We think the name PlayStation is the first time we thought we said “Mega Drive II is over, it’s time for Saturn or PlayStation” while MAC was responding to a reader at Gameshow. At that time, we do not think that PlayStation officially existed in our country, at least the back pages of magazines were full of Sega Saturn advertisements, but we had never seen a PlayStation advertisement until that day. There was also time for us to meet the name Gran Turismo.
These were good times to daydream. 3D accelerator graphics cards are now starting to appear. Until ten years, we thought that when we closed our eyes, we would see the “Loading” screen of the game in our lives, but the situation was so primitive that we did not realize it at that time. We’re talking about the time when the most popular racing game on the market was Need for Speed II SE, which had 10-12 cars and just as many tracks. If you look at it from this angle, you can understand that we are not at all ready for what we will see in the Gran Turismo demo that comes with PlayStation’s demo disc.
Real Driving Simulator
In today’s simulation world, where Assetto Corsas and iRacings rule, it’s easy to say “oh, GT wasn’t that much of a simulation”. We’re talking about 1998. In Need for Speed II SE, we have conversations like “Brother Ford Indigo is holding the road”. Yav, what you call the spinning wheel effect in the game is just a jpeg pasted over the wheel modeling. No suspension modeling. In fact, a game called TOCA 2 introduced suspension modeling for the first time at that time, but the vehicle controls are so bad that it is satisfying to finish the race without hitting anything, as if we had cut Ornstein and Smough.
So, as racing game enthusiasts, encountering Gran Turismo had an “I came from the village to the city” effect on all of us. There were more than a hundred vehicles, they had great graphics and music, and great vehicle physics. It was far ahead of anything we had seen so far, at a point where it could not be easily approached. That’s what happened.
When Gran Turismo 2 came out without much trouble, we poured our last mental faculties in front of the console and lost our minds. 500+ vehicles, dozens of different events, six-hour races, we kept playing like crazy until PlayStation got old and we finished university. The game created its own legends and, according to many, made endless contributions to the rapid transformation of the Nissan Skyline series into a collector’s item. We’ve seen guys get Escudo tattooed on their arm.
With time to come, Gran Turismo fell into silence after two great games for PlayStation 3. Until Gran Turismo Sport, which we can call an esports-focused spin-off. It was a great game, but it was no longer the “car catalog” in our memory. That’s why our longing for Gran Turismo 7 never ends. We said, “Even if it comes, we try to complete twenty-five different Mazda MX-5 models.”
Gran Turismo 7 has finally arrived, but let me warn you, you will need to revise your expectations a bit.
Growing Down
Last week, we attended an online preview of Gran Turismo 7 for the press, and series creator Kazunori Yamauchi said “GT7 is the best in the series, Our already high expectations were exceeded when he started by saying, “It will be the most complete game of all time”.
We didn’t hear everything we wanted to hear for the rest of the presentation, and some of what we heard as the game details were revealed we didn’t like.
All in all, we’ve spent the last week at Gran Turismo 7, and let’s first say what we’re going to say at the end: Gran Turismo 7 is a great game.
So how close is it to being the car catalog we’ve been waiting for all these years, and how is it different from Gran Turismo Sport? This is where we need to talk a little bit.
Series veterans will remember, the number of vehicles in Gran Turismo 6 exceeded 1250, but only some of these vehicles were premium vehicles that were modeled in detail and with their interior designs. The rest were almost completely converted from Gran Turismo 4, some of them were “duplicated” models with tiny touches such as the right-hand drive of the same vehicle and the velvet awning of the same vehicle. I didn’t have any complaints about it, but the Gran Turismo series has suffered a lot from this pissed-off conversation for 25 years, no lie. They said, “There are 33 of the same vehicles,” they said, “the steering wheel is not even visible”, they said, and they said.
We think Yamauchi had to revise this enthusiasm of “being a game like a car catalog” at some point. We saw in GT Sport that all vehicles consisted of premium vehicles that were modeled in detail, down to the last detail. As a matter of fact, while I was modeling all the vehicles in Gran Turismo 7 in detail, I had serious questions about whether the number of vehicles in Gran Turismo 6 could be preserved.
The number of vehicles in Gran Turismo 7 is 430. One third of the previous main game. It may seem like a troubling situation for a game that has earned its reputation in the gaming world with its “unlimited vehicle options”, digging with its fingernails. If you own Gran Turismo Sport, your frustration may be even greater when you see three-quarters of these vehicles imported from that game. Don’t grow. Just as GT Sport has nearly tripled its vehicle selection in three years, Gran Turismo 7 will continue to add new vehicles with each patch. Especially when you consider that legends such as Suzuki Escudo Pikes Peak, Nismo 400R are not in the game, and the crowd of ugly beyond prototype vehicles found in Sport due to GT Vision, we think that Polyphony is seriously working on this.
