In a rather surprising turn of events, researchers have discovered that real-time Gran Turismo 7 game data can be accessed via standard networking protocols. With further study, it could enable a wide range of third-party accessories and tools to interact with the game’s virtual environment.
It all started when GTPlanet user poumpoum discovered a company in Japan called “Access” advertising motion-enabled driving rigs compatible with Gran Turismo 7. The company has even shared videos of its rig in action with Polyphony Digital’s latest title:
Gran Turismo games are notoriously incompatible with most third-party accessories, and motion rigs that poll data directly from the game are extremely rare.
They do exist: SimCraft, the high-end simulator company in the U.S. sells hardware compatible with Gran Turismo 6 and GT Sport, and Access showed off one of its products connected to GT6 at the Tokyo Motor Show back in 2015, but this is the first time we’ve seen Gran Turismo 7 with motion.
How It Works
After making this latest discovery, poumpoum kept digging to figure out how Access’ driving rig actually works. The rig is connected to a PC, which receives real-time data from the PlayStation console via networking switch. The PC passes that data to the rig, which actuates the motion. You can see it explained in this diagram from Access’ user manual:
After further reading, poumpoum discovered the application which runs on the PC is available to download from Acesss’ website, so anyone can run it.
Reading Data from Gran Turismo 7
Another GTPlanet user, Nenkai, started poking around the software and examined the data being exchanged between the PlayStation and PC application.
In another forum post he notes it seems to be the same data API (application programming interface) that was available in GT6, and although it’s “still a private API” and clearly “not intended for regular users to poke around”, it is there, nonetheless.
Nenkai shared more thoughts and a screenshot of the raw data on Twitter, where he noted it could be used to create separate-screen dashboards, stream overlays, or lap analysis software using the positional data.
He has also uncovered what appears to be tire temperatures and has published a video which shows how they correspond to driving activity. Due to the values displayed, it seems unlikely they are actual temperatures in Celsius or Fahrenheit, but they are nonetheless interesting to watch and speculate on.
In the GTPlanet Forums, Nenkai notes he is considering “making some sort of tool in the upcoming days” which could make it easier for everyone to view this data from their own games and consoles.
Additional screenshots from Access’ software and more discussion on the driving rigs and API can be found here in the related forum thread. Be sure to check in if you have more information or would like to help in the research.
As always, stay tuned: we’ll keep a close eye on the latest discoveries!
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