I’m nowhere near finished with this game but wanted to just leave a review for the newest entry in one of my favourite series. Gran Turismo has been a constant throughout the time I’ve been a fan of games, and from GT3 and the early PS1 titles I was hooked.
GT Sport on PS4 was good, but felt more like a spinoff than a mainline title as it just didn’t have the credentials to fit with the same vibe that GT games carry. GT7 is a magnificent return to form, and a love letter to all fans of this series. From returning songs from old games, license tests with the difficulty of older GT titles, great menu themes, it feels like GT of old, but with new additions like ray tracing, the café, which makes the game feel like an RPG in a way with the “fetch quests” you have to do, and a change in the usual formula, it feels new and fresh.
You can tell they took their time here, and really wanted this to be the best game they could put out, I haven’t played a GT with this level of detail before and I honestly think it could trump GT3/4 as my favourite in the series, but only time will tell. I am just so glad they got this right and I hope to be playing this game for years to come.
GT Sport on PS4 was good, but felt more like a spinoff than a mainline title as it just didn’t have the credentials to fit with the same vibe that GT games carry. GT7 is a magnificent return to form, and a love letter to all fans of this series. From returning songs from old games, license tests with the difficulty of older GT titles, great menu themes, it feels like GT of old, but with new additions like ray tracing, the café, which makes the game feel like an RPG in a way with the “fetch quests” you have to do, and a change in the usual formula, it feels new and fresh.
You can tell they took their time here, and really wanted this to be the best game they could put out, I haven’t played a GT with this level of detail before and I honestly think it could trump GT3/4 as my favourite in the series, but only time will tell. I am just so glad they got this right and I hope to be playing this game for years to come.
Probably the best driving ever in a video game but Jesus Christ does everything else suck ass
I've rolled credits, but I'm far from done with this yet. Aside from the baffling level of detail, and its execution - which to me is the firmest evidence yet that we could indeed be living inside of a simulation - for me, the thing I'll remember of GT7 is how it felt to experience it.
The closest analogue I can think of is something like the experience of sitting at a bus stop, waiting for a bus, when the person next to you starts talking about something you know next to nothing about. Great, you think, all I wanted was to get on the bus, and here I am now, trapped in a wonky plastic wind shelter, only a third of my arse is supported by the tiny metal rail that's ostensibly installed as a bench, and I have to endure whatever this conversation is going to be.
Hours and buses go by, and there you still are, enraptured, deeply uncomfortable and worried for the future state of your arse, and suddenly an expert in manufacturing innovations. Did you know rally can trace its roots to medieval times? No, me neither. What a weird, wild ride it is.
The closest analogue I can think of is something like the experience of sitting at a bus stop, waiting for a bus, when the person next to you starts talking about something you know next to nothing about. Great, you think, all I wanted was to get on the bus, and here I am now, trapped in a wonky plastic wind shelter, only a third of my arse is supported by the tiny metal rail that's ostensibly installed as a bench, and I have to endure whatever this conversation is going to be.
Hours and buses go by, and there you still are, enraptured, deeply uncomfortable and worried for the future state of your arse, and suddenly an expert in manufacturing innovations. Did you know rally can trace its roots to medieval times? No, me neither. What a weird, wild ride it is.
Too much MTX. Probably will come back to it in a few years
An absolutely incredible racing game held back by its always online DRM.
The rolling starts need to die, but unfortunately that can't happen until Polyphony invests in some form of a proper racing AI instead of mindless path following algorithm. The economy is extremely predatory and feels like it has been designed by someone who knows exactly what they are doing, but does not understand what this game is. Kaz, if you are reading this, I can help you out. I love the series and know my shit around game economy.
In many ways this is exactly what I wanted from a GT game: licenses are back, the cafe menus structure makes for a nicely directed single player 'campaign' and the car fandom/museum aspect is even better (and quirkier) than ever. The problem is that once the credits have rolled I've found absolutely no desire to go back to it.
I've talked about the curate's egg in other games as a lazy shorthand for a good game negatively affected by a single aspect. In this one I think it's closer to the original story of a rotten core that you can try to get around but eventually cannot avoid. In this game it's the GAAS implementation. Credit rewards are far too low - I can't even afford one of the high end cars from Brand Central after 20 hours in the game, assuming the game actually allows me to buy one. The game's always online and it fails silently if you do something like go into rest mode in the middle of a multi-race series. I've lost multiple races' worth of progress from this. Most of all though is the way the game cycles stuff in and out to make you try and log in every day. I've packed in multiple mobile games recently because of the amount of time I was spending doing my daily logins and this is in a similar place. At that point it stopped feeling like a fun game and went into that cynical GAAS hole, where I just won the right to buy that Koenigsegg but only for the next 7 days, better get earning credits! Want a particular car? Well you'd better wait for it to turn up!
When I went through the game I really enjoyed the progression from my Mazda Demio up to the racing thoroughbreds in the end, via some real classics on the way. After playing another Forza Horizon game where I could rely on two or three cars (FH4 in particular just boiled me down to driving a Ferrari F40 around everywhere) it was a much better sense of progression. In the end though, I do want to buy my Ferrari F40 but the game won't let me. Apparently it was in the Legends area a fortnight ago, at over three times the price it was in GT Sport. I guess I missed out.
I've talked about the curate's egg in other games as a lazy shorthand for a good game negatively affected by a single aspect. In this one I think it's closer to the original story of a rotten core that you can try to get around but eventually cannot avoid. In this game it's the GAAS implementation. Credit rewards are far too low - I can't even afford one of the high end cars from Brand Central after 20 hours in the game, assuming the game actually allows me to buy one. The game's always online and it fails silently if you do something like go into rest mode in the middle of a multi-race series. I've lost multiple races' worth of progress from this. Most of all though is the way the game cycles stuff in and out to make you try and log in every day. I've packed in multiple mobile games recently because of the amount of time I was spending doing my daily logins and this is in a similar place. At that point it stopped feeling like a fun game and went into that cynical GAAS hole, where I just won the right to buy that Koenigsegg but only for the next 7 days, better get earning credits! Want a particular car? Well you'd better wait for it to turn up!