There are also shortcomings about the tracks. Trial Mountain and Deep Forest are back, but there is no Grand Valley Speedway, for example. Even though it is a terrible track, Clubman Stage, which is the first track we raced in the GT series, is no longer ingrained. We think these will be added in the future.
Returnees and newbies
Yamauchi stated that they prefer to call this game “The Car Life Simulator” instead of “Real Driving Simulator”. In fact, there are some very nice innovations that will enable this, such as museums belonging to brands that feed this ecosystem in old games.
Polyphony liked the seemingly “game that creates & grows car culture”. The name of the center of this event in Gran Turismo 7 is Cafe. You get more than 30 missions throughout the game from the Menu Book here. Among these tasks are tasks that encourage collection, such as “add three of a certain type of car to the garage”. You usually do not need to buy these vehicles, it is enough to be in the top three in the races offered to you, and if you are handy with these things, it is not difficult at all. Your garage is also starting to develop and grow rapidly. It does not only increase the number of vehicles, but also the modification options you can make to these vehicles are increasingly diversified. In the final stage, you can transform the vehicles into racing versions. As you complete the missions, you are presented with beautiful images about the birth of that genre, (for example, front wheel drive vehicles), pluses and minuses, whatever the theme is about. You know, Gran Turismo means deer talk about vehicles. And there’s someone at the Cafe who has something to say about all of these vehicles. I should also point out that he didn’t say trite things. Choose your vehicle and ask the master what he thinks, he will never reject you.
Another issue is the replay mode. As you know, the replay mode had no importance in the history of racing games until Gran Turismo came along. It was an unnecessary or unnecessary feature that we encountered after the race and prevented us from reaching the main menu. Gran Turismo was the game that taught us how beautiful replay is and how it can be used like an ASMR material. In this game, too, great importance was given to the replay mode. First of all, you have the chance to experience this mode with Ray Tracing on the PS5 version. Not to mention that it gives a different experience every time, as the entire track is equipped with motion cameras. The fixed cameras in the old games are a thing of the past, and dynamic, on-rail cameras have been added instead. Roguelike camera for you, what more do you want?
Music Replay is one of the beauties we met with this game. In this mode, the camera is completely shaped by the metronome, according to the music you listen to. “How?” Don’t say, you’ll like it. Especially while listening to Moon Over the Castle, you will run into joy and go crazy with happiness. We’re exaggerating a bit, but whatever.
Let’s continue. Music Rally is a directly important mode added to the game, even so important that the game opens with it. At the very beginning of Gran Turismo 7, you hit the roads of Alsace with your Porsche 356B, and you load up on the gas to be the pilot who goes the most distance until the song ends. We liked it very much, the soundtrack of 300+ songs with 75 different artists -although metal music is not included with a decision we do not understand- offers you endless options.
Finally, Brand Central returns. You can reach the brand you want from three different galleries and spend the money you earn in the races to improve your collection. Hey, go Gran Turismo 2. Since the Memory Card can only save 99 cars, we would have to delete one and add the other, that’s fine, of course. Another familiar returning home is the used car market. Here you can find vehicles produced up to the 2001 model year. Of course, the mileage of these vehicles is a bit high, but your way here will fall at the beginning of the game. What about zero mileage and used car dealers, but not Legendary Cars galleries? This is where you shouldn’t stop before you get super rich. I have seen such money requested for such vehicles that your mind will be confused. Of course, the most beautiful vehicles you will see throughout the game will be here, like the amazing De Tomaso Mangusta.
On physics
We will never get tired of saying that the game has serious shortcomings in the vehicle and track staff. GT7 has 34 different tracks and 90 different routes of these tracks. Needless to say, the number will increase over time. In addition, with the day and night cycle and the return of weather conditions, these tracks look more atmospheric and lively than ever before.
When we say weather conditions, we are not talking about a simple simulation. The guys have officially integrated a system into the game that will make Flight Simulator jealous. Accordingly, the time you are on the runway, the location of the runway, the temperature of the air, air pressure and humidity are calculated, and as a result, clouds can form in real time. These clouds can also rain different amounts of races on different parts of the tracks, and pools of water can form in different parts of the track. As you can quickly notice on long races, the race line dries faster than any other area on the track, and grip changes dramatically in drier areas.
Details are not limited to this. The star map in the sky has been moved to the game exactly. It is even possible to see Venus (Shepherd’s star) in certain situations.
Polyphony’s help with physics is Lewis Hamilton, one of the best drivers ever in F1 history. Just as Michelin assisted the makers in creating the tire physics, Hamilton’s valuable feedback on this has led to the inclusion of some of the most successful vehicle responses we’ve ever seen.
