5 Impressive Features Revealed at Gran Turismo 7’s State of Play Event

5 New Features in Gran Turismo 7.jpg
The most recent PlayStation State of Play event was a showcase of many of Gran Turismo 7’s new or improved features, and here are five standouts.

Sony and Polyphony Digital held a State of Play event to showcase many of the interesting features players can expect when Gran Turismo 7 is released on March 4th. Here are five of the features to be aware of:
  1. Dynamic Time and Weather – This was a feature that those who have been following the development of Gran Turismo 7 had expected, but it seems the implementation of proper weather and time-of-day systems will meet all expectations. Like we see in some of our favourite racing sims, you can expect rain to form puddles in low spots over time, and dry lines to form as the weather clears and warms.
  2. Weather Radar – And speaking of weather, players will have the ability to track approaching weather patterns using an in-game HUD app. Not unlike what we see professional race teams using, clouds will appear in the weather app as spots of varying darkness and players will be able to see their position relative to those clouds.
  3. Controller Vibrations to Indicate Loss of Front-End Grip – To take advantage of the PlayStation 5’s DualSense controller, Gran Turismo 7's players using a controller will be able to feel the scrub of the car’s front tires over the road surface when traction is lost.
  4. 2,500 Scapes for Photography – Gran Turismo Sport’s impressive Scapes mode, which allows players to take high-res photos of their cars, has been carried over and expanded for Gran Turismo 7. The level of control the Scapes mode gives you over the camera is impressive, and it’s an easy task for even amateur photographers to take stunning and realistic pictures.
  5. Drag Racing – Drag racing is a surprisingly rare mode in racing games, but Gran Turismo 7 will give you the ability to do so. The challenge will be to tune or upgrade your car appropriately, and then manage the traction under acceleration.

There were several other features discussed in the State of Play, including the mapping of stars and planets in the night sky, cloud creation physics, 3D audio mix, and replays synced to music. It seems that PD and Sony have struck a balance between features Gran Turismo players want from the series, while taking advantage of the capabilities of the PlayStation 5.

What stood out to you from the State of Play event? Let us know in the comments.
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About author
Mike Smith
Mike Smith
I have been obsessed with sim racing and racing games since the 1980's. My first taste of live auto racing was in 1988, and I couldn't get enough ever since. Lead writer for RaceDepartment, and owner of SimRacing604 and its YouTube channel. Favourite sims include Assetto Corsa Competizione, Assetto Corsa, rFactor 2, Automobilista 2, DiRT Rally 2 - On Twitter as @simracing604

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Comments

B
It looks good in a way but... visuals are so clinically clean, lifeless and sterile.
Dynamic time of day, weather and track conditions, just 4.5 years after PC2 did it.
Anyways, it will sell millions of copies as expected, orders of magnitude more than all PC sims combined...
 
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Tr0nic
I was thinking a few times, the delay of GT7 was caused by the CSP and SOL Mod... the Polyphony Team was adding all features AC has got over the last months/years... :D:D

Weather Radar sounds nice!
Curious how this title will evolve after release and when they will add VR support.

I can a see a flood of photomode pictures already in the Steam screenshot/artwork section from AC... :rolleyes:
 
G
GT7 is an arcade showcase and a no brainer, I would gladly give it a very good rating on the ergonomics of the menus, the permit mode, photo mode etc. and a pleasant gameplay which is a change from a lot of PC simulations that are really simulation oriented. If tomorrow Kunos, Reiza have the same ergonomics, the same richness on all the useless content (as mentioned before) then yes it will be great but they are car games, not photo booths or even the fact of passing your licence in a Ferrari (normal?).

Also, I think the gap between the cars used and the type of track is quite big, for me GT7 is a project cars 2 arcade with content made for car lovers, which in the end is a strategy that pays off, it's likely that only Forza, GT, Dirt sell as well on the market.

Finally, I don't find the game particularly pretty, the replay mode uses a semblance of ray tracing, it lacks a lot of shadows, texture detail is poor, sound level I can't judge but I can't see GT7 reaching the level of Assetto Corsa Competizione and also, you have to pay for Playstation's online service to play online and this concept alone kills me.
 
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Cote Dazur
The whole explanation of what has been done to simulate weather, both on track and in the sky, sounds very impressive. Clouds forming differently in Japan sky then in California sky makes me curious. Night sky looking different as humidity levels are changing in real time, that is next level for a racing game.
Attention to details in GT has always been top notch, maybe it is a Japanese thing,

Too bad I am not going to get a PS5 just for one game, plus my wheel does not work with it, making the whole proposition totally upside down, because that weather development seem very impressive and I would not mind experiencing it.
 
