What are the chances of Gran Turismo 7 being available on PC?

[Dave A]

The question is, do consoles REALLY need exclusives these days.

Look at the top PS4 games by players up to the back end of last year. The top end is dominated by multi-platform games.

https://gamstat.com/games/

Also again what I said above, near 70 million PS4s sold without a GT game.

I'd say Gran Turismo is still a system seller, a game doesn't need to shift 10's of millions of cosoles to be considered one nor does it need to launch at the start of the concoles life time. It's probably a very hard thing to prove, but I know a few people who bought PS4's on the basis that a Gran Turismo game was coming. I'm sure people also bought one after GT Sport was released primarily for GT Sport. The fact that 70 million PS4's were sold before GT Sport released doesn't really confirm or disprove that Gran Turismo is a system seller. All I can say for certain is that it is one for me in that it's the game I look to primarily when considering if/when to buy a Playstation console.

As for consoles needing exclusives, I think they are important to the manufacturers otherwise people would just need a PC or a console. It doesn't protect the console manufacturers to not have some exclusives. The best selling games may be the AAA 3rd party cross platform games, but the catch is that being cross platform they expect to sell more due to the wider exposure and pump more into marketing.

But I didn't buy an XB1, the reason was specifically because the games I wanted to play on it were cross platform, Forza Horison 3 and 4 and Forza Motorpsort 7 were all availalbe on PC. I had no real need to buy the console as a result. I bought a PS4 because I can't get GT Sport on the PC. So there is definitely a need for exclusives to drive people toward which console they purchase or maybe decide if they will purchase more than one.

 

[SnakeOfBacon]

I play a lot of different games, but historically it's been a great racing game that hooks me into a console, my PS1 was for playing GT2 first, and other things later, my PS2 was a GT3/4 machine. I didn't need or get a PS3 until GT5 released. With what I saw of Gran Turismo Sport I skipped it (until July '19), and it was instead Yakuza 0, Uncharted 4 and Trackmania Turbo that convinced me I needed a PS4. I would buy a PSP purely to play a copy of GT I found for $10 recently (really bummed I didn't buy it digitally before it was delisted, a few months before I got a Vita ) I will likely buy a PS5 when GT7 is on it and/or my PS4 carks it.

Non-Sony examples? The Original Xbox was and remains the place to play RalliSport Challenge 2, PGR 2, and Midtown Madness 3, some of the greatest exclusive racing games around. I got an Xbox One basically just for Forza Horizon 3, and recently got a 360 from a garage sale, and intend to play some of the Forzas and PGRs I missed. My Dreamcast is worth having for Crazy Taxi 2, Re-Volt and Hydro Thunder alone.

tldr - I buy PlayStations for Gran Turismo, and stay for the other things.

 

[Doomotron]

At launch? Certainly not.
After a few years? Perhaps, but still unlikely.

 

[GreatnessRD]

Yeah nah, I don't see in any situation where Sony brings GT to PC. Oh how I wish it to be true as I primarily game on PC these days, so me not having to purchase a PS5 for GT and MLB The Show would be top tier.

 

[Tired Tyres]

Licencing probably makes it nearly impossible.

That and a broad selection of system exclusive games gives people a reason to buy a PlayStation. There is no reason to buy an Xbox. You can get those games on PC. Without having to pay for Gold.

 

[RacingFan1]

Same chance as Mario and Zelda doing so.

 

[Aldrum]

Knowing how big is the Racing sim scene on PC, If Sony released it , it would be more than welcome, and it would sell like hot cakes.
Sure we have ton of amazing sim options already, but we still missing GT, i really hope to see it on Steam someday.

 

[Lomic]

I'll buy a PS5 when GT7 will be available and if possible a pack PS5+GT7 or even a GT7 special PS5

 

[phillgt2002]

Apart from the downside of losing out on console units sold for Sony, companies are learning that user engagement across all forms of their brand is more important.

If GT7 came out on PC, it would eat into the Project Cars 3 and Forza 8 sales. Unlock wheel support, give varying graphic settings, provide cross-compatibility for tournaments, that seems like a win, no?

Even then, GT7 would eat into some hard-core sims. I'm not sure about you all or anyone else, but sometimes, I just want to hop into a random online race without too much thought, or even go deep into a career mode that feels like it's integrated into the game, GT has that polish that other PC racing games don't really have.