When I went through the game I really enjoyed the progression from my Mazda Demio up to the racing thoroughbreds in the end, via some real classics on the way. After playing another Forza Horizon game where I could rely on two or three cars (FH4 in particular just boiled me down to driving a Ferrari F40 around everywhere) it was a much better sense of progression. In the end though, I do want to buy my Ferrari F40 but the game won't let me. Apparently it was in the Legends area a fortnight ago, at over three times the price it was in GT Sport. I guess I missed out.
First system seller for ps5.
The haptics really make it feel like you can feel the breaks and acceleration and helps you stay on the line.
Also its almost Edutainment or a large ad with the history of cars in the game.
The haptics really make it feel like you can feel the breaks and acceleration and helps you stay on the line.
Also its almost Edutainment or a large ad with the history of cars in the game.
GT7 is frustrating and fun in equal measure. For every exhilarating race, there's a questionable design decision sitting somewhere waiting to pounce on you.
Cars feel great to drive, but some classic tracks have been changed a bit too much, losing their unique identities in the process. You're given interesting and challenging missions to complete, but also have to deal with a neutered campaign that sees you play a cafe customer being talked to by cardboard cutouts more than a driver.
As a return to the classic GT single player CaRPG then, it's quite disappointing. But then you get into Sport mode and everything changes - nothing quite beats the thrill of driving against real people and the races really do feel exciting even if you're only fighting over 13th place. Annoyances still exist - even here you're stuck with too many rolling starts, and the handing out of penalties is inconsistent at best - but it's easily the game's biggest strength.
The economy, microstransactions and economy are a whole other story which I won't get into properly as it doesn't really affect me too much as getting every car isn't what I care about that much in these games - but suffice to say that I still think they've become way too stingy with payouts and cynically so, it's all to railroad you to Spend More Money.
But I keep coming back. 70 hours and counting, dipping into new Sport races as they pop up and honing my skills. Will I keep at it? Possibly not, but it's a very easy game to dip into once you've got through the main single player side of things and honestly, these cars feel great to drive.
Cars feel great to drive, but some classic tracks have been changed a bit too much, losing their unique identities in the process. You're given interesting and challenging missions to complete, but also have to deal with a neutered campaign that sees you play a cafe customer being talked to by cardboard cutouts more than a driver.
As a return to the classic GT single player CaRPG then, it's quite disappointing. But then you get into Sport mode and everything changes - nothing quite beats the thrill of driving against real people and the races really do feel exciting even if you're only fighting over 13th place. Annoyances still exist - even here you're stuck with too many rolling starts, and the handing out of penalties is inconsistent at best - but it's easily the game's biggest strength.
The economy, microstransactions and economy are a whole other story which I won't get into properly as it doesn't really affect me too much as getting every car isn't what I care about that much in these games - but suffice to say that I still think they've become way too stingy with payouts and cynically so, it's all to railroad you to Spend More Money.
But I keep coming back. 70 hours and counting, dipping into new Sport races as they pop up and honing my skills. Will I keep at it? Possibly not, but it's a very easy game to dip into once you've got through the main single player side of things and honestly, these cars feel great to drive.
I was as invested in this as TEST DRIVE UNLIMITED 2 or METROPOLIS STREET RACER. Haptics, handling and actual gameplay are absolute top tier.
I will doubtless come back to this on a regular basis just to experience it with a new weekly spotify playlist in the background. It seems perfectly suited to that
I'm happy to just have the car from OUTRUN and Burt Reynolds Trans Am from Smokey and the Bandit, gameplay is everything to me, so the grind will not affect my enjoyment in the slightest. However for car enthusiasts and completionists, altering the economy post launch was a serious red flag.
The stench of microtransations is very real for those with a certain mindset.
I will doubtless come back to this on a regular basis just to experience it with a new weekly spotify playlist in the background. It seems perfectly suited to that
I'm happy to just have the car from OUTRUN and Burt Reynolds Trans Am from Smokey and the Bandit, gameplay is everything to me, so the grind will not affect my enjoyment in the slightest. However for car enthusiasts and completionists, altering the economy post launch was a serious red flag.
The stench of microtransations is very real for those with a certain mindset.
At the time of this review, the game was on patch 1.11.
I've been jumping back and forth on whether GT7 is a 3.5 or a 4 star, but I think I'm going to have to settle on 4 star because the game is just such a joy to play when you are actually playing it. All the cars feel distinct and great to drive, the haptic feedback and adaptive triggers really add a lot to the experience, and the game is just gorgeous to look at. Scapes also as with GT Sport is a genuinely wonderful feature for someone who admires and likes looking at cars. The livery editor is pretty impressive too.
Where the game loses it is just a lot of little thing. The UI is a chore to navigate and could use a lot of quality of life. Why can't I just change cars whenever? Why can't I buy parts from the tuning menu? Why do I have to back all the way out of GT Auto to switch between it's 3 sub menus? A lot of it doesn't really make sense.
As for the campaign, the cafe is okay. I actually did appreciate the history aspect from collecting cars, but it's a bit of an odd progression. You aren't really working your way up as you are just being given selections of vehicles as you make your way through. The licenses are also implemented strangely, as you only need an A license to beat the game. What makes the IB, IA, and S licenses any different from missions then? They aren't required to progress at all.
Always online also is pretty lame, especially when (unlike something like Hitman) it locks you out of even playing the game when the servers go down. I'm glad that as of this patch they are taking player feedback to heart and event rewards feel worthwhile now. Maybe by the end of its post-launch support it will be a true 5-star game, but for now I feel like it's about a 4.
I've been jumping back and forth on whether GT7 is a 3.5 or a 4 star, but I think I'm going to have to settle on 4 star because the game is just such a joy to play when you are actually playing it. All the cars feel distinct and great to drive, the haptic feedback and adaptive triggers really add a lot to the experience, and the game is just gorgeous to look at. Scapes also as with GT Sport is a genuinely wonderful feature for someone who admires and likes looking at cars. The livery editor is pretty impressive too.
