Gran Turismo 7 Review

After the online only detour of Sport, Gran Turismo 7 goes back to what the series is for. The Cafe hands you menu books that ask for three cars from a marque or an era, and following them turns progression into a guided tour of automotive history narrated by people who clearly love it. The driving is the best Polyphony has managed, with a tyre model that communicates the moment grip starts to go and weather and track temperature that genuinely change how a stint plays.

Ray traced replays and the photo mode remain absurd, close enough to reference footage that you have to look twice. The launch was another matter. A server outage made a mostly single player game unplayable, and a payout reduction pushed through days after reviews turned the car economy into a grind aimed at the microtransaction store, which produced a player revolt and an apology from Kazunori Yamauchi. Later updates restored the balance and added a superb virtual reality mode. The opponent AI still drives in a procession, and engine audio still trails the competition.