Despite being a fictional brand, GT Auto decals are not available from GT7's Livery Editor's Fictional Logo tab.
• In GT7 version 1.49, when selecting a custom part in the Car Customization department, the car might bounce slightly. Although the 1.50 update fixed an issue where certain cars such as Volkswagen typ2(T1) SambaBus '62 can bounce across the screen with specific extreme suspension settings (in any menu screen, as well in-race), the slight bouncing still persists for most cars.