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Gran Turismo 7 review on PS5

March 31, 2022

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Gran Turismo 7

The Gran Turismo series is one of the most iconic PlayStation racing franchises. The latest entry, Gran Turismo 7, is now available on PS5 and PS4. Let’s get those engines revving and take a look at the most comprehensive Gran Turismo game in the series yet, Gran Turismo 7.

Gran Turismo 7 Details

Platform(s): PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4
Reviewed on: PlayStation 5
Developer(s): Polyphony Digital
Publisher(s): Sony Interactive Entertainment
Genre: Sim racing, Sports video game, Vehicle simulation game
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)

The most accessible entry in the Gran Turismo series

Car enthusiasts will love the walk down memory lane that the game opens with. From the very beginning of Gran Turismo 7, you’re treated to a video montage that depicts automotive advancements alongside major events in human history. From there, you are thrown behind the wheel.

Much like previous games in the series, Gran Turismo 7 is a hardcore sandbox racing simulator that encourages you to engage with all things automobile related. However, to make the game more accessible to a wider audience, Polyphony Digital have introduced Café and Menu Books modes. In essence, this is Gran Turismo’s story mode, which introduces the more casual gamer and those new to the series to the dauntingly detailed world of GT7.

It’s great to see Polyphony Digital extend the reach of Gran Turismo 7 beyond the hardcore racing sim fan with this new mode. It offers a friendlier direct path into GT7’s core experience and uses special guests to introduce the deeper history of the manufacturers and specific vehicles.

Packed full of content and features

With over 400 vehicles, in 34 venues and 97 track shapes, Gran Turismo 7 is packed full of content. Furthermore, tracks now include accurate weather and meteorological data and Legendary tracks like the Le Mans and Nürburgring return from previous games in the entry as well as fantasy circuits from the GT like Trial Mountain.

Building upon the Gran Turismo 25 year history of automotive physics, Polyphony Digital consulted with expert advisors to ensure GT7 would offer the most accurate true-to-world racing sim experience.

Music Rally

This mode is a new addition that is geared towards casual players and those not so hardcore racing sim fans. Music Rally is an arcade-style race where you enjoy some up-tempo and motivating music while you race to reach checkpoints before time runs out. At launch there are only 6 songs to race through, though more are promised in the future via DLC.

Gran Turismo 7

I really enjoyed this mode as I feel it’s a great way to get familiar with Gran Turismo 7’s driving simulation gameplay and gives you the opportunity to set your steering and pedal operation type and driving assist pre-sets.

Tuning shop

As with previous Gran Turismo games, tuning your car is very important. The garage is loaded with parts of all shapes and sizes, with even more unlocked as you play. There are approximately 60 types of performance parts per car. By upgrading and swapping out these parts you’ll be able to change the performance and feel of your car on the road.

Once you are satisfied with the performance under the hood, you can customization the appearance of your car at GT Auto. This shop features over 650 aerodynamic parts, 130 types of wheels, and 1200 colours of paint data measured from real world samples. There are several dozen types of parts per car, totaling to several thousand customization parts.

In addition to this, the Livery Editor features more flexibility to place stickers and other visual customizations in more spots around your car. Customized cars, liveries, replays, photos and decals can be uploaded and shared by players in the Discover section of the Showcase.

PlayStation 5 specific features and enhancements

Gran Turismo 7 on PlayStation 5 takes full advantage of the advanced hardware under the hood of the console. The cars and environments look absolutely spectacular and are quite a visual showcase. Like many other games on PS5, you have display options to choose from. In GT7 you can pick either Prioritize Frame Rate Mode or Prioritize Ray Tracing Mode.

Both modes target 4K resolution and frame rate mode runs at 60fps while Ray Tracing Mode runs at 30fps. One of the drawbacks to Ray Tracing Mode is that it only appears in select scenes. You can only see the effect in café demo scenes, your garage, during replays, Scapes and Race Photo Mode.

Additionally, Gran Turismo 7 makes excellent use of PS5’s DualSense controllers. Polyphony Digital did a wonderful job utilizing the adaptive triggers and haptic vibrations, making GT7 one of the most accurate feeling racing experiences ever. You can really get a sense of the track and the state of your tires just through the controller feedback.

Gran Turismo 7

Gran Turismo 7 is the ultimate car racing sim experience on PlayStation

Without a doubt, Gran Turismo 7 is the best game in franchise history. With over 400 vehicles, in 34 venues and 97 track shapes, Gran Turismo 7 is packed full of content. Polyphony Digital uses the power of the PS5 to produce some amazing visuals.

The game’s use of the Dual Sense’s features is spectacular and allows you to get a sense of the track and the state of your tires instantly. The game’s campaign mode allows those new to the series and casual gamers a way to ease into the world of GT7 in a more natural way. If you are looking for the ultimate car racing simulator experience on PlayStation, Gran Turismo 7 fits the bill to a tee!

+ Breathtaking visuals
+ Accessible and engaging campaign
+ Outstanding use of DualSense controller
+ Wide range of features and customization

– Microtransactions
– Soundtrack leaves a lot to be desired