Gran Turismo is back. Not that it’s ever been away, of course – Gran Turismo Sport released towards the end of 2017, providing a foundation for a pleasingly modern take on the series with a new focus on online inspired by the likes of iRacing and some strong post-release support.
Gran Turismo 7Publisher: Sony Interactive EntertainmentDeveloper: Polyphony DigitalAvailability: Out March 4th 2022 on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5
Now, though, is the time for the first numbered release in the series since 2013, and with that comes a different set of expectations – a proper campaign, a broader car list and a return to the collectathons of old, all of which Gran Turismo 7 looks set to deliver upon.
There’s also the promise of returning features and – most excitingly for sim and endurance fans such as myself – the reinstatement of dynamic time and weather conditions to help bring races alive. I was fortunate enough to get 30 minutes of series creator Kazunori Yamauchi’s time earlier this week, where I hoped to find more details of what’s to come.
Gran Turismo 7 – PlayStation Showcase 2021 Trailer | PS5 Watch on YouTube
It’s a pleasure, as ever, to talk to you. After that amazing trailer at the PlayStation showcase last week there’s a couple of points I wanted to clarify – firstly about the blog post that stated that GT Cafe will need an online connection.
Kazunori Yamauchi: The requirement for the online connection isn’t specific to the Cafe per se – it’s just to prevent cheating overall from people trying to modify the save data, so that’s the reason for the online connection.
And just to update on the feature itself, there’s two functions to it. One is to direct the user to the next objective meeting, and also to get them to get involved in collecting some of those cars. And the other is, when they come back with the cars they’re asked to collect, it gives a little bit of background history for the culture, and the history behind these significant cars that they have added to their collection.
Is there a social side to it? Obviously, car collecting and car culture can be quite a social thing. People love to show off their car collections.
Kazunori Yamauchi: That’s something that’s going to be possible through the garage – you can open up your garage to other players so that they can show off their collection as well.
Before I move on, I just want to get one final point of clarity on this. GT Sport was a fantastic game and had a big online focus – a lot of people are looking forward to GT7 as having a big campaign which they can play wherever they want. Will it be possible to play the campaign offline?