Gran Turismo 7 for PS5 in the test: Charming racing game fun, but we have to talk about these shortcomings

The saxophone player in the back seat whiles away the time with breathing exercises, he wants to be well prepared for the coming hours. I drive on, nodding understandingly. Then I hear the jazz musician swearing that his partner, a colorfully dressed electronic musician with dreadlocks and a keyboard on his lap, shouldn’t hit the keys so wildly and press his elbow into his side. He’s just trying to breathe properly. I, on the other hand, just want to play Gran Turismo 7.

When I get home, my passengers follow me, I change into evening wear: sweatpants plus a hoodie, feels good. The PS5 is already warming up. With a liberating sigh, I let myself fall onto the couch and reach for the pad. Finally some cool races.

Gran Turismo 7 review

We tested Gran Turismo 7 for you and show you impressions on these screenshots.

“What are you actually doing here?” I ask the two musicians who are trying to stand inconspicuously in a corner of the living room. They both look tense and caught, but pretend not to notice me and roll their pupils up innocently.

Great scope and feel-good atmosphere

I don’t care now, I won’t let it take my fun. Off you go in Polyphony Digital’s new racing game simulation with 420 cars and more than 90 tracks, tuning, multiplayer and finally the campaign requested by many fans. A few saxophone tones ring out, Peter has got the flow and accompanies my lingering in the main menu with cool jazz sounds. I am reminded of relaxing Gran Turismo sessions around the turn of the millennium (GT 2, GT 3).

Now a coffee! That’s it. I promptly visit the café in the menu center and take a look at the menu. Hmm… Ford Mustang GT(2015), Mustang Boss 429, Mustang Mach 1 – all delicious, but a good bean would be really nice right now. Peter, nice as he is, puts on a pot.

I take the opportunity to drive a race. Mark, the funky guy in his 1990s outfit, sees his chance and hits his keyboard keys with an almost insane grin – the result: house music that goes well with my six-cylinder.

Successful soundtrack

Rest assured, there are other genres of music your ears can indulge in in Gran Turismo 7. Developer Polyphony Digital offers a nice selection of tracks of various kinds. Pop, metal or rock are also sometimes played during races. The latter is even reminiscent of arcade racing games from the 1990s, such as Out Run or Daytona. The soundtrack is better than it has been for a long time and, like some retro sounds in menus, contributes to a feel-good atmosphere that is rarely experienced in racing games.

GT 7 is one of those games where you sit back, relax, do a few laps and enjoy some music. Also included is the “Music Rally” mode, in which a countdown is constantly threatening to start (the music then becomes slower and distorted). Increases this by driving through checkpoints in good time. This too is a homage to the arcade racers of yesteryear.

Very good handling and cool tuning

This is still a serious racing sim with very good handling and finally tuning options to significantly influence the performance and control of a car.

If you install a new exhaust or air filter, the sound of the engine will also change. We listened to this more closely with the Jaguar F-Type in particular, because we’ve seen and driven this vehicle in action many times in the real world out there.

The sound gets noticeably better through tuning, but unfortunately it’s not quite as realistic as we experienced ourselves, and the difference is also clear in sound demonstrations on YouTube. Vehicle sound is still not rendered as it deserves in racing games. For many car enthusiasts, this is part of their passion.

We are aware that the comparison is a bit off, after all there are different models, environments and modifications that affect the sound. In addition, it is difficult to compare a sound between “formats” such as personal experience, video and video games.

Nevertheless: We feel the sound of various sports cars is not “racy” enough and hope for a little more attention from the developers and sound designers on this topic in the future. You as a player don’t have to notice this negatively, but maybe you’ll listen a little more closely in the future.

PS5 features, graphics and frame rate

Sony continues to promote Gran Turismo 7 with various advantages on the PS5. Yes, the loading times are really short thanks to the fast SSD, which means you can quickly get into races, but several advantages are rather reserved.

The PS5 DualSense features like adaptive triggers and haptic feedback give you feedback on your hands, but only slightly more than on other controllers – it’s not particularly noticeable.

3D audio sound (tested with the official headset) is also of limited use and does not significantly increase the immersion in this game. Nevertheless, it is commendable that the developers take this feature into account and, for example, you can better localize the engine noise of the opponents around you.

Cool graphics, but isn’t there more in it?

Talking about the graphics of the PS5 version: yes, they look really good. The vehicles are beautifully modeled both outside and inside. The interior is sometimes so detailed that you might want to switch to the cockpit perspective a little more often. The lighting effects are strong and appear realistic.

The routes are also more detailed than in the predecessor. You can already see that on the asphalt and on the grassy areas on the side. Even trees behind the fences look nicer.

Nevertheless, we get the feeling that more could have been possible. The predecessor doesn’t have to shy away from any comparison with the GT 7 in this regard. Gran Turismo Sport still looks good too.

In addition, the graphic representation of clouds in GT 7 is often coarse and does not fit well into the picture – especially in good weather conditions. The sky sometimes looks like a two-dimensional graphic from an older game.

Errors such as image elements (“pop-ups”) suddenly appearing at the edge of the track are also annoying. We are also familiar with these problems from older games, but the developers could improve something with upcoming updates.

Limited ray tracing available

Ray tracing for even more realistic lighting effects is still only available in photo mode and not in gameplay. We think racing games can look even better on PlayStation 5.

A few stutters

Frame-rate is mostly smooth, but there are occasional dips on some tracks (Alsace for example) and in an age of so powerful new consoles, stutters of this sort are really disappointing. Turning on “Performance” mode doesn’t help either.

Split-screen mode dampens expectations

The frame rate stutters even more often in the split screen (“split screen”), which, like in GT Sport, only shows a small image section. Why not full screen? It is also particularly unfortunate that the selection of vehicles for the split screen is predetermined. Apparently you can’t drive the cars you bought or gotten as gifts in the game in split screen. We asked Sony if there was a solution to the problem and will let you know if there is anything new. However, we don’t have much hope here.

Unfortunately, this is bitter for multiplayer fans like us, who like to meet up with friends and play games together on the couch. Here you cannot start hot races between Ferrari and Lamborghini (these brands are missing in the split screen) and are dependent on solo or online multiplayer races.

What else we noticed

• The first online races are going well so far, but the situation can only be better assessed after the launch.
• History lesson: Thanks to the café and information in your garage, you will learn a lot about well-known cars.
• There are in-game credits that you can also increase using PSN wallets
• Dynamically changing weather conditions can be selected
• License missions are back
• Many paint finishes for vehicles possible
• Send replays

Gran Turismo 7 will be released on March 4th, 2022 for PS4 and PS5. When you get into the simulation, we recommend reading our GT 7 tips and tricks. It will make your first few hours of gameplay easier.

Gran Turismo 7

editorial rating 8.9 reader rating

1 review

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Don’t you agree? Are you looking for suitable alternatives? We have an extensive list of Gran Turismo 7 alternatives for you in our video game overview.