Gran Turismo 7 State of Play Presentation: Everything We Learned (Customization, Replays, Weather)
With the long-awaited launch of Gran Turismo 7 just a month away, PlayStation hosted a dedicated State of Play presentation to the Japanese sim racer unveiling just over 30 minutes of new gameplay details and footage captured on PlayStation 5.
While a lot of details shared on the title aren’t entirely new, there were a number of interesting new details and features Gran Turismo creative director Kazunori Yamauchi revealed during the showcase; including customization, weather effects, car dealerships, replays and more!
If you missed the presentation, you can watch the presentation again in crisp 4K detail on PlayStation’s YouTube channel below:
Yamauchi-san describes Gran Turismo 7 as Polyphony Digital’s ‘most complete GT to date’, with the team’s goal being to create a driving simulator all players can enjoy, making it accessible to those who have never come into contact with Automotive Culture before and ensuring they can really get to know the deep, rich world of cars.
Gran Turismo 7 will feature over 400 cars from automobile brands across the world, featuring 34 locations for players to explore across 97 different layouts from real world tracks to fantasy favourites such as Trial Mountain, Deep Forest and High Speed Ring. Much like GT Sport, Gran Turismo 7 will also receive a sleuth of new cars and tracks in future post-launch updates.
Gran Turismo Cafe, a new feature introduced in GT7, is a new area accessible from the World Map where players will be given a Car Collection menu requiring you to collect certain vehicles with rewards tied to them. Menu’s can be completed by winning races or championships. You’ll even hear commentary from creators and designers of a certain type of car at the Cafe, teaching players more about their history.
Gran Turismo 7 features 3 distinct car dealerships for players to purchase cars from; Brand Central, The Used Car Dealership and the Legendary Car dealership.
The Brand Central from GT Sport is now a Shopping Mall for 2000s era cars where players can buy roughly 300 vehicles from 2001 and later. The Used Car dealership features more affordable cars which is updated and changed slightly each day, with some popular used cars being sold at more than their original factory cost including 90’s Japanese sports cars. The Legendary Car dealership specializes in antique cars such as Le Mans track cars and exotics like the Ferrari F40.
License Tests return for Gran Turismo 7, in addition to the Circuit Experience from GT Sport and a Custom Race mode option is also available which will let players combine weather effects and AI cars classes of your choice. Mission Races are a new category of events in Gran Turismo 7 which features game mode types such as Drag Racing and Drift Trials for players to complete.
Yamauchi-San details the extreme lengths the team has gone to create accurate, real-time weather effects in the game. GT7 simulates the process of cloud formation based on data gathered specific to each region, meaning skies in Japan will change like they do in Japan and similarly like in California.
Atmospheric and surface temperatures change in real-time, which will affect tire grip engine power and the strength of the slip stream effect during gameplay. A Weather Radar has also been added to the HUD so players can use it to predict the upcoming weather to a certain extent.
Replay Mode returns in Gran Turismo 7, with a new ‘Music Replay’ feature that dynamically generates a replay camera to match the background music made up of different image cuts and camera positions around the game world. Music Rally is another new music-themed game mode introduced to Gran Turismo 7, where players will race to certain songs on the soundtrack and will need to hit a certain mileage target once the song finishes to achieve a Gold, Silver or Bronze trophy.
The DualSense controllers Adaptive Triggers and Haptic Feedback will allow you to feel many different sensations as you drive, with the triggers letting your fingertips feel the vibration as you tires lock up when braking and tire vibrations across different surfaces.
The Tuning Shop also makes it return, with approximately 60 types of performance parts per car. It also appears the game might feature Engine Swaps based on footage showcasing a VW Beetle with a 911 GT3 engine, which would be a first for the franchise. Customization wise, Gran Turismo 7 features over 650 aerodynamic body parts, 130 types of wheels and 1200 paint colours to choose. Spoilers can be modified with different end plates, with some vehicles also featuring widebody kit options and roll cages.
The Livery Editor has also been updated, now allowing stickers to be placed in areas you couldn’t in the past in addition to a higher number of decals able to be placed on a car. As reported by our friends at GTPlanet, decals and liveries created in GT Sport can also be migrated to GT7!
Fan-favourite photo tool Scapes in addition to an Improved in-race photo mode also return from GT Sport, which Yamauchi-San heralds as tools real-life photographers would struggle to capture the same way players can in Gran Turismo 7.
Gran Turismo 7 launches on PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 consoles on March 4th, 2022. Stay tuned all the latest Gran Turismo related news and announcements, and be sure to keep an eye out around launch for our full in-depth review.