The fact that PC has the largest sim-racing market, it seems like a win-win. What do you think?

 

[Earth]

exclusive games need to come to an end, period.

The more people who can play GT, the better.

 

[TonyJZX]

Gran Turismo 7 needs to come out on PC.​

no, no it doesnt.

Let us focus on what is deliverable coming march 2022.

 

[Keef]

...I just want to hop into a random online race without too much thought...GT has that polish that other PC racing games don't really have.

GT has that level of polish because it's designed for a specific console. PC games always lack polish because of basically infinite compatibility concerns. The reason you can hop into an online race without too much thought on GTS is because it's a PS game designed by a PS studio for a PS system. A PC port would inherently ruin everything about GT that is easily accessible by design.

You also mention that PC has the biggest sim racing market. Have you bothered looking at the sales and user numbers for GT Sport vs iRacing? Polyphony might not even know iRacing exists, that's how big of a gap there is between them. That particular market is not worth chasing - Gran Turismo currently demolishes the market for accessible semi-simulation racing and has enormous sales numbers because of it.

Every point you're making just adds complexity to PD's job of creating a game with broad appeal that works every time. Added complexity typically makes games worse, especially when they've got to be ported. So no I'm not seeing any wins to the idea.

Edit: Are you able to add a poll to the thread? I'm curious to see how the voting would turn out. As it stands, I play GT instead of other sims for a reason, and a PC version would be a waste of effort on me.

 

[RacingFan1]

It would be a big downfall for playstation if they do publish their exclusives for PC. They might publish them in the future after some years, this could be reasonable...

 

[XSquareStickIt]

I'm normally for games being available across multiple platforms, but specifically for Gran Turismo, I'm not sure if that's such a good idea.

Keef has already pointed out the graphical and compatability challenges that would be sure to arise from making GT7 available on the PC. Me personally, I'm more concerned about the competitive side of making GT7 multi platform. A high end PC capable of much higher framerates or draw distances would in theory give players more of an advantage not just in terms of information density per second, but also in how the game's physics will react with an unlocked framerate.

For example, Resident Evil 2 Remake's knife does a set amount of damage per frame of contact, so having a higher framerate literally results in a higher damage output per swing. GTA V's cars go faster if you go off and on kerbs, a technique known as "kerb boosting", which, again, increases in gains the higher you set your framerate.

For a competitive, e-sports focused title like GTS (and presumably GT7), these things absolutely cannot happen. A big part of why most current players of Sport Mode dislike open settings in races is because it creates a "pay to win" scenario, wherein players pay for top tunes and settings to simply be competitive. I think allowing GT7 to exist on any other platform has a very real possibility of bringing that problem onto the hardware side of things, and would ruin the competitive side of the game, which in turn subtracts from its longevity.

The argument can be made that, in a competitive setting, the performance of the PC version of GT7 would be locked down to the base PS5's output. But I imagine that would be a logistical nightmare.

I'm not sure how prevalent these issues are on the Forza side of things. Maybe someone more knowledgeable can chip in?

 

[Monkey Man]

I keep hearing rumblings that it's coming to Steam. Latest being this week. Sorry I've no links; my brother says it will happen and he's an electrical engineer who tends to know the ins and outs of such things.

That's all I've got I'm afraid. Just an observation that the speculation hasn't died down. Anyone hear anything further?

 

[GBalao888]

I wonder what Kaz would have to say about modding support, whether he's in favor of it, or against it (I'm guessing the latter, knowing he pushed for an online-only save and requirement for most functionality on both the PS4 and PS5 versions).

Only then will we know if it's actually a good idea for GT7 to be on PC.

 

[Tired Tyres]

Apart from the downside of losing out on console units sold for Sony, companies are learning that user engagement across all forms of their brand is more important.

If GT7 came out on PC, it would eat into the Project Cars 3 and Forza 8 sales. Unlock wheel support, give varying graphic settings, provide cross-compatibility for tournaments, that seems like a win, no?

Even then, GT7 would eat into some hard-core sims. I'm not sure about you all or anyone else, but sometimes, I just want to hop into a random online race without too much thought, or even go deep into a career mode that feels like it's integrated into the game, GT has that polish that other PC racing games don't really have.