We were very pleased with the softness of the tire sidewalls, and the reaction of the vehicles in the curbs. The slipstream effect created using CFD (Fluid dynamics) also does its job well. It’s not the first time we’ve seen these physics details, but Gran Turismo 7 has managed to give each one their due.
Another issue, old familiar driver licenses are also back. Some of you will get the gold license for the first time here, while some of you will spend hours to get the bronze license. The good news is, like the old games, these efforts will return you with at least one, at most two gift cars. Almost all of these gift vehicles are unique, that is, vehicles that you cannot buy anywhere else in the game. As such, we think it will give you enough motivation to pass all the exams with a gold degree.
How successful is the experience?
Gran Turismo 7 will open with an event that introduces you to one of the newly added modes, Music Rally. Here, too, you will get bronze, silver and gold degrees according to the distance you cover, and you will earn rewards accordingly. Your companion on this journey is a true classic, a Porsche 356B. Although it is not the fastest vehicle in the world, it is an extremely enjoyable vehicle that makes you feel the speed with its closeness to the ground and can throw itself from corner to corner with its lightness.
The game stands between simcade and “soft sim” in terms of physics, depending on the aids you choose. Our recommendation is to turn off any help you can get at the very beginning of the game, especially the colors that show you where to brake when cornering. The difficulty is completely dependent on the vehicle under you
Then the game puts 20 thousand credits in your pocket and the number of vehicles you can buy with this money is not much; Mazda Demio, Toyota Aqua S and Honda Fit. These tiny monsters also make up your first Menu Book mission, and you must win races and add all three to your garage. Next comes the little classics, namely the VW Tortoise, Fiat 500 and Mini Cooper S. As you can see, the Menu Book constantly guides you to complete certain vehicles, especially at the beginning of the game. As a regular of the series, we didn’t like it very much. We felt that my freedom was restricted and it increased the linearity of the game. If this is the first Gran Turismo game you’ve played, you might like it because it gives you the feeling of completing that Panini sticker album.
On the other hand, we are faced with the inadequacy of the grid here. There are so many missing tools. In particular, vehicles specific to the Japanese market, each of which are different from the other, are completely excluded, and the garage is prepared from a more “global” perspective. As I said, this garage will grow, but we will see how the result will be in time. It would be nice if Polyphony could take a 430-car garage and constantly add something like No Man’s Sky, making it the largest Gran Turismo vehicle roster in history, please because. You can share the images you have taken in showcase mode with other people, and this is much better than Forza Horizon, where no one has seen the photos you uploaded.
Apart from this, the beauties such as the return of Championship Mode and the return of almost every race you win as a gift vehicle are back. Every race has a purpose, every race is enjoyable and the rewards are satisfying. Your garage is growing so fast that one-fifth of all vehicles have already fallen into the garage. We don’t have a problem with content anyway, there are already more than 100 events in the game.
A technical masterpiece
Gran Turismo 7 is a production that uses the blessings of PlayStation 5 to the fullest. The vehicles are designed using more than 500 thousand polygons, the tracks are modeled down to the finest detail (including the irregularities on the road) and the weather conditions look magnificent.
The game offers you two different modes in terms of graphics. On PS4 we stick to 1080p resolution, but PS5 has two graphics modes. If you choose the framerate mode, you can experience the game in 4K / 60fps. There is also a Ray Tracing mode. Ray Tracing mode is not used in the entire game, but if you select it, Ray Tracing is turned on in replay mode, photo mode and Scene mode and the PS5 tries to keep up with 30fps.
In addition, the blessings of DualSense are used to the fullest. Haptic feedback is crystal clear, sharp and feels like you’re steering. Adaptive triggers, for example, manage to convey to you with great success the moments when ABS kicks in and the tension and torsion increase on the chassis. The physics engine of Gran Turismo 7 can generate vibrations between 20-200Hz for you to feel from DualSense, which means you can experience each of the different situations separately, such as curbs, grasses, flaws on the track.
Conclusion
As a result, Gran Turismo 7 is a game that will make you very happy, starting from its wonderful intro and its huge content. The best Gran Turismo ever? Probably. The best racing game ever? It has the potential to be better than Forza Horizon 4, but not better with its current content. When the developments we expect for a game catalog come, it has the potential to reach that point.
It has everything to be the most complete Gran Turismo ever. It will get to that point as more tracks and vehicles are added. You can lean back on the seat and have a good time with one of the most beautiful works on automobiles.
Kürşat Zaman
CHIP Rating: 90%
- Produced: Polyphony Digital
- Distribution: SIE
- Genre: Racing
- Platform: PS5, PS4
- Web: www.playstation.com
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