Gran Turismo 7 Status
By David Castro
So far, details for Gran Turismo 7 on the Play Station 5 have been minimal to non-existent. The PS5 was released in time for Christmas 2020 and their advertisements featured snippets of GT7 and then crickets…
The official PS5 website says that the release date is, “To be confirmed” and at this point all we have are rumors and conjecture to figure out what we can expect in the newest chapter of an iconic game on the new PS5.
The Japanese website Octane interviewed Gran Turismo Series Director Kazunori Yamauchi and some details of the forthcoming GT7 were revealed. Thank you, Google Translate, for your tireless efforts.
“In the evolution from PS4 to PS5, what we have been waiting for is the realization of real-time path tracing,” Yamauchi said. “Path tracing is a CG simulation method that is also called ray tracing, and faithfully reflects the reflection and reflection of the subject on the light source. CG for movies has been around for a long time, but it was difficult to obtain the computing power required to operate it in real time in a video game console. Being able to surpass that with PS5 has greatly improved expressiveness.”
The last GT installment was Gran Turismo Sport on the PS4 and it was released in October 2017. It received fair reviews, IGN gave it a 7.5/10, and they noted that it was visually great, but it was a bit deficient for car and track options.
GT Sport was the franchise’s attempt to transition from just console racing to online racing. I enjoyed GT Sport a lot and I still play it a ton but I concur that it was lacking on car options.
It was initially released with 168 cars and after free updates the list is approximately 330. I realize more than 300 cars is a lot, but I like to have options when I fire up the PS4.
Track options were limited too in the original release, with 29 to initially choose from and after updates you have 60 to cruise on. Yes, the tracks have different configurations but once again I like having numerous options.
“I think the title Gran Turismo is avant-garde for us, and we have consciously incorporated some new challenges every time we change generations,” Yamauchi said. “That’s why each series has fans, but sometimes the changes seemed to confuse users. For example, Gran Turismo Sports, which is currently on sale, took on the challenge of full-scale e-sports exclusively for online use, but it may have seemed quite outlandish for some people. As a result, we got 9.5 million users, but it didn’t sell explosively from the beginning, and it seemed that the understanding gradually progressed and the support increased over the three years.”
I will end up buying a PS5 and it’s because of the possibilities of GT7. I’ve been a loyal customer to the series since GT2 on the original Play Station and in the subsequent 20-years I have played enough that I am developing an issue with my left thumb.
These days, I down some Aleve before I fire up the PS4. The Aleve takes care of any lingering pain in my digit and I am good to go for an extended session.
Hurry up and give us GT7 please.