How has Gran Turismo 7 Improved Since Launch?

Gran turismo 7 has come a long way since launch.jpg
It's no secret that Gran Turismo 7 was a frightful disappointment at launch. But that was over a year ago now. So has it got any better? Overtake's Marvin Miller is here to tell you.

Image credit: Polyphony

Gran Turismo 7 has been on the market for over a year now. With gorgeous graphics, an amazing collection of tracks and a car list to die for, it certainly deserves its place as one of the premier Playstation simcade titles.

However, upon launch, several community concerns meant that the game was far from welcomed with open arms. Micro-transactions plagued the game whilst low pay outs for races and challenges meant in-game purchases were almost unavoidable. Furthermore, fans of the Playstation-only series had issues with the repetitive gameplay which reportedly felt like a grind.

All that was over twelve months ago now though. So how have things improved with the state of Gran Turismo since launch? Marvin Miller from Overtake recently took a look at the game to see if its current iteration would change his mind. Here's what he thought.


Over the past year or so, Gran Turismo 7 has grown significantly. According to a graphic by its development studios Polyphony, the game has received countless new events, over 30 new cars and a dozen new tracks. This certainly helps fans stay interested in the title whilst new features like a successful PSVR2 implementation and additional car dealerships will attract newcomers.

Finally, a ground-breaking AI system recently found its way into GT7 giving fans a taste of the future of simracing. Sophy AI is an advanced AI driver that learns as it drives. Track limits, grip levels, race craft and overall speed are all improved compared to more traditional AI modes.

With so much change, it's fair to say that the most recent version of Gran Turismo 7 has given Marvin new hope. Although if Polyphony wants to keep players on the game until its successor releases, they had better continue growing the car and track list to the proportions seen in previous titles.

What is the best improvement made to Gran Turismo 7 since launch?
About author
Angus Martin
Motorsport gets my blood pumping more than anything else. Be it physical or virtual, I'm down to bang doors.

Comments

Hate getting drip fed content that comes with less than a handful of new races , that are also so short you have them done in the same day n back too doing the same ole stuff over n over :) So many cars have no valid race series too enter. Has got better driving wise. PD need too buck up their ideas as it just getting so stale.
 
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Hate getting drip fed content that comes with less than a handful of new races , that are also so short you have them done in the same day n back too doing the same ole stuff over n over :) So many cars have no valid race series too enter. Has got better driving wise. PD need too buck up their ideas as it just getting so stale.
I wholeheartedly agree, 30 feet of tarmac joining one side of a track to the other can not claim to be a new track, and as you say, most races are still childishly short, there seems to be no attempt to generate income without grind and to be perfectly it feels as much like a 'game' as does Forza Horizon.
While I understand that the updates are free, I wonder if they were not already done and extracted simply to provide free content after release,
Too many pretend (VGT) cars and and too many PP mistakes ensure there are 'go to' cars that get nerfed by the next update.
While it's nice to see the 'Iconic' 917 and the 427 Cobra, their inclusion paints holes in the race maps, the things that I see are missing are cars that the 'iconic' cars raced against, the 917 is there but no T70, 512S, Ligier, Matra simca, T33/3, chevrons...
Why include the iconic 427 Cobra when it's the 289 roadster/hardtop/coupe (I don't mean the Daytona coupe) that was the real race hero (the 427 was outclassed against the mid engined field it was dropped into by the rulemakers) why no lightweight E, why the DB5 instead of the DB4GT?
The list of inclusions and 'oversights' seems to have only one aim... the 'WOW' factor for the casual player, Shiny !

Le mans, yeah great, but the standard race where you pit every three laps for fuel is pathetic, and why is there no time adjustment for race length for those of us that find that we enjoy certain races but have to grind them over and over to get anywhere near what 'Endurance' is supposed to be about.

The updates.. to me they're a lost cause, because I have no interest in setting up the PS4 to play 25 mins of 'new' content simply to pack it all away for another month or two, even my son can't be bothered anymore.

Were it on the PC and modable... HELL YEAH!
 
This game needs the proper hardcore Sim Racing handling model, then improve the AI, Penalty System and various features. If this game gets ported to PC, I hope it will sell more than 10 million digital copies then Polyphony Digital can use the higher budget to improve the franchise.
 
Gran Turismo 7 has good content and I'm glad it's getting bigger every month with updates, but Polyphony Digital can't put it to good use. Lackluster "career" mode in Cafe, dull races with poor AI, any sort of seasonal events only in multiplayer (daily races)... I'm already waiting for Gran Turismo 8 and hoping that this time PD will give us proper singleplayer experience that this series is known for. GT7 should be rather called Gran Turismo Sport 2.
 
