PlayStation Is Giving Fans An Opportunity To Be Included In Major First Party Games

PlayStation has just officially announced ‘The Playerbase,’ a new community program that will let one lucky fan work directly with a first-party studio and be represented in-game. PlayStation is beginning this Playerbase experiment with Gran Turismo 7, though other first-party titles could be included in the near future.

Just last year, PlayStation celebrated its 30th anniversary. Throughout the year, this momentous milestone was marked with a bevy of tie-in events and community-focused programs, ranging from the sale of limited-edition anniversary consoles to the release of multiple PlayStation-themed soundtracks on Spotify. This new Playerbase program is said to be PlayStation’s latest opportunity to “bring some of [its] devoted PlayStation fans even closer to the PlayStation experience.”

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The Playerbase Will Let One Fan Step Into the World of Gran Turismo 7

The Playerbase is described by SIE Vice President of Global Marketing Isabelle Tomatis as a “unique opportunity for PlayStation’s biggest fans to step into some of the biggest game worlds by having their likeness scanned and appear in a PlayStation game.” The first game world up to bat is Gran Turismo 7.

One fan will be given the opportunity to be an in-game character portrait in Gran Turismo 7. This fan will also be invited to a PlayStation visual arts studio in Los Angeles, where they’ll collaborate with a designer to create a unique Gran Turismo 7 Fantasy Logo and vehicle livery. While the in-game character portrait will only be available for a limited time, the Fantasy Logo and vehicle livery will remain in Gran Turismo 7‘s Showcase menu permanently.

To be in with a chance of winning this opportunity, fans 18 years and over and from participating regions will need to head over to the PlayStation Playerbase website. After signing in with their PlayStation account, fans will be prompted to fill out a form. This form will ask fans to share a special memory that showcases their relationship with PlayStation. In the first round of selection, fans will be judged on a variety of factors, such as the originality of their written submissions and their “demonstrated engagement with the PlayStation brand, as evidenced by ownership of PlayStation products, subscriptions, games played, hours played, etc.”

Who’s That Character?

Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.

Who’s That Character?

Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.

Easy (7.5s)Medium (5.0s)Hard (2.5s)Permadeath (2.5s)

In the second round, successful fans will be asked to attend a video interview in which they’ll be asked about their history with the PlayStation brand. Here, their “authentic love” for PlayStation and Gran Turismo 7 will be judged, as will how much their interview includes “shareable and entertaining content, while demonstrating that [their] story is suitably interesting to make further compelling content.” Sometime in Summer 2026, one winner will then be chosen to appear in Gran Turismo 7, with the in-game update expected to appear later this year. While Gran Turismo 7 is the first and currently only game participating in this new Playerbase community program, the official PlayStation Blog post announcing the program states that it could be expanded to include additional PlayStation Studios titles in the near future.