A lot of new information about Gran Turismo 7 was revealed in yesterday’s State of Play. Here’s all you need to know in the leadup to the 4 March release!
Image credit: Polyphony Digital
We are fast approaching the release of Gran Turismo 7 for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5. To reveal a lot of new details about the upcoming game, Polyphony Digital CEO and Gran Turismo series producer Kazunori Yamauchi joined the most recent State of Play stream on the official PlayStation YouTube channel.
The game will feature over 400 cars at launch with 97 circuit layouts spread across 34 locations. Yamauchi promised that Gran Turismo 7 will be the most complete installment of the series to date, and one that players from across the whole spectrum can enjoy, whether they be Gran Turismo diehards or if they’re just getting into the series for the first time. Here are some of the crucial details.
World map
One of the first new features in GT7 is the GT Café that you can find in the middle of the ‘automotive resort’ in the GT mode menu. In the café, players are incentivised to complete car collections in what are called Car Quests. They can do this by participating in races to earn the cars in question, and they’ll get rewarded with unlockables such as circuits among other things.
They will also get treated to random tidbits of trivia about the cars which can be earned, courtesy of the original designers, who will talk you through their process and why they decided to go with certain features. These are the elements of car culture that Yamauchi spoke about so fondly in past previews. GT7 aims to encapsulate more than just driving the cars.
Cars, courses, and… cafés? State of Play offers a deeper look at the resort-like campaign of Gran Turismo 7: https://t.co/9DnhAKZSfn pic.twitter.com/jKhlT3KHYH
— PlayStation (@PlayStation) February 2, 2022
They also showed off Brand Central, which has been given a mighty revamp. Now players can navigate their way over to a grand showroom with all cars from the current millennium available to buy, and any car from before the year 2000 will be available in the Used Car Dealership.
Some such cars will be available at a more affordable price, but there will also be some major classics which will only become more valuable with time, so get them while you can as the line-up will change every day. There’s also the Legends Cars section which includes icons of racing like the Mercedes-AMG CLK GTR and Porsche 917, or even the Willis Jeep that was used by the American military in World War II.
Time & Weather Simulation
An eagerly awaited return after an absence from Gran Turismo Sport is the progressive weather and time systems. This time, however, it’s turned way up to 11. The geographical location of each circuit is considered in terms of how far they are from the ocean, their local environment, how far they are above sea level, and so on. All the little things which change the way a car behaves.
When playing the game, the skyline, clouds and even air temperature are simulated so they are exactly how they would be at the circuit’s real-life location, whether it be a real track like Suzuka in Japan, or a fictional one such as Blue Moon Bay which is based somewhere in the United States. Not only that, but there will also be major track evolution once the weather changes and if a downpour ends, a drying line will eventually form.
With the return of dynamic weather comes a new feature on your HUD to help you make real-time decisions. A weather radar will be available in the bottom right if the player chooses to view it. With it, they can figure out whether it’s the right time to pit for the appropriate tyre. On certain tracks like the Nordschleife, the rain can cover one part of the track while the surface remains dry at another part.
Weather and time of day will have a profound effect on tyre temperature, engine power and even the strength of the slipstream, truly reflecting the feel of driving in vastly differing conditions. Such immense detail!
The time of day and your whereabouts in the year the player chooses to race will vastly change the skyline they see, as the skies are meticulously scanned so that not only will they see stars but if they’re in the right place at the right time, also planets. Keep an eye on the skies and you may see Mars.
Emphasis on music
Perhaps the inclusion which came most out of left field was a section dedicated to music. Players can select a well-known song from the playlist within the Gran Turismo series, whether it be something epic sounding from Daiki Kasho or the more typical jazz they would hear when sitting in the menu.
Specifically, players can save a replay and the game will match up the camera shots to the tune of the song you decide to play, and the shots aren’t always the same when you play the same song. They rather humourously demonstrated this with the song Royal Philharmonic Orchestra by Louis Clark coupled with footage of a Porsche 356 driving around Alsace, which made it look like the opening to a 1980s detective drama.
Enhancing the experience
Whilst a vast amount of players will be enjoying the new game with their racing wheel, the advances in technology with the Dualsense 5 means controller players can enjoy an all new level of detail. Now when they brake, they will be able to feel the feedback through the advanced triggers when a wheel locks under braking and when the car is understeering under acceleration. In fact, players can now feel vibrations when using the Dualsense 5.
You can set up multi class races in GT7.
— Steve Alvarez Brown (@_SuperGT) February 2, 2022
If this is also possible in multiplayer, that would be grand. pic.twitter.com/lcCb4dfZM8
Players can put their cars through their paces in a variety of different types of racing. From the gameplay shown, it would seem fully functional multi-class racing is finally implemented into Gran Turismo, along with Drift and even Drag modes that cars can be specifically tuned for. Which segues on nicely to the next highlight, and it’s a big one.
Tuning & Car Customisation
At long last, we get to what most people probably wanted. It will now be possible to customise cars both visually and performance-wise through GT Auto, and the level of customisation is off the charts. There are at least 60 types of performance parts for pretty much every single car in the game, and they demonstrated the scale of this feature by modifying an original Volkswagen Beetle.
Seeing the modified version of the car side-by-side with its original spec driving at a snail’s pace around Brands Hatch, it did truly turn it from the ‘People’s Car’ to a true representation of Herbie The Love Bug. This feature points to a supposed engine swap feature being implemented, which fans have been pleading with Polyphony to include for years.
GT Auto’s visual customisation is also bonkers. Spoilers, wheels, brake caliper and body colours, even making your car widebody. If you want it, this game has it! This level of car customisation has truly never before been witnessed in any driving game. Then there is the crowd who enjoy maintaining their cars, whether it be washing it or servicing it after a certain amount of distance covered. If you’re into that, the absence of it from GT Sport will be over for GT7.
Also, for those who played GT Sport more for the liveries than the actual driving, rejoice as your decals and liveries from that game will be carried over into the new game. Plus, you can now apply more decals to your car, and even apply them to areas that weren’t able to be applied before, like a window! Just make sure you don’t try to blind yourself by placing a black square across the front windscreen.
Finally, with all the creations you make such as liveries, helmets, overalls, photos you have taken in Scapes or from a race replay, you can share it all with the community for fellow players to interact with.
Along with new cars like the Ferrari F8 Tributo and Porsche Carrera GT, this is shaping up to be a car fan’s ultimate game. The amount of content and level of detail involved in Gran Turismo 7 is second-to-none and 4 March 2022 cannot come soon enough! Check out our piece covering the many different editions you can select.
See you March 4th! #GT7
— Gran Turismo (@thegranturismo) February 2, 2022
pic.twitter.com/cw9kBAogYS
What are you looking forward to the most in Gran Turismo 7? Tell us on Twitter at @OverTake_gg or in the comments down below!
