Gran Turismo 7 is finally here, and it is, unquestionably, brilliant. The single-player progression, which may seem restrictive at first, soon opens up and hooks you in harder than a Radović Goran fishing line.
But, no game is perfect, so here are the items I’d like to see improve with Polyphony Digital’s car collecting masterpiece. Please.
Further online lobby options
At the time of writing, once an online lobby is created within Gran Turismo 7, the settings cannot be changed.
Upon completion of a race, the setup remains the same. The same car rules, track, penalty options, assist restrictions. Identical. There’s no beloved track vote option, either.
The only way to alter settings is by closing a lobby and then restarting a new one.
This is a fundamental flaw that impacts community racing and is a regression from the previous title, GT Sport.
Pre-release, journalists were told that this feature will be possible, but not during the review period. This time has now been and gone, with the options still absent.
A post on the Gran Turismo 7 website did state that “new Lobby features are planned to be added to ‘Gran Turismo 7’ with future updates”, so we’re hoping, then, that this is resolved sooner rather than later.
Fixed car and setup Sport Mode races
Another gripe, another online feature.
Sport Mode is a superlative online racing system, where each entrant is placed into an event using a hopper system, taking into account their ability to race quickly and cleanly.
So far, Race A and Race B allow you to enter a tuned car. For the current Race B, where anything with less than 295bhp is allowed, that means a manic fumble through the menus to try and find the quickest car you own that fits the rules.
Bearing in mind, you must back out of Sport Mode to access the Tuning Shop to purchase parts. Then dabble in the car Settings Sheet to tweak vehicles to hit the requisite Performance Points (PP) level.
It also creates races where some cars are quick down the straights, others are more nimble. This is fun, but also increases the propensity for incidents.
However – it’s not all doom and gloom. These races and the formulas will change, and often. It’s not yet clear if this will be daily, weekly or simply when Polyphony Digital feels like it.
My approximation is that things will remain static for the initial period after the game launch to allow players to buy and tune cars, plus get used to the system.
There’s also ‘Race C’ being added at some point today (7th March 2022) and that may introduce a different car specification formula. Let’s see.
A suggestion: Race A is fixed cars, no tuning. Race B is with a power limit and tuning allowed. Race C is racing cars with Balance of Performance switched on.
Selling cars
You cannot sell cars within Gran Turismo 7.
The first two features in this article can be remedied, and the Sport Mode objection, in particular, will naturally evolve over time.
But this one I feel isn’t an easy fix.
In fact, I don’t see this as something that needs to be ‘fixed’, rather a very clear and deliberate structure decision.
Rather than selling, you can only ‘discard’ and that means no additional revenue for you – especially pertinent in the early stages as credits are hard to come buy.
It’s somewhat disappointing at first, but Gran Turismo 7‘s reward loop is extremely satisfying, and if there was any way of ‘gaming’ that by having too many credits early on, perhaps the appeal would be lessened.
Let’s not mention those 1,000,000 bonus credits for buying the 25th Anniversary Edition though…
Circle is too effective
If you enter GT Auto, there are three subcategories. ‘Maintenance & Servicing’, ‘Customise Cars’ and ‘Driving Gear’.
Let’s say you’d like to add a rear wing to your car and then give it a wash. After adding the new appendage, you then hit the Circle button to back out. Except, this takes you not to the subcategory selection screen, but all the way back to the World Map. Odd.
Being able to buy tyres in the car settings sheet
This has always been something in the back of my mind with Gran Turismo games but is now doubly pertinent in Gran Turismo 7 thanks to an emphasis on being able to enter more cars in more events thanks to the PP system.
In addition, with the first batch of Sport Mode races allowing modified vehicles, being able to change from some Comfort Softs onto a set of Racing Mediums within the Car Settings screen would be a boon.
I don’t mean the full set of tuning parts or GT Auto options, I’m okay with them being in dedicated areas. But some handy tyre purchasing options within the Settings Sheet that takes away the appropriate amount of credits would be a big help.
There’s nothing worse than missing a race entry deadline to go buy some tyres.
Small items, great game
If the above items are the sum total of my current irksome idiosyncrasies with Gran Turismo 7, then this is far from the end of the world.
A quick check of some online forums would have you believe otherwise but this is undoubtedly not just a return to form, but one of the all-time greats and something that will help widen the racing game fanbase. Bravo.
Now, about those online multiplayer updates…
