Yo guys!
Been playing the game for more han 3 hours now, it passed in a blink!
I'm here for the good and less good news, since some asked for pros and cons. It might help some of you not to be disappointed, especially players used to high-end PCVR experience.
As I already said on this topic, I spent dozens and dozens of hours on GT sport VR on PS4 pro and PS5, and drove something like 150-200 cars, so I already know all of the qualities of GT in VR, and even if I had a wow effect and was smiling like an idiot for the whole first hour, I don't think that you can have twice the blast that you have with your first VR racing experience. I did know what to expect, and it's almost exactly what the game delivers: a high end VR experience with incredible graphics and an immersion better than ever!
This said, there are a few subtleties I wasn't prepared to after hearing the first reviews. I'll begin with the bad mood, sorry for cooling down the hype a little... 😅
First thing I noticed is that there's a halo around letters when you look at a white text on a black screen. I think that it's due to the Fresnel lenses or the high contrasts of the HDR OLED. I lowered the screen luminosity a little and it was a little better. Once in the game you won't notice anything so it's not that big of an issue, but it's worth noting.
The screen-door effect, grill effect, grain, or whatever you call it, is also still present. You will mostly notice it during night races, the rest of the time it seems to disappear almost completely, so it's not a big deal neither, But it's good to know since most reviewers said the contrary, maybe because they mostly played "bright" games like Horizon.
When you move to much of your position the screen will turn black, like in GT sport, but there's a little more margin and a parameter to have a little more space.
Since some asked, you cannot calibrate your default position. You can recalibrate your position by holding the option button, like in GT sport, but the default position was perfect in all the cars I drove so far. It seems way better than in GT sport where I had to recalibrate with half of the cars. But it would be great if we could just slide back the seat in some cars. Maybe in GT8? ^^'
The biggest issue I noticed is the ghosting due to the 120fps reprojection and the speed of cars. Probably that the base framerate of GT sport running on PS5 was better because I didn't have this issue. Basically, when you pass a car next to you and you look at it, you will notice 2 different images of the car at the same time which will make it look blurry. I made many custom races, and when an itasha passed next to me, the anime characters on it didn't look as neat as they were in GT sport on PS5. If you keep the same speed than the other car then it will become super clear, but when you overtake a car and look at it you will most likely notice it due to the difference in speed, and it's even more pronounced when watching VR replays. This was not an issue in GT sport so I didn't expect that and it's the only real minus for me so far! But except waiting for a PS5 pro or PS6 which could handle a better base framerate, there's nothing to do with it.
Now for the pros, I will skip all the wow effect inherent to VR, 05XR8 already described it perfectly. I will focus on what really impressed me compared to GT sport.
Even if it's 4K, I was almost sure that the definition would be quite downgraded compared to a 4K TV, due to the proximity of the screen. That was the case with PSVR1, it was 1080P but the pixels looked way bigger than on a 1080P TV.
But damn! The resolution of the PSVR2 is sick! You can read the most little writings on the dashboards perfectly, it's all crystal clear and you can't notice any aliasing nor can tell that the image is indeed composed of pixels. Really impressive! The only moment I noticed pixels is on 2D menus with a white line on a black background. Maybe some other players will notice it elsewhere, but I genuinely didn't. Way better than I imagined!
Tracking improved too, and the see-through button is a life changer!
You don't use them in GT7, but the sense controllers are dope and the tracking is 100 times better than the move controller of PSVR1. Can't wait to try them on other games
The dynamic weather and day/night cycle are a real treat in VR, but I was expecting it so it's not a big suprise for me. Still it's really cool and adds a lot to the experience compared to GT sport.
Having 20 cars on the track instead of 2 is way better, of course, and the fact that you can access any race and any mode of the game in VR is almost too good to be true! 😁
The drawing distance is WAY better than in GT sport, and seeing the other cars with headlights lit up on the opposite side of the track at Big Willow by night is super impressive ^^
Like I said earlier, I didn't play VR in 5 or 6 weeks, but I didn't feel the slightest bit of dizziness after more than 3 hours in a row, so I guess that it improved over the first headset, even if everybody is different and most new VR players will feel it anyway at some point, and maybe even more for those playing on controller.
The VR replays are really cool, except for the ghosting, even if I hope that we'll get a cockpit replay option in a future update.
The cars level of detail in VR showroom is really amazing! Can't wait to watch all my favorite cars and liveries! The walking speed is slower than in GT sport, and I'd love to have a smooth movement of the camera when using the right stick, but except that it's perfect and the better way to appreciate the massive work done by PD on the cars models.
Another thing that really impressed me is the sharpness of the mirrors reflections! Even if there's some clipping like in the flat version, it looks way better than in GT sport, and to me it looked even better than on TV, which I never expected. Looking at the cars you just overtook feels even better!
I don't know to what extent high-end PCVR players will be impressed with the game, but it's safe to say that GT7 is probably the best looking VR racing game so far
Those who come from PSVR1 will have a real next gen leap, and newbies will probably have a once in a lifetime blast, but one thing is sure, unless you have a really weak inner ear, most of you here won't be able to play the flat version no more in a few days! 😁