So I didn't log in the last couple of weeks, figured I'd done enough pre-release chatting but now people have the game and I can see it in detail, I can form a better opinion.
And so far it seems like what I expected rather than hoped. They have made some really nice touches to the game, the tuning and upgrading system looks excellent, the time/weather seems great, visually overall it looks great and the cafe mode seems like a decent enough change up in the format. Not the revolution I was hoping for, but something. Most of the package seems really good.
But then it's massively let down by the format of the thing that matters most, the racing. From what I watched on streams it seemed to be the same format carried over from GT6+S, rolling starts, big gaps, and docile, slow AI, even with the hardest difficulty chosen.
But now I've seen in typical PD fashion they still can't implement difficulty properly. So they've got Easy/Normal/Hard global options finally but then they still have the career mode scaling upwards?! Why?! The whole point of selecting a difficulty in a video game is that the whole game is that hard, throughout. But no, it seems in GT7 we'll start off with a weird combined [Forced Easy]+[Selected Hard] which will gradually scale into [Forced Hard]+[Selected Hard]. No, PD. If I select hard, that means I want it to be hard from the off. No Sunday Drivers at all, no rolling starts, no AI that doesn't want to win.
They also failed again with lacking tight restrictions in car entry (I saw someone enter a 3000GT against city cars and muller them) and they failed in making sure all the cars are of the same performance in each event. Still they have the couple of cars at the front far faster than the mobile chicanes at the back.
It's just frustrating because we KNOW they KNOW racing. Kaz has raced in the real world, he knows what he's offering in GT is not what is offered in real life, so him not offering that is a choice and it's one I'd REALLY like someone to straight up ask him why.
Mind you, even though that one race that did have standing starts the AI performance seemed barely better. The guy playing was terrible but still easily passed large groups of them easily outbraking. It remains to be seen if the scaling difficulty will make the very end stuff any better but what is the point if we are forced to slog through the easy stuff?
I saw an article the other day noting the juxtaposition between GRID Legends and GT7 and it really is very clear. Yes GRID is simcade when it comes to handling but racing is racing and the two games approach to that is clearly vastly different. One is sterile, clean, the other is action packed and frenetic with big packs of cars duking it out, agressive AI, bumping, sparks flying, "Hollywood" if you like.
Also, what in the hell is that Alsace layout with the rollercoaster corner? Who designed that? They've just thrown any little believability of it being real out of the window. I can't believe the same people who came up with the brilliant classic original tracks of old we all love have are the same people doing stuff like that, they can't be. It's just silly.
So my position hasn't really changed. I'll buy GT7, but not at full price. As someone who doesn't race online it's just not worth it, unless they patch the forced difficulty scaling out. I'm sure for people who prefer racing online or spend most of their time doing things other than racing it'll be far more worthy, but not me. Oh well.