The fact that PC has the largest sim-racing market, it seems like a win-win. What do you think?

PC market? I took advantage of a one month free access to IRacing while waiting for GT5 to come out. I got an email some time afterwards from IRacing with a special offer. I checked it out and saw the IRacing subscriber numbers. I can't remember if it had increased by 5,000 or 7,000 but it was one of the two.

Why mention it? Because that email arrived at the same time as official news of the 10,000,000th sale of GT5. Think about that and you'll see there is no argument at all in favour of going to the expense of hiring a team to do the conversion and relicense all those cars and tracks. That and the below par presentation inherent in PC games due to significant tech ranges.

 

[ImaRobot]

I keep hearing rumblings that it's coming to Steam. Latest being this week. Sorry I've no links; my brother says it will happen and he's an electrical engineer who tends to know the ins and outs of such things.

That's all I've got I'm afraid. Just an observation that the speculation hasn't died down. Anyone hear anything further?

I'm not seeing how an electrical engineer would have any insight on anything to do with a gaming industry.

PC market? I took advantage of a one month free access to IRacing while waiting for GT5 to come out. I got an email some time afterwards from IRacing with a special offer. I checked it out and saw the IRacing subscriber numbers. I can't remember if it had increased by 5,000 or 7,000 but it was one of the two.

Why mention it? Because that email arrived at the same time as official news of the 10,000,000th sale of GT5. Think about that and you'll see there is no argument at all in favour of going to the expense of hiring a team to do the conversion and relicense all those cars and tracks. That and the below par presentation inherent in PC games due to significant tech ranges.

The cross between People who want iRacing and GT is probably rather small. GT is good bit more of a casual game that is made to be readily available and useable by the masses, so I'm not sure why picking one of the more extreme games in the genre is doing. It's made with that in mind, up front. If it was honestly that terrible an idea, I don't think Forza would keep it going for literally every single game last generation besides FM 5. It's looking more like it's been a bonus rather than a burden.

As time goes on, more and more games that were mainly for consoles are getting into the PC territory, so even more so justifying the fact that it's not as detrimental as everyone's thinking it is. Why would you have to relicense everything? If they're making the game's side by side its likely that the license spans over everything, rather than just only being used on console. The "below part presentation" is already happening, because we're already dealing with 3 different tech ranges anyways; PS4, PS4 Pro, and PS5. That just sounds largely irrelevant considering that.

 

[warp9engage]

I keep hearing rumblings that it's coming to Steam. Latest being this week. Sorry I've no links; my brother says it will happen and he's an electrical engineer who tends to know the ins and outs of such things.

That's all I've got I'm afraid. Just an observation that the speculation hasn't died down. Anyone hear anything further?

Well, take this with a boulder of salt, but here's another potentially interesting clue.

If you go to the site where you can buy consoles, accessories and games, directly from Playstation (direct.playstation.com) you'll notice something curious. Go to "Games" menu, then to "Shop games", you'll see a bunch of Playstation titles there, including GT7, front and center (at the writing of this post). Now, on the filters to the left side, select "Only on Playstation". GT7 disappears from the list, but Horizon Forbidden West stays. Ghost of Tsushima, also rumored to be getting ported over soon, also disappears from the list. By no means is this definitive. After all, you still find Days Gone, Uncharted (4 and the Lost Legacy) and God of War there, and we all know those games are either already on PC, or on their way there.

Now, some speculation on my part.

Honestly, I thought GT would be ported over before the likes of Uncharted and God of War. Single-player, movie-like experiences are what Sony are best at, and I would have expected them to keep those cards on their deck. Now, I feel no exclusive is "safe".

As for GT, of all exclusives, it made the most sense, in my mind, to port over to PC. It's a game that aims to simulate racing and PC has the most dedicated sim-racing community. That makes sense considering PC is the birthplace of games like: iRacing, Raceroom, rFactor, Automobilista, Assetto Corsa, the acclaimed GTR series by Simbin and, with the driving physics updates, you could even add beamNG Drive that that list.

You may ask: if there are already so many racing sims in PC, why throw GT into all that competition? Well, because all those games don't offer the same package as GT. GT brings market leading visuals, an extensive and varied car list, a strong list of both great real-world circuits and quality fictional circuits, and it brings a comprehensive career mode. Then you can add other little quirks that GT has, like the amazing photo mode, cinematic replays, car maintenance, used car dealership, license tests.