J
hate paying for the online service. finally quit when the daily races became such a ^%$ show. and have a nice 32" curved 1080p monitor, and will not be upgrading to a ps5 anytime soon for any reason, but still looking forward to gt7.
 
maranello78
advantage of the PlayStation 5’s DualSense controller a simracing game you can play with a gamepad is not a simulator, you can add lights, stickers or vibration but still not a simracing simulator if you can drive a car with a gamepad or joystick, sorry but nothing interesting for me on console, still love PC options.
 
tatsu3
Can't wait to see the comments by the broke dudes who are unable to afford a PS and criticize anyway to hold the tears :D
 
J
tatsu3 said:
Can't wait to see the comments by the broke dudes who are unable to afford a PS and criticize anyway to hold the tears :D
Click to expand...
No need to wait, you already see it every time a GT7 article is posted on RaceDepartment. "ew console bad", never mind that the sim racing communities sacred cow Richard Burns Rally was released on PS2 :D
 
andrewaugust93
Gotta say this is tempting. But I don't think I'll buy a PS5 just for one title. I have so much useless e-waste in my house from buying the PS3 and PS4 for just one game and then letting the console collect dust. I am not willing to do that again.

Hopefully GT7 eventually makes it's way onto steam like God Of War and Uncharted.
 
andrewaugust93
tatsu3 said:
Can't wait to see the comments by the broke dudes who are unable to afford a PS and criticize anyway to hold the tears :D
Click to expand...
Some criticisms are legit though. I personally would not get GT7 despite being very tempted because I've had so much useless e-waste lying around from buying the PS3 for GT5 and the PS4 for GT Sport, the consoles were then left to collect dust once I was done with those games. PC is definitely more convenient as you have all the sims you need on the platform, and I would love to get GT7 if it were on the PC too. Not all of us on racedepartment play a lot of games outside of simracing, and I totally understand why people would be disappointed that GT7 is console exclusive and are not interested to buy a console for one or two title.

broke dudes who are unable to afford a PS
Click to expand...
I do not think this is the case for most people on this site. Sim-racing gears are easily vastly more expensive than a single console system.
 
MJQT
maranello78 said:
advantage of the PlayStation 5’s DualSense controller a simracing game you can play with a gamepad is not a simulator, you can add lights, stickers or vibration but still not a simracing simulator if you can drive a car with a gamepad or joystick, sorry but nothing interesting for me on console, still love PC options.
Click to expand...
As someone who's had a BLAST driving rF2 with an old PS3 controller without any assists or vibration in recent days -- including visually catching slides and throttle control to rotate the car -- I can't tell you how wrong you are. It's a unusual skill, I grant you that, but good physics are good physics, no matter your control device of choice.

Now... will GT7 handle like AC or GTR2 or rF2 or whatever we here prefer to play? I doubt it will feel as "simulationy". Especially judging by past GT titles. But that's a verrry different discussion to have. Plus, all our fave "sims" themselves handle very differently, correlate (or don't or can't) with real data to a different extent, and thus are all only very approximate and impressionistic virtual representations of true race car driving and handling... so who's to say which of them is most realistic? Not trying to start a flame war, but just felt it needed to be said.

IMO a game's handling simply needs to be plausible enough to enjoy driving (up to whatever your personal standard is), have cool features, and offer a good gameplay experience... and I'd be shocked if GT7 doesn't fit the bill in that regard for millions of people.
 
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passenger
New video, more tracks seen... I was expecting better graphics. Forza
Horizon 5 has better 3D trees (are these GT 7's 3D or 2D trees?) and
vegetation.

And that 'extra' lighting made with that Ray Tracing tech, doesn't
say anything to me - moreover, it looks unrealistic, too bright and
cold. And the cars look way too shiny with that lighting and
reflections.
 
Ryno917
I'm sure there's lots of cool stuff coming, but nothing in this list is "impressive."

Drag racing? That's not "impressive," that's basic. Dynamic weather has been done by so many titles, it's not impressive anymore but borderline expected. Controller vibrations have been a thing since the Dual Shock on the PS1, at least, how does this feature have anything at all to do with the PS5 controller, and how is it impressive? Scapes - sure, there's lots of photographs to place your car in front of with nice lighting; a technique used for decades. I guess the impressive thing is that there's 2500 of them some poor soul had to go through to set up the correct lighting to match the photograph? Weather radar is just a graphic masking for what could have been done in a more straightforward way that the majority of the playerbase would probably have preferred.

I'm not slogging GT by any means, but this list doesn't match with the title of the article at all. 5 expanded or new-for-GT-series features, sure, but certainly not impressive.
 
MacReady
And what about the car sound, in GT Sport the mustang doesn't sound like a Mustang, also the car bumping etc...
Also the car driving feeling are never near than on PC like in iRacing, rFactor 2, AMS2, AC and ACC.
My first things are :
1. The driving feeling
2. The car sound and crash, environment etc.
3. Graphics (GT Sport have it). Including a nice HUD.
4. AI like in iRacing is very good.
 

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