My Review of "Gran Turismo 7 on the PlayStation 5"

Gran Turismo 7 on the PlayStation 5 is the latest car simulator game by Polyphony released in 2022. I honestly didn't think they'd be able to release it this year because Polyphony had been notorious for not meeting release dates. Now with games being released half finished to be updated later, this became a reality. Fortunately this game didn't ship out half broken.

First of all this game is huge! I'm not talking about the amount of content, I'm talking about the size of the file. I remember back in the day when they could fit games on a compact disk. Now they'll take a while to download the full 130 gigabytes of information onto the PlayStation. You'll have to play some other games while you're waiting for this game to download.

Fortunately they do have a game mode that is available when the game is 15% downloaded. It's a game where you try to complete as much of the race as you can before a certain song is complete. At first you only get three songs to choose from but when everything is downloaded you get tons more. This is a window to what the game is going to look and feel like when we actually get to play the actual game.

I'm happy to report that it definitely feels like a Gran Turismo game. There's a certain feel to Gran Turismo games that's specifically unique. There's never any car damage and you can do some junky things that will help you beat certain races. They're all still available. Of course the physics do feel somewhat more complete as well.

Of all the Gran Turismo games I truly feel the difference as to where the weight is distributed in the car. After a while you really do feel like the car is an extension of you and you want to push the car to its limits. That's part of the fun for this game and they added even more fun by being able to upgrade these cars with tune-ups. This is a huge blast from the past because we haven't had a proper Gran Turismo sequel since 2013 with Gran Turismo 6.

The graphics are pretty breathtaking at times. Especially when they do a whole bunch of distracting things throughout the environments like planes flying over you and fireworks blasting in the sky. The sound is also pretty amazing especially if you have a full surround theatre or the new PS5 headphones. You can really feel like the environment is alive and you can tell the direction of each of your opponents. It's pretty impressive and very immersive.

What I didn't like at first was the way they set up the missions. After playing the game for a while I understood what they were getting at. In the beginning nothing is open. You literally have to go to this café to go on missions. It took me a while to understand this. There's probably 5 missions you have to complete before you even get a multiplayer option. It's sort of like the graduated license system (which is back by the way). You don't progress until you learn the mechanics of the cars and move up from a slow car to a hyper car.

After a while I got it and with this the attention to detail as they continually give you tons of information about cars and the car manufacturers in the game. They try to liven the mood up a bit by adding some characters to talk to. They're all experts in some aspect of the game and I think this is what they consider more personality. It's such a blast from the past, as they're all pasted images and have dialogue through text. A far cry from every other PS5 game out there. This addition was a bit odd but again I can see where they're going with it.

This game can get quite addicting and they added the daily kilometer driving rewards from Gran Turismo Sport. They'll assign you a certain amount of distance that you have to drive each day to be awarded a small gift. Usually it's a little bit more cash. I honestly don't know why people are complaining so much about the micro transactions of this game. If you play this game properly there's no need to make any micro transactions as you're supposed to win the cars that you'll need in later races. It's also tradition in Gran Turismo games to grind races in order to make money.

Still a lot of people want results fast and they want them now. There's a car collecting aspect to this game that I can see people getting really into. So yeah you'll have to win a lot of races to buy them all.

The main game is the missions and they're all doable. It's not impossible and some of them are can look intimidating. As your racing skills get better with each mission this shouldn't be a problem.

Myself I really hate the rally aspect of this game. I have hated rally racing in Gran Turismo since they were first introduced in Gran Turismo 2. They've never been fun to me and have always been a source of my frustrations. I don't mind difficult races but I just don't understand the mechanics to Gran Turismo's version of rally. It makes no sense to me.

Heavy rain races are a new addition that is quite challenging. They luckily have heavy rain tires but that really skews the way the car behaves. It's an interesting addition that I don't mind. You can really feel how each of the puddles can drastically influence the direction of your car. This is done in a very similar way with Forza on the Xbox.

I love the realism of this car and the game rewards you if you drive cleanly. Mainly to avoid bumping into your opponents. This does a fair bit to prevent you from hitting these other cars however all Gran Turismo veterans know that there's cheap ways of beating races. You go all out and at the corners you bump the other cars out of the way while you stay within the apex of the turn. You're also allowed to bypass a few of the S turns by going straight through them. The opponents mindlessly go around them and this gives you a substantial edge over them. Sometimes you can even have a powerful enough car that you just ride the rails of the track at full speed without consequence. Please Gran Turismo, never take down any of these tricks. I noticed you took out the huge shortcut in the Mountain Trial track!

Overall, this game reminded me of why I loved Gran Turismo in the first place. There is a lot of nostalgia that comes with my feelings for this game so I can tell you that there is a lot of bias in my opinion. It's the first time I finished a Gran Turismo game in a long time. It's weird because I think I only finish the odd ones and never mind the even ones. I have to give this game an 8.5 out of 10. It was a blast and I think there is a lot of replay ability to this game. Give it a try if you think you might be interested. It's not a true simulator but it isn't Mario Kart either.