Gran Turismo 7 (PS4 & PS5)
Full Review
Note: At the time of writing update 1.06 was rolling out, if it makes any significant difference I will provide an update video.
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Intro
So here’s the big one, a new Gran Turismo, after a good number of years we have Gran Turismo 7. A first for Gran Turismo in that it’s a cross-generation release, and one that seems, from a technical standpoint to have hit a very solid sweet spot across both the PS4 and PS5.
I went into a reasonable amount of detail in my initial look video around the visuals and the audio side of GT 7, and that still stands up a week later. Visually it’s stunning, particularly on PS5, and the audio element, once a major negative for the series, is now impressive. That’s not to say the two areas stand side-by-side in that regard, they don’t, the audio is impressive but certainly not genre-leading. At times it still lacks some of the visceral nature an internal combustion engine can summon. It is however more than impressive enough to consign vacuum cleaner jokes to the history books.
However, as this is my full review I best focus on the areas that are important to me, and I hope by extension you as well.
Driving Simulation 7
So starting off with the driving simulation, we have a lot to unpack here. First, the headline, does GT 7 have a better physics engine and tyre model than GT Sport? Overall I would have to say yes, not significantly, but it’s still a yes.
However, it’s a yes with a lot of buts. So let's start with what’s good. When you're moving and below the limit of the tyres the physics and handling dynamics stack well, delivering a convincing feeling that does a more than a reasonable simulation of how the car should be behaving. This even extends to when the car is right on the limit, allowing you if you're a steady driver to maintain the car at the edge of slip and maximize traction. The load transfer has even improved to the degree that front-wheel-drive cars are enjoyable to drive.
That improvement in load transfer even extends to heavy braking getting the rear out of sorts, again more clearly evident in the Front-wheel drive cars.
We also now have a linear throttle and brake, which makes modulation a lot, lot easier. To the degree, that braking, in particular, is, at least with my L-PCM pedals, really good.
Where it all goes wrong however is when you step over the limit of slip, if it’s by a tiny amount it’s catchable, but anything more and the car is gone, and I do mean into the Armco backward before you have reacted gone. Now, this isn’t messing up trying to catch a slide with a massive angle here, this is exceeding slip and generating a few degrees of over-rotation.
It’s also odd that Race spec machinery is actually easier to deal with over the limit than road spec cars, which runs counter to reality. Race spec cars run much, much stiffer suspension and have less progressive tyres than their road car siblings, making them far snappier over the limit, still catchable, but most certainly snappier. That’s simply the payoff you get for a car that reacts quickly to your inputs. In contrast road cars, being more softly sprung and with more progressive rubber are slower to react to your inputs, in comparison to race-spec cars, but are a lot easier, on the whole, to feel when stepping right over the limit and easier to catch and correct. Right now in GT 7 this is the wrong way around, and it should ring alarm bells for anyone with even a basic understanding of tyre and vehicle dynamics.
What’s frustrating is that all the work that has gone into improvements under and at the limit is undone by the over the limit behavior, and while it does give you a little more post slip grace than the iRacing’s notorious tyre curve cliff-face drop-off, it’s not far removed from that.
It’s proving to be very divisive, in that drivers who favour a more measured and precise approach will step over that limit less and as a result most likely favour it, while those that like to use a little more rotation will struggle with it. The one thing that is true is when either party steps over the limit too much, and the Traction Control doesn’t catch it, then you're going to end up facing the wrong way.
Speaking of traction control, this has at least improved from the overly intrusive model used in GT Sport, to the degree that while not getting close to the best in genre implementations, it is now usable. Which given the over the limit behaviour is a relief.
It’s also worth noting that a lot of what I’ve discussed is a problem mainly faced by those using wheels, as the controller implementation is heavily layered with baked-in assists. Even if you turn off Counter-Steer Assist, it’s never truly off for the controller, making the over-the-limit issues less of a problem.
