Grand Touring is now the history of racing games: the first episode was released in 1997 on the first PlayStation, and with 80 million copies sold worldwide, 25 years later comes with the seventh episode to prove that he is still the king. Polyphony Digital and Kazunori Yamauchi, respectively developer and director of the game, have infused all their love for cars into this 25-year-old chapter, peppering it with 424 different models from 62 different real manufacturers (and not, as in the case of prototypes or special GT models). It is not wrong to see GT7 like a bizarre Pokémon of the machines, since the ambition to “capture them all” and modify them properly will animate you in the exploration of the map, the real central point of the experience offered by the game. Grand Touring 7 it can be considered as a real car-based role-playing game, since each one has a skill score that can be increased by customizing it with various parts and improvements.
On the map you can do everything: access your garage, dealership, challenges and tournaments, modification of cars with finished spare parts, multiplayer and above all the GT Café, a novelty that gives a much more accessible and immediate structure to the entire game. In the Café, in fact, we will be informed about a whole series of missions to be completed, which will lead us to explore the game world in an organic and complete way, including licenses. A wise choice that makes the title much less dispersive, and will allow even the less experienced to enjoy it (also considering that there are three levels of difficulty). It should not be forgotten in fact that the kind of experience that Grand Touring 7 it offers is simulative and very realistic.
That of Grand Touring 7 is a world of cars designed for car lovers, but on the map we will have to deal with real experts and champions who will give us their advice and their indications to continue. In a short time you will find yourself with a thousand things to do to continue, but never like in this seventh episode the progression is stimulating and well structured. Everything is made even more pleasant by the total absence of uploads in the PS5 version of the game. After the career, it’s time for GT Sport, which here comes to reward the completion of the fleet with a dust-eating mode that unleashes the real fun that GT7 can offer for many, many hours. And of course there is no lack of multiplayer, online and offline, with the most disparate options.
The physics of the game have been improved further and the weather conditions are more complete and realistic, with very clear effects of rain on tires, for example. Visually, the game is great on both PS4 and PS5, although the latter offers more display options and a great ray tracing effect that returns excellent light refraction effects on the car liveries. The variety of settings and tracks is remarkable, and obviously the cars are reproduced with a fidelity that touches photorealism without problems. By virtue of the completeness of the game, Grand Touring 7 it clearly is the best episode of the series, the one that includes all the souls of the saga. Too bad that the best part comes at the end and that the difficulty is not always perfectly balanced, but they are micro defects that are lost in a sea of excellence.
Format: PS4, PS5 (tested version) publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment Developer: Polyphony Digital Vote: 9/10