Gran Turismo 7 [PS4, PS5]

Reviews are predictably positive. It's been two generations since we've had a traditional GT and people are hungry for it. Polyphony would have had to have tried to hard to mess this up. They've put together a respectable package, though not one that I think probably deserves all the mad raving about it.

The scores dont mean much to me, though. Mainstream reviews for these sorts of racing games never look at these games in the same way I do and will always gloss over many things I'm interested in. Like, it took me quite a few reviews to find out that the game still has rolling starts. And there's the usual 'physics are the best ever' claims, though I see this every time and they're still basically in that same exact ballpark of 'sim-lite' accessibility rather than having pushed forward meaningfully(so it effectively still plays the same as it has for a long time). I wouldn't listen to SuperGT too much here - he's unsurprisingly a little bit of a fanboy for the series. He also says the AI is good - which - well yea, dont get your hopes up on that in reality from what I've seen.

And for all the endless praising of the graphics - I'm still let down by trackside detail here. Really would have expected more, even as a cross-gen title.

Excited for this, but the reviews that all make it seem like it's some massive leap are not gonna be representative of how I feel about it, I'm pretty confident. Seems like it's gonna be a decent traditional GT game, and that's enough for me.

 

Penalty for overtaking under yellow, penalty for crossing pit lane while exiting pits, Rolling start allowance so cars can be really close. Very nice sort after features added to GT7.

 

Yeah good option that the distance can be configured for rolling starts. And have to point out that the game also supports standing starts as it already did in GT Sport as well. Also glad to see that only the rain is limited to 10 locations but all other day night and cloud features are available everywhere.

I like Super GT he is not actually some mindless fanboy, he is pretty good, drives other games as well and has driven several of these tracks in real life. His comments about the physics are comments I trust for the most part. It seems the suspension changes are pretty significant in how it reacts to bumps and rain, and the effect that has in rallying is … interesting

It is good to hear the changes in the

Can’t wait to try all this myself tomorrow night or Friday morning (thankfully I don’t work on Friday …). I’m not sure how I feel about having to unlock tracks and features again but I’m sure it won’t be too bad.

And those load times … hmm such a delight. 1.5-3.5 seconds …

 

After 25 years they are still unable to put together a simple and intuitive ui...

 

I think the UI looks fine to be honest. And it’s never going to be completely simplistic with this many options. Generally though this seems one of the best UIs so far for the game and the only question mark I personally had was for when there was a longer horizontal scrolling list of menus. That looked like tiles might have worked better there.

 

Any info whether PS4 pro got 60 fps mode?

 

Not sure what you mean but all gameplay is 60fps on all platforms. There is only variation in the replay modes, depending on raytracing and such. Otherwise there is only variation in terms of rendering resolution.

 

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2022-03-02-gran-turismo-7s-dualsense-feedback-is-a-game-changer

"We got a taste of its potential at the launch of the PlayStation 5 with KT Racing's WRC 10 which gave it a fairly good workout, but its implementation in Gran Turismo 7 is something else entirely. Each car's brake has its own weight, in accordance with the real thing - slam down the anchors on a ride with ABS and you'll feel it pulsing and modulating the pads under your fingers as it works to avoid a lock-up, and do so in a car without and you'll feel the tire scudding over the surface.

It works for the accelerator too, a tangible breaking of traction felt via the trigger when you're spinning up the rear wheels (something that happens quite a bit in Gran Turismo 7 where it's possible to strap a turbocharger on a humble sportscar and that can have you experiencing wheelspin all the way up to 4th gear). It's something that truly comes alive in the wet weather events, where you'll feel the splash of puddles passing under and that terrifying moment when the wheels free themselves from the road and you're aquaplaning out of control."

 

Campaign races are all still rolling starts. This isn't configurable, I dont know where you're getting the idea otherwise.

And SuperGT is not a mindless fanboy, but he's still clearly seeing this through a fanboy lens. For somebody as skilled as he is, I *know* he's not being honest about the AI, saying they're good. Maybe they've been slightly improved from the bottom of barrel awful they used to be, but I can just watch footage and see they're clearly still uncompetitive and terrible compared to proper sims.

I swear GT6 would have been just as loved as this if GT5 didn't exist. It's the sheer lack of a traditional GT last gen that has people going crazy over this one. It feels like such a big leap just cuz it's been so long. Even though it's largely just a safe, familiar formula as before. Again, they'd have to have seriously messed up to have people not be very hyped for this one.

 

Yeah, Super GT said the driving model is more advanced than GT Sport (e.g., some curbs will throw you), which is promising. Has Polyphony discussed their physics simulation?

I’d love it if the tire/water indicator was a general traction gauge, so you’d have a visual warning of dirty tires if you get in the marbles or go off-track.

PS: “A lot of the races are limited by your pp rating.” —Super GT.

I’m such a child.

 

One of the issues with keeping it cross gen is the amount of additional physics you can add. There’s an upper limit due to cpu limitations from last gen.

i didn’t hear too much around improving the physics model for GT7; so I’m not expecting a large difference.

 

Acording to SuperGT and VVV is surprisingly big improvement in physics department (suspension, kerbs, more surface details)

 

Easy Allies has a good pre-review video talking about the campaign progression, UI weirdness (e.g., there’s a second cockpit view that mimics head movement rather than a fixed position within the car which is only accessible via the pause menu once you start racing…), and online aspects.

 

Yeah, that’s worrying. To hear Super GT say the physics are improved is promising, but we’ll see.

It seems that they’ll integrate Sophy as the [three out of three hot peppers] hard AI, but surely she’ll run into the same PS4 limitations.

 

The VVV review, for reference. He talks about the physics and track contour differences from about 7:00 to 15:00. Never heard of him, but he’s detailed in his comparison with GTS.

 

This review also said the physics differences between GT7 and GTS is pretty noticeable. timestamped.



Official GT says this about the physics.

"The physics simulation model of Gran Turismo, which has more than 25 years of history, has advanced even further in this new chapter. The simulation has been tuned through feedback from various sources including our special advisor Lewis Hamilton, technical partner and global tire manufacturer Michelin, and the best drivers from the FIA GT Championships. The lap times are not only accurate, but the simulation model also pursues how well the driving feel matches the human senses. Also, aerodynamics have greatly evolved, using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to recreate changes in downforce generated from front to rear height changes, as well as handling behavior from wind direction and air turbulence."

 

Indeed. I do expect physics tuning which can change how the game will fee; but I was looking at physics additions; so new physics calculations that weren’t there before.