One issue that does remain from GT Sport and older titles in the series is that, while a bit milder, the issues with tyres not hooking up correctly from a standing start still remain. This may explain the reliance on rolling starts that GT 7 still has.
Finally, I want to talk about FFB, now initially it did feel like this had made some very small improvements over GT Sport, but more time and expose has actually lead me to unfortunately concur that in at least one area it’s got worse.
Overall the FFB remains poorly detailed and uncommunicative in comparison to even middle-of-the-road implementation within the genre, and it’s still a long way from the best. This lack of finer, more granular detail does make your job any easier when it comes to dealing with the over the limit behavior either. The FFB also has a strange drag to it, which slows down your ability to countersteer, not that I believe it would help enough if it was absent, but it still frustrates.
My chief FFB ire, however, is reserved for the understeer vibration that has actually increased in intensity from GT Sport, now just to be clear this is not tyre hop, it’s a seemingly baked-in vibration designed to let you know the cars started to understeer. Now while this is contrary to how tyre dynamics work, as what you should feel is the steering go light, not vibrate, and tyre hop will then, if it’s going to happen, occur after that. What used to be just annoying in GT Sport, is now so strong in some circumstances as to be utterly obnoxious.
It seems that in the case of Physics and FFB, what PD gives with one hand it takes away with the other, but as it stands right now, GT 7 has a split personality in this area. One that I keep bouncing between enjoying and being frustrated and annoyed by.
Racing Simulation 4
So many were wowed by GT Sophy that they seem convinced that while PD would not be bringing it directly to GT 7, they must have improved the AI. It’s not an unreasonable assumption to make, after all it was clear from the Sophy presentations that PD is aware the AI needs work, so it is logical they must have done something. Right.
Right?
Nope. The AI in GT 7 is, from my experience so far, still the utter mess that it’s been since GT5. They are still slow, despite now having three difficulty levels, slow to the degree that the races are still predominantly ‘chase the rabbit’ affairs to artificially add an element of difficulty to them. Use a car quick enough to catch the head of the pack and you will breeze past half of the field with almost zero effort.
Well, I say zero effort, but the AI will still brake-check you mid-corner and pit you if it fails to notice you on the racing line. In an age where titles such as AMS2, RaceRoom, and others have shown that capable AI you can race against in a realistic and convincing manner, is possible, no excuse really remains for the AI in GT to be in the state it is.
Motorsport Simulation 6
I’m giving GT 7 an aggregate score here, as we have two areas to consider.
The first and best would be GT’s Sport mode, which has all the elements you would want in terms of simulating motorsport. Balanced race categories, qualifying, tyre wear and fuel use, pit-stops. With tiered championships to come soon, it’s basically GT Sport carried over to GT 7. As such it succeeds in this area just as well as it did in GT Sport, if I was scoring it alone it would easily be an 8.
However, I just can’t ignore the single-player side of things, and to be honest, it’s a very, very mixed bag. Now truth be told the new focus on car collecting via the GT Cafe does allow the argument that Motorsport Simulation doesn’t enter into the conversation. An argument I could almost get behind if it were not for the fact that the core of the races you take part in via GT Cafe, which is the main single-player experience, was as broken as it is.
Qualifying doesn’t exist in this world, nor do races that resemble anything logical. Rolling starts with the same, tired chase-the-rabbit dynamic are still front and centre. With a single file, 15m gap between cars and you always start at the back, the lead car in later events can be almost halfway around the track as you cross the start line. Add in wildly unbalanced vehicles and the previously discussed lacking AI and it just fails to deliver as anything approaching actual racing.
How, what started as a mildly entertaining scenario for a Mission in GT4, has managed to become the core racing mechanic is utterly beyond me. It’s not as if it’s born out of ignorance as well, Kaz has taken part in enough races to know this is just not accurate. I would be included to be lenient if it was enjoyable, but it’s not. Early on it’s just a dull chore as you breeze past everyone, and that morphs into just being annoying as the pack size increases and the lead car is so far ahead that the rest of the pack are just mobile roadblocks to get around quick enough to then be able to catch the lead car.
