It's been a long wait for a proper release in the Gran Turismo series. Although Gran Turismo Sport provided a stop gap for fans of the series, the last proper entry in PlayStation's top motor racing franchise was Gran Turismo 6, which released for the PlayStation 3 all the way back in 2013. Thankfully the wait for the next game in the series is over, with Gran Turismo 7 releasing courtesy of Polyphony Digital.
Gran Turismo 7 is the most recent entry in a franchise that started back in 1997 on the original PlayStation, and is seen by its fans as perhaps the quintessential racing game experience. Covering driving across multiple motor racing styles, from everyday vehicles through to top of the line race cars, Gran Turismo 7 takes players through various challenges as they aim to master what it means to be a racer.
As such, Gran Turismo 7 is some kind of a comprehensive motorsport buffet a la Forza. It provides a little taster of all kinds of racing across its large range of vehicles and courses, and the majority of them are handled extremely well. There's variety not just in the cars the player drives but also in the types of racing available, from the tasks of the Licenses and Missions, to the more traditional racing of small Championships, through to the more arcade-style fun of the Music Rally, which sees the player racing a clock that counts down to the beats of a song rather than in seconds.
Gran Turismo 7 is also a love letter to motor racing in general. The core gameplay loop the player will cover in single player is likely via the Cafe, which asks the racer to complete tasks in the World Circuit that tie into the history of motor racing. With the completion of each 'menu' at the Cafe, the player will be treated to an overview of some part of motor racing's past, whether a type of car or the history of a specific brand, and it's a real showcase of a devotion to racing that is embedded in the absolute core of this game.
Motor racing buffs will no doubt appreciate the sheer number of cars that can be unlocked in Gran Turismo 7, with the player able to pick up cars from three separate store areas to spend their hard-earned credits. On top of that, players will find huge choice when it comes to customisation options, both in of cosmetic livery edits and tuning tweaks. With such a wide range of styles it does mean that Gran Turismo 7 never quite feels like it masters any specific style of racing, unlike games like Dirt Rally, but as a sim-cade game it certainly hits the mark most of the time; driving around Spa-Francorchamps in the rain is still a daunting experience, for instance.
There are, however, some problems with the racing in Gran Turismo 7, and chief among these is AI that doesn't quite feel up to par. Challenges where the player can't make with any other racers can feel particularly frustrating down to the opponents' desire to clip the player's rear end, while on long-form races the player may find that blue flagged cars don't get out of the way. In comparison to the aggressive and challenging AI in the likes of F1 2021, Gran Turismo 7 does feel a little basic.
Thankfully the game's polish is often enough to distract the player from these kind of complaints. Everything looks absolutely gorgeous, with fantastic car models and fluid animations that give it a near photorealistic quality. Gran Turismo 7 ray tracing may be a little muddled, but nonetheless it's still a highly impressive game to gawp at, particularly when the player delves into race replays or goes into first person view to get a real sense of the speed they are travelling at.
Gran Turismo 7 also makes good use of the PS5's often-underused DualSense controller. The DualSense's haptic has been well-utilised by racing games before, and this is no exception, with the different kinds of road surface and the strength of the brakes seeming almost palpable at times. The switch between dry and wet races is also particularly obvious, making the feel of losing control in the wet very much panic-inducing.
Unfortunately not all of the modern day improvements for Gran Turismo 7 enhance the experience, and there's a sense that the always-online requirement could prove irritating for players. Testing out functionality during planned downtime, it looks like players will be unable to access anything but bare game modes without connection, which will no doubt be a bit of a head-scratcher for those more interested in single player. Speaking of online play, multiplayer seems strong so far, but since this is based on pre-release numbers the proof will really be when a true player base is settled and looking to race.
It is also worth noting that it looks like Gran Turismo 7 will include microtransactions of some kind. The review build of the game does not include in-game credit purchases but it is clear that these will become available with the full retail release, although thankfully the balance of earning credits through racing seems well-structured to mean that this won't be a necessity. That said, it is certainly something to keep an eye on, particularly given that the player also earns loot boxes through their actions to get a random chance prize at certain moments; hopefully these will remain as simply a random extra prize rather than another means of monetization.
Overall Gran Turismo 7 is a triumphant return for the series. It's not perfect thanks to the scope that it tries to cover, meaning that it can't be top notch across all modes of racing, but nonetheless the sheer diversity of the racing experience is enough to make Gran Turismo 7 worth playing. For those who want a title that walks that tight rope between sim racing and arcade well, this is an excellent choice as a PlayStation exclusive.
Gran Turismo 7 releases on March 4, 2022 for PS4 and PS5. Screen Rant was provided with a PS5 code for the purposes of this review.