In reality, the only other game, currently on PC, that offers a somewhat similar range of features, is Forza Motorsport.

GT is on that sweet spot, where it's just rewarding enough to attract some of the more hardcore sim racers, but also easy enough for the average person to enjoy. I think, much like other PS exclusives, it would be well received on PC.

One more thing. GT will not be on PC at launch, guaranteed. But I think it may take less time, than most people expect, for it to be ported. This is because it's a standalone title. What I mean by this is that, in the cases of Horizon and God of War, for example, you have a story that you want to continue. You play the first game on PC, then you want to experience what happens next to Kratos and Aloy, but you either: wait 3+ years to play the next one, or give in and get a PS5. There's less of that motivation with a game like GT. In fact, there's an argument to be made that, by waiting, you could get a GT with more content (DLC) for the same or less money.

Sorry if I extended myself too much.

EDIT: Oh, I should also mention the potential for additional competitors for the FIA GT World Championships.

 

[PJTierney]

Something I learned very quickly once I started working in games:

• We = I
• Need = Want

It would be nice if the game came to PC, but it is not essential to the title's success or relevance.

 

[AudiMan2011]

Exclusivity only exists to create a walled garden for fans of certain products to the detriment of everyone else. More short and long term sales across more platforms should be a good thing. There's no excuses left for GT not to come to PC. Any excuse to keep console exclusivity is just an excuse to keep others out.

 

[warp9engage]

Something I learned very quickly once I started working in games:

• We = I
• Need = Want

It would be nice if the game came to PC, but it is not essential to the title's success or relevance.

For Sony, it's definitely not a question of success or failure. It's of more success vs less success and, as a for profit corporation, more is definitely better than less.

 

[ImaRobot]

It would be nice if the game came to PC,

I think that's been the gist of most of the points.

 

[HyperSpeeder]

Gran Turismo Sport has 14.6 million players according to Kudosprime.

Let's give it 12-13 million considering smurfs and duplicates. For a game in the sim genre (yes, GT and FM are sims), that's MASSIVE.

Even then, it wouldn't prevent Sony from porting it to PC. God of War had almost 20 million and... here we are!

I've always been of the opinion that GTS was the ideal PlayStation title to get a PC port. If it didn't get one, it's probably because GT7 will. When? When it's done. Which could take 1-2 years from release.

However, I'm not very fond of Sony's recent effort, because one of the draws of PlayStation is the hardware experience. The exclusives used to be tailor made for the hardware, extracting every last drop of power from it. They're a bit like Nintendo.

When you move into PC, there are difficulties. It certainly wasn't easy for Microsoft's own studios to get used to the PC, and Xbox is far closer to a Windows PC than PlayStation when it comes to features and API.

 

[Samus]

Licensing is always the big stumbling step for this.

 

[warp9engage]

Gran Turismo Sport has 14.6 million players according to Kudosprime.

Let's give it 12-13 million considering smurfs and duplicates. For a game in the sim genre (yes, GT and FM are sims), that's MASSIVE.

Player count is an unreliable metric to judge sales. A single physical copy of the game can change hands multiple times and all those changes of hands will add to the player count, whether it be by selling copies used, or lending copies to others. If I recall correctly, the last known, official, sales figures for GT Sport were 8 million. Considering the extra time that's passed and the natural decline in the game's sales over time, I would say 10 million copies sold, maximum. Still, by all means, great.

Even then, it wouldn't prevent Sony from porting it to PC. God of War had almost 20 million and... here we are!

At this point, no exclusive is off the table. Sony has noticed a goldmine. They won't stop at just one cart of gold.

I've always been of the opinion that GTS was the ideal PlayStation title to get a PC port. If it didn't get one, it's probably because GT7 will. When? When it's done. Which could take 1-2 years from release.

If Sony had started this move at around 2019, I'd agree with porting GTS. Now? No point. GT7 is, essentially, a built up GT Sport. With its console release around the corner, dev time would be wasted on GTS.

However, I'm not very fond of Sony's recent effort, because one of the draws of PlayStation is the hardware experience. The exclusives used to be tailor made for the hardware, extracting every last drop of power from it. They're a bit like Nintendo.