It’s tired, dull, and pointless, and most damningly, does nothing at all to prepare a player for how the Sport mode works. By design single player should be the training ground for on-line racing, and in that regard GT 7 fails.
Accessibility 8
What has been built into the core of GT 7 is an accessible, single-player mode. You have to start with the very linear GT Cafe.
Actually, that’s not true, you have to start with the frankly baffling Music Rally, and I yet to come across many who like or see a purpose for it and even fewer who understand what it is or aims to achieve.
So the oddness of Music Rally aside, you start with GT Cafe, which allows you to build a collection of cars and learn the wider history behind them through a series of races, challenges, and activities. Completion of this gradually opens up access to the single-player parts of GT 7. From the various showrooms, tracks, tuning and upgrades, and so on.
It’s clearly designed with those new to the GT franchise in mind and while you are asked from the outset if you have played a GT title before, I’m not sure that option makes a lot of difference as I opted for it and was still handheld as if it was my first GT game. While potentially annoying for the seasoned GT Player, it certainly eases those new to the franchise into things.
What GT Cafe does is then open up the rest of the single-player, from the return of Missions, covering a range of challenges from races, to overtaking, drag races and slipstream challenges. These will be familiar to those who have played GT 4, 5 or 6.
Unlocking tracks gives you access to customer races, arcade, time trials, and so on. With scapes, GT Auto, and so on all unlocking either via completing Cafe Menus or increasing your collector level. It’s worth noting for those that want to get access to Sport mode, you will need to complete Cafe Menu 9 in order to do that.
What GT 7 is unabashed about is the focus on collecting cars, unlocks are driven by it, either indirectly via the Cafe Menus or directly by increasing your collector level. It even has a screen to allow you to check on how many of the total number of cars you’ve collected, along with a friendly talking head reminding you to try and collect them all. It’s a change from the mechanisms of past GT titles, and one that, with one significant reservation I will come onto, works well in introducing the core gameplay loop of GT 7.
Content 9
Now it is true that a significant percentage of the cars have been carried over directly from GT Sport, we do have circa 100 new cars in GT 7. How much they will appeal to you will very much depend on where your interests lie. As in terms of real-world cars, as the vision cars are still with us, only a handful of the new cars are ones made post 2020. The focus on new additions is firmly on older vehicles.
The tracklist similarly has no new entries for the series, with only Daytona and three Gran Turismo fantasy tracks from past titles reappearing. The three are High Speed Ring, Deep Forest, and Trail Mountain, with the latter two being given quite significant layout changes. How you feel about these tracks heading back and the changes to them, will again, differ depending on what you are looking for. As the changes seem to be designed to favour higher-speed race spec cars that have frequently populated Sport lobbies.
Now while the cars and tracks content counts will split opinions, what can’t be denied is the extra level of polish and detail they have all received. In addition, a frankly absurd number of visual and performance modifications are introduced into GT 7, allowing the existing cars to be transformed in a staggering number of different ways. Add in that Scapes now features over two and a half thousand locations and the sheer amount of content GT 7 lays out for you to explore and collect is hard to argue against.
Some of it however is locked behind frankly baffling game design, engine swaps being the best example. Yes Gran Turismo now lets you swap engines, but you can’t just go and buy them, you have to win them. You have to hope that one of the raffle ticket spins contains an engine, and then you have to hope that the spin lands on it. If you’re lucky enough to win it you have to remember this doesn’t then give you the option to pick the engine you want, but rather you just have to accept the one it’s given you. Not the one you really want? Tough luck.
Should PD also continue its trend from GT Sport, we are also likely to see this content further bolstered post-launch with DLC, and if past trends continue that could well be free.