Where the game loses it is just a lot of little thing. The UI is a chore to navigate and could use a lot of quality of life. Why can't I just change cars whenever? Why can't I buy parts from the tuning menu? Why do I have to back all the way out of GT Auto to switch between it's 3 sub menus? A lot of it doesn't really make sense.
As for the campaign, the cafe is okay. I actually did appreciate the history aspect from collecting cars, but it's a bit of an odd progression. You aren't really working your way up as you are just being given selections of vehicles as you make your way through. The licenses are also implemented strangely, as you only need an A license to beat the game. What makes the IB, IA, and S licenses any different from missions then? They aren't required to progress at all.
Always online also is pretty lame, especially when (unlike something like Hitman) it locks you out of even playing the game when the servers go down. I'm glad that as of this patch they are taking player feedback to heart and event rewards feel worthwhile now. Maybe by the end of its post-launch support it will be a true 5-star game, but for now I feel like it's about a 4.
Game is good, but feels like an Expanded and Enhanced version of Gran Turismo Sport.
why this just gt sport but it looks slightly better and cars can fly :(
the lotteries make me boil with rage. but other than that the game's pretty good
I really enjoyed my time with GT7. It's a fun game to switch off my brain to unwind after a long day while listening to my own playlist or choice of podcasts etc. As a decompressor, that's where it shines for me above all else. I could sit here and analyse how pretty the graphics are or how great the driving itself feels in its realism yet simplicity, but I'm no expert critic, so it'd be tough to stack that up against other contemporaries, so I'll just say it's a pretty example of what the PS5 is capable of going forward. (PS5 is the way to go here, PS4 is sufficient but the horrendously long loads do make it a big slog to sit through).
Couple of scummy aspects worth noting though which bump things down in my books though. Always online DRM, even for single player races... really? Also MTX and the absurd prices of cars in-game to doster FOMO marketed as realism... not great. Not tactics I fall for personally (although I don't mind buying a very cheap MTX if it'll make the experience better in my view) but worth noting for those who think they may be affected.
I'm not sure sims are close to being my first choice of racing genre, but GT7 fills a niche that I've wanted filled by a racer now for a good while, so that's a positive. Don't think it'll be replacing my love of the Forza Motorsport/Horizon series', but I'm certainly looking forward to dipping into previous entries when I can to see what else they have to offer.
Couple of scummy aspects worth noting though which bump things down in my books though. Always online DRM, even for single player races... really? Also MTX and the absurd prices of cars in-game to doster FOMO marketed as realism... not great. Not tactics I fall for personally (although I don't mind buying a very cheap MTX if it'll make the experience better in my view) but worth noting for those who think they may be affected.
I'm not sure sims are close to being my first choice of racing genre, but GT7 fills a niche that I've wanted filled by a racer now for a good while, so that's a positive. Don't think it'll be replacing my love of the Forza Motorsport/Horizon series', but I'm certainly looking forward to dipping into previous entries when I can to see what else they have to offer.
Gran Turismo 7 is hands down one of the finest racing games i've ever played. It's a real love letter to how the automotive industry has evolved and the gran turismo series has certainly evolved with it, taking everything that was already great about the series and fine tuning the experience to near mastery.
The feel of driving in gran turismo 7 is just superb and on a ps5, it's taken a step further through the dynamic haptic feedback of the controller. I'm not a huge car nerd or anything, I don't properly understand half of the tuning parameters but I do very much appreciate the detail. Infact, detail is key to gt7, every car feels uniquely different to drive. The weight behind accelerating, braking and steering never feels the same, retro and more modern cars are very noticeably different in how they handle and tuning a car adds an extra layer of personalised performance.
What struck me right away was how the ps5 controller enhances the whole experience, the feedback sensations i'd get from the clunk of a gear change or driving over curbs or passing over the metal grates on the tokyo expressway circuit each were very satisfying. It uses the hardware available to craft a driving sensation that i've never felt before and I hope to see used more in future ps5 titles.
All this said, driving in gran turismo 7 is not going to be to everyone's taste. True to the series' nature and history, it is a realistic driving simulator, so don't go in expecting instant responsiveness in handling even at absurdly high speeds or arcadey, explosive presentation. The visuals off the track aren't the focus here, neither are big crashes or high octane street races, it's just not that kind of racing game.
But what gran turismo 7 IS, is a refined, distinguished driving experience just like its predecessors. There's something really comforting to me about how this game presents itself and requires focus and discipline from the player. Going too fast around a corner? Tough, you'll go off track and probably crash. Crashing into other cars on the track on purpose whilst you overtake? You'll be forfeiting a large amount of bonus credits and significantly slowing yourself down. I know because I was guilty of this when I first picked it up. I hadn't played a GT game since GT5 back in the day and playing games like burnout and kart racers made me play that way seemingly by default. But as I kept it up and got better at the game through its challenging license tests and lengthy races I began to notice the satisfaction of staying focused and watching my speed. So then eventually, I was able to cruise around tracks at immense speeds with total precision and it felt amazing, it just takes practice, just like when I learnt to drive for real!
I specifically remember struggling with it and then, with practice, perfectly executing the back to back S curves on suzuka circuit in my beloved (tuned up) aston martin v8 vantage. That gave me a big stupid smile.
Outside of racing, I fell in love with this game's overall presentation, music and feel. Gran Turismo got me into modern jazz and lounge music and allowed me to go on to discover some great artists that I listen to on the regular now like T-Square and Casiopea. So listening to some familiar and new tracks in the world map gave me a tingle of nostalgia. Complimenting this is gran turismo's always quality user interface and delicate, classy vibe. When you're not on the track gran turismo feels like coming home after a long day. Taking trips to gt auto, the tuning shop, scapes, the garage and the dealerships felt familiar yet new and deeply personal. Pick a car you really like, show it some love at gt auto and the tuning shop, personalise it (and your racer) to no end with the help of a massive online library of assets, take it for a ride or take a photograph. That brings me to 'scapes', GT7's new 'photo mode' - an already essential part of gran turismo taken even further yet again.
'Scapes' allows you to take any vehicles from your garage, frame them in over 2500 locations and then take a snapshot. The library of gorgeous photographs of real world locations around the globe is absolute magic, the way they allow you to superimpose any car(s) into one of these scenes and still make it look convincing blew me away. Not to mention that the sheer number of camera positioning options, trickery and effects make it easily one of the most nuanced and enjoyable in game photo experiences that i've ever used. Granted there are some limitations to how much freedom you are allowed in certain scenes and many of the effects were too dramatic for me to want to use them (some even downright unpleasant), but it matters little considering the massive library of things for you to play with. The panning options in particular make for some really cool action shots.
Now onto where I think this game feels held back. For starters, basically all career races are rolling starts. Inherently this isn't an issue but when you take into account that you always start the race in last place, races don't really feel like races so much as one big game of catch up. The distance between first and last place before the race even begins is often a good 30 second difference - meaning they could be almost half way around an average track before you've even passed the starting line. Therefore, instead of an exciting battle for a podium position and the tension of maintaining your position once you're there, the majority of your time is spent carefully overtaking and climbing your way to the front. This also means that you need your car to perform above average or you won't have a chance of getting to the front of the pack before the race ends, which for me at least, takes away an element of the freedom that picking the car you want to use allows.
Visually this game does look great and I know it isn't the focus but it would also be nice to have some more detail in the crowds and extra details on the side of the tracks to make the overall experience a bit more immersive. There's also some modes and styles of races that appeal to me very much on paper but weren't up to snuff for me in the actual game. Like music rally, extreme weather races and dirt/gravel rallying. Music rally in particular was hailed as a new 'focus' for the game and earns a place on the menu screen right next to the main world map. But the actual event itself is just underwhelming with no real incentive to keep playing and with generally pretty uninteresting music choices (would have loved to see some callbacks to classic GT tracks). It's something I tried out while the game was installing but had no interest to revisit. If they bring in some really good tunes i'll definitely give it another go though.
As for extreme weather races and classic dirt/gravel rally, I never felt that these were as strong in gran turismo as in other games like dirt, and gran turismo 7 is unfortunately not an exception. In gran turismo it feels almost too much like you're not in control - which I know is the game trying to be realistic but I find myself slipping and sliding all over the place so I really need to slow down and sometimes grind almost to a halt to keep the car steady which just isn't that fun for me. Then there's the jumps in rally races which feel frustratingly difficult to execute and land without going flying into the barriers and losing your position seemingly everytime; unless, of course, you really slow down the pace and steady yourself which again, is a shame to me because I really just want to get some air haha.
Then there's the fact that the game is always online, the use of micro-transactions (which weren't introduced to the series in this game to be fair) and a general lack of content at the moment, but that will likely change. Disappointingly there's a good few car manufacturers, like mercedes-benz, that I was looking forward to seeing a nice selection of cars from and then there's literally just one in brand central that isn't AMG. Don't get me wrong the number of cars is still huge, it's just not up there with its current competitors and didn't give me the same thrills as previous gran turismo games with its general level of variety. But again, this will most likely change as the game gets updates.
Overall a borderline masterclass driving sim and while i'm not actually a huge motor head, I found myself drawn in with its inclusive, accessible methodology to teach the player about automotive history and mechanics. For big car fanatics, this will be a real treat of a game i'm sure. The cafe was a great and different but totally welcomed new way to introduce players to gran turismo and go about the game's 'career' mode in a more natural way. It was also a very welcome way to acquire new cars quickly and move up the ranks/tiers in terms of performance and cost.
The nostalgia was major with this one and i'm sure that i'll be coming back to it when I want a fun yet challenging and rewarding driving experience!
The feel of driving in gran turismo 7 is just superb and on a ps5, it's taken a step further through the dynamic haptic feedback of the controller. I'm not a huge car nerd or anything, I don't properly understand half of the tuning parameters but I do very much appreciate the detail. Infact, detail is key to gt7, every car feels uniquely different to drive. The weight behind accelerating, braking and steering never feels the same, retro and more modern cars are very noticeably different in how they handle and tuning a car adds an extra layer of personalised performance.
What struck me right away was how the ps5 controller enhances the whole experience, the feedback sensations i'd get from the clunk of a gear change or driving over curbs or passing over the metal grates on the tokyo expressway circuit each were very satisfying. It uses the hardware available to craft a driving sensation that i've never felt before and I hope to see used more in future ps5 titles.
All this said, driving in gran turismo 7 is not going to be to everyone's taste. True to the series' nature and history, it is a realistic driving simulator, so don't go in expecting instant responsiveness in handling even at absurdly high speeds or arcadey, explosive presentation. The visuals off the track aren't the focus here, neither are big crashes or high octane street races, it's just not that kind of racing game.
But what gran turismo 7 IS, is a refined, distinguished driving experience just like its predecessors. There's something really comforting to me about how this game presents itself and requires focus and discipline from the player. Going too fast around a corner? Tough, you'll go off track and probably crash. Crashing into other cars on the track on purpose whilst you overtake? You'll be forfeiting a large amount of bonus credits and significantly slowing yourself down. I know because I was guilty of this when I first picked it up. I hadn't played a GT game since GT5 back in the day and playing games like burnout and kart racers made me play that way seemingly by default. But as I kept it up and got better at the game through its challenging license tests and lengthy races I began to notice the satisfaction of staying focused and watching my speed. So then eventually, I was able to cruise around tracks at immense speeds with total precision and it felt amazing, it just takes practice, just like when I learnt to drive for real!
I specifically remember struggling with it and then, with practice, perfectly executing the back to back S curves on suzuka circuit in my beloved (tuned up) aston martin v8 vantage. That gave me a big stupid smile.
Outside of racing, I fell in love with this game's overall presentation, music and feel. Gran Turismo got me into modern jazz and lounge music and allowed me to go on to discover some great artists that I listen to on the regular now like T-Square and Casiopea. So listening to some familiar and new tracks in the world map gave me a tingle of nostalgia. Complimenting this is gran turismo's always quality user interface and delicate, classy vibe. When you're not on the track gran turismo feels like coming home after a long day. Taking trips to gt auto, the tuning shop, scapes, the garage and the dealerships felt familiar yet new and deeply personal. Pick a car you really like, show it some love at gt auto and the tuning shop, personalise it (and your racer) to no end with the help of a massive online library of assets, take it for a ride or take a photograph. That brings me to 'scapes', GT7's new 'photo mode' - an already essential part of gran turismo taken even further yet again.
'Scapes' allows you to take any vehicles from your garage, frame them in over 2500 locations and then take a snapshot. The library of gorgeous photographs of real world locations around the globe is absolute magic, the way they allow you to superimpose any car(s) into one of these scenes and still make it look convincing blew me away. Not to mention that the sheer number of camera positioning options, trickery and effects make it easily one of the most nuanced and enjoyable in game photo experiences that i've ever used. Granted there are some limitations to how much freedom you are allowed in certain scenes and many of the effects were too dramatic for me to want to use them (some even downright unpleasant), but it matters little considering the massive library of things for you to play with. The panning options in particular make for some really cool action shots.
Now onto where I think this game feels held back. For starters, basically all career races are rolling starts. Inherently this isn't an issue but when you take into account that you always start the race in last place, races don't really feel like races so much as one big game of catch up. The distance between first and last place before the race even begins is often a good 30 second difference - meaning they could be almost half way around an average track before you've even passed the starting line. Therefore, instead of an exciting battle for a podium position and the tension of maintaining your position once you're there, the majority of your time is spent carefully overtaking and climbing your way to the front. This also means that you need your car to perform above average or you won't have a chance of getting to the front of the pack before the race ends, which for me at least, takes away an element of the freedom that picking the car you want to use allows.
Visually this game does look great and I know it isn't the focus but it would also be nice to have some more detail in the crowds and extra details on the side of the tracks to make the overall experience a bit more immersive. There's also some modes and styles of races that appeal to me very much on paper but weren't up to snuff for me in the actual game. Like music rally, extreme weather races and dirt/gravel rallying. Music rally in particular was hailed as a new 'focus' for the game and earns a place on the menu screen right next to the main world map. But the actual event itself is just underwhelming with no real incentive to keep playing and with generally pretty uninteresting music choices (would have loved to see some callbacks to classic GT tracks). It's something I tried out while the game was installing but had no interest to revisit. If they bring in some really good tunes i'll definitely give it another go though.
As for extreme weather races and classic dirt/gravel rally, I never felt that these were as strong in gran turismo as in other games like dirt, and gran turismo 7 is unfortunately not an exception. In gran turismo it feels almost too much like you're not in control - which I know is the game trying to be realistic but I find myself slipping and sliding all over the place so I really need to slow down and sometimes grind almost to a halt to keep the car steady which just isn't that fun for me. Then there's the jumps in rally races which feel frustratingly difficult to execute and land without going flying into the barriers and losing your position seemingly everytime; unless, of course, you really slow down the pace and steady yourself which again, is a shame to me because I really just want to get some air haha.
Then there's the fact that the game is always online, the use of micro-transactions (which weren't introduced to the series in this game to be fair) and a general lack of content at the moment, but that will likely change. Disappointingly there's a good few car manufacturers, like mercedes-benz, that I was looking forward to seeing a nice selection of cars from and then there's literally just one in brand central that isn't AMG. Don't get me wrong the number of cars is still huge, it's just not up there with its current competitors and didn't give me the same thrills as previous gran turismo games with its general level of variety. But again, this will most likely change as the game gets updates.
Overall a borderline masterclass driving sim and while i'm not actually a huge motor head, I found myself drawn in with its inclusive, accessible methodology to teach the player about automotive history and mechanics. For big car fanatics, this will be a real treat of a game i'm sure. The cafe was a great and different but totally welcomed new way to introduce players to gran turismo and go about the game's 'career' mode in a more natural way. It was also a very welcome way to acquire new cars quickly and move up the ranks/tiers in terms of performance and cost.
The nostalgia was major with this one and i'm sure that i'll be coming back to it when I want a fun yet challenging and rewarding driving experience!
This review contains spoilers
The use of "Chariots of Fire" on the menu before the final circuit is such a perfect summation of this game as a whole. It's a little too sterile, a little too goofy, and beaming with enthusiasm for cars. Also just jaw dropping in all capacities. Love it.
Gran Turismo 7 is a lie. For all the words spouted about how this is a return to form of the massive singleplayer campaigns and content of Gran Turismos past, it's really not. It tries, goddamit, and definetly scratches the itch that we all have of Gran Turismo 4 and such... but it never goes more than skin deep.
Because Gran Turismo 7 is just an expansion of GT Sport, and with it, the promise of new stuff to come at an indeterminate date. At time of writing it's just a buy in to a live service.
The kicker here is content. Versus GT sport there's a grand total of... 4 new tracks and two new layouts of existing ones. I'm not joking thats it, and whilst the selection is mostly good - High speed ring, deep forest, and Trial Mountain are classics - there being no completely new additions outright is really sad.
The car selection is also quite small by mainline gt standards. 400 cars which are mostly unique (compared to GT6's deluge of 20 different types of Miata) and all beautifully modelled - but lots of these are ludicrously expensive, the vast majority are imported from GT sport, and there's very few additions in the racing car categories. The overall car selection is also, by now, quite old. Most of the cars here you can track back to about 2015-ish, and there's very few non concept cars from post 2020.
And it kinda all makes sense. The reduced scope of GT7 compared to - particularly GT4, is almost unavoidable. The level of fidelity demanded these days makes something the scope of GT4 or even GT6 basically impossible, and Polyphony arent the crazed madmen sleeping at the office and making Naughty dog's crunch practices look pedestrian anymore.
And thus, the campaign doesn't really work. There's the delightful level of gran turismo charm and cheese which is lovely to have back and is probably my outright biggest criticism of Sport, but the whole thing is too linear, short, and really lacks the freedom of previous GTs.
Particularly dissapointing is the lack of the super high level events from bygone days - Like the wind, Formula grand turismo championships, etc. It's outright bizzare, the game carries the license system from previous games, but there arent even any license requirements over A in the game at time of writing. And it's so weird, because the game dangles these awesome legendary cars in front of you for stonking credit values but there's like fuck all to do with them except online!
But despite it all, there's sparks here. S-10, the final license test, has you wrangling a classic Porsche 917 around a slightly damp Spa Francorchamps. It's probably the most fun i've ever had in a driving game. The handling model in GT7 is top tier, it's implementation of weather and changeable conditions amazing, it's level of fidelity so damn high, the Car such a fun beast to drive - that it all comes together and it's downright magical. It's the apotheosis of the driving fantasy GT has always been trying to fullfill, and it's the best it has ever done it. Some of the other missions and driving tests are also great, but this moment is what makes it, and proves GT7s potential.
But we'll have to wait, i guess. More than even GT sport, this is a game where buying it is buying into a live service and years of updates which will eventually make it the game we all wanted. GT sport eventually got there. And if there's more moments like S-10 coming... I guess i'll be there to see it in GT7.
Because Gran Turismo 7 is just an expansion of GT Sport, and with it, the promise of new stuff to come at an indeterminate date. At time of writing it's just a buy in to a live service.
The kicker here is content. Versus GT sport there's a grand total of... 4 new tracks and two new layouts of existing ones. I'm not joking thats it, and whilst the selection is mostly good - High speed ring, deep forest, and Trial Mountain are classics - there being no completely new additions outright is really sad.
The car selection is also quite small by mainline gt standards. 400 cars which are mostly unique (compared to GT6's deluge of 20 different types of Miata) and all beautifully modelled - but lots of these are ludicrously expensive, the vast majority are imported from GT sport, and there's very few additions in the racing car categories. The overall car selection is also, by now, quite old. Most of the cars here you can track back to about 2015-ish, and there's very few non concept cars from post 2020.
And it kinda all makes sense. The reduced scope of GT7 compared to - particularly GT4, is almost unavoidable. The level of fidelity demanded these days makes something the scope of GT4 or even GT6 basically impossible, and Polyphony arent the crazed madmen sleeping at the office and making Naughty dog's crunch practices look pedestrian anymore.
And thus, the campaign doesn't really work. There's the delightful level of gran turismo charm and cheese which is lovely to have back and is probably my outright biggest criticism of Sport, but the whole thing is too linear, short, and really lacks the freedom of previous GTs.
Particularly dissapointing is the lack of the super high level events from bygone days - Like the wind, Formula grand turismo championships, etc. It's outright bizzare, the game carries the license system from previous games, but there arent even any license requirements over A in the game at time of writing. And it's so weird, because the game dangles these awesome legendary cars in front of you for stonking credit values but there's like fuck all to do with them except online!
But despite it all, there's sparks here. S-10, the final license test, has you wrangling a classic Porsche 917 around a slightly damp Spa Francorchamps. It's probably the most fun i've ever had in a driving game. The handling model in GT7 is top tier, it's implementation of weather and changeable conditions amazing, it's level of fidelity so damn high, the Car such a fun beast to drive - that it all comes together and it's downright magical. It's the apotheosis of the driving fantasy GT has always been trying to fullfill, and it's the best it has ever done it. Some of the other missions and driving tests are also great, but this moment is what makes it, and proves GT7s potential.
But we'll have to wait, i guess. More than even GT sport, this is a game where buying it is buying into a live service and years of updates which will eventually make it the game we all wanted. GT sport eventually got there. And if there's more moments like S-10 coming... I guess i'll be there to see it in GT7.
When you feel the haptics on the DualSense pushing back on you, when you finally run a track enough times that you have every little time-saving maneuver memorized, when you tune a car so that you not only make it faster and more reliable but also just make it feel right, when you squeak out a last second burst to nose across the line to take first...when GT7 works, it really works.
It's just everything else that makes this kind of miserable.
•Arbitrary 20 million free credit limit so you can't save for expensive cars rotating into the store. Allowing you to have as many paid (microtransaction) credits as you want but only allowing you to keep 20 million that you earned for free is the kind of rapacious nonsense I'd expect from a company like EA or Ubisoft.
•Low race payouts, and then some of the best races got nerfed because PD want you buying MTX bundles.
•Awful UI that looks sleek but is far too clunky. For example, if I go to a race, and decide I want new tires, just let me buy a new type of tires from the car settings page. Don't make me back out three menus, then go into the garage, buy them there, back out of the garage, and go back through three menus to get back into the race. That's not immersive, that's asinine. Pure style over substance.
•Basically every race in the brief "career" (the menu books) is a rolling start. Rolling starts are a snooze fest when implemented like this. No qualifying round, you're always at the back and nary a grid start in sight to switch things up.
•AI is godawful, and almost certainly the reason that everything is a rolling start race, because they're too stupid to actually compete against you even on harder difficulties. When you combine this level of bad AI with the rolling starts, this barely qualifies as racing. It's like a sprint race on an obstacle course.
•Weird gacha-esque system to win money, cars, parts and purchase invitations. The parts and invitations are the worst options. You can "win" parts for cars that you don't own, and you can't sell the parts off. And you can get invitations to buy special, limited cars for millions...and the tickets expire. Which is basically a painfully obvious attempt to get you to FOMO into buying an MTX package so you don't have to grind for 20 hours.
•Speaking of "can't sell," in keeping with the obvious "PD wants you to buy MTX bundles" theme, you can't sell cars. I don't care if it's at a decent loss, there's like 30 cars I will never drive in my garage that I would like to sell for some credits to spend on tuning and actual good cars.
•Abysmal always-online implementation. It's one thing to be like Hitman and not allow unlocks to be used, and that's already bad enough. When this game is offline (as it was a day or two ago because PD nuked it with a bad update), this game might as well be a paperweight.
Maybe this will be fixed in a year or two, but I don't expect it to be at this point. Their profit-minded focus is very evident here, and I'm not wasting disk space keeping this installed to see if they do an about face.
It's just everything else that makes this kind of miserable.
•Arbitrary 20 million free credit limit so you can't save for expensive cars rotating into the store. Allowing you to have as many paid (microtransaction) credits as you want but only allowing you to keep 20 million that you earned for free is the kind of rapacious nonsense I'd expect from a company like EA or Ubisoft.
•Low race payouts, and then some of the best races got nerfed because PD want you buying MTX bundles.
•Awful UI that looks sleek but is far too clunky. For example, if I go to a race, and decide I want new tires, just let me buy a new type of tires from the car settings page. Don't make me back out three menus, then go into the garage, buy them there, back out of the garage, and go back through three menus to get back into the race. That's not immersive, that's asinine. Pure style over substance.
•Basically every race in the brief "career" (the menu books) is a rolling start. Rolling starts are a snooze fest when implemented like this. No qualifying round, you're always at the back and nary a grid start in sight to switch things up.
•AI is godawful, and almost certainly the reason that everything is a rolling start race, because they're too stupid to actually compete against you even on harder difficulties. When you combine this level of bad AI with the rolling starts, this barely qualifies as racing. It's like a sprint race on an obstacle course.
•Weird gacha-esque system to win money, cars, parts and purchase invitations. The parts and invitations are the worst options. You can "win" parts for cars that you don't own, and you can't sell the parts off. And you can get invitations to buy special, limited cars for millions...and the tickets expire. Which is basically a painfully obvious attempt to get you to FOMO into buying an MTX package so you don't have to grind for 20 hours.
•Speaking of "can't sell," in keeping with the obvious "PD wants you to buy MTX bundles" theme, you can't sell cars. I don't care if it's at a decent loss, there's like 30 cars I will never drive in my garage that I would like to sell for some credits to spend on tuning and actual good cars.
•Abysmal always-online implementation. It's one thing to be like Hitman and not allow unlocks to be used, and that's already bad enough. When this game is offline (as it was a day or two ago because PD nuked it with a bad update), this game might as well be a paperweight.
Maybe this will be fixed in a year or two, but I don't expect it to be at this point. Their profit-minded focus is very evident here, and I'm not wasting disk space keeping this installed to see if they do an about face.
a fantastic game that has been obliterated by aggressive monetisation. For shame.
While some aspects are stand out, the game simply cannot escape the cyclical problem that is its in game economy and especially the micro-transactions and effective always online for a single player title.
First time I'm playing a GT, or a driving simulator for that matter. I have to say, it's a game made with a lot of appreciation for cars and races, full of trivia or minute details. The campaign does a good job getting you into the specifics of the game, and streamlining your experience with the game, starting from more basic concepts and expanding to stuff like the different types of cars, the need of tuning and the importance of tires or the way race tracks change. Difficulty wise, I think it's challenging enough, with the requirements for Gold during the game's challenges being rather harsh actually. It makes you learn and experiment way more than I expected. Lastly, the photo mode in this game is rather good, and I like the social aspect of it, like sharing a cool decal or a rare car's photo.
The elephant in the room is the mtx, right now it feels like there's a lot of grinding in order to be able to afford the rare cars, and the roulette system is really damn stingy. Hagerty is an interesting concept where prices of cars match their real world value, but combined with the mtx, it feels like such a terrible implementation that works against the player. Also, the online only requirement sours the game a lot, as it's perfectly playable for its rather meaty single player content, the campaign and the various challenges.
Overall, definitely a great game for fans of cars and racing, that seems perfect for newcomers to the series as well, and can be enjoyed solo. Hopefully, Polyphony will improve the game's rewards and make the mtx less of an issue.
The elephant in the room is the mtx, right now it feels like there's a lot of grinding in order to be able to afford the rare cars, and the roulette system is really damn stingy. Hagerty is an interesting concept where prices of cars match their real world value, but combined with the mtx, it feels like such a terrible implementation that works against the player. Also, the online only requirement sours the game a lot, as it's perfectly playable for its rather meaty single player content, the campaign and the various challenges.
Overall, definitely a great game for fans of cars and racing, that seems perfect for newcomers to the series as well, and can be enjoyed solo. Hopefully, Polyphony will improve the game's rewards and make the mtx less of an issue.
"Congratulations! Getting together with your fellow drivers really motivates you to lose, doesn't it?"
Gran Turismo 7 is finally here and it's just GT Sport with a dynamic weather system, a car upgrade menu, a barebones campaign in the form of Cafe mode+license tests and an extremely predatory attempt at a service-oriented game.
Of course the game at its core is very solid, the driving model feels really good and despite the lap time grind, driving line focused ideas it has, it handles really well on a controller. But this is nothing new for people who come from Sport. Most of the content is straight up ported from the last game, I've only really seen 3 tracks and a handful of cars that are actually new. More should come in the future according to the roadmap.
The only real upgrade in this regard is that changing car parts is a new thing and feels really good, each part having a direct, tangible effect on how the car drives and sounds, it feels like more than just "speed goes up".
Cafe is the main mode and gives the game an unfinished feeling. Campaign is a bunch of races where you get a few cars and then compete in a championship, over and over. It walks you through a few car brands and then it just ends at 700pp. No group 1 or 2 races and just a couple 3/4 events. It's pointless to get any of the le mans cars or the VGT ones, or GR.2, or racing ones. There's no post game, no progression past getting the early game free shitboxes. ALL main events are rolling start races where you start maybe 30 seconds behind the lead and you have to catch up, dodging the terrible AI that hasn't been upgraded since the PS3 days. Makes me wonder where's the so advertised sophy AI, and why would they release the game without this.
Another well-advertised addition was the 'music rally' mode which is literally just a time trial with a specific song in the background (???). I don't know what they were going for. Soundtrack is nice but many tracks were just ported from sport, and many of those were just recycled from the older games. I still like the songs however.
Economy is downright awful, the outrage it caused within the community is very much justified, but despite the polyphony team coming up with a statement that they'd undo payout changes from the last update, there's more to its issues than just the payouts being lowered on purpose to encourage people to buy credits.
The only way to get cars older than 2000 is either waiting for them to be on the 'legend' store or on the 'used cars' store. Modern hypercars are locked behind 'invitations' that can be gotten through roulette spins. All of these make getting any iconic vehicles time-based to encourage MTX purchases.
Game lacks the polish Sport had (which to be fair, probably took many updates to achieve, idk, I got the game in 2020) and features quite a few bugs, and framerate dips well below the 60 fps target on PS4. There are visual glitches on certain tracks that weren't there before and the UI has some baffling UX choices despite the pretty menus, this seems to be a constant in the newer games.
There's no point in getting this game right now, no point in spending 60/70 burgers on this. It took them 2 years to make Sport worthwhile and it will probably take them even more time to fix this. GT7 is undercooked, it should not have been released on this state, it's the shortest in the series, it offers nothing new, the DRM is invasive, and what's sadder, there's a great game hidden under the absolute bullshit choices by the developer/publisher.
If you really want a GT game just get Sport for $10 or whatever, you'll get a far more polished package which includes like 80% of what 7 offers anyways. Don't be like me and arrive early to a party that hasn't started and where you don't know who will actually show up.
Gran Turismo 7 is finally here and it's just GT Sport with a dynamic weather system, a car upgrade menu, a barebones campaign in the form of Cafe mode+license tests and an extremely predatory attempt at a service-oriented game.
Of course the game at its core is very solid, the driving model feels really good and despite the lap time grind, driving line focused ideas it has, it handles really well on a controller. But this is nothing new for people who come from Sport. Most of the content is straight up ported from the last game, I've only really seen 3 tracks and a handful of cars that are actually new. More should come in the future according to the roadmap.
The only real upgrade in this regard is that changing car parts is a new thing and feels really good, each part having a direct, tangible effect on how the car drives and sounds, it feels like more than just "speed goes up".
Cafe is the main mode and gives the game an unfinished feeling. Campaign is a bunch of races where you get a few cars and then compete in a championship, over and over. It walks you through a few car brands and then it just ends at 700pp. No group 1 or 2 races and just a couple 3/4 events. It's pointless to get any of the le mans cars or the VGT ones, or GR.2, or racing ones. There's no post game, no progression past getting the early game free shitboxes. ALL main events are rolling start races where you start maybe 30 seconds behind the lead and you have to catch up, dodging the terrible AI that hasn't been upgraded since the PS3 days. Makes me wonder where's the so advertised sophy AI, and why would they release the game without this.
Another well-advertised addition was the 'music rally' mode which is literally just a time trial with a specific song in the background (???). I don't know what they were going for. Soundtrack is nice but many tracks were just ported from sport, and many of those were just recycled from the older games. I still like the songs however.
Economy is downright awful, the outrage it caused within the community is very much justified, but despite the polyphony team coming up with a statement that they'd undo payout changes from the last update, there's more to its issues than just the payouts being lowered on purpose to encourage people to buy credits.
The only way to get cars older than 2000 is either waiting for them to be on the 'legend' store or on the 'used cars' store. Modern hypercars are locked behind 'invitations' that can be gotten through roulette spins. All of these make getting any iconic vehicles time-based to encourage MTX purchases.
Game lacks the polish Sport had (which to be fair, probably took many updates to achieve, idk, I got the game in 2020) and features quite a few bugs, and framerate dips well below the 60 fps target on PS4. There are visual glitches on certain tracks that weren't there before and the UI has some baffling UX choices despite the pretty menus, this seems to be a constant in the newer games.
There's no point in getting this game right now, no point in spending 60/70 burgers on this. It took them 2 years to make Sport worthwhile and it will probably take them even more time to fix this. GT7 is undercooked, it should not have been released on this state, it's the shortest in the series, it offers nothing new, the DRM is invasive, and what's sadder, there's a great game hidden under the absolute bullshit choices by the developer/publisher.
If you really want a GT game just get Sport for $10 or whatever, you'll get a far more polished package which includes like 80% of what 7 offers anyways. Don't be like me and arrive early to a party that hasn't started and where you don't know who will actually show up.
La "historia" bien, los micropagos, que se los metan por el culo. Pocas maneras de generar monedas legítimas, el online no me ha convencido del todo, habrá que darle tiempo pero el concepto de juego como servicio y que estés 100% online y no pueda jugar sin estar conectado me parece lamentable.
The way the haptics make every car feel different is fantastic, and the Café career mode makes even me, someone completely unfamiliar with car culture, appreciate the art, sport, and different brands. However, the monetization is really sketchy, especially for the premium price, and the tracks look slightly unpolished at times.
Mit ganz viel Liebe fürs Automobil, der motivierenden Fahrerkarriere, Missionen und Lizenzen kehrt die Reihe erfolgreich zurück zu ihren Wurzeln.
What a shame and a waste. This game made me realize that even if the game is excellent I can't put up with the greediness of Games as a Service and their desire to induce FOMO on people. Gameplay-wise it was everything I would hope for a new GT overall and the campaign was good although it could be longer but all the problems with it really soured my opinion on it and my desire to play it more. Online only for a single player is a joke, worst roulette I've ever saw in a game.
Its easy to get lost in this capitalist mess
The fact that even the single player is online-only is just bad game design. Also the single-player content is pretty underwhelming. The online races are genuinely the best part of Gran Turismo 7, and are a cut above the rest of the game to be honest.
Solid entry at launch. Wide range of cars and tracks and the best physics in the series yet. The campaign is a little disappointing but this has the potential to evolve as a live service with added events, which are frequently being added.
Also the soundtrack is superb as with every GT game
Also the soundtrack is superb as with every GT game