When you move into PC, there are difficulties. It certainly wasn't easy for Microsoft's own studios to get used to the PC, and Xbox is far closer to a Windows PC than PlayStation when it comes to features and API.

Haven't both Xbox and Playstation moved to the x86 architecture, precisely to simplify the issue of multi-platform development? I don't think that's changed this generation.

Sure, PC hardware is very diverse, whereas console hardware is not, so there's always some extra element of challenge there. Still, what is done is, games are developed for the console, as the common denominator, and then adjusted for PC.

If Playstation Studios developers want to focus on the Playstation experience, they can. Why do you think Sony acquired Nixxes, a company who specializes on PC ports? Let Polyphony, Naughty Dog, Santa Monica Studio etc, make the game for PS5, and let Nixxes handle the rest.

 

[Scaff]

I think allowing GT7 to exist on any other platform has a very real possibility of bringing that problem onto the hardware side of things, and would ruin the competitive side of the game, which in turn subtracts from its longevity.

Hate to break it to you, but in terms of online longevity PD and the GT series has a very poor track record.

PC market? I took advantage of a one month free access to IRacing while waiting for GT5 to come out. I got an email some time afterwards from IRacing with a special offer. I checked it out and saw the IRacing subscriber numbers. I can't remember if it had increased by 5,000 or 7,000 but it was one of the two.

Why mention it? Because that email arrived at the same time as official news of the 10,000,000th sale of GT5. Think about that and you'll see there is no argument at all in favour of going to the expense of hiring a team to do the conversion and relicense all those cars and tracks. That and the below par presentation inherent in PC games due to significant tech ranges.

iRacing's a poor comparison, if anything made Sony look at PC for the GT series it was the success FH4 had when it hit Steam (and despite having been out on XBox and on PC via the MS store for quite some time already).

Forza Horizon 4 is Steam's Most Popular Racing Game on its Debut

Forza Horizon 4 finally made its way to Steam this week, and immediately shot to the top of the rankings for a title in the racing game genre. The game's popularity has never been in doubt. It rocketed past ten million players in its first nine months on sale, reaching 12m by the end of its first

www.gtplanet.net

You may ask: if there are already so many racing sims in PC, why throw GT into all that competition? Well, because all those games don't offer the same package as GT. GT brings market leading visuals, an extensive and varied car list, a strong list of both great real-world circuits and quality fictional circuits, and it brings a comprehensive career mode. Then you can add other little quirks that GT has, like the amazing photo mode, cinematic replays, car maintenance, used car dealership, license tests.

In reality, the only other game, currently on PC, that offers a somewhat similar range of features, is Forza Motorsport.

It really, really isn't.

Its visuals, photomode, and replays are matched by a number of PC titles.
Its track and Car list is not as varied as other titles on Playstation let alone PC (numbers don't make for a balanced car and tracklist)
GT's career mode has also sucked for quite a while now, the brain-dead AI, with chase-the-rabbit AI needed to die a long time ago.

All of the above is further shown to not be as advantageous when you throw in titles that support mods. Quite frankly in terms of all of the above, Assetto Corsa, on PC, with mods, runs rings around GT. Hell, it's got GT titles that GTS doesn't have (and haven't been confirmed for GT& yet).

Not even close to a high-end graphic card (and that's 150km long road):


What GT has, and what would help it, is a solidly accessible balance of light-sim gameplay, if they can match that to a career mode that is actually worth a damn, then it a title that PC gamers will buy.

 

[HyperSpeeder]

What GT has, and what would help it, is a solidly accessible balance of light-sim gameplay, if they can match that to a career mode that is actually worth a damn, then it a title that PC gamers will buy.

That solidly accessible balance is actually more important than people think and it's what made Gran Turismo and Forza so famous.

FM7 didn't sell well on PC, but it was hurt by the atrocious PC port, the boring career mode, the exclusivity to the Windows Store, and the fact FH3 was simply a more accessible game.

To enjoy Assetto Corsa, a wheel is almost a requirement. Wheels are not cheap!

Even then, Assetto suffers from the same thing rFactor and similar games did in their day: mod quality is inconsistent. Although you can probably find content for AC that doesn't exist anywhere else, I find that, personally, after spending a lot of time fiddling with rFactor and GTR2 years ago, as well as heavily moddable games such as TDU and GTA, the sheer quantity of mods don't impress me. And much of the modding content originated from other games and was hastily put together for the game.

