‘Gran Turismo 7’ game review: A love letter to serious motorsports enthusiasts

Barring a few aspects, such as the tedious menus and the tough-to-earn credits — this game is a perfect experience for racing lovers

Even as more and more legacy franchises are trying to appeal to the Fortnite-addled crowd with colourful skins and noisy quest markers, Gran Turismo sticks with its tried-and-tested simulation formula. The latest edition in the series, Gran Turismo 7, can be seen as a love letter to serious motorsports enthusiasts. Barring a few aspects, this game is a near-perfect experience.

The makers, Polyphony Digital, take you down memory lane with an introduction to the history of the motoring world. You would feel nostalgic if you have played the previous editions of the franchise. Once you have access to the GT Cafe, you can start racing, earning, and buying cars. More nuggets of motorsports history awaits you when you hit the menu. However, once the game begins, there are no stories, voice overs or cutscenes — it is just you, the wheel, and the tarmac. And, that is all you need. The game reminds you of old school racing before all the open worlds and career modes hit.

The sheer amount of menus you do have to wade through is tedious at times. The GT Cafe regularly serves up races and challenges for you to complete to earn more credits to tune your cars.

You can take the race online or compete with offline racers. The simulation gives you the feeling of driving an actual car. The haptic feedback is excellent via the Dual Sense 5’s adaptive triggers. A wide range of car and race selections will excite the casual racers whereas GT faithfuls will love the customisation and simulation options. The rolling start, which puts you far behind in the race, might mar your experience. Do not worry, a quick search will reveal you can switch to grid start from the settings. 

Once you start earning the credits, things start getting stingy. Everything costs a lot — paint colours, upgrades and other things. You have to grind a lot to afford anything. Or, you can use real money to buy credits. In a game full of exotic cars to buy and earn, GT7 really makes you work for the collection. Once you unlock the car, however, you are greeted with an elaborate history of the vehicle’s lineage, manufacturer and more. The presentation of the history could have been consistent, as some are cutscenes and others are on text boxes. 

Gran Turismo 7 is gorgeous all over. The cars feel very real, making you want to fire up the menus just to admire their beauty. Out on the tracks, things get even more dynamic, as the time of day changes during the race. While some of the tracks are lacklustre, the rest are brilliant — they take you from sunny European villages, to the snazzy high tech Tokyo expressway, and other stunning locations.

If you are a serious e-motorsport racer, you will love this game.