It’s hard to describe Gran Turismo as anything else but a game for people who just love cars. More than a racing game, Gran Turismo 7 gives off the vibe of a game that’s just as much about the lifestyle of being a motorhead as it is about driving extremely expensive and depreciating assets around a variety of circuits.

We were given a preview for the upcoming Gran Turismo 7, which comes off feeling like the most complete title out of the box- from world class racing to an AMV maker to even a cafe to think about how you’re going to explain suddenly having the money for so many sports cars, there’s so much to love in this upcoming sim racing title.

Read on for more of what’s coming to this pedigree racing game, launching March this year.

The Joy Of Sports Cars

Returning to Gran Turismo 7 is the world map from GT4, letting you visualize all the content in the game in a more fun way than sorting out menus. There’s lots to do in the latest title, from missions to earn more money to even License tests, where you can learn all sorts of new techniques for driving your tax liability around.

Jokes aside, as someone whose racing game prowess goes little further than “oh well would you look at the pretty car” the License tests look like a huge boon for anyone looking to really get into the simracing life, going from car collector to speed demon in no time at all.

As someone who really likes any kind of gameplay shakeup mode, I’m especially a big fan of the Missions. These add a fun new dimension over regular races, such as having you drag race which forces you to drive in a whole new way.

One more feature I really wasn’t expecting was the inclusion of couch play for Gran Turismo 7. You and one other friend can race each other in split-screen, feeling back like the days of parties back when social contact wasn’t a dice roll on a deadly lung virus. Seriously, I really appreciate its inclusion since I think the racing game genre has always been inherently social- and the fact that the game can support local splitscreen is a great step to making sure it stays that way.

Driving With The Top Down

Of course, there’s plenty of options for where to take your car, too. Gran Turismo 7 shows off plenty of tracks both real and fictional, as well as facelifted versions of fictional tracks from previous titles in the series.

You can even customize these with things like weather conditions, as well as practice each course so it’ll be a good source of entertainment to just spend afternoons perfecting your favorite track before flexing on people online with it.

A Genuine Love Of Car Culture

Personally, I think the Car Cafe is my favorite part of the Gran Turismo 7 preview. It’s a space where the game just goes into full-blown appreciation for automotive culture, as you get loving voiceovers by engineers of some of the most iconic brands talking about some of their marquee cars.

It’s a great feature if you like a specific family of car as well- you’ll get to unlock cars from a family by competing in races, also unlocking a mini feature on the history of the brand.

I’m an especially big fan of the Car Menu- These are essentially quests to collect cars within that specific family, and adds a lot of charm to the whole endeavor of racing to acquire fancier cars for your collection.

It doesn’t serve much gameplay wise, but the Car Cafe definitely feels like something just made from the team’s love for actual car culture. From the interviews with designers to even explanations on the history of top car brands, the cafe is a great way to just immerse yourself in this whole worldview that you wouldn’t otherwise have without the ability to buy expensive sports cars.

It also pairs well with another feature- a Car Museum to tell you all about the long journey of some of the top car brands in the world going from old timey cars to being so stylish they’d appear in popular movies.

Going Shopping

Of course, you can also buy cars via the game’s virtual shopping mall. These are split up into different stores for different types of cars, but personally my favorite is the Used Car Dealership. This mode will be just like actual used car dealerships- being better ways to buy cars at reduced prices. That being said, it has plenty of character to it too- some older cars otherwise seen as “trendy” might go for even higher prices, so you really never know what you’re gonna get until you go looking for it.

This is just sentimentality speaking but I really like them going with the used car motif, since sim racing is so frequently known more for its snooty expensive cars. While there’s definitely gems you can get in here, just the fact that it’s presented as you going through a used dealership instead of being bought from some fancy Italian man gives the experience a very welcoming feeling.

Just like any Used Car Dealership though, you’ll want to act quickly- the lineups will change daily, so you may not have the time to think about whether you really should get that Porsche for cheap or wait for something better to come along.

On the opposite end, you also have the Legend Car Dealership- this palace of luxury holds the vehicles of legend, with iconic cars such as the prolific Jeep and the Aston Martin. It’s the best place to look if you’ve ever seen a movie featuring these cars and wanted the experience of driving one for yourself.

Ride On Time

Another feature I really wasn’t expecting in the preview for Gran Turismo 7 was the inclusion of modes centered around the game’s music. The game has a robust library of music stretching multiple genres, and even has two features to let you better enjoy them.

The first of these is the Music Rally. Rather than racing against your arch-rival, Music Rally lets you just enjoy a chill drive, while the game sorts music based on how you’re driving. Faster speeds mean higher BPM, so don’t be afraid to take things slow and just enjoy the gorgeous world of Gran Turismo 7 if you want a nice chill song to go with it.

The other mode is the Music Replay function. This mode recuts your replays based on your music selection, essentially making your own AMVs out of your racing feats. It’s a really fun and creative mode to add, since even if you’re not in the mood to barrel down the track, you an always rewatch your highlights cut like a great movie.

Better on PS5

Like many other first-party titles, Gran Turismo 7 comes chock full of great features for if you choose to buy it on the PS5. These include a choice between performance and ray tracing mode, letting you choose to enjoy the game the way you want.

It should be noted that the game itself tells you Ray Tracing Mode is on a mode-by-mode basis- the game won’t run it with ray tracing on high-speed modes, since the dvelopers value you getting your response time in more than the game having more realistic lighting.

That being said, it totally works for your replays, so feel free to turn up that bad boy to make that sick montage of you stealing first place out of nowhere look as good as you want it before sharing it online for all the world to see.

Aside from that you also have the other PS5 key features like adaptive triggers, which will straight up simulate different types of brake pedals as well as haptic feedback to simulate different driving terrain. They’re all really fun features for the experience, and sure to help even the casual fans suddenly decide they’re into racing games.

Closing Thoughts

One thing I kept coming back to during the preview for Gran Turismo 7 is just how much the developers clearly love not just cars, but car culture. The game feels like that friend who really wants to share their hobby with you, if that friend just so happened to be a world-class team of developers. Even if you’re not a motorhead, a lot of the features in the game will have you rethinking that life decision.

Gran Turismo 7 releases March 4th 2022, and I certainly can’t wait to get behind the wheel of my favorite sports car and tear up the online race tracks with it before turning it into a sick AMV.

Just, uh. Don’t tell the IRS.