The Alpine A220 Race Car '68 however, is a standout car in GT7's roster, simply for its evergreen relevance in a game constantly undergoing panic hot fixes and changes, and it achieves that thriving longevity despite not being a categorised racecar in the rather e–sports centric title. Early in the game's life, it was a hot favourite for grinding the WTC600 Tokyo money making race, because it was an extremely lightweight and fuel efficient car that was decently powerful, meaning that not only was it capable of nearly 300km/h in clean air, but it could also slot in very easily under 600PP with minimal modifications. The reason why that previous sentence is written in past tense isn't because the A220 doesn't serve that role anymore; it's because it got better at it. After all the tomfoolery with physics and PP updates, the A220 is one of the excruciatingly few cars that have their PP dropped instead of raised, going from some 601.75PP to 578.79PP. It's performance relative to the other cars in GT7 didn't change; the way it was rated against other cars in GT7 changed, meaning that, given the same 600PP cap, the A220 can actually be upgraded instead of having to be nerfed!
Money–making antics against the brain dead AI is one thing, but how is the A220 to drive? After all, said Tokyo race is at a half–wet city track with high average speeds and almost no runoff, and antique race cars have a bit of an image for being utterly unhinged and unsafe at any speed. The A220 displays a bewitching blend of responsive agility and stability, even by modern standards. It simply doesn't feel like a 56–year old car at all in that regard, but that's almost just a feint, a false sense of security to lull a modern driver into trusting it, because the rest of the car is proper horror. Its peaky engine and low drag means that it can hit some frankly harrowing speeds considering the age of this car and how little downforce it generates. Lift at speed does become a bit of an issue; despite the settings sheet showing that this car makes some minuscule downforce, the steering wheel does lighten up slightly at speed, and drivers will not only have to brake deceptively early from high speeds, but also pitch the car into high speed kinks earlier and earlier the faster the car goes. The race–tuned NA engine, like most in its era, is rather peaky, with a disconcerting torque spike near the top end, though this thankfully does happen very near the rev limit, so the car is most likely straightened out completely by the time that torque spike happens, meaning it's a quirk that's mostly unnoticable until the car is driven in the wet. And, while the dash is mostly lit, the tachometer of all things isn't, so if you're a PSVR2 user or simply drive in cockpit view without HUD for immersion, you'll really have to get well accustomed to the sound of a peaky 3L V8 picking up revs quicker and quicker as it nears its 8,300rpm limit.
All of that however, pales in comparison to the biggest (un)sticking point of the A220: the tyres. They are Comfort Soft by default in GT7, and for the speeds the Alpine can hit and feels otherwise capable of, the stingy grip on offer lets down the entire experience massively. I also find it incredibly difficult to get a read on bias ply tyres in GT games, making the driving experience a bit of a crapshoot. As a racecar from the 60s, the A220 of course doesn't come with ABS, and it very much wants to be treated as such in trail braking zones, and appreciates the game's retrofit ABS being on Weak rather than Default. The last point of caution is to just be smooth when driving the A220; chassis rigidity is always going to be an issue the older the cars are, and as such the A220 doesn't like sudden, snappy movements. It's a fast car, but it definitely demands a very skilled driver to keep it going fast.
Despite having its PP rating massively lowered in relation to other cars, the A220 is still rather hopeless in a sprint scenario against cars close to its current PP rating. In our Saturday lobby "featuring" the A220, cars like the F40, XJ220, Taycan, and much more effortlessly destroyed the A220, despite all the aforementioned cars downgrading their rubber to match compounds with the Alpine. For that reason, it's only real niche is in endurance races with high fuel usage. It's less a sprinter and more a marathon runner that can run a marathon at a pace almost matching the sprint pace of much younger athletes, and that I think is massively impressive.
The Alpine A220's constant relevance in new environments is a testament that, if something is made well, it will stand the test of time and be appreciated even by people younger than it, sometimes just as a window to see into the past, and sometimes, just as it is for what it is. It's a heartening reminder that it's worth putting in heart and effort into something that just might be be remembered for years to come.
A little something:
The A220's mirror case is chrome, so it actually acts as a mirror from the front of the car, too. Interesting to see what lurks behind the Scapes scenes, and shocking that PD actually thought that far "ahead" and have shot photos behind the visible Scapes scenes, too!
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