Any owner of a PlayStation console, regardless of generation, has necessarily heard of the Gran Turismo license. After releasing Episode on PS4 over 4 years ago, PlayStation’s flagship racing simulation returns this time to PS5 with plenty of new features on paper to put us under the pedal. Here is my opinion on Gran Turismo 7 I had a chance to test before release (thanks PlayStation France!).
Despite its name, the GT7 is actually the eighth major episode of the saga (GT Sports Being the “true” seventh game of the license), it is still under the controls of Polyphony Digital studio. After a quickly forgotten episode on PS4, Gran Turismo returns with a bang to PS5 and PS4 to celebrate its 25th anniversary since its first release on PlayStation 1 in 1997 (don’t make us any younger!). If the first ops were defining in their time as true references in terms of racing and simulation games, the latest episodes have suffered from the strong competition that has been built up over the years, with Forza Motorsport in particular in our Xbox friends. Will Gran Turismo 7 be “The Return of the King”? That’s what I thought.
Where GT has always managed to score is in the car catalog, as well as circuits and official licences. The GT7 never disappoints again on this level with over 400 cars to collect, available from major European, American and Asian manufacturers. We still find the famous models from the project” GT vision » Designed and designed by some manufacturers specifically for the game (we also find those in previous games). Kazunori Yamauchi, as a motorsports enthusiast, has also incorporated bits of history into his game via videos from many brands and equipment manufacturers.
Obviously as always we find a world map to navigate, we gladly find all the GT classics such as championships by categories, popular license lanes, garage, etc.
On the new side, we find one of the meeting places I really liked: the Café. wait what?? Shall we make a latte macchiato? Don’t ask me why this choice of name… Concretely we will have a system of “tasks” to fill out menu booklets and eventually receive giveaways. This mod, although it does not revolutionize what we can see in video games, will allow to give instructions to the player while adding challenges, which were a little lacking in previous operations that “dropped” us on the world map. In this desire to always guide the player, GT7 also decided to reveal the different places and points of interest little by little on the map.
A Musical Rally mode also appears, paralleling the world map on the main screen. A rather special situation where we have to drive in rhythm with the beat of the chosen music. I haven’t personally commented more than that but it has its merit 😀
The collection of cars will also be placed a bit more at the heart of the game, and it is the level of our collection that we will increase throughout our progression. Therefore, the nerve of the war is to carry out cafe tasks, win cars during tournaments, get cars with lottery tickets or even go shopping at Brand Central or at the second-hand market (back!) For lost models.
Meanwhile, the gameplay is skillfully placed between simulation and arcade, making it possible to keep all kinds of gamers in line with their expectations by adjusting the gameplay settings. Thus, steering wheel technicians will be able to spend hours preparing their cars in the prep shop, while Fast And Furious fans will be able to play the custom card in GT Auto.
On the interface side, the GT7 unfortunately suffers from a flaw that has persisted for several: a Japanese-made user interface that’s hard to read and not very intuitive to use. By the way, Polyphony if you’re reading this: Turn off mouse pointers in console games! (Sorry but had to get out). In short, there is no revolution at this level, unfortunately.
Graphically, there are some new features like day/night cycles but unfortunately note the lack of damage. The PS5 does the job very well on the Ray Tracing part (unless you opt for Performance mode) and will upscaling cars inside and out. However, for the decoration and the audience, you shouldn’t be too demanding ^^’
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Fans have been waiting for Gran Turismo 7, and so it returns in a rather successful installment! This GT manages to bring back the modes and places that were a hit in the first games while adding a few new features, including the arrival of a café, which guides the player in their progress. Despite its few unsightly shortcomings such as a lack of damage or AI, the real strength of GT7 will lie, as always, in its super-rich content (cars, equipment, circuits) and its fast handling.