What We Need From Gran Turismo 7

Gran Turismo 7 could be the biggest game in the franchise’s history. That’s saying something since these games have been around for 22 years at this point. When the reveal for the upcoming release didn’t offer a release date, I wasn’t surprised. It did get me thinking, however, that this could be a big make or break moment for the series.

The past two Gran Turismo games offered different experiences. GT6 was largely more of the same, with a number of options for cars, tracks, and real weather dynamics. The game sold poorly on the PS3, falling short of its predecessor by about 6,000,000 copies. Gran Turismo Sport, released 4 years after, sought to fully capture the passion of online racing fans. While this came at the sacrifice of real weather dynamics and needing to always be online, the game looked and felt great. What can the upcoming release do to meld these two together?

Firstly, the online-only thing bothers some but seems necessary for what Polyphony Digital wants to accomplish. It’s not fair to say this is what everyone wants, but it’s certainly the direction in which most racing games are going. If the series is really going to pull ahead of the likes of Forza and DIRT, we’re going to need to see a big leap forward this time around. I’m talking more cars than ever and better, more realistic driving conditions.

If players need to be online always, make the options for driving competitively more diverse. Sprinkle in the weather dynamics of past games and mix in some fun race types like relays, legged races, and other things to help diversify the series. With the power of the PS5 and plenty of time to get it right, this could be a game for the ages in terms of racing and Sony’s legacy in the sports genre.