AC's career mode isn't anything to write home about either. It's easily the worst career among the games that feature such a mode.

I don't think it would be easy for Gran Turismo to make strides on PC, but the name and the whole package would attract a lot of people still, like they do with Forza.

 

[Shingo_civic]

Hate to break it to you, but in terms of online longevity PD and the GT series has a very poor track record.

iRacing's a poor comparison, if anything made Sony look at PC for the GT series it was the success FH4 had when it hit Steam (and despite having been out on XBox and on PC via the MS store for quite some time already).

Forza Horizon 4 is Steam's Most Popular Racing Game on its Debut

Forza Horizon 4 finally made its way to Steam this week, and immediately shot to the top of the rankings for a title in the racing game genre. The game's popularity has never been in doubt. It rocketed past ten million players in its first nine months on sale, reaching 12m by the end of its first

www.gtplanet.net

It really, really isn't.

Its visuals, photomode, and replays are matched by a number of PC titles.
Its track and Car list is not as varied as other titles on Playstation let alone PC (numbers don't make for a balanced car and tracklist)
GT's career mode has also sucked for quite a while now, the brain-dead AI, with chase-the-rabbit AI needed to die a long time ago.

All of the above is further shown to not be as advantageous when you throw in titles that support mods. Quite frankly in terms of all of the above, Assetto Corsa, on PC, with mods, runs rings around GT. Hell, it's got GT titles that GTS doesn't have (and haven't been confirmed for GT& yet).

Not even close to a high-end graphic card (and that's 150km long road):


What GT has, and what would help it, is a solidly accessible balance of light-sim gameplay, if they can match that to a career mode that is actually worth a damn, then it a title that PC gamers will buy.

This doesn't look better than GT at all, and probably it'd running in a waymore powerfulpc than the ps4...GT has way more natural lighting and better assets. The only thing looks better in this AC mod are the rain droplets but that's it...

 

[Scaff]

That solidly accessible balance is actually more important than people think and it's what made Gran Turismo and Forza so famous.

FM7 didn't sell well on PC, but it was hurt by the atrocious PC port, the boring career mode, the exclusivity to the Windows Store, and the fact FH3 was simply a more accessible game.

To enjoy Assetto Corsa, a wheel is almost a requirement. Wheels are not cheap!

Even then, Assetto suffers from the same thing rFactor and similar games did in their day: mod quality is inconsistent. Although you can probably find content for AC that doesn't exist anywhere else, I find that, personally, after spending a lot of time fiddling with rFactor and GTR2 years ago, as well as heavily moddable games such as TDU and GTA, the sheer quantity of mods don't impress me. And much of the modding content originated from other games and was hastily put together for the game.

AC's career mode isn't anything to write home about either. It's easily the worst career among the games that feature such a mode.

I don't think it would be easy for Gran Turismo to make strides on PC, but the name and the whole package would attract a lot of people still, like they do with Forza.

Mod quality is indeed variable, but that doesn't mean its existence can be ignored or dismissed. On PC it removes one of the GT series USPs. After all, I spent the evening hot-lapping a Nismo 400r around Tokyo R246.

A far as career mode goes, no AC's isn't great, but it's certainly better than GTS'. After all, it has AI that can actually hold a race without resorting to chase-the-rabbit. Until the GT series gets past that it doesn't matter how well structured it's career mode is (and GTS's isn't well structured at all).

This doesn't look better than GT at all, and probably it'd running in a waymore powerfulpc than the ps4...GT has way more natural lighting and better assets. The only thing looks better in this AC mod are the rain droplets but that's it...

It's running on a 1660ti, so capable of 1080p gameplay, so it's a fair match in that regard. You do however forget that it's doing so on a 150km track, with full dynamic weather and time! You also forget that it's doing so while running a much more involved physics model.

AC running Sol I would put up against GT's lighting model any day, the monopoly that PD had in that area started to erode when Driveclub was released, and PC titles are capable of doing the same. The argument that it might be running on a more powerful PC is also moot, if GT comes to PC it will have to play on the same field, and countered by the fact that PD built GTS to take advantage of a single platform so was able to optimize it to that platform.