Developer: Polyphony Digital
Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment
Platform: PS4, PS5
Tested on: PS5
Gran Turismo 7 – Review
It has nearly been a decade since the release of Gran Turismo 6, but we did get Gran Turismo Sport in 2017, which was actually considered to be the seventh mainline entry in the Gran Turismo series of games. Oddly enough, this actually makes Gran Turismo 7 the eighth mainline entry in the series. The franchise has also spawned some spin-off titles over the years, but for now, we are very happy to dive into an authentic GT experience for our following review. As this is a multiplatform release, we didn’t expect the game to push the boundaries of the PS5, but we actually ended up being very impressed with this next-gen experience. We started our new racing career with a banged-up secondhand car, only to rise to the top and fill our garage with the most expensive racing cars known to man.
Story
Even though the game actually has a lot of information about the cars in the game, you’ll get treated to a simple, yet meaty, story mode. You’ll start off with a secondhand car, slowly collecting more and more cars, getting international licenses, while also completing small errands and quests for the local cafe owner. The game does force you to go back and forth between different locations to complete missions, but it’s done in a fairly fun way that makes it so that you learn new things about different types of cars, or about actual famous drivers. A lot of this content is skippable, but you’ll find yourself wading through many menus and text dialogues if you simply want to progress and race. While we appreciate the effort that was put into the story portion of the game, we can understand that those looking to simply race with their favorite cars might get fed up after having to wade through tons of dialogue windows.
Graphics
Graphically Gran Turismo 7 is a very impressive-looking game. The attention to detail is off the charts, and the cars look absolutely lifelike. There are so many cars available in the game, and it’s just amazing to get to see them all in one single game. The cockpit view differs from car to car in terms of quality, but for the most part, these are correct representations of their respective real-life counterparts. The backdrops and circuits also look amazing, but we do see a big contrast in the texture quality of the cars and the tracks, as it feels like the cars are more polished than the environments, creating a certain contrast.
Sound
The sound design of the game is also quite good. You’ll get a somewhat spiced-up soundtrack, which does put you in the right mindset to do some high-speed racing. We loved the inclusion of the Music Rally as well, which puts the music in the foreground. Other than that, even amateur racing and simulation enthusiasts will hear the distinct difference between the car engine sounds of the different cars, which also shows a lot of attention to detail by the developers.
Gameplay
Gran Turismo 7 is a racing simulation game that’s all about driving your favorite cars on the track. We do have to immediately mention, the game is very accessible to newcomers to the racing simulation genre, or even those with hardly any gaming experience at all. For the most part, you’ll go from one track to another, earning money, progressing through the missions you get. When doing so, you’ll be able to upgrade the cars in your garage, buy new ones, or you can play through other challenges, get international driving licenses, and so on.
Truth be told, we could immediately cut the review short by stating that everything is designed especially well, but there are some nuances that may or may not appeal to you in how the game is presented to the player. For example, in the single-player portion of the game, you’ll have to go through many different menus and have to go back and forth between different locations to actually be able to progress. The game has a lot of interesting filler content, but it does remain filler content. You’ll more than often get missions to win (and collect) specific cars, and then you’ll be able to learn more about them. These missions are seemingly non-optional if you truly wish to progress through the single-player content of the game. Outside of this, there is also a very active online community that allows you to race to your heart’s content.
As a whole, we loved the difference in handling between the different cars, and we also loved tinkering with all the settings. This ranged from simply turning on or off certain assistance features, to actually altering settings of specific cars or replacing certain parts of a car’s stock setup. Some menus can be a bit daunting for newcomers, but even then, things do get more clear as you play the game more and more. We enjoyed the realistic touch of price inflation of cars depending on the current market, but at times, we did feel the game was trying a bit too much to push us to buy in-game currency to get us to buy expensive cars. Casual players will not have a high income when just playing through the single-player content, and it does feel a bit wrong for the game to then dangle a limited-time-only car in front of them that costs 3.5 million credits. Buying 3.5 million credits with real money would set you back nearly 40 Euros (or regional equivalent). We truly don’t like implementations such as these, as it takes away from the overall integrity of the project.
Conclusion
Gran Turismo 7 is a near-perfect racing simulation experience, with its only flaws being the somewhat slow flow in the single-player content, as well as its implementation of microtransactions. Nonetheless, we had an amazing time with this game, we loved how accessible it was, we did very much enjoy collecting the many cars on offer, and we even learned a thing or two when we found ourselves reading through the many informational screens the game has. For fans of the series, this is a no-brainer, but even for newcomers, this is a great entry point to get into the racing simulation genre.
Gran Turismo 7 - Review,
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