The Diary Game 22/03/2022 - Gran Turismo 7: for Turbo surprise collectors.

Among the games dedicated to car racing, Gran Turismo has never been a series that changes according to current trends. Kazunori Yamauchi and his team from Polyphony Digital remained consistent, faithful to the initial vision, which put above all the car itself, its reproduction and the feeling you had driving virtually.

And Gran Turismo 7 is no exception to these unwritten rules of the series. Despite some upgrades, GT7 is following in its footsteps, especially for old fans and car lovers, ignoring the open-world or arcade trends that other competing titles have turned to.

In the following lines, I will focus on the single player experience offered by Gran Turismo 7, the version we had available during testing was limited in terms of online multiplayer (available only with other reviewers) or Sport mode (available only at certain intervals). However, after a GT Sport designed around the internet, Gran Turismo 7 should represent a return to the original concepts of the series, such as the single player campaign.

Gran Turismo 7 manages, to a large extent, to be perhaps the most "streamlined" GT game so far, at least in terms of that transition period elapsed from the moment you start it and to the accommodation with its game mechanics .

You are greeted from the beginning by explanatory menus, with the help of which you can opt for different presets of assists or control schemes. Moreover, the game insists on giving up the classic concept of auxiliary driving line, offering other such options, such as on-screen indicators when you need to apply the brake or marking the braking zones on the route.

But the basics are the indicators that signal the positions of entry into the curve, the apex of the turn and the exit from it: the game simply teaches you to drive better and thus retain the routes. For starters though, the classic multi-color driving line would have been more inspired than the options available now.

The GT7 campaign has a different structure from previous titles, with GT Cafe at its center. The progress is based on "menus" received from the owner of GT Cafe, namely a series of objectives that must be met to gain experience, to collect cars and to unlock access to all components of the game (sections of World Map, game modes , circuits ...).

Most of these menus urge the player to complete certain mini-car collections (three Porsche models, three Ferrari models, three Japanese compact cars, etc.). To get them, you can use either the option to buy them, if the in-game finances allow it, or to win them from the classic tests that the GT series has accustomed us to (Sunday Cup, Clubman Cup ...) .

For each such completed collection, you also receive a visual-informative reward: several sequences in which you are presented with the history of the respective models, interesting frames with them... In fact, such "history lessons" are also present in the stores of certain brands in the in-game car shop, in the Museum section.

Occasionally, the car collection operation is interrupted by some more special menus, some trivial ones, such as "wash your car at the service", and others that are really interesting, such as obtaining national permits of categories A or B, mission challenges (fulfilling objectives in certain scenarios) or multi-race championships. However, in this respect, the GT7 seems poorer than its predecessors, lacking those special licensed events, such as the tests on the Top Gear circuit in GT5 or the Goodwood Festival of Speed in Gran Turismo 6.

In fact, the entire single-player campaign in GT7 seems significantly smaller than in previous titles in the series: I remember spending a lot more time getting to the final credits list in GT5 / 6, while In the new game, it took me about 25 hours to complete the approximately 40 GT Cafe menus that make up the campaign.

Obviously, in addition to the rehearsals related to the completion of the campaign, the game still offers additional content: obtaining international permits, additional rehearsals on unlocked circuits, mission challenges, splitscreen racing for two players, Music Rally for those who want to compete on certain songs and so on However, their lack of structuring in an organized campaign reduces their contribution a lot, at least from my point of view.

And this time the circuits received more attention, being added more details such as the animated audience, the more varied and dense vegetation... However, the biggest change is the dynamic nature of the lighting of these circuits.

In addition to the day-night cycle, the actual reproduction of the clouds covering the routes may have visible consequences for the way the circuit is illuminated: just take a look (and not necessarily at the sky) to "feel" the weather conditions in which it will have place race. Moreover, the clouds can only cover a darker part of the route, while another bathes in the warm sunlight. And when night falls, the artificial light sources on the edge of the circuit come to life, providing a true visual spectacle.

Unfortunately, the reproduction of the races in the rain is not as spectacular, the approach of Polyphony Digital being functional here rather than very aesthetic. Specifically, water falling from the sky and jets projected by opponents are meant to obstruct your field of vision and not necessarily leave you speechless, as they did in DriveClub, for example. Again, it can rain on one part of a circuit, while another stays dry, turning choosing the right tires into a really difficult task.

The music is also enjoyable, the classic GT music themes being accompanied by all sorts of licensed songs, waking me up humming some of them even after I left the game. Engine and impact sounds have also been improved.

Unfortunately, the "story" portions of GT Cafe or the explanations of the characters you interact with in the game are rendered only in text format, without these dialogues being spoken. Also, the dependence of the campaign on an online connection can only be attributed to a more "forced" DRM than was the case, the excuse with the prevention of cheating being a bit hairy.

Despite some not-so-pleasant customs that Gran Turismo 7 took from its forerunners (such as "discreet" damage reproduction) and a shorter-than-usual campaign,Polyphony Digital's new creation remains the standard for the almost perfect balance between authenticity and accessibility.