Value 4.5
GT 7 is a full-price first-party title, which means it’s going to cost you at least £60 on PS4 and £70 on PS5, a not insignificant sum, but with all that content that still great value for money?
Well yes and no.
On the face of it yes, but my issue is that for a title so firmly focused around collecting cars and modifying them, the in-game economy is clearly designed to make the process of doing so a significant grind.
Now GT as a series has always had an element of grind, but it’s been getting worse and worse with each new release. If we look at the highest value cars in GT7 and GT 4 and the associated grind to earn them this is clearly illustrated. In GT 7 the most expensive cars will set you back Cr20 million, and the highest paying races so far can net you around Cr1.8 million per hour, so over 10 hours to earn the car. While back in GT 4 the most expensive was Cr4.5 million, and a number of events could net you around Cr3 million an hour, so around 1.5 hours to obtain the car.
That makes the in-game economy over eight times slower in real-world buying power.
Add in that you can no longer sell your cars, only discard them for no money, you have to be invited to purchase certain cars, invites which are time-limited, and we now have not one, but two used car outlets that cars appear in for limited periods of time. Oh and the invites to buy seem linked to your collector level, so you have to buy cars to get them to cycle around.
So what’s a player to do when you want to get that invite-only car, or used car that’s only going to be around for a short period if you don’t have the credits? After all if you waste time grinding they may well be gone, and you have no idea when they will come around again?
You could try and get lucky and win it in a raffle ticket spin you get for completing your daily driving marathon, but the odds of even getting a car, let alone one you want are even worse than they were in GT Sport. I’m fairly certain that Sony and PD want you to use its micro-transactions and buy Credits for real money, and despite past promises by PD, micro-transactions have been a feature in Gran Turismo for a number of years. However, the value you get for your real-world money is around 2 to 3 times lower this time around, with Cr2 million credits costing £16 in the UK. So if you were to buy one of the Cr20 million cars it would cost an absurd £160.
Suggestions to buy these micro-transactions littered around various screens in the title, including a quick link to them right in the menu bar of the GT Life screen, none of which can be switched off, is both disturbing and depressing.
My views on micro-transactions are clear and unambiguous, there are almost always predatory to a greater or lesser degree and they often lead to deliberately game design that strongly encourages their use. In this regard, that intention is clear from GT 7’s design.
A final word must also be given to the ‘always online’ unknown of GT 7, as with GT Sport almost all game modes are unavailable to you if your internet connection drops or the server are down for maintenance. PD use the reasoning that it’s an anti-cheat mechanic, but this honestly doesn’t fly given the number of other titles around that are used for official real-world race series (a number at a professional level) that do not become effectively functionless if you are not connected to the servers.
This raises a very real question about the long-term viability of GT 7. Unless PD and Sony patch the title in its later life to remove this requirement, once the servers shut down the game will become fundamentally unusable. It’s going to be important to watch how they deal with GT Sport and its end of life now that GT 7 is with us.
Summary
GT 7 is in many ways a return to form for Gran Turismo and arguably a tour de force, even to the degree that it has the series trademark game design quirks, such as the luck-based engine swaps. It’s a title that in many, many ways I love and brings back massive nostalgia hits. It’s also once again moved to goalposts in terms of how a sim racing title can look, and reset the benchmark for that.
However, it’s also impossible to ignore the fact that the in-game economy is designed around what is increasingly being recognized within the gaming industry as an unethical and poor business practice, one that runs the risk of ruining the game's progression model for all but the most obsessive die-hard players. We also have, once again AI that is quite frankly unacceptable in this day and age, and by Sony and PD’s own admission, GT Sophy is not going to be the magic built to solve that, at least not for GT7.
It’s also another GT title that gives with one hand and takes away with the other in regard to physics, and we are already starting to see people defending the areas it falls down in with an almost religious zeal. Is GT 7 set to become the next iRacing in more than one way?