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Gran Turismo 7 has good content and I'm glad it's getting bigger every month with updates, but Polyphony Digital can't put it to good use. Lackluster "career" mode in Cafe, dull races with poor AI, any sort of seasonal events only in multiplayer (daily races)... I'm already waiting for Gran Turismo 8 and hoping that this time PD will give us proper singleplayer experience that this series is known for. GT7 should be rather called Gran Turismo Sport 2.
I understand what you're saying, and I know it's too late now, but GT7 should have been complete and Off-Line, and GT Sport should have been updated to keep it in line with the GT7 release.
A full single player career mode and smack-em-up arcade mode and a ton of tracks 'n' Cars to keep us happy and willing to buy GT8 cos we know it's gonna be good, we really shouldn't have to be directing our thoughts towards GT8 in the hope that it's better next time round.
I feel that there was too many dumb features, like the Cafe and roulette prize, and the picture of somebody and some stupid "take a deep breath..." motivation speech, what is needed there is "try a higher gear in turn 3" or "don't take too much speed into the first part of the corner" that would be useful and wearable but a dumb caption and a thumbnail is just cheap... and insulting
 
All GTs since GT5 were pure garbage at their launch and became really good games over the time. GT5 at it's 2.0 version , compared with it's 1.0, had a big evolution that most companies couldn't achieve even with sequels.

But I can't blame any negative reviews that a Polyphony game have at it's launch, because it's a huge company that considering the money and time invested at any GT (since GT2, I can say) proved to be a overly inefficient company. There always have better sims than Gran Turismo that achieve much more with much less.
 
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All GTs since GT5 were pure garbage at their launch and became really good games over the time. GT5 at it's 2.0 version , compared with it's 1.0, had a big evolution that most companies couldn't achieve even with sequels.

But I can't blame any negative reviews that a Polyphony game have at it's launch, because it's a huge company that considering the money and time invested at any GT (since GT2, I can say) proved to be a overly inefficient company. There always have better sims than Gran Turismo that achieve much more with much less.
Not to mention the Gran Turismo & Forza Motorsport series, both of their developers (Polyphony Digital & Turn 10 respectively), they used most of their budget on graphics rather than handling model accuracy to the real world, resulting them both being more like Simcades rather than proper Sim Racing.
 
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Not to mention the Gran Turismo & Forza Motorsport series, both of their developers (Polyphony Digital & Turn 10 respectively), they used most of their budget on graphics rather than handling model accuracy to the real world, resulting them both being more like Simcades rather than proper Sim Racing.
Because 'generic' where the money is made, I don't like it, but it's business
 
Not to mention the Gran Turismo & Forza Motorsport series, both of their developers (Polyphony Digital & Turn 10 respectively), they used most of their budget on graphics rather than handling model accuracy to the real world, resulting them both being more like Simcades rather than proper Sim Racing.
They know their public, just that.

There are some players insisting at hardcore playing with these franchises (what is not hard with GT, if you know how to avoid the landmines spread over it's community) , but the vast majority are casual arcade racers (because there is also a niche of hardcore arcade racers, so I'm not associating arcade racing with casual gamming) that want something barely realistic. These players are the folks that hated GT5 because it took a more "simulation" approach from what the series were previously. I still remember at forums and some "pro" reviews back in the day, a lot of GT-fans complaining about GT5 not having as default to accelerate, brake and steering on digital buttons and d-pad instead of using the analog stick and buttons for that... even if there were the option to set your controls as you wish. GT from 5 forward is at a purgatory where it's not an arcade anymore, but still not a full fledged simulator. It still sells, but not even close from what it used to be. Because of that, I believe that the series will never again have a spot on release as with the first four titles.

Forza... well... it was a fun and balanced simcade experience and even the first one ot two FH were interesting. T10 sin is to build playgrounds where you simply parade, because if you dial up the realism and AI settings the game will not be better anyway... so, just go as default as the game is and pretend that you are dead and buried when playing it lol
 
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I haven’t raced on pc since gt7 came out, don’t agree it was poor at the start and has improved (for free) since then immensely
 
I only got GT7 around Christmas last year and only got to the end of the original "cafe" career then I rage-quitted about a month ago due to the horrendously unfair AI and sold my PS4 Pro as I was done with the game for now. Figured I'd go back to it later this year on PS5 to do remaining content if / when they fix the AI.

Was playing on the hardest difficulty settings possible inc. no TCS on massively overpowered cars, and while the experience at times was epic, I had sooooooo many races ruined mainly due to the worst blatant punting off-track behaviour by AI psycho's that I've ever experienced in a game. If they'd be racing in real life then I'd win every race as the entire opposition would be black flagged.

Oh and the fact that touching grass felt like touching ice, and the slightest scrape of a barrier meant a 180 degree (or more) spin, and inconsistent car behaviour when using a wheel vs controller, and the occasional random physics model & subsequent random traction loss & easy manipulation of oversteer correction made for too much BS for me.

TLDR: I don't know how much the game has progressed in it's time, but it was in a shameful state when I left it, and I hope DP fix it, or at the very least learn from this mistake for GT8.
 
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I used to love GT. I must a put a LOT of hours into the series. I got banned from driving around the time of the GT3 launch so I put so many hours into it to fill the void. Get banned from driving + playing GT = girlfriend leaves you and you end up selling the house then have to start all over again....

ACTUALLY I HATE GRAN TURISMO!!
 

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Angus Martin
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What's needed for simracing in 2024?

  • More games, period

  • Better graphics/visuals

  • Advanced physics and handling

  • More cars and tracks

  • AI improvements

  • AI engineering

  • Cross-platform play

  • New game Modes

  • Other, post your idea


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