Gran Turismo is a name that has become synonymous with console based sim racing, ever since the game released 25 years ago on the original PlayStation the game has pushed the boundaries of console racing games especially when it comes to graphics, audio and just the sheer amount of cars that Polyphonic Digital have been able to cram into each installment of the game. For decades now Gran Turismo has been a true console seller and one of the PlayStations best-selling exclusives due to it being the closest you will ever come to sim racing on a console. PlayStation fans have been counting down the days until the release of Gran Turismo 7, especially seeing as it is the first installment in the series that will have a PS5 version, will it lap the competition or will it suffer a blowout on its first lap?

Upon loading up GT7 on the first time I was automatically loaded into the games new ‘music rally’ mode, this is a more arcade like experience than the main game and served as a great introduction to what is on offer here, especially graphically and sonically. In music rally you are placed into a car (in this case it was the fictional Alsace circuit in a pristine looking Porsche 356 Speedster) and are tasked with racing around the track and trying to complete it before the timer counts down, this kind of game mode has been done countless times before but the genius here is that the timer counts down to the beat of the music, in this case it was “Hooked On Classics” volume one and two, but there are plenty of other pieces of music which encompass a large amount of genres. Having Hooked On Classics thump in my ears whilst cruising around in the glorious Porsche Speedster is one of the greatest gaming moments I have experienced in my life, I had a big, dumb, stupid grin on my face the whole time and I think the volume of my humming nearly pushed my neighbors to the point that they were considering calling the police due to assumption that the person living next door had just lost his marbles. Even after clearing Alsace on the first try I gave it another couple of run throughs simply because it is just such a magical experience.

You aren’t here for arcade style racing though, and as interesting as the music rally mode is it is merely a diversion from the main game mode. Upon entering GT7 proper you are presented with a slick looking map and meet Sarah one of the many characters that will provide you information and guide you through the game. Much of the map isn’t available to you until you have gained a few driver levels in the game but as each part unlocks the game will guide you through what you need to do and where to go next in a seamless manner. GT7 not only has a large amount of race locations, it also has a vast amount of areas on the main map for you to explore, the central hub like area known as the cafe connects all of these areas together, it is here you will meet the ever cheerful Luca who looks like he just stepped foot out of the local stock footage photo agency, in fact most of the characters in GT7 look like they have been ripped from stock photo websites, an interesting design choice but it certainly does keep the game feeling slick and clean. Luca will provide you with your first mission or task or ‘menu’ as GT7 likes to call them and that makes sense seeing as each task is presented to you visually as the type of menu you would see in such a café.

The missions, or menus that Luca hands out to you over the course of the game usually require you to collect a series of cars from a particular region or era by performing successfully in races, once your collection is complete you then head back to the café and get ready to take on the next task Luka demands of you. Each time you complete a collection you are also given a nice historical rundown on the cars you have just earned, Luca’s sidekick Chris will also give you information on the current car you are driving if you decide to ask him about it as well. Not all of the menus Luka gives you revolve around races though, some of them will guide you to other areas you have just unlocked in the game and set a task for you to complete there, such as taking a photo of your car or upgrading it to a particular PP level, this might sound like hand holding but in practice it feels really organic and is a great way to get players to explore some of the other activities that GT7 offers, and boy does it offer a lot!

With the café forming the central hub of the GT7 world there are several other areas on the map that each serve their own purpose and function;

Used Cars – This is like a trip to your local car yard if all your local car yard stocked was classic, iconic cars. These cars might have some mileage on them but they serve as perfectly good foundations for you to modify and tune into your perfect racing beast. Some of the cars on offer here are limited and will sell out if enough people buy them so make sure you get in quick if you see your holy grail in stock.

Missions – It is here you will find missions that take place in various cars at various locations around the world such as overtaking all of the cars on a certain track without hitting them or having to drive behind other cars in order to use their slipstream to slingshot past them. Perform well enough and you might just win the car of your dreams as a prize.

Scapes – This is where you can test out your automotive photography skills, you choose a location from the several hundred available (there are even dozens of iconic locations in Australia) and can then choose to place cars in order to create a scene, or ‘scape’ if you prefer. Being a photographer myself I was absolutely flabbergasted with the amount of options here especially when it came to setting the focus and aperture of the camera before shooting, I know the term photo realistic is thrown around a lot when it comes to video games, this mode is practically the definition of it. The results you can create here are absolutely stunning and they can be shared with the community, I can’t wait to see where people imaginations take them and the scenes that the community will create in this mode.

Showcase – This is where you can browse user created content from car liveries and driver suits through to scenes created in the scapes mode.

Licence – GT aint GT without driving tests and this is where you will find them, passing some of these are essential in progressing through the game so you will be seeing this area a lot, I found the tests a lot less frustrating than in previous games though, maybe I have just gotten better at driving!

Brand Central – This is where you will find new cars divided up into American, European and Asian Pacific regions. There are also some nice videos available here showcasing the history and milestones of various manufacturers.

World Circuit – This is the main single player area of GT7, here you will find all the available races and championships

Sport – Think of this as Gran Turismo’s previous incarnation, GT Sport. This is the place where online events will take place. Races will have various car, manufacturer and power requirements and will feature qualifying sessions before each race.

World Circuits - This is the main single player component of GT7 from here you will access all of the races and championships you are tasked with winning.

The above are just some of the main areas on the map you will encounter as you work through the game, there are several more that serve the functionality of upgrading your car body, modding your car with improved performance parts and then fine tuning each part from the numerous options available, you can even modify your tire pressure and you can also create liveries that you can slap on your car or your racing suit, there really is just an abundance of locations to explore here so I will save some of the surprises for you to discover rather than having me spoil them.

What’s that you say? Having a massive map is cool and all but how does the game play!!??!?

Butter, smooth as butter. Visually the game has not only raised the bar it has sent it flying at about mach 3 through the stratosphere. While racing the game runs flawlessly at 4k 60 fps and I have not noticed one iota of slowdown regardless of the amount of cars on the track or in my close vicinity. The track surrounds and car models have to be seen to be believed, the attention to detail in this game is something that has never been seen in a car racing game before especially where consoles are concerned, from the sun rays bouncing and reflecting off your cars surface through to the fog, rain and mist that encompasses the track during certain situations, it is a graphical spectacular, basically if you don’t have a PS5 then run out and get one, if you don’t have a good 4K TV then run out and get one of them too, you owe it to this game. Graphic options boil down to simply 2, Ray tracing on and off, the ray tracing isn’t enabled whilst racing only in replays regardless of which option you pick so it is kind of puzzling why the option exists in the first place. The same sort of love applied to the visuals has also been applied in the audio department of the game, each car sounds completely different from the next one, low spluttering growls, whiney high pitched turbos it’s all here and I am led to believe that most of the in game car sounds have been sampled from their actual real life counterparts, it would have been nice if Sony lent me a few supercars to test this claim out but alas unfortunately I still don’t own a Dodge Viper and probably never will. The soundtrack of the game is another story and feels uninspired apart from a few of the remixes of classical music which slap! Music in racing games really isn’t a big thing for me as I generally turn this off in order to hear my cars engine more clearly so I can predict when I need to perform a gear change.

Controlling the cars with the DualSense controller is another area where you can tell that Polyphonic Digital put a lot of time into. The feeling you get through the controller is quite uncanny as you can literally feel every single bump and ridge on the road, you can even feel your windscreen wipers moving back and forth when races take place in the rain, I used to be from the school of thought that to enjoy a racing game to its fullest you needed to invest in a racing wheel and some pedals but the implementation of feedback given here through the DS controller has made me have to rethink that. I did play the game mostly on my Logitech G29 wheel though and people that own racing wheels will be glad to hear that force feedback and control when using a wheel is implemented absolutely perfectly and I would go as far as to say this is probably the best a racing game has felt while using my wheel. Even during my limited online gameplay controls remained fluid, responsive and it did not feel like there was any input lag whatsoever. There is an absurd amount of customization available as far as controls and driving aids go in GT7 from automatic braking, steering assists, racing lines, braking markers through to traction control, it’s all customisable and designed to get you up and racing as simply as possible regardless of your skill level. The best thing about having so many driving aids is that it motivates you to get better at the game, I started with most driving aids on and every few races I would turn one off until I had none left in the on position, you get such a sense of accomplishment once you realise that you are driving without any of the aids turned on, progression and improvement in this game is a joy and the furthest thing from grinding that I could possibly imagine.

I have often heard of the Gran Turismo series being referred to as a love letter to cars and their manufacturers, if that’s the case then Gran Turismo 7 is more like a steamy romance novel. The presentation here is slicker than penguin shit and the love and care that was poured into GT7 during its production cycle doesn’t just shine from the screen, it literally slaps you in the face and blinds you. The only racing game that has utterly consumed me before GT7 was Rage Racer back on the PlayStation 1, GT7 is so great that you feel compelled to play it and learn each and every one of its cars because the feeling you get from improving in this game is just so satisfying. With over 400 cars, 34 locations and 90 different variations of track there is enough here to keep you going for a long, long time especially once the multiplayer portion of the game starts to take off. Even if you aren’t into racing games this game is still an essential purchase for PS5 owners, the absolute care and attention to detail that has gone into this game make it a work of art, heck it may even just turn you into a racing game fan!