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Gran Turismo is back with their next installment to the racing sim series. The game is great and the racing is fun, but we’ve got some complaints.
Gran Turismo 7 Hits Nostalgia Hard
I remember sitting down at my PS2 and experiencing video game racing for the first time with a little title called Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec (I know, I missed out on the first two). It had all the coolest cars, some great tracks, and that jazzy menu music that Gran Turismo has become known for. I remember thinking how crazy the graphics looked back then, but reminiscing on old video games is through rose-colored glasses. If I showed that game to today’s kids, they’d ask me what life was like in the 1900s…
Thankfully, Sony has introduced another installment to the Gran Turismo franchise just in time to celebrate its 25th anniversary, and it pulls at those video game nostalgia cords quite nicely. Gran Turismo 7 feels like a revamped classic that’s added more tracks and tons of cars. Not only that though, this game looks beautiful – especially on the PS5. There’s a lot to love about the new Gran Turismo 7 game, but it isn’t a perfect ten out of ten from me. Check out what we think about GT7!
Gameplay
Gran Turismo 7 fits perfectly in its niche it has over with Sony. This isn’t a high-end PC racing simulator (it gets close) and it isn’t an arcade driver like Forza Horizon, but it’s fit for a crowd of car enthusiasts that enjoy the history of cars and the thrill of speeding around the curves at some of the most prestigious circuits from around the globe.
For GT7, the developers at Polyphony Digital made every advancement they could to make this Gran Turismo one of the best. The graphics for all the cars are stunning, the choice to have the single player experience take center stage is a welcome one, and the advancements to customizing cars is awesome. The game also stuffed in 34 different locations, including real-world tracks like Daytona International Speedway and Nürburgring, and 424 different cars at launch. Couple all this with the classy jazz and you’ve got yourself a nicely packaged homage to what makes Gran Turismo great.
But that’s not all that Gran Turismo 7 has to offer players. Here are a couple of new dynamics, changes, and experiences found in the game.
Gran Turismo Cafe
First up is the Gran Turismo Café, a new location that acts as a challenge hub of sorts for collecting cars through races and tasks. You’re presented with a Café menu book in which you need to collect cars in the same manner as you’d use a punch card to get a free cup of coffee, but you instead get the chance at a roulette of potential prizes like currency or a free car. Each menu book set of challenges is centered around a car or piece of car history and features a nice descriptive intro about the subject matter’s spot in history. In these intros are some instances of the real-world designers making a narrative appearance reminiscing about the car they’ve created. Super enthralling for an automotive history buff like me.
The Gran Turismo Café doesn’t let you just jump right into the seat of a GT car or Lamborghini. Instead, you have to climb through the challenges and start with small civilian models. It’ll start with simple cars like the Honda Fit and MINI Cooper before ramping up to exciting models like the Nissan R32 GT-R and Mitsubishi Lancer Evo. Fans of the Gran Turismo series will know this kind of experience all too well, as it harkens back to the original games’ premise of working your way up to some of the greatest models in the automotive world.
Gran Turismo 7 Cars
There are 424 cars in Gran Turismo 7 at launch, but that doesn’t take into account upcoming additions to the game that will expand that number potentially past 500. Hopefully those future car releases have some current day options, because that’s the largest area that GT7 is lacking. Otherwise, players will encounter iconic cars from all around the world from various periods of automotive history. Feel like some American muscle? Hop in the Ford Mustang Boss 429. Want to get sideways in the turns? Pick up the Toyota Corolla Levin GT-Apex, better known as the AE86. Need to get your Formula 1 fix before the season starts? Try out the Dallara SF19 Super Formula. If you have a car niche you need to itch, Gran Turismo 7 has something for you.
While there is an extensive list of cars in GT7, getting them all is going to be quite a hassle. Sure, most can be unlocked or you could potentially win through roulette spins, but there’s those that you may never get your hands on unless you seriously grind or pay real money to acquire. The used car shopping option is an interesting option for finding some of these pricey models in secondhand condition, but some of the most illustrious models are not going to show up there. For those, you need to check out the Legend Car showroom. There you’ll find some truly rare and super expensive cars like the Ferrari F50 or the Gran Turismo hero car, the Castrol branded Toyota Supra GT500. Be sure to purchase when you can if you want one of these Legend Cars though, because they aren’t available forever.
Gran Turismo 7 Customization
What good is having all these cool cars if you can’t customize and tune them? Gran Turismo 7 has covered that area and made possibly one of the best car builders currently available in the modern racing game world. First up, nearly every car in the game can get a widebody kit. It isn’t anything crazy looking like an RWB Porsche, but the extended design is more appealing on some of these cars. Then there’s the additional aero options for the bumpers, the side skirts, and the rear spoiler. Alongside some generic rear spoiler options, there are some extensive custom options available as well. You can choose the wing height and add one of over 20 different wing plates to craft your own style.
GT7 also provides plenty of wheel options from companies like BBS, American Racing, and more, allowing you to further craft your real-life dream car in game. Those wheels can then be adjusted for size, width, and even the offset. Like any good car game, there’s a full paint and livery design area in Gran Turismo 7. Individual body parts can be painted, the roll cage can be painted, and real brand logos can adorn the car like a true racecar. The biggest gripe with this car designer is that nearly every single item costs in game currency, including the individual paint colors.
Moving on to the performance side of things, you can piece together a fun little track star down to the minute component in Gran Turismo 7. Engine components, the suspension, transmission parts, and even the ECU can be modified or upgraded in some way for GT7. Once you purchase the performance parts for your car of choice, you can further tune the vehicle to handle or push itself the way you want. Being an entry level racing sim, tires will become important here. That info isn’t just for gaining grip due to the tires breaking from all the added horsepower you shoved into that Mazda MX-5 Miata, but you also have to take into consideration weather conditions when choosing your tires.
Racing Physics
Now for the actual gaming element, the Gran Turismo 7 racing physics. When playing on the road circuits, cars handle exceptionally well according to their class. A cheap Ford Focus is going to have its shortcomings and have less responsiveness than that of a properly built GT car. Tuning and upgrading these underperforming vehicles is actually felt when translated to the on-track performance, even when it comes to a minor adjustment. When pushing these GT7 cars during a race, bumps in the road and loss of grip to the tires are properly felt through the PlayStation controller, allowing the player to get a feel of their car over the asphalt as it plays along the road. Those looking to play with a steering wheel setup will want to get a proper setup in order to truly experience the response from their car.
The inclusion of weather dynamics makes for an interesting experience during races, as players will have to pay attention to a weather radar throughout certain events so that they can prepare for incoming wet sections. That feature isn’t available on all tracks though, just a select number. It also seems to come at random, as weather typically does, but it’d be nice to have a prerace report before entering a single player event so that players can prepare their car for the potential of inclement weather.
Gran Turismo 7 doesn’t keep it all on the well paved tracks of the world. There are some dirt events where players can race through using their newly acquired F-150 Raptor or rally car. The reduced traction on these events forces a little more corrective steering that I love to work with on racing sims, but getting airborne feels like a mess. I’m not sure if it’s just how the car is weighted or if the suspension setup isn’t up to snuff to handle a dirt jump, but it’s hard to keep yourself under control when encountering a sudden bump in the track when it comes to these races.
Should You Buy Gran Turismo 7?
If you’re a longtime fan of the Gran Turismo franchise, by all means continue to enjoy it. Gran Turismo 7 has everything players have loved from the game over the years and furthers that enjoyment by bringing us new experiences, new features, and some better car graphics. To those of you who haven’t played a Gran Turismo game, it’s still a title worthy of your consideration if you already have a PS4 or PS5, but I wouldn’t consider buying a Sony console outright just to play this game. I personally have been enjoying every minute of gameplay, aside from the dirt jumps and lack of some of my favorite vehicles. Can I guy get an AMC Javelin AMX or even a Porsche